My Babies

Each child has their own unique personality. Every single parent knows that. I actually think every child knows that, too. I, for example, happen to know that I am my mother's favorite child. It's never been said out loud, but it's an unspoken fact. Within my own family, there are nibblets of each of my kid's personalities that I absolutely love and adore in each of them. Then there are, of course, other facets of their personalities that I think certainly could have ONLYL come from their father's side! There is NO way I would have any DNA influence in Taylyn's moments of minimal annoyances becoming CNN breaking news moments of necessary panic. And certainly the all-or-nothing competitive attitude T.J. has adopted came from the Yates chromosome!

But once I am out of the moment, once the the initial shock of "I have no idea how to respond to that" wears off and I realize they did, indeed, get most of their psychotic side from me, I start to forget that side of them and I am set back by what wonderful, beautiful human beings they are.

Recently, Taylyn asked me if she could stay up a little bit later past her bedtime because she wanted to read the Bible in her bed. How do you say no to that? "I recognized something," she went on to say. (She likes to use the word recognized) "I have been spending a lot of time with my friends and reading other books and I haven't been reading as much from God's word."

After spending some time in her bed reading Genesis with her, she informed me that she wanted to read the whole Bible. She looked inquisitively at me and said, "Mom, did you know that every time you read the Bible, it helps you grow in your faith?" Seriously? She's 8. And that night, she convicted my heart (and mind) in my need to spend more time reading God's word and growing in my faith.



T.J. has always had a servant's heart. He loves to do things for other people and he is often thinking of other people. In recent months, it has grown even more and lucky for me, he is projecting much of it to me! On Mother's Day, I was just rolling out of bed when he came bright-eyed into the bedroom with a full bowl of cereal (Peanut Butter Captain Crunch, one of my favorites in case you were wondering). As he stood proud in his Power Ranger underwear and Chicago Bulls long-sleeved long john shirt, he explained to me that he did it ALL by himself and that he put all the stuff away already.



It wasn't long after that, maybe a few days, when he came into my room after getting ready for school and asked me what kind of cereal I wanted for breakfast. I told him to not worry about it because I was just planning to eat an apple for breakfast. Less than a minute later, I was greeted with my bed-head boy presenting me with an apple he had picked out "just for me" for breakfast.



With all their crazy moments aside, all the times I have to separate the fights, all the moments when I question if I'm really cut out for this parenting thing, I am reminded more of the joy thye bring into my life and the ways they have taught and changed me. What a gift these kids are to me!