Thankful

Every week, I go to pick up my little friend at preschool.  The teacher is a very sweet woman who is swelling in the midsection with her third child.   Her eldest is a student in her class and the middle man (maybe around 19 months old) stays with her mother while she works. Her mother comes and picks up her oldest boy after preschool and takes him home.  This morning as we were picking up, Mom went to pick up her little toddler as the grandmother went into the classroom.  He began to cry and reach out for his grandmother.  He clearly wanted her and his mother was unable to console him.  My heart went out to this poor young mother, the hurt in her eyes was so evident. Her little boy didn't want her, he wanted his grandmother.  I began to praise God with such a gratitude that I was fortunate enough to be able to stay home and raise my babies myself.  Thankful for a husband who thought raising babies was an important job.  Thankful that God provided for our needs. When we made the decision for me to quit teaching, Eric had just started a new job.  He wasn't making very much, in fact he wasn't sure that he would be making enough to pay all the bills.  We prayed about it and felt it was the move God wanted us to make.  Was it scary?  Absolutely!  But God blessed our obedience and Eric quickly began to make double what we were making with the both of us working.  In the beginning, there were many times we went without.  I went without a car for about four months.  I went without new clothes.  We went without cable television.  We went without the latest and greatest new cell phone.  We went without eating out on a weekly basis.  But I never considered myself poor or even cared about what I didn't have because I had the most precious gift in the world, the opportunity to raise my babies.  To the Lord and to Eric, I am forever thankful for that gift.