My Life As a Mom of a Teenager

I am tickled to introduce you to my friend, Deb, as this month's guest blogger. Deb is an outstanding teacher and mom. She is raising a teenager and is still alive to tell us about it. ;)

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FOOTPRINTS OF THE HEART

When I close my eyes, I can still feel the gentle weight of my newborn son, wrapped in a white fuzzy blanket and nestled in my protective arms. How I loved to hold him close and smell his baby soft skin, rocking back and forth, back and forth. I think I will forever remember the wonder I felt as I looked at his tiny hands and feet. I recall stooping over again and again to pick up the doll-sized socks that kept slipping off his little feet, proof of just how small he was. The fierce sense of love that I felt was overwhelming, my joy undeniable.

Fast forward fourteen and a half years, those little feet have ballooned into man-sized feet, complete with hairy toes and a stench that'll make even the brave gag! That sweet baby smell and those gurgling coos are replaced with Axe cologne spray and a deep voice that complains and argues over whose turn it is to empty the dishwasher or take the garbage out. Gone is the obedient little boy who would willingly go to bed after a bedtime story and a good night snuggle. In that little boy's place is a defense lawyer in the making, ready at every turn to give a logical argument as to why he should be able to stay up as long as he likes or why a C- in Spanish class is really no big deal.

Just as I was amazed by all the simple abundance in my life all those years ago, so too am I amazed by all the change! The old cliché of time slipping by couldn't be truer. As desperately as I cling to those precious memories, hoping time will stand still, my son determinedly strives forward eager to get his driver's license and first job.

I often shake my head and rub my eyes certain that I will be back in that rocking chair, only to discover that I gave in to that bone weary exhaustion. But no, try as I may, the dirty socks and well worn tennis shoes littering my doorway are real.

I know that in the not-so-distant future, I will even miss those socks and shoes that I trip over each day. I may complain about the sassy attitude, the sloppy job he did of cleaning up the once-tidy bathroom, or of how he drinks milk not by the glass but by the gallon, and yet I wouldn't trade any of it because this season of motherhood is just as priceless as any other- maybe not so sweet smelling, but precious nonetheless!

Savor each moment and try not to stand in the way as that little baby takes a step forth, making a lasting footprint for all to admire.

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Thank you for sharing, Deb! You even make it sound not so bad to have a teenager. :)


~ If you would like to share your story of motherhood with us, please let me know. We'd love to hear it! ~

Are You Leaving a Residue?

by Becky Boggio

My son asked me the other day why our drinking glasses, although clean, look cloudy? I told him that it was just hard water residue on them. Our water softener exploded several years ago and we never replaced it. The word residue stuck in my head. Residue is defined as “something that remains after a part is removed”. Residue can be good or bad. Cloudy glasses isn’t a bad residue, it just doesn’t look nice. I was thinking that as we raise our children to be followers of God, are we leaving a residue? What are we leaving behind when our children aren’t with us?

They say it takes 27 days to develop a habit but I believe this is a focused change of behavior. As parents I have heard/read that we will say something to our children one million times before it may actually trigger them to do said action (i.e. close the door behind you, chew with your mouth closed, use your manners, etc). Leaving a residue seems easier.

We are leaving a residue with every word or action our children see us say or do. Do you ever overhear your kids say something and immediately know where they heard it? Yep, from my own mouth usually. I cringe when I hear myself say things that my mother said to me. And while on occasion there is evidence of bad residue, I rejoice when I see evidence of good residue, God following residue. I teach my daughter’s Girls Club class at church each week and I love to see or hear her apply the things I am teaching in class to our lives at home. Last week one of the girls brought up something from a unit we studied last year, during the first month of the season. How awesome to find that residue, over a year old.

I believe that as parents we try to guide our children and give them the tools to make their life decisions when they are grown up. This includes their decision to accept Christ as their Savior and living their lives to glorify Him. Let our prayer be, when we speak with our children or they see us doing things, that we are a leaving a residue that glorifies God and is perceived a good residue so when we are removed from our children they will seek God and His direction in their lives.

My Life as a Mom with PCOS

Today I am happy to introduce my friend, Aimee, as our guest blogger. I have known her all of her life (I'm just a tad bit older ;) and she is a faithful friend. She signed up right away to share her story with us and I'm so glad she did. Take it away, Aimee ...

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To begin, you should know that I have been struggling with how to write this and where to start.  So, with that said I suppose I will start at the beginning, of how I became a mom.

My husband and I struggled for about four years trying to get pregnant.  At first, it wasn’t a big deal but as time passed, I couldn’t understand why.  I kept thinking “is there something wrong with me?”  I would frequently have irregular periods which sometimes would last for up to two weeks.  I never really knew if I was ovulating and as time went on I was getting really frustrated.  After three years of trying to have a baby I finally found out that I have a condition called Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS.)  In talking with my doctor, I had come to find out that some of the symptoms of PCOS are irregular periods, weight gain and, sadly, infertility.

Once we discovered that I had PCOS I couldn’t help thinking to myself that if maybe I had found out sooner, we could possibly have had a baby by now.  At the time, it was really hard for me to see all of my friends having kids, and it hit me especially hard when my sister-in-law gave birth to my niece.  I hate to admit, but I was jealous because I felt everyone was having a baby but me.  I just knew that someday we would have a child and it would all be in God’s timing.  I really had to trust Him because He knew when we were supposed to have a child.

