My Heritage from the Lord

Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. Psalm 127:3

Our oldest was born only six months before our two-year marriage came to an end. While I questioned why God would allow a child to be born into a nightmare marriage with an inevitable end, that precious child was my reason for getting out of bed every morning, my motivation for keeping moving forward. I would have never chosen to be a single mother for those four years, but that amazing little boy made it so much easier – at least the mommy-part of the job. We formed an unbreakable bond during those years as a team, and I learned so much about life just by watching it through his eyes! Even now, at eleven years old, he is still very much Mama’s boy. I pray that we never lose that closeness, despite the hormones on the horizon!

Our middle child, our little girl, has an exciting story too. She was conceived only eight months after our miraculous remarriage, and just two weeks after her daddy’s return from his military tour in Afghanistan. She was neither planned nor expected, especially since I was trying desperately to complete my bachelor’s degree while juggling homeschooling a kindergartner and maintaining a home with hubby deployed. By the time I realized I was pregnant with her, I was nearly halfway through the semester of school, so my husband and I decided that I would finish out the semester in one state, while he finished debriefing and other training in another state. At the conclusion of the semester, our oldest son and I were supposed to move to North Carolina to live with Hubby while he finished out his military career… at least that was the plan! Only two weeks before we were to move, my soldier received orders for his second deployment, this time to Iraq. I was six and a half months pregnant with our little girl when her daddy kissed my belly goodbye and boarded a plane to the desert for a nine-month tour. If you are good at math, then you have already realized that our feisty girl made her debut while her daddy was many, many miles away. Again, life circumstances caused me and my new baby to form a very special and unique bond.

Our precious baby boy was born just five short weeks before his daddy had to return to Iraq for a one-year tour, this time without warning. Hubby had been out of active duty for over two years and was recalled suddenly and then given orders to redeploy. I literally felt like the rug had been ripped right out from under me! I not only had two children to take care of, but was expecting a third! Feeling totally unprepared for that emotional roller-coaster, I blocked out the deployment issues until after Baby Boy’s birth – which was extra special all in itself since he was born on my sweet grandfather’s birthday (after only two rapid hours of labor)! Again, in my mind I questioned why God allowed this baby’s birth in such a difficult time, but for each and every day of that deployment I had the answer to my question. This child was the easiest baby God ever created! He was happy and loving and cuddly and content! And boy, did he love his mama! Three years later, we are still so crazy about each other! I literally live for the moment he comes tippy toe-ing into my room in the morning to give me hugs and “tisses”. He is absolutely the joy of my life! Every day is a new adventure with this precious boy! (I know parents shouldn’t have favorites, and I really try hard not to! But he comes pretty close to being mine!)

Have you hugged your kiddos today? Or thought about what a gift from the Lord they are?

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