Blessings wrapped as children :-)

C starts preschool next week! She and I are going tomorrow morning for orientation to meet her teachers and classmates and to see her classroom and whole school (just a wing of a small church, haha). I am really excited because I know she is going to LOVE it. I really can't believe she is three years old and is starting her first "school" - honestly, I have nearly teared up thinking about it. I probably am not the only mom who feels this way though. :-)

Along those lines, kids are such a handful! They have a way of sucking the life right out of you yet simultaneously filling you with pure joy, haha. At least, thats how I feel.... Everything is more difficult with children - preparing to go somewhere (packing the diaper bag, need I say more?), managing once you ARE somewhere ("come back here" "stay by my side" "sit still"), cooking (they get in the way), cleaning (they want to "help"), and sleeping (you will never sleep-in again..ever...ever) - and those are just the things that came to me right off the top of my head. But seriously, would us parents ever want it any other way?? I think not.

I was just watching "An Adoption Story" on Discovery Heath and the family on there was getting ready to adopt two Korean babies after 10 years of infertility. Wow, what an exciting time in their lives! Two babies after wanting them for 10 years! It made me feel so incredibly blessed that both times in my life that I decided I was ready for a baby, I was able to conceive that next month. I know there have been times when I have taken that for granted, but I do realize what a gift that is...a gift that many couples never receive. Even when I miscarried my first pregnancy, I knew that the joy I felt after becoming pregnant was a joy that many women never get to experience. A POSITIVE pregnancy test should never be taken for granted. It is always a gift....maybe unexpected, unplanned, not desired, or maybe completely wanted and planned for...either way, it is a gift that so many couples never get to experience. I know I will always consider a "Plus" or "two pink lines" as a beautiful gift from God!

This post is quite a rambler, but it was what is on my mind :-) I hope it makes you stop and smell the roses - or at least kiss your kids! Oh, and pray for me next Monday morning as I prepare to get C (and me and D) out the door to preschool! *tear*