Parenting can be tough.

But perhaps you knew that already.

Ever since Sarah became more mobile we added a second child to the mix we started having children, life has gotten way trickier and way more exhausting. Wonderful, but tough all the same. And from what I hear, we've only just begun! (Stop. Don't even mention the word "teenagers." I don't want to hear it.)

But I'm here today to note a few breakthroughs in my current journey. A few moments that have brought me infinite encouragement in the midst of messy diapers, disrupted sleep, battles over getting dressed or putting away toys, and that constant chorus of gripes and fusses coming from the backseat of the van.

First, Luke has started to eat. Some of you have no idea what that means to me - and others of you can identify without any further explanation. But for the benefit of the former group, let me just say that apparently an active preschooler can indeed survive on oatmeal, milk, and peanut butter and honey sandwiches for a few years. However, in the last few months, Luke has begun to expand his repertoire to baked potatoes, apples, hamburgers, broccoli, and cheese pizza (among other things!). I still can't get him to eat the weenie inside the corn dog, but I'm beginning to have hope that this, too, will come. One day. Who knows? Maybe he'll even try a green bean in his later years! Well, let's not get our hopes up.

The second ray of light in this murky world of parenting has come from an unexpected source: naptime. I still fiercely believe that my children both need to rest during the day - and I know that I need it, even on the days especially on the days that they don't seem to. But we have always struggled with that part of our schedule. Whether it's worrying about an infant falling asleep on the way to the grocery store or facing off with a two-year-old over being still for five minutes - naptime has occupied a LOT of my energy over the past three years. Doesn't get more ironic than that.

Anyway, Luke is starting to get to a point where he still needs the rest, but he doesn't need to sleep for hours on end during the day, so some days I'm a lot more lenient about what he does - QUIETLY AND IN HIS ROOM - during naptime. Yesterday was one of those days. But after about an hour of quietly reading (and probably playing) in his room, Luke crept downstairs to see what I was up to. I was, of course, in the middle of Very Important Business (watching the latest episode of Go On on my iPad). Because he knew that he shouldn't be up yet, he was incredibly stealthy as he got out a few trucks and played with them on the floor nearby - and because I had headphones and a comfortable spot in the La-Z-Boy, I went along with it and pretended that I didn't really notice that he was out of bed. Lo and behold, that child played for the whole episode, interrupting me only twice to beg apple slices from my snack bowl ("I loooove apples!" he sweetly whispered as tiptoed away with booty in hand).

And that gives me hope. It is possible that, one day, my child (maybe even both of them) will be able to play on his own, quietly, restfully. And let me watch my show, for Pete's sake. Or maybe do the dishes... (sigh)

I don't know where you need encouragement today, but I pray you will find it. Because sometimes it's the smallest things that keep us going - and help us accomplish all those really big things we have been called to do.