Cherish These Days??

I've had not one, but 2, ladies tell me recently to "cherish these days"; they were both referring to the days when our children are young.  Both of these women have children who are either out of the home, or on the cusp of finishing high school.  I do appreciate those words of wisdom from women farther down the path.  They know what it is like to have lived through the early years and they know these are precious times.

However...

Honestly, Daniel is close to driving me stark, raving mad.  I adore him.  I ADORE him. But there are times when I don't like him very much.

What is there to like about a child who seems to be on a constant quest to make messes, the bigger the better?  Daniel loves to dump water and potting soil wherever he can; so far he hasn't combined the two, but only because there is no water in our sun room where the potted plants are.

What is there to like when Daniel and Sarah fight like antagonistic cats and dogs when we put them in our toy room together?  A couple of weeks ago, they usually played nicely. Now they play fine for a few minutes, and then start fighting over toys and occasionally hitting each other!  (We are not putting them together regularly now, I assure you.)

What is there to like when Daniel says "NO" to everything? I realize it is developmentally appropriate and it is even a little funny, but it gets wearing too.

What is there to like when Sarah draws all over her siblings' plush toys, and the computer table, and herself?  She used to draw on PAPER.  P...a...p...e...r.  How hard is it for her to understand that we draw on paper, not on people, places, and things?  Well, she KNOWS.  She knows.  She just chooses to disobey our rules.  (She is currently banned from pencils, pens, and markers.)

All this is to say, I don't particularly enjoy Sarah and Daniel much of the time right now. Rose is awesome.  She is 4+ months and smiles and coos and sleeps moderately well and is easy.  But the 2 next kids are a handful.  2 handfuls.

I was talking about pregnancy and kids with some of our older children.  One of them commented that "everything I say about pregnancy makes it sound like it is not much fun."  Hmmm....

Well, my pregnancies aren't very easy, though they aren't all that hard.  And having 9 kids isn't easy either.  So -- the simple answer to WHY we have 9 kids is that we strongly felt the Lord wanted us to let Him decide on our family size.

Take Rose.  Well, don't take Rose. When I first learned I was pregnant with Rose, I was super intimidated.  We already had 8 kids, I was homeschooling the older 6,  I was 44 years old, and I felt overwhelmed.  At the time, I really was not too happy. Honest truth.

Now, if someone actually tried to take Rose from us, and I had a scimitar handy, I'd stab the person through the heart.  Ok, that was graphic but it describes the depth of love I have for our little lady, and indeed for all our kids. I would die for each one of our children, and I would seriously KILL for our kids, if they were threatened by someone nefarious.

So back to Daniel and Sarah. I adore both of them.  And I don't need to enjoy them right now.  Kevin and I have a big responsibility to love and care for and train and teach our children. There is nothing in the Bible that says life will be easy, and it doesn't say kids will always be a boatload of fun.  Love is a decision and I love our kids both because I just LOVE them fiercely, and because I choose to.

So cherish these days?  Some days I will cherish, some days I will merely survive. And that's Ok.