Time Keeps on Ticking..

I spent a long time the other day reading posts from a blog I used to have.  I hadn't read through it in years and it was awesome to remember.  Most of the posts are from what were our baby days.  Literally filled with 1,2 and 3 year olds and also our days when we were a new "big" family.  One post caught my attention because I was saying how strange it will be when I had teenagers and not babies.  Well I am here and it is not as strange as I once thought.  Although it is much more difficult to blog about everything in life, as I like to respect their privacy as they get older.  It got me thinking about life and how quickly it moves along and yet how endless the moments can seem.  Somehow I have yet to get a grasp on this whole time thing.  On one hand stages like giving up naps, potty training, learning to read, seemed in the moment to be endless... but when I look back, I can remember glimpses and it seems like it went by so quickly.  It seems I went from worrying about kindergarten to college in about 2 weeks. Randy and I were discussing the 10 year plan of life.  In 10 years my youngest will be 17 and my oldest 26 and while it seems like forever away I know I will see this in those days and say, it went by so fast.  It was a reminder of I need to guard my time and at the same time not wait to live.  When we grew from 2 to 7 children in 2 years, we were not "ready".  If we had waited to be "ready" we would still be waiting.  We had no idea how this would work 7 years ago and still we have no idea, but its working (some days better than others).  We didn't know that after bringing home 5 children we would have 2 cross country moves into 3 houses.  We didn't know how the sibling dynamics would work.  We didn't know we would adopt another teenager.  We didn't know if the funds would arrive.  But in that we saw and see God show up time and time again.  We were forced to rely on God because we had no idea what we were jumping into.  We just knew that God was calling us and that we needed to respond.  We weren't "Ready" we still are not "ready" for some things life throws at us.  So I encourage you to answer your call.  Whatever God is calling you to do, don't be afraid, jump in!  Let Him provide, let Him show you what He can do.  No your not ready, no everything isn't in perfect order, yes you will be tired some days and want to throw in the towel, but its OK.  All those people you look at and say if only, or when I, or we always plan to, or if I could.....they didn't think they could either, they didn't feel prepared, they were scared as all get up, but the difference is they jumped anyway.  Here are some old pictures I found :) If I had waited for perfect timing, I would have missed all of this.....