Oh, how the years go by!

Two teenagers in the hooooouuuse!  My second-born child turned thirteen today.  It's hard to believe it has been 13 years since his birth.  I brought him home to an 18-month-old daughter and life was crazy.  It was good and sweet, but full.  It seems like a lifetime ago.  Now he sounds like a man and is taller than me.  He is on the threshold of young man, and it was just yesterday that he was a babe-in-arms.  Oh how the years go by!  We had a birthday dinner for him today, and nary a birthday can pass without this story being brought up (click on the link if you'd like to read about it).  

This weekend has been busy.  I've been home (which I've come to treasure now that I'm working), but busy doing all the chores I can't seem to find time to during the week.  How ever do moms work full time?  I truly think they are super-women!  I am working to find the balance of working three days and taking care of my family.  I'm finding my way with it, with the help of my husband and kids.  This evening, as I was pondering my oldest son's birthday and entrance into the teens, I lay down and cuddled with my youngest.  She, who turned five this summer, still enjoys a cuddle and a back rub.  So there I lay with her, listening to the greatest lullaby CD ever made (click here to purchase any of the three volumes - you will not be disappointed, whether or not you have children), rubbing her still- tiny back and curled up next to her, overwhelmed with the changing times.  I am easily overwhelmed, you know dear reader, but truly!  Here she is, the last of my babes, already a big girl at five, and I have two teenagers now,  on the cusp of being young adults.  And oh!  My heart was heavy!  Life is good, and this older-child stage is actually quite fabulous!  But - the babies!  Those years of having little ones underfoot have passed by so quickly.  It didn't feel so at the time, but the saying "The days are long but the years are short" is so very accurate.  

And the years continue to fly by.  We're going to blink and the kids will be traipsing off to college.  Life is changing every moment, and if you know me, you know change is a wee bit (read: incredibly) hard for me.  But I take comfort in the fact that these children, given to us for a short time, are their Father in heaven's.  That He loves them more than I do (that seems near impossible!), and cares for them in every stage.  We are raising these children with the chief goal of getting them into heaven.  And though my heart sometimes has trouble catching up with the rapid pace of their growth, I know that with each day they are growing stronger in their faith and closer to their Savior.  And how can I be mournful when I remember that?