this is my family. we are sometimes broken but never irreparable. we have been a family for 6 years. there are 4 of us. each one very different from the next but each serving their own role. their own purpose.
for instance.
michael. he’s the one in gray. the grown up. sometimes the only grown up. (of course if he said that i’d slap him!) michael is the glue. when things are going all wrong, he’s somehow holding it all together. the funny thing about glue is that you don’t see it working. it just does. you see tape. you see nails and screws. but glue serves it’s purpose silently and unseen. sometimes i don’t realize that he’s holding it all together until we’ve come out on the other side. michael is a hard worker. his drive amazes me. he is calming. he is responsible. he wants our children to have everything they can imagine and he wants to teach them to work for it. michael doesn’t have any hobbies. he’s not a golfer or a major football fan. he doesn’t hunt or fish. he doesn’t collect or tinker with anything. he just spends most of his free time (although there isn’t a lot of that) with the boys and me. he is an amazing father. i watch the way our children look at him and wonder how they are as mesmerized as i am.
jonah. he’s the oldest. i’m pretty sure he hates being oldest. he is in 2nd grade. earlier today i posted this picture on my facebook and his teacher contacted me questioning his shirt (in a joking manner of course). let’s just say it fits him to a tee! he is very wise. i think that’s a strange word to describe a seven year old however i think it is true. he is funny. but we try not to let him know it. he is certainly a challenge. he’s very preoccupied. he is so smart. he’s an amazing big brother. don’t get me wrong, they fight. a lot. but in the moments when no one is watching, he is a guide, he is protection, he is a teacher. he has an amazing heart. he makes me proud.
nathan. the baby. and he lives it up. he is a kindergartener now. he thinks he is as big as his brother. he is funny and makes us laugh a lot. he’s not afraid to dance and sing and put on a show. he is emotional. in every way. his feelings are fragile. he’s daring and will try most anything. he loves sushi and mushrooms. (i think that is a bit strange for a five year old but whatever.) he is empathetic. his brother is his hero. i see him look at him in awe. he is learning from him daily. i know the bond they have already made will withstand most anything.
me. i’m left. the odd one out. the girl in a house full of boys. i don’t know what michael would say if he were writing this. i think he would say that i am the oil in our, not always properly functioning, machine. i make it run. he holds it together. i’m the mom. i mend wounds and sign agendas. i pack lunches and taxi kids to school. i feed and clean a number of people and things. i pray. i pray for them. for us. i pray for me. that in every aspect of my existence, i will be what GOD has intended for me to be. i pray that i am teaching them the most important things. i pray that i can let go of the little things that don’t really matter. i pray that i am a good wife. and that michael forgives me when i’m not. i don’t proclaim to be the best at anything. but i try hard to be the best me. and to teach my boys to do the same.
so that’s us. our little family.
actually, we have a dog too but he’s a whole other story!