Getting back to infertility; upon the discovery of my PCOS, my OB referred me to a fertility specialist.  My husband and I met with him and he shared with me me some things I needed to do that would help us have a child.  For starters, he told me that I needed to walk two miles a day to help me lose some of the weight I had gained from the PCOS.  Additionally, I was put on a drug called Metformine which is actually a drug used for diabetes, but is also known to help with infertility caused by PCOS.  I began to do all the things my fertility doctor had told me to do, walking two miles a day, working on losing weight, and taking the medication.  After eight months, however, it seemed like the new regimen was not helping.   As time went on and I kept not getting pregnant, it was the opinion of my fertility specialist that our next steps would likely need to be some more drastic treatment, like IVF.   At this point, after some frustration, my husband and I decided I should take some time off from taking the medicine.  We wanted to spend some time praying for God’s plan.  About a month and a half later, I got pregnant!

Finally getting pregnant was a miracle from God.  He is the only one who knows when the time is right. Somehow, Russell knew I was pregnant before I even knew for sure.  I was so excited when I found out (shocker, I know.)  It was a Friday and I had just gotten home from work and decided to take a pregnancy test.  My father-in-law was at our house replacing the sink in our bathroom, so I had to take a test after he left to get some parts at the store.  As soon as I saw the positive result of the test, I texted Russell.  He was in a meeting giving a presentation, read the text and told his boss “sorry but I’ve gotta go!”  He showed his boss the text, gave him a high five and left.  When Russell got home, we went to get my blood drawn and we received the positive news the following morning.  As soon as we knew it was a positive blood draw we went straight to tell our parents.  It was really hard not to tell our friends right away, but I wanted to wait until we saw the Dr.

After a few weeks, we finally got to go to the doctor and see our little baby’s heartbeat.  What a miracle our baby was, and I don’t know what my life would be like today if he was not here.  A few months later, we found out this child growing inside me was a boy, and we were both overjoyed. 

The only part of the story that is missing is how we came upon the name Cullen Matthew.  Cullen means “handsome” and Matthew means “gift from God.”  He truly is our handsome little gift from God!  Cullen means more to me than anything in the world and I thank God every single day for the life he has entrusted me with.

I hope this will give hope to those who have may have similar trouble with infertility.  Always remember, if you put your faith and trust in God ANYTHING can happen.  I am glad that I can share my story with you!

Love,

Aimee

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Thank you for sharing your story with us, Aimee! We are so glad God blessed you with little Cullen Matthew!

Moms in Touch International

Today's guest post is written by my friend, Becky Boggio. She is involved in a ministry called Moms in Touch International. She spoke about it at the Code Blue women's event at WFA and you could hear how passionate she was about this ministry during her talk. I had never heard about Moms in Touch before and figured a lot of you might not have either. Becky excitedly agreed to share with us today and fill us in on this amazing ministry.

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I am so excited that Jamie invited me to share information about a ministry called Moms in Touch International (MITI). MITI was started by a woman named Fern Nichols in 1984 when her two oldest children were entering junior high and Fern felt a burden on her heart about how different their lives would be at this age in school. Through prayer she asked God to give her another mom who shared her burden who she could pray with and God led her to such a woman. They began to meet together to pray and then invited other mothers to join them. As moms began to share how God was working in their lives during these prayer sessions other groups began as well. This all occurred while Fern and her family were residing in British Columbia. In 1985 the Nichols family moved to California and Fern continued to feel God’s calling for her to grow this ministry. Today the Moms in Touch Ministry have groups that meet in every state in the country and in 130 different countries around the world. The Moms in Touch International Booklet has been translated into more than 48 languages.
There are groups that meet at all school age levels from pre-school through college, there are career-aged groups, grandmothers, prison ministry, home schooled groups, and special needs groups.
Being part of this ministry has blessed me so much and telling my story is my favorite part of it. Two years ago, October 2009, I read an article about Moms in Touch International (www.momsintouch.org), a ministry of mothers that meet weekly to pray for their children, the issues the children face at school, and for the children’s schools (teachers, administration, etc).   I browsed their website and discovered that out of all the schools in the Waukesha School District there were only two that had a registered group of mothers praying for their schools (as of late September 2011 that number has increased to eight).  I immediately felt as though a darkness was covering Waukesha.  I emailed a couple of my friends and suggested that we informally send out prayer requests for our kids, as we have them, in an effort to try and change this but those requests came in few and far between.  At the time it just didn’t seem possible to find an extra hour in the week to commit to something. 
Fast forward to Christmas time, when I received a Christmas letter from a family friend, Marion.  She and my mother grew up together and I have known her and her children (who are about 8-10 years older than me) my whole life.  In Marion’s letter she mentioned that her daughter, Sherri, was still involved in Moms in Touch.  I assumed it was participating in prayer groups for her kids.  I went on the website again to see if Sherri’s name was on some sort of contact list so I could connect.  I clicked on the state of WI to narrow down my search and Sherri’s picture popped up as the Moms in Touch State Coordinator.  Wow!  I totally believe this was God at work. 
I contacted Sherri and she enthusiastically told me about the ministry and encouraged me to set up a group.  I started a group for my children’s school, Prairie Elementary, and while the number of participants is low we know God is at work. My connection with Sherri has allowed me the opportunity to participate in the Moms IN Touch annual Retreat the last two years. It is really a getaway for the Moms in Touch leadership of the state but others who pray or lead groups are invited as well. We spend our time trying to figure out how to spread the word of this ministry and share the incredible stories of how the prayers of us as mothers have been answered by God for our children! We serve an amazing God!
If you would like to learn more about this ministry please go to the Moms in Touch website and connect. Or ask Jamie for my contact info and I will be happy to discuss with you!

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Thank you, Becky!!