I am a planner. I've always been bad about trying to manage things in my life, according to when
I think the timing is best, instead of letting God have control...particularly when it comes to my children. I was a teacher at the time when Matthew and I first decided we were ready to have kids. So of course, I tried to plan for the
perfect timing of when our first child should be born. And if you are a teacher, you know that the
perfect time lies somewhere conveniently between late March and summer time. I knew I wanted to quit teaching to stay home, and of course I just knew I would become pregnant right away, so obviously
I knew when the best timing would be for me. However God had a different plan. It didn't happen right away--it took the average 6 to 9 month span that the doctor tells you about. This placed the birth of Mason in mid-December...right smack in the middle of the school year! God worked things out though. I was able to resign at that time without incident, and there was a teacher who stepped in and took over my class that following semester, and everything worked out fine.
Then after some time, we were ready for baby #2. My new and improved plan was that this time it would now take us that "average 6 to 9 month span that the doctor tells you about", so of course we waited for Mason to be just the right age for our kids to have that
perfect 2.5 to 3 year age span. But again God had a different plan. Little did we know that this time it would take us more than a year-and-a-half of waiting, in addition to a small amount of medical intervention, before I could become pregnant with Ellie. And Mason was nearly 4 years old by the time she was born. But God worked it out again. Because Mason was older, he was a great helper, and he really had an understanding of this new little sister he was about to have. Watching his excitement was priceless.
So now I'm at a point where I'm again making
my plans about a future baby #3. But of course, it just seems like I was pregnant with Ellie not too long ago, and she is still my little baby in my eyes. And with Mason going off to school in the fall, I really want to have some time to devote just to Ellie, as well as have some time to do some volunteering in Mason's classroom. But you know, this won't be a problem because we now know it takes us "more than a year-and-a-half of waiting, in addition to a small amount of medical intervention", to become pregnant. So I should have plenty of time to use toward these other important things while we wait on baby #3, right? Well apparently God is showing us His sense of humor through life's little ironies, because after only one month of not even really trying
, we have news to share that Mason and Ellie will have a little brother/sister later this year, and it appears as though Ellie might even be sharing her birthday, as the baby is due to be born at the end of October...right at the time of Ellie's 2nd birthday.
So now as I worry about losing some precious alone time with Ellie, as I worry about how she will adjust to not being the baby anymore, and as I worry about how Mason's transition to kindergarten will go with another big adjustment for him and for our family, I am reminded of how God's timing is always perfect. It certainly was with both Mason and Ellie. They wouldn't be who they are if they were born at any other time, and I so much love who they are. And so I'm confident His timing for this child is
perfect too, as He continues to show me that He is in control of
perfect timing...not me.
