By God's Grace

When my husband and I hear folks say to us, "you've done such a good job raising those boys" we just smile and tell them it's only by the Grace of God. Sometimes I will also give the response my mom would tell folks when they asked her what she did to raise such good kids...."Well, I'll tell ya one thing....I spanked!" That's right, I spanked too and what do ya know my kids (nor I for that matter) did not turn out to be violent individuals!

I frankly thought God was crazy giving ME two babies at the same time to raise! To give you a little background on me I have never been, nor am I now, and will not be in the future a baby person. It wasn't until I met my husband that decided it would be nice to have a family, but girlfriend you were looking at one scared chick when it came to babies! I never babysat, or played with dolls growing up. I was a full fledged tomboy with stuffed (or real) animals. When our twin boys were born the nurse at the hospital had to teach me how to change a diaper. Oh and did I mention that they were preemie's (7 weeks early), they almost died at birth. As I look back over the years I see why God gave me twins. As God took us through all of those moves these boys always had a friend, they weren't the only "new" kid at all the changing schools, and they kept each other strong in an ungodly world. Even though I couldn't see it until later He was showing me Mercy by giving me twins.









I can't say I was a graceful parent either. Luckily my friends never got to see my dark side! As we say down south, my patience went about as far as I could spit! I had many days where I looked like a raging bull and these boys were the red flag swaying in the wind, if you get the picture. I often felt like the green wicked witch of the west from the Wizard of Oz yelling, "I'll get you my little pretties!" Oh they were cute but don't let the smiles fool ya, they had a mini-dark side themselves. God stretched me in the baby stage, challenged me in the toddler age, and body slammed me in the middle school phase! If I may say a few words about Middle School, this is a time when aliens take over your child's mind and mouth! High school for me was a dream, it helped to "exorcise" the alien from their bodies and I started to see young men emerging.


As I clumsily marched on the front line of parenting I also relied on my upbringing from my own mom and dad. I would often quote my dad telling them they "need to change their wont to". Like my parents, I did not spend my days worrying about offending my kids but was more concerned with focusing on developing a respectful Godly character in them. To go on record, there was a lot of offending that went on in our house. We used that wonderful imagination that kids are blessed with and taught them mom and dad were not the only one watching them, God knows all things and sees all things. We put the fear of God in them, they were not only accountable to us but to their Heavenly Father more.

To me it seemed like God picked me up and threw me into the pool of parenthood and said swim! But praise the Lord he doesn't leave you there to drown. Boy He will make you work at it though, just like any wise parent who will not do everything for their child, however He is only an arm's length away ready to pull you up when your head goes under water! I stand in awe at the young men these preemie babies have become and I admire their strong faith. As I sit beside the still waters God has led me to for this restful time in my life I am keenly aware that there will be more challenges ahead to face. But with each challenge there's a new lesson and growth. And by His grace I will get through it.