Taking in the Moment
I’m on the countdown. T minus 1 week. 7 days. 168 hours. 10,080 minutes. Next Monday morning, August 22, 2011, my baby goes to kindergarten.
That sentence just killed me to write.
How can my precious Mary-Allison be old enough to go to kindergarten? Where did the last 5-1/2 years go? I blinked, and they flew by.
As I pushed my newborn baby in the shopping cart at the grocery store, older moms would stop me and say, “Treasure this time; it goes by so fast!” Now I know they were right.
But, thank You, God, that I did all I could to treasure the moments. I can embrace this new stage in life with little regrets about how I spent the last 5 years. I poured myself into being a mom who is present in the moment. Don’t get me wrong … there were moments of insanity, craziness, chaos, yelling, and losing my temper. I’m not claiming to be completely patient and perfect! But the memories I have are of cuddling, holding, playing, and enjoying the gifts God blessed me with. Hopefully, both of my daughters’ remember the good times, as well.
In honor of all moms everywhere who are transitioning into a new school year, a new stage of life, and a new chapter of parenting, I want to present a post from the blog, “Hands Free Mama.” Rachel’s mission is to make memories, not more to-do lists. Her writing is beautiful, encouraging, challenging … and I cry every time I read a post. God has blessed her with words like poetry that penetrate to the heart about what truly matters. Her post, “Do You Have a Moment?” is a prime example of slowing down to take in the moment with our children. I hope you find Rachel’s words as inspiring as I did!
As a mom who just sent her “baby” off to kindergarten this morning, these words really hit home. What a beautiful tribute, Christi! And what an honor to have such glowing words about my writing! I am truly thankful God has crossed our paths.
I hope you remember also what kind of mother I tried to be. I cherished and loved being a mother. You girls were the joy of my life in spite of going through some of the hardest days of my life! It truly pays huge dividends to be a mother at home raising her children. I am so very thankful I was able to do that for the most part. Love You Christi Noel and I am very proud of you.
MA is forever stuck in my mind as a 3 year old little cow girl the first Halloween after we met you guys! I can’t believe she is going to school. Praying enjoy this week together!
Thanks so much for sharing this! It touched my heart! Love you girl!
Christi…. as a mother, you can rest asure that you have prepared her well as she takes another ‘first step’ 🙂 She is going to be a blessing and a joy to her teacher and a good friend and helper to her classmates. Can’t wait to hear about her first days of school, as only she can express..:-)