Lost my marbles…

I’ve given myself some time to write this blog post as it has been on my heart for a very long time. A few years ago, there was a season in my life when Children’s Ministry was a central focus of my passions. Some of my very best memories are of Wednesday evening programs, Children’s Day celebrations at church, leading VBS, and Sunday morning children’s programming. All made sweeter by having four of our own children involved that Steve and I were trying our best to “grow up in the Lord”. Recently our church had vacation bible school and talking with our kids, they shared memories of some of the earliest VBS programs they were a part of. A huge giraffe which was created and built in our shed by a wonderful group of people dedicated to the children of our church is something our kids will never forget. “He’s the King of Everything”—may be the best theme song ever!

During my time serving in Children’s Ministry, I was given the opportunity to attend an Orange Conference in Atlanta, GA which may have been one of the most impactful experiences as it relates to parenting children. There I listened to a speaker present the Legacy Jar of Marbles linked here. It is a wonderful visual of the approximately 936 weeks you have with each of your children from the day they’re born until they graduate from high school. As I spend most of my days with families of new babies, this has been something I have felt strongly led to share. It’s absolutely beautiful, heart-wrenching at times, and mostly wonderful way to intentionally parent your children.

I created my own jar and it’s been sitting in my hutch ever since that conference many years ago. In all reality, the jar should be empty now as we just launched our last, Landon, into his new journey as a college freshman. Gosh, that was pretty hard to write and obviously it was too hard for me to remove marbles each week. As difficult as it is to come to grips with this brand new season Steve and I have upon us, there is also such beauty in the gift of raising children and I am oh so thankful for every. last. marble.