Three kids and a milkshake

This evening, after a fun trip to the zoo, I was sitting on the couch finishing up a milkshake and all three kids came over to me.  And Daniel said, "Nothing like sitting on the couch with three kids trying to steal your milkshake."  And I said kiddingly, "Nope, there really is nothing like this.  This is the dream!"  But this really IS the dream.  To be enjoying a nice day, a trip to the zoo, a dinner with my family, and surrounded by my kids - that is my dream.  But I never thought that my dream would be so fulfilled.  That I would have THREE kids surrounding me on a Sunday afternoon.  Oh, how God has blessed our family.  Oh how I am so glad that my "plans" were nothing near how God has shaped my life.  My dream pales in comparison to the miracle that I see each morning - that I tuck in each evening.

It's amazing - sometimes I just can't believe that I'm a mom.  It's weird.  You'd think that I was reminded of it every minute of the day - hearing noises, wiping noses, "mommy mommy" all day long.  But sometimes, in a rare moment of quiet, I have to realize again that I am a mom.  I know that I am a "mommy" - tending to the needs of my little ones.  But being a "mother" just seems crazy still.  That I am going to be a mother forever.  That I am going to travel through life with these wonderful children that God has brought into my life. Being in the little years, I sometimes get trapped in thinking this is how it's going to be forever.  That there will always be toys on the floor and diapers and tears and fits.  Ok, so maybe I won't see the end of all of that...  Ok, well maybe just the end to the diapers.  But still.  It will be different.  Soon they will all be in school.  And then they will all be teenagers...  yikes.  Maybe because it happened so fast, that I guess I'm still just catching up sometimes.  It still is amazing to me that I am a mom of three.

So today, I was glad to have my little ones - all grabbing for the straw.  Reminding me how blessed I am.  Reminding me to remember to take the time to sit on the floor with them and brush a doll's hair, or play ball in their room, or look intently at each drawing (even if I don't really see Rapunzel sitting on a cactus).