Reflections on Year 1

We recently celebrated my son’s first birthday. I can’t believe it’s already been a year since God plopped this incredible little human into my life.  As I reflect on my first year of parenthood, there are so many lessons that I could dedicate a whole blog to them. I’ll just share a few here:

Raising a baby is a crash course in partnership:  My husband and I have partnered together in the past: we led a LIFE group together before we even liked each other, we went on a couple missions trips together, we planned a wedding together. But there was no greater test of our partnership and communication skills than raising a baby. I’ve never been so thankful to have a husband who is always asking, ‘How can I serve you more,’ and is willing to sacrifice until it hurts.

Wow, my parents really are pretty great: Having a child of my own has deepened my understanding and appreciation of my parents. I think back to some of the heartaches and headaches that I caused my parents, and I imagine how I would respond if Joshua did those things to me. It leads me to give them much more grace for the few times that they failed, and appreciate them so much more for all the times that they gave their best.

I can’t control outcomes:  I often wonder what kind of person Joshua will become. I hope he’ll be smart, athletic, musical, popular (but he won’t know that he’s popular so he’ll also be humble) … that’s not asking for too much, right? But in the end, Joshua will become whoever God has destined for him to be, and God will use whatever it takes to mold him into that person. The question is: can I relinquish all control and give God full permission to have His way with my son?

God truly does love me unconditionally: As cliched as this one sounds, as I think about how much I love my son, who can’t even reciprocate the love, sacrifice, sleepless nights, and labor pains that our relationship has cost me, it gives me just a tiny glimpse of how much God must love me.

And to leave you with a few practical lessons I’ve learned:
-Oxiclean is miraculous: it gets out even the worst poop stains.
-I can save money on gym memberships by using a baby to do arm curls and lunges.
-I can throw out my alarm clock because I have a little human alarm clock that is stuck on 6:30am and a snooze interval of ‘every 3 seconds.’
-Always have a camera within arms reach, because these little people do something new and exciting every day.

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