Bedtime

Small chubby fingers rest on top of my hands as we sit cross-legged on the bed reading a Bible story before bedtime. This is one of the small windows of opportunity I have in which Josiah sits peacefully on my lap. More often than not, I see his bum as he scurries away on a new adventure...the exact reason why I took this picture for one of his 10 month photos...because we have an adventurous little man who is always eager to learn and explore new things.

As he sat there on my lap so sweetly listening to the story of Abraham and Isaac on Mt. Moriah, I couldn't help but notice how much bigger he has gotten. His legs now stretch over my criss-crossed legs whereas for so long they would tuck neatly into the space of my lap. Now, every night he helps me open the book, eager to read a new story and flip pages as his eyes take in all the colors of the pictures on the pages of his Jesus Storybook Bible. He glances up at me reading every once in a while, just to smile at me and watch my lips make each word to which I respond by gently kissing his forehead. Such a sweet baby boy.

He snuggled into my lap a little more as I prayed and then started to sing Amazing Grace and May the Lord, songs that Nathan and I grew up having sung to us at bedtime each night. His hands remained on mine as I sang until he found my adventure ring and began to twirl it around my finger. Tears started to fill my eyes at the beauty of this time. And then, he looked up at me, at my tear-filled eyes, and pointed his little index finger at my eyes almost as if to ask, "Mommy, why do have tears in your eyes?" O dear one, my heart is so full it is overflowing in tears of love and joy.

After tucking him into his crib and kissing him one last time on the bridge of his nose right between his eyes, I softly stepped out into the hallway. Thinking back to him playing with my adventure ring, I paused to reminisce all of the adventures that have come my way, our way, since that ring found its home there on my right hand ring finger. It is the ring Nathan gave me on our wedding night, an adventure ring, he called it, for all the adventures we had yet to encounter as we journeyed through the adventure of marriage. 

And my oh my, so many adventures packed into less than 3 years of marriage. Some big and exhilerating, others tough like running up a mountain, and still others tranquil as each day passes making the story of our lives. And this adventure, this time of parenting and shepherding the souls of the children God grants to live under our roof... It goes by so quickly, but maybe, just maybe, there is adventure in even the little things like tonight, while little fingers rest so peacefully on mine.

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