I am a Promise...

My baby is 5 months old. Ridiculous. Time is just flying by like you wouldn't believe. It isn't that I didn't believe people when they told me that the time goes fast, but it is surreal to experience it. I am literally watching a life grow before my eyes.

I look at JJ now and think "He's 5 months." But someday, he'll be 5 years, and the 15 years. I will one day be the mother of a 25 year old! It is crazy to think about right?? (crazy, too, to think that I will be 51 when that happens; the same age difference between my mom and myself... but I digress...).

When I think about the fact that one day my little baby will be a fully functional adult, it actually makes me almost burst with excitement. He literally has the entire world laid out before him. He can actually do whatever he wants to do. There is no stopping him. His life is a blank slate just waiting for something, anything to fill it in.

Can he be a doctor? Sure, why not? Lawyer? Might as well! Teacher? President of the United States? Chef? Go for it, JJ!!

I am reminded of a song that my sister Emily used to sing in preschool:

I am a promise, I am a possibility, I am a promise with a capital "P"

I am a great big bundle of potentiality

And I am learning to hear God's voice, and I am trying to make the right choices

I'm a promise to be, anything God wants me to be

Sometimes I think about the "What If's?" of my life. What if I'd gone to an out of state college? What if I'd completed my teaching credential instead of starting work? What if I'd majored in something else entirely? Where would I be now if I'd made different choices then? I don't know, but I could tell you for sure, I would not be the mother of the most amazing little boy and the wife of such a fantastic husband. We would not be a family. Sometimes I wonder what God's big plan for me is, and I'm still living my life, so I'm sure there's much more, but even if his plan is raise up the next President of the United States or the next Neil Armstrong or even the next Bobby Flay, that would be alright with me. That's a huge responsibility! Am I ready for it? You betcha!

So to my fellow mothers: We have a big job ahead of us, but our kids are just showing us the beginning of their amazing-ness! They have opportunities waiting for them that we can't even imagine. They will need to make their choices in life, but it is our job to make sure they know that they can and to give them the confidence to know that they truly can do whatever they want. And that no matter what, we will always be there for them.

God has some amazing plan for my little man and I cannot WAIT to see what it is! :0)