When Joseph and I first married, we knew we wanted a house full of children. We had big hopes and dreams and lots of ideas of what raising children would be like. After our miscarriage I wasn't sure what God was up to. 6 years into our marriage we had that beautiful baby boy, that God had promised to Joseph so many years ago.
All of the ideas that we had about children could not compare to the feeling of joy and completion that Levi brought to us. He was perfect! If there were ever a perfect baby, he was it. I never had any problems with getting him to sleep, he only cried when he was hungry or needed a diaper change... and then.... he turned 1.
He has gotten his own personality and pushes every boundary. He is rotten to the core. There are days that I feel like all I do is tell him no. I know that this is a process that every child goes through. I have been told so many times, "just don't worry about it, it is only a stage" or " Why would you get on to that baby, he doesn't understand". Sure this is only a stage he is going through, but he will never get out of that stage if he is not taught. He must learn to say please and thank you, he must learn to share his toys, he must learn to be nice and helpful to others, and how will he learn that if we do not teach him. Some children require a little more 'teaching' then others. Levi is so stubborn. For God to use our children as they are growing they have to learn obedience. Yes it hurts us as parents to have to discipline our children. There have been times when Levi has been very defiant and after the discipline process is over I have my time to cry and pray that God is showing me the right type of discipline to use.
Then, there are those days that I want to eat him up! He is so stinking cute and sweet. We have more of these days than we do the previous days. He loves to read and play games. He has a barn yard set, so he and mommy play with the animals everyday. We have time of learning everyday. He is still so little that we only do 'school' for about 5 minutes at a time. He is learning his ABC's, Colors, and is learning to count. I try to get a total of about 15 min devoted just to that in each day. Of course when you plan to home school, you take everything you do as a learning opportunity.
He also is loving Veggie Tales. He already gets wrapped up in things. Just the other day we were watching 'Wheres God When I am Scared?' and there is a part of the show where Jr asparagus is watching a "scary" movie. Frankencelery scares Levi, everytime! He will run to me and want me to hold him. It is kind of comical.
He loves to dance, we dance everyday. He wants me to dance with him. I play music for him everyday and if I don't dance a little bit with him he will come and want me to hold him to dance. That wears me out ;)
Today, is his 2nd Valentine's Day. He was so cute this morning when he got up and I gave him his stuff. He said "ooo, cannee". So how could I not let him have some Chocolate for Breakfast! He loves York Peppermint patties and raisenets.
I love being a mommy. I would not trade anything for it. I love watching him grow. I am excited to see what God has for not only Levi, but all of my children. I pray daily that God gives me the knowledge it takes to teach them and help mold them for His service. I pray for the stregnth to let go of them when the time comes. Teaching them does no good if you are not willing to release them. This week is Levi's first week of learning his first Bible Verse. We are starting out very simple. GOD IS LOVE. What better week to start than the week of Valentines. I want my children to know that God is the best Valentine you could have.
Courtney Cooper
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