Today I realized that I almost missed His answer.
Several weeks ago, I asked God to give me a special time with each one of our older children.
Alone time.
We kind of function as a mob.
Which I like for the most part...
We game together, school together, walk together, read together, chore together, talk together--
Together.
And most of the time I like it that way.
And they really like it that way.
But--I was craving some one-on-one time with our older ones.
They are all such real people now.
Not that they weren't before...but it's crazy when you catch a glimpse of all the thoughts and emotions and dreams and fears and hopes that are swirling inside each growing mind and soul.
So I asked Him for this--
A way to connect with each individual....during a time when I can barely keep up with the crowd,
When I'm feeling a little married to the mob.
When I'd love some alone time with my guy, my God, or...
Even just some time--
Alone.
And He provided.
But...not like I thought He would.
It hit me this morning...
That He had answered.
He had given me special pauses, with each of our older three.
It was the night of True Grit.
Jason wanted to watch the Jason-edited-version with the kiddos after Lydia went to bed.
Laura is not an enjoyer of suspense or drama or danger or even-slightly-possible-maybe-hints-of-drama-danger-suspense.
It was a very unusual opportunity for us to get away as girls and go out for dinner with time to shop a bit afterwards. We talked about a lot of important things at dinner...American girl dolls, and best friends, and dyslexia, and gum, and God, and marriage, and even tight-rope-walked a bit down the topic of the birds and the bees.
It was our broken Redbox bike ride, which was much longer than we expected. The other big kids weren't feeling so great, so they stayed with dad and we walked and then rode our bikes on a long adventure. We looked at birds and guessed about bug numbers and wondered why people had their underwear on the outside of their clothes. Long story. We also talked about rocks and throwing rocks and throwing rocks off bridges and how God made rocks and why bikes make certain noises and what Heaven is probably like and we talked about gum.
It was today. That's when it hit me that God had answered my prayer. Just not how I expected. Because after a 4-hour-doctor's-wait-appointment-pick-up-meds yesterday, Colson's strep throat was confirmed so he missed kids' camp at our church. With the other big kids gone to VBS and Lydia occupied in her room, he and I had some quiet time together. We watched Pokemon and talked about Pokemon and looked at Lego catalogs and measured his feet against mine. We discussed kids who go to VBS and how God could maybe change their hearts and why he wants to be a dad someday and why he thinks Lydia is the smartest baby in the whole world and which Popsicle flavor makes your throat feel better and why he likes having orange hair. And gum--we chewed some gum.
Funny how God answers...
Sometimes I almost miss His answer.
And that's my new prayer:
Keep my eyes open for opportunities.
...making the most of every opportunity...
~Ephesians 5:16
Because it's not always going to be that formal-now-we-are-having-one-on-one-time-together scenario.
And it might just be when someone has a fever.
Or because something is broken.
Or when I least expect it.
Because that's how parenting is...
~ full of meaningful interruptions ~
The great thing is, if one can,
to stop regarding all the unpleasant things
as interruptions in one's "own" or "real" life.
The truth is, of course,
that what one regards as interruptions
are precisely one's life.
~C.S.Lewis
I want to ask Him for opportunities:
--To connect in parenting.
--To have real talk.
--To have just-for-fun-talk.
--To continue knowing each one of our little guys.
--To keep building those precious relationships.
And then I want to ask Him to help me recognize the opportunities.
I don't want to miss them,
To miss out.
I want to see His hand in the moment.
Continue steadfastly in prayer,
At the same time, pray also for us,
that God may open to us a door for the word,
to declare the mystery of Christ...
that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak...
making the best use of the time.
Let your speech always be gracious,
seasoned with salt,
so that you may know
how you ought to answer each person.
~ Colossians 4:2-6
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