Most mornings, I get thirty minutes in bed to myself before I face the day (thanks wonderful husband!).  I lay in bed, awake, but not ready to get up and start the day.  I’m not ready to face reality, not quite yet.

When I finally drag myself up, life begins and it doesn’t stop until I clock out at 7PM.  Getting kids ready for school, feeding kids, running errands, doing chores (why is it always an endless pile of laundry?), helping the younger kids, picking up kids from school, being the mediator between kids (oh how the siblings can antagonize each other!), the talking from a little extrovert that never ends, the list goes on.  It’s a busy day, to say the least.

Lately, between breaking up fights, answering never-ending questions from a toddler, and cleaning up numerous accidents during potty training, I have found myself looking forward to two years from now.  What happens in two years?  All of my kids will be in school for 6+ hours!  The glorious freedom!  I just need to make it two more years.

Enter the Lord.  I have found the Lord putting on my heart to love my children more the past few weeks and to enjoy this season of life; the season with young children at home.  He has reminded me that this season will pass, and if I continue to focus on “two years from now”, I’m unable to treasure the moments that I do have with my kids now.  Yes, it’s hard to care for two little ones in (sometimes thrown in with a bigger one), as I’ve stated above.  Yet, I’ve been reminded that the time I will have at home with all of them is slowly coming to a close.  Two years from now, half of the waking hours of my kids will be at school.  I won’t know their friends and their parents as well (at least initially) as I did with preschool.  Throw in the extracurricular activities, and some days the only time I get with them will be at meals and time right before bed.  It’s crazy to think that our lives will change so dramatically, but it’s just around the corner.

So, for now, I realize as hard as it is to get things done with a toddler and a little boy, it’s good to have them home with me.  It’s nice to be able to go out on walks after lunch, go out to the park after school, hear what the kids think about during the day, and just be with them.  They are needy now, but at some point, they aren’t going to be, and I know I’ll wish I could have that time back once it’s gone.  I know I’ll miss the snuggles in bed, the way the kids run to me when they have an owie, and reading to them.

The days seem so jam-packed with things and it seems like a blur, but the years seem to fly by even faster!