The hours are long, the years are short.

Yesterday, I was doing what I'm always doing - working my way through the mounds of stuff around the house in a doomed effort to hold back the tide of chaos and clutter - when I came across this Valentine that Sarah must have made at Preschool. It had two red handprints making a heart-shape on the front, and on the inside was printed that poem about the fingerprints on doors that you'll one day miss seeing.

And I almost started crying.

Then this morning, I found this slip of paper which Luke used to remind himself why he had brought a plastic snake in his word bag when the letter of the week was "v," not "s."

And I almost started crying again.

It's not that I'm overly crazy or hormonal or sleep-deprived (well, maybe a little of all that stuff) - it's really just that this is happening so fast. Luke can read and write, for pete's sake! And Sarah, a teenager in attitude since age 2, now has the lengthening legs to match her growing-up ways. I couldn't be prouder of them, and I couldn't be more desperate to slow the hands of time... well - except daily at 5 pm (aka, the witching hour) and maybe also during 3 am feedings...

And don't get me started on this one. 

Rolling over, eating solids, laughing up a storm at the silly faces his family members love to pull for him. He's supposed to be my baby, but he seems to be growing faster than the other two combined! Andrew, it's not a race, child!

Tonight, I will join a sweet group of other young moms from church for dinner; we will be "inducting" a new expectant mom into the group with laughter, love, and lots of inside advice. As I mulled over the things I wish to share tonight, I just kept thinking about this truth that an older mom once shared with me: the hours are long but the years are short. It's so true, and in the face of this truth, I'm sometimes tempted to despair, if I'm being perfectly honest. How do I stop time from rushing onwards? Or at the very least, how is it that one can "make the most" of these moments (especially when many of them are challenging)? 

I won't pretend to know the answers to those questions, but I have learned one thing that seems to help: thanksgiving. We know we are to "give thanks in all circumstances" (I Thessalonians 5:18), and I'm learning that this practice not only helps me through rough times but also is a way to hold the best moments close. Perhaps it's God's sweet miracle for this momma. When I give thanks for these children, for each of their personalities, strengths, weaknesses, futures, and pasts, time stands blessedly still, if only for a moment. 

Thank you, dear Lord!