Tender Moments...

Yesterday I had probably the most tender moments I have ever experienced with my kids. My son Riley has been really sick lately, causing many sleepless nights and exhausting afternoons. He is scheduled to receive tubes in his ears this next week due to having so many ear infections this year and on top of that he has about 5 teeth coming in all at the same time so you can only imagine how miserable he feels most of the time. Most of the time he never lets me really hold him, he justs wants to play or be held by his mom, but yesterday afternoon Mary was out running some errands and I was at home watching him. He was being pretty fussy and then all of the sudden he just crawled up onto my lap and layed down and fell asleep on my chest. It was wonderful! He just layed there for about an hour while I held him and comforted him a bit. It was great to just experience his receiving comfort from me enough to fall asleep and trust that I would take care of him. That was the first tender moment! In order for you to understand the next tender moment you have understand a little of how things have been in my house lately. My wife and I have been having an extremely difficult time as of lately. I could go into much more detail there and usually I try to be as honest as I can be on this blog but lets just say that things have been really tough and anyone who has been married for some time can acknowledge how hard things can get sometimes! So on top of us having such a hard time we also aren't sleeping very well because of my son so you can just imagine how that adds to the tension on our house. I had gone out late last night to get some fresh air to and just escape out of the house for a time, meeting up with a friend to smoke my pipe and talk a bit about how things were going between Mary and I. I came back home shortly after midnight and found my wife still up watching over Riley who sounded horrible and was obviously in a lot of discomfort. I was immediately worried because we have already been through so much with him having RSV last Christmas and spending much of the holidays in the hospital. Mary suggested that she should hold him in the rocking chair and that might help him breathe a little better and possibly the both of them could get some rest that way. So I helped them get comfortable in my daughter's room, where the rocking chair is, and of course she woke up to the noise of us entering her room. I was able though to lay with her in her bed for some time explaining to her how her little brother is really sick and mommy is trying to make him feel better. She seemed concerned and reached out for my hand and layed there next to me holding my hand while she fell back asleep. I was just in awe at how beautiful she is how amazing it is to be a part of her life! I am so blessed to have such beautiful kids and am continueally amazed at how Christ reveals himself through them. That was the greatest tender moment I have ever experienced with my daughter! In the climax of stress and difficult times, God decided to allow me to see him in a different light and it was beautiful!