Every Bed of Roses: Anticipating the Butterfly

Meet my daughter whose name means

Beautiful Anointed one who is a gift of the Lord

On this blog she is known as Miss J. We received confirmation of our pregnancy two days after Christmas 18 years ago. We had a wonderful pregnancy. Our journey to finding Miss J's name was an interesting one. I was pregnant with two of my friends and we lived in a rural farming community. We had a name chosen for a girl during our first pregnancy it was Sarah J******. Paul had been praying that we have a daughter and we looked forward to calling her Princess.

Five months into our pregnancy my friend birthed a beautiful daughter and called her - Sarah. At the time we were living in a rural community. Normally when you live in a rural community it's for a life time and I felt we needed to choose a new name for a girl because if our daughters were going to be in the same class I did not want them to have the same names. After much prayer and name book searching we found a new name. Jessica Anne. Three months later my second friend birthed her first born and named her - Jessica Anne. We were surprised. We still felt we wanted a unique name for our baby if it was a daughter.

Four weeks later we were still searching for a name when I went into labour at four am. We had not settled on a name. As I laboured we searched for a name. Paul read out names and we discussed them. One of the things I really wanted in names for our children was that they would be a blessing every time we spoke to our children. An hour before her birth we settled on her names.

Anticipation
One of the things we do as parents when we are pregnant is we have this deep sense of expectation and anticipation for our children. We dream of a life of possibility. When I began homeschooling there was an added sense of anticipation of what we would do in the high school years

One of the things I did not expect was how quickly things change. One moment I thought we had another three years of home schooling followed by a few years of tertiary education and the next it all changed. An opportunity came up for Miss J to attend college at 15 and study towards her Cert III in Children's Services. Miss J graduated in January last year. Has since worked full time and moved out of home six months ago.

The teen years hold so many possibilities for us and for our children.

Hold on lightly
Today Susan's words spoke to my heart -

Perhaps the hardest part is

letting them be,

letting them become,

and releasing them to God’s Will.

Come what may.

This is the hardest part of all Mom's in their journeys as Mothers.

I would like to encourage you mom's with little ones enjoy each moment time is short. To you Mom's of middle year children treasure the exploring, the moment you have now is fleeting.

To you Mom's of the teen look at these years with the anticipation of seeing His perfect plan for your child unfold, hold on lightly and release them to find who the Father has made them to be. They are created in His image and not the image of your dreams.

And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you. Philippians 1:6

May you be blessed as you step back and anticipate seeing the fullness of His plan unfold before you for your children.

Blessings
Chareen

During the month of May I would like to introduce each of my children to you.

8 May - Releasing Butterflies this May
15 May - Hoping for the Butterfly - Mr T
22 May - Anticipating the Butterfly - Miss J
29 May - Preparing the Butterfly - Sir N

--ooOoo--

May is Ichthyosis Awareness Month. I will be partaking in a month long blog hop in honor of Peter and other children with Ichthyosis. Release the butterflies is more than about children with a rare skin disorder it's about each and every one of our children.

Susan will be having a weekly link up. Please join me in celebrating each and every child and just how special they truly are.

Here is Susan's Schedule
Links will be added here as the posts go live.
Release the Butterflies Posts: