an everday adventure

I've had an adventurous summer - ziplines and alligators and exercise, oh my. But does any of it compare with what is the everyday life of a parent? Now THAT's an adventure. I don't think there is any ride or activity that can increase my heart rate like being a parent can.

Just the other day someone asked if the bruise on my arm was from being hit by a softball. No, it's from a one-year-old. He pinched me. I let him. He fights sleep so much during the day, and when I was trying to get him to sleep  the other day, he pinched me. He wasn't being mean - he wanted to rub my shirt sleeve while he went to sleep, but I had a tank top on. He needed to sleep. I could have moved his little fingers, but I didn't want to disturb him. A few days later, I sat by his mom as she answered someone's questions explaining that she rocks him to sleep each night. No, he isn't put to bed and let to cry. He's just a baby. Yes, there are other things that could be done, like laundry. But he won't be a baby long. And I'm so glad she realizes how precious those rocking times are. Babies grow up, but laundry never goes away.

During that same week, a friend posted something about how hard it is to sit back and watch our kids make decisions that we believe to be the wrong decisions. Boy, do I know from where she speaks! Wouldn't be great if we could just sit down and rock those grown kids every night and save them from poor choices? She and her husband have done a great job - she has great kids. It's easy for me to tell her that her kids will end up making the right choices because they have have great parents. But I know she still worries.

My boys were 4 and 6 when we got them - what I wouldn't give for a night of rocking my baby boys to sleep. Over the years, we've had many conversations about being adopted. There were many questions that I just couldn't answer. But this weekend we had the opportunity to get some answers. Baby Jus and I drove almost 1,000 miles round trip so that he could meet his biological father. Ups and downs people! It was a long drive. A stay in a hotel that wasn't quite what I would have chosen. A few hours to show a stranger what a great guy my Jus has become. And it was hot! I'm so glad that he had the chance to do this. But I worried so much about what could go wrong - what can still go wrong. Believe me, I'd let him pinch the other arm if I thought it would make things go smoothly for him.

It's so much easier to worry about what can go wrong rather than what can go right. But I'm trying to focus on the what can go right.