21 and 21

For this entire month, I have had a 21 year old and a 21 month old.

I joked about it all month, but then it hit me...

This is fun and all, but I hope I don't have a 21 year old and 21 month old at the same time again! If that happened, we would have another teenager and a newborn baby at the same time. And y'all, that's not for the faint of heart! 

Babies go to bed early.

Teenagers stay up late.

Babies wake up in the middle of the night.

And the sun rises way too early!

But seriously, I wouldn't change a thing about any of it!

Having a 21 year old means you get to joke around and they actually get your humor (most of the time). They roll their eyes when you try and act cool or be funny. They try eating most things because it's adventurous. They can dress themselves! They still depend on you for things (because you make more money than they do) and so you get a great excuse to hang out with them - BUT they don't need you every single second of every single day.

Having a 21 month old means I hear "mama - holds yous" while getting hit on the legs or my pants pulled down because attention is needed ASAP all of the time. A 21 month old will try a lot of food I put in front of him, but spits a lot out as well. (We're working on this). But they also want your attention and demand you give it to them because you are their world! They want to do everything with you by their side because they love you so stinking much! Hugs, snuggles, kisses, reading, more snuggles, singing, playing and more. It's a fun age of soaking up everything and repeating everything they hear. They are sponges, adventure seekers, and little mini-me's.

But both of these put under 1 roof and it makes for an interesting life. 

When I was 21, my goal was to be married for a few years and have 3 kids by 32 and be in the process of adopting another couple.

Funny thing is, no matter how off track my life is from "my" plan, God's actually given me quite a bit from what I asked to begin with! And in all honesty, we could have 4 kids in the very near future (or heaven help us - 5!!!)

I promise I'm not crazy.

Promise.

Well, at least I don't think I've gone crazy yet.

We'll see what the next few months holds for me.

So I'm savoring being the mom of a 21 year old and a 21 month old.

Because it's what GOD planned for my life.

And it's just a little great.

He gave me the story of salvation wrapped up in my life story.

I was broken, needed a Savior, and He stepped in and radically changed my heart.

You see, I get to explain this story all of the time to perfectly good strangers.

When I take my older son out to eat and the waitress brings him the check because they think we're on a date. Yes, this has happened more times then I'd like to count. But then I get to graciously take the bill and explain that he's my son. (I tend to give a moment of hang time just to see their reaction - hope that's not too mean!) And then I have the opportunity to explain that we adopted this amazing man when he was a teenager because God told us to. And we are eternally blessed by him becoming a Carson!

Sometimes they walk off, a little stunned, and sometimes they ask questions. Other times I get a "you're crazy" look. It's okay, I understand.

I really love when we're all four together and they can't figure out who is who in the family. Just cracks me up watching people analyze us.

And now we're about to take our crazy looking family across the world to get stared at more and questioned more. 

It's why we're going. 

It's what we're counting on! 

They will be so bewildered by us they will ask our story.

And then we get to share!

Because of God's grace we get to share!

So please pray for opportunities.

Pray for patience as a parent.

Pray for protection over my family.

Pray that we will listen to the Holy Spirit guiding us when to talk and when to be silent.

And pray that we will knock down doors through the story God has given us for the gospel to be spread!