Oh Charlie!

Today I’m going to stray a bit and talk about motherhood. I became a mother almost 19 years ago to our first son. It was magical, scary and exhausting! Surprisingly, he survived our first time parent fears and freak outs and grew into a happy, healthy toddler. At the age of 21 months, our first born became a big brother.

Our second son is the star of the show today. His name is Charlie and I have his permission to share about him. He was the only one of our four sons to be born without induction and I swear he came out smiling. He was a cuddly, easy going baby and adored by his older brother. As Charlie became mobile, he didn’t walk, he RAN. (I’m not kidding). 17 months after he was born we introduced our third son into the world.

To say that I was overwhelmed is an understatement! I had three kids in diapers and Charlie refused to stay in one place for more than a minute. I remember leaving our oldest (age 3 1/2) with the baby so that I could run to chase Charlie. At the time, the movie “The Incredibles” had been released and we called Charlie “Dash” after the character who could run super fast. Charlie was happy, always smiling, and ready to offer a hug at all times. As he entered preschool I began to worry. Everyone said, “Oh, he’s just all boy.” We were restricted to playgrounds and friends houses with fences for fear of him running off. We had several near death experiences as he jumped in the end of the deep end of the pool, disappeared at the beach, and ran off in a busy parking lot. He got expelled from preschool for “using scissors inappropriately” and didn’t seem to fear anything. I would stay up at night worrying about the future of my adorable Charlie.  Every year on his birthday I thanked God for keeping him safe.

So imagine my pride as I write this today, just hours after his drivers license ceremony. My eyes filled with tears as I looked at him, listening to the judge talk about safety. He has grown into a wonderful young man who loves Jesus, works hard, and has a charismatic personality. Just last week we traveled together to tour colleges and he is looking forward to pursuing a future in graphic design. I am confident that he will do great things and am so happy that God chose me to be his mom!

“Love is patient, love is kind” 1 Corinthians 13:4 (NIV).

#Write 31 Challenge- Word of the Day

October 28 Word of the Day- Hunger

As the mother of four sons (11, 15, 16, 18) this is a very familiar word. Teenage boys are ALWAYS hungry! Some mornings I am greeted with the question, “What’s for dinner tonight?” before I’ve even brushed my teeth. My husband and I do our best to keep healthy options available for snacks for the boys, but sometimes I hear, “There’s nothing to eat.” This makes me sad and frustrated and I remind them that as Americans, we have no idea what it means to be truly hungry.

This really sunk in for them when my sons and I had the privilege to volunteer for an organization called Feed My Starving Children. Feed My Starving Children is a non-profit Christian organization committed to feeding God’s children hungry in body and spirit.

Feed My Starving Children provides life-saving meals to people who need them most all over the world — from countries affected by
natural disaster to places enduring economic despair. FMSC meals have been distributed in nearly 70 countries through missionary partnerships at orphanages, schools, clinics, refugee camps and malnourishment centers.

FMSC believes in sustainability – they don’t simply send one shipment of food to a country. Instead, they continue to provide their mission partners with the food they need to maintain their feeding programs.The approach is simple: children and adults hand-pack meals specifically formulated for malnourished children, and they ship these meals to distribution partners. FMSC meals have reached nearly 70 countries around the world in our history.

Our local church hosted a “mobile pack” and we assembled the packages of meals. It was a fun, rewarding event and became meaningful to my sons when they realized that with little effort, we had provided food for thousands of children in just 2 hours.

Would you consider doing a Mobile Pack event at your church or other organization? For more information click here:

Feed My Starving Children