Motherhood 101

Last week, I got to experience being a mom. I mean, I've spent a lot of time with kids (some of them may have even been your kids, in fact), but this was an entirely new arena for me. I was the mom in the story.

Sheldon has 2 beautiful kids. Cherie is 7 and Owen is 4. On Tuesday, we went and had lunch at school with Cherie. SO FUN! That evening, his ex called and said the a/c was broken at her house and could he take the kids for the night. Well, he was on call for work, and I live about 10 minutes from their school so the obvious solution was for them to stay with me. We got them dinner, I made Cherie a lunch for the next day (she said she was just in the mood to bring a lunch instead of buying a tray), got them situated in bed, got them up the next morning (Cherie is an easy morning kid. Owen - not so much.), and got her off to school (Owen only goes in the afternoons). Drinking my coffee while I got them breakfast, doing her hair, etc. was so good. It's a routine I could get very used to. I'm crazy about these kids, y'all. During visitation on Thursday night, I was assured that the feeling is mutual. We went to Target to get Owen a new backpack for school (Transformers, of course) and it looked like his face hurt the grin was so huge. It redefined beaming for me. Before dinner, we were in the car and talking about the future with the kids, and Cherie informed me that she wants to call me "Mom". I thought my heart was going to EXPLODE. There's a Psalm that says "I will make the barren woman the mother of joyful children." I honestly feel like they're the fulfillment of that for me.

Sheldon is fantastic. He's normal and likes the things I do, but he also encourages me to grow spiritually, which is something that's been lacking in every relationship I've ever had. He supports me in every way possible and has all the attributes I know that God has always wanted for me in my match. Okay, he's not that tall, but I can still wear heels and not look silly, so that's an acceptable compromise. Our relationship feels very natural and, quite frankly, pleasing to God. We want the same things in life and for our children. He said the way the kids and I are with each other is more comfortable and easy than any of the other women he's dated since he and their mom split. All things work together for the good of those who love the Lord. I believe that Sheldon and I went through our first marriages because they were molding us into who we are now and how we fit together as a pair. All the things that I was insecure about before I'm honest with him about and he takes extra care in those areas, strengthening them and enabling my growth. I'm an individual, with my own interests and activities, but instead of feeling like those things are taking away from my relationship with him, I know that they enrich it. He honestly makes me feel like the scripture about a good wife being a woman who is to be treasured above rubies. He has seen me crying and venting and generally ugly, and he doesn't care. It doesn't bother him that I'm human. So basically, he's exceptionally good for me.

I like being in this family. I like cuddling on the couch and talking about things we want for the kids, how excited we are about getting them into church and raising them with Jesus in their lives. I like when we talk about growing old together. We've decided that our dating time is in dog years or something. We're pretty sure we've been dating at least 6 months now. And we're certain that we're very much in love and blessed by each other.