One more blessing

Bedtimes are difficult in this house for the most active child of the bunch.....the ball of energy that never stops, yet is so sweet and loving it is hard to be mad at him for long.....and also hard to keep up with :) His name is Tyler and he is EVERY BIT two years old :)

I have utterly given up keeping his room clean. When it is bedtime or naptime he plays in his room for sometimes a LONG time.......thoroughly entertained with making huge messes and playing by himself. I have chosen to forgo this battle as we had a more than six month battle of keeping the child IN his room. No joke, there were nights he wandered out of his room no LESS than 20 times.....and he got spanks every time. I sat outside his room for hours and would give him a stern "no" every time that door cracked. One day, it just clicked and he stayed in.....but now tears up the place.

It is not a rare occasion that I can not get to the child's bed to stare at his angelic eyelashes draped across his face (because let's face it, he has the best eyelashes of the bunch), because of all the toys and books and clothes strewn the room over.

Last night was no exception. He had been in "bed" meaning in "the bedroom" for an hour and a half....and I STILL heard banging and hollering going on. I had been up there about 4 times already so this time I sent my husband. When he went up there, his conclusion was that the boy was hot. So, he turned the fan on high, and without my knowledge, opened the window all the way.

I am in NO WAY blaming this event on my husband. He does not have the "mommy fears" that are built into all mommy's and never thought about the window.

Five minutes later, we hear even more banging and laughing and screaming so I send him up again to deal with the boy.

It was then that he called me up and my heart stopped in fear when I entered that bedroom.

The window was completely open and the screen popped out (Tyler's room is on the second floor above the pitched roof.) Tyler was rolling his trains and trucks down the roof's incline and then was very upset that some were stuck in the storm drain.

I had visions of sirens......of a lifeless broken body on the ground.......of hospitals and doctors and X-rays......and of life without my precious precious baby.

Fear gripped my heart.....and anger at the child that God gave me. He got some very VERY hard spankings and he cried, with his arms outstretched, for me to forgive him and love him again. Tears rolled down my face as I held my tiny child and hugged him, showering him with grace and love in spite of my fear and anger.

All I can do is thank my God above for sparing the life of my baby child......whom I KNEW would have been out on that roof rescuing his trains and trucks.

What if I had let the noise go on? What if I did not ask my husband to go up yet AGAIN and deal with the rascal? What if......what if......

We can not live in a world of "what if's" because it is too scary a place to be. We can only do our best to protect the biggest blessings God has given us within our human capacity and trust Him to do the rest.

Thank you, God for the guardian angels who work overtime in houses with adventurous little boys. They must be a special breed that God gives them almost impossible tasks!

Anyway, today when this special child gets on my very last nerve there have been a few more kisses, a bit more patience and even though I did not know it was possible, a bit more love.