A decade gone

Today Derek is 10. The other day he made a picture with all the wonderful things he did while he was 9. It was pretty impressive and creative. Of course this fall and winter we spent 4 months serving in Jamaica... a great experience for all of us. He drew a picture on his poster of climbing a mountain from when he visited the villages with Kevin. Snorkeling in the ocean off of a deserted island...flying on an airlplane, reading books. He even wrote a book while we were in Jamaica, called "Derek's Daring Adventures" a book about an ogre. We typed it up, exactly as he wrote it. He played baseball on a team for the first time last summer. Many wonderful things happened while he was nine.

I cannot help but to think of these next 10 years of his life. Then he will be gone. What kind of example will our home be for him? Will he look forward to having a home just like "Mom and Dads" or will he be awaiting the day he can leave? Will I be a good example of a wife...a mother? Will he see God in our home, and know that He indeed is real and alive? Will these last few years show him there is no better life than that of service to the King of Kings? Where will his heart be after 10 more years?

Parenting is indeed a huge undertaking. Yeilding daily to the Lord, asking for wisdom and love for all these little ones that unknowingly test our patience. Striving to make God real in our home...real to them. We walk that fine line between showing them how to love God...and "making" them love God. In this next decade, he will decide. Where will his heart take him?

His time in our home is nearly gone. Lord help me...to do this job you have set before me the right way, with the right spirit.