A Question of What Matters

This post is an entry from my hand-written journal on 6/6/2013...

This week Rachel Anne over at Home Sanctuary asked a question that I happen to ask myself quite frequently... "What Matters to You?"

When I started my blog "Seven Matters," I came up with the subtitle "What Matters Most to this Family of Seven."  I started out by writing about the Small Things challenges that Rachel Anne would give us to create sanctuary in our homes each day.  From there, I began to expand into the different activities, memories, and other fun things that come along with having such a big family.  It became a "journal" of sorts.  At the time I had 5 small children and I was still a full time at-home mom.  Life was busy, but I always still somehow found time to sit down and write.  I've always loved to journal, so this was a new and fun way to do just that.

Fast forward six years or so and I am in a totally different stage of life.  I would say that most of the same things still matter to me in the areas of being a wife, mother, and homemaker.  Now that all of my children are in school though, I have added titles like part-time-working mom, classroom volunteer, and taxi driver!  I am finding it a little harder to sit down at the computer to write, so I've gone back to writing in a notebook when I find a minute here and there. 

My youngest, age six, is finishing up kindergarten.  Kindergarten!  I can hardly believe it!  I still remember the shy, reluctant boy that clung to my hand the first day of school, unsure of what to think.  Every school day this year he has wanted me to wait with him in line outside the door until the bell rings and his teacher comes to lead the children inside.  (As I type this, I did that for the last time today, and boy was it hard!)  When it was too cold to wait outside, we would sit in the car reading until the bell rang while my other children would play in the gym.  He's grown a lot more independent this year but I will cherish those moments together for many years to come.

My other kids are going into 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 7th grades next year.  I can't believe I will have TWO Middle-Schoolers next year!  Talk about independent.  It's a whole new world, the pre-teen years.  They start to question the rules a bit and no longer just follow along because mommy said so.  On the flip side, they are developing more responsibility and character.  Their actions become their own and they are, in my mind, great kids.  The most exciting part for me is watching them grow in their own faith and trust God more and more every day.

So what matters to me?  Family.  That sums it up in one word.  I can't make time stand still.  My children will continue to grow and have birthdays and move on each fall to the next grade level of school.  But one thing doesn't change.  I am, and always will be their mom.  And I love them more and more every day!

"Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him." Psalm 127:3 NLT