It Takes a Village

I know you have all heard the saying, “it takes a village to raise a child”. Well, this morning I found the clearest evidence of this in our home.

When the girls got up this morning we went through our Sunday morning routine, but opted not to go to church at the last minute for several different reasons. One being, Blythe has had the crud for about 2 weeks, but when the snot didn’t change from yellow to clear (I know that is gross, but it is what it is) before hair bow time this became strike 1. Strike 2 was the phone call from Ryan’s mom telling us Pop was in the hospital again and they were going to be transporting him to Northeast GA. to have a pace maker put in. Strike 3; my little speckled frog has some new spots. No she is not on the antibiotic anymore. These are new and different from the other rash, they came up about 3 days ago and I assumed they were just a skin irritation. Poor baby :( Needless to say we will be visiting Dr. Garrett in the morning for 2 of the 3 children.

After daddy left to visit Pop I encouraged the girls to go play since Brennan didn’t sleep good and needed an earlier nap. Surprisingly, they did as they were told without objection (I thought they would be disappointed since we weren’t going to church. They love church!).

Listening and observing children play happens to be one of my many loves in life. Children interact with others on such honest and genuine levels it is refreshing. So after Brennan was sleeping I secretly sat on the steps and listened to the twins play. It wasn’t surprising to me to hear them role playing, but what was surprising to me were the people they were pretending to be.

They weren’t princesses, princes, fairies, ballerinas, football players (yes, they do play this, thanks to dad.) They were our friends; people from our community, people we see on a daily/weekly basis, people we love, admire and care about. People I am honored to have my children look up too. So if you ever think your impact on your community doesn’t go much further than your home and job you are wrong, they are watching my children and other children. They see you and you matter to them. They look up to you and mimic your behaviors, so mind you manners. ;)

In the last 2 hours or so they have been the following:

Kim, Stacy, Kelsey, and Alexa

Mrs. Missy and “the boys”

Mrs. Laura, Dr. Garrett, and Jack

Mrs. Merideth and Mr. Derek

Mrs. Kendra and Mr. Kevin

Mrs. Heather and Mr. Kevin

Mrs. Joni and Mr. Tim

Mrs. Karrie and Mr. Brent

Mrs. Kisha and Mr. Scott

Uncle Joe and Aunt Lyn- this one happens to be my favorite because my aunt is only 60 and was diagnosed with alzheimer’s last year. She is changing so fast; the medicines are not working for her. It’s funny to see their interpretations of both my aunt and uncle’s behaviors.

Yes, it takes a village and we are thankful for our village. The people in our community- our friends and our family: you matter, you matter to Ryan and I and you matter to our children!