doorframes

About every 4-6 months Owen stands proudly and flatly in the doorway to his room while me or Shaun take a sharpie and mark his growth on the door frame. All I have to do is glance at those black and red marks up his doorframe to see how much he has grown over the last few years.

I just finished a book recently ( Blue like Play Dough) that said this:
" Some people may wrongly assume that raising our kids is all about the kids growing up. It's not. It's about us using these challenging times to grow up ourselves. As we watch our kids grow into the people God designed them to be, we are also participating in our own transformation."

So maybe my growth can't be measured with a sharpie against the doorframe. But I have probably had to grow and learn just as quickly as Owen has over the last few years...

some things I've learned:
how to live on much less sleep.
quickly been made aware of what i watch, listen to and the kinds of things that slip out of my mouth aren't nearly as funny or cute when said by a 4 year old.
that my time and agenda aren't really mine ( only takes a quick stomach flu).
the phone # for poison control.
how quickly a snack can fix things.
how discipline can be so hard.
how an afternoon nap is truly a gift.
that playdough is really hard to get out of the couch.
and gum is even harder to get out of hair.
that a cell phone can't survive very long in the toilet.
that a cardboard box is far more entertaining than a room full of toys.

and mostly that it all goes by so quickly that i don't want to miss an inch....