30 Pound Lesson

Today was my first day serving on the Dream Team at COTH. As fate would have it, I was also playing single mom since Josh was at work. Props to all the single moms out there doing their thang... I almost cried in the church parking lot twice today. I was running late, had to park wayyyy out, no parking team since it was between services so no beloved "rides" - those are SO helpful when you have a 30 pound 3 year old that doesn't walk well - plus I was hauling my laptop and sporting a super cool IronMan backpack. I hustled upstairs to check in with my coach, and then had to wait for a while before I could check C in to Highlands Pre-school. He was hyped because he knew he was getting pizza for lunch today. All of that disappeared when I found my seat in service, and as always worship was moving. The message was spot on with the process that I'm already focusing on to narrow down the important priorities in my life and focus on building and nurturing relationships that are meaningful and not harmful. 401 was an awesome experience and I loved meeting so many new people. We put 86 people through 401 today - praise! My team was one of the last to finish and I was able to see the process beginning to end, which was encouraging. Carter was the last kid left, and he was being so good. I love our pre-school staff. The Barden's helped me get C down to the ground floor since I had a newly acquired filebox to tote along with the previous load. It took us a good 15 minutes to get to the car, and I had a moment. In the middle of the parking lot, C stopped because his legs were hurting... He doesn't walk long distances often and he had taken many more steps than usual since I was unable to effectively carry all of our baggage. I was close to tears and managed to get him to the car when one of the younger girls that serves in the pre-school saw me and approached us. She told me that she loved serving kids with special needs and kids like Carter that have medical needs. She said she loved Carter's spirit and the fact that despite his complications he always is smiling and happy. And there it was. All of the affirmation and love that I needed in one statement. That's why I do what I do. Why I go out on a limb and haul him to service by myself. Because he needs to know that he can do anything and doesn't have to be limited, because there are people there that care about him, and because he blesses people with his presence. Praising God tonight for this precious boy he blessed us with who brings life lessons such as these.