Little Ones

How beautiful little babies are! Their sweetness, their softness, their adorable smiles. Our Heavenly Father, the Giver of all good blessings, has blessed mothers and fathers so abundantly with the gift of little ones. This afternoon, as I savored the sweetness of our youngest who recently celebrated her first birthday, I could not help but think of what a delightfully precious, wonderfully special little baby she is. Oh, how I just love to love her. She is chubby and soft and sweet. I love her dark little curls that graciously turn out as the day passes, her beautiful brown eyes that are bright and full of joy, and her sweet little cheeks that seem to be made only for kisses. I love that her smile spreads across her face so easily, almost as though she was born to do just that. She is cuddly and loves to snuggle with her mommy. She bounces across the floor so joyfully, following after her daddy, and she admiringly imitates the playful nature of her beloved sister. She is truly so precious.

What a blessing it is to enjoy this time in our lives, to delight in the sweetness of our children. Our God is such a loving and magnificent Creator that He made these little babies to be just as they are. They are nearly irresistible it seems to mothers and fathers and their doting grandparents. Who can help but lovingly adore the baby who offers a newfound kiss, who squeals with delight when she sees a familiar person, or who waves goodbye for the first time? God has blessed us so richly, allowing us to delight in the smallest of things. As mothers, we savor these precious moments, often scrambling to try to jot down the cutest of little whims in our memory books. We cannot help but share these smallest steps with our husbands when we see them at the day's end, and we must share the latest of their smallest accomplishments with dear friends and adoring grandparents. God has called us to raise these precious souls according to His Word (Ephesians 6:4). He could have made this the simplest, most ordinary of tasks. But He is so gracious and so loving that He has allowed us to delight in these little ones with a joy that can only be known by those who have children. Let us praise our God for His most bountiful blessings.

The Sweetness of Little Minds

There is hardly anything so precious as a newborn baby. How sweet it is when these delightful souls grow and grow and grow a little more, even to be able to communicate their thoughts and intentions with us. We no longer have to wonder what they might need. A verbal exchange is shared, and a lovely conversation is sparked... farm animals, princesses, ladybugs, and bumblebees. How beautiful is the mind of a little one.

And how sweet they are, how especially precious, so undeniably innocent even before they reach that stage of verbal proficiency. Sometimes, though I must admit, not enough, I try to think about what our little ones might be thinking. This evening, as I was so thankful to be sharing a few moments with our 7-month-old as I tended to things in the kitchen, I was imagining what might be passing through her mind. We have delighted in the moments when she has begun to use a new word, but her smiles and outstretched arms and cries for Mommy are still her primary mode of communication. She is so wonderfully, so beautifully, so extraordinarily precious.

So tonight, I wondered, as I continued to talk with her, what was she thinking about? As she examined the toy turtle in her sweet little hands, I began to share the story of the tortoise and the hare. Initially, I was thinking of her budding language skills, but then I was reminded of her. Just her. Without the hopes and dreams surrounding language and grammar, math and literacy. Instead, I imagined what she was thinking as she listened to her mommy talk with her. I'm quite certain that her thoughts were not really on whether the tortoise or the hare won the race. Instead, she might have been thinking of how happy she was to just be near Mommy, to hear her voice, to know that she was explaining something to her.

What a blessing it is that God has entrusted us with these little ones. I hope that in this journey of home education, and perhaps even greater, in this journey of motherhood, that I will remember that the academics are secondary. The time spent together pursuing these educational goals is far more important than the education itself. And in the end, we want to train these little souls to serve their Father in heaven and their Lord Jesus Christ. May I always consider the hearts of these little ones and the thoughts that travel through their minds.