Caleb's tooth finally fell out the other night after being loose for nearly a month. He had been chomping at the bits for it to come out already! We got to have a lot of sweet talks together about having patience, and how God's timing is always perfect. I tried to help him understand that even though sometimes we think we are ready for something, God has wonderful plans for us and everything will happen when it is supposed to. So when the tooth did fall out, it was so nice to hear him say, in the midst of his excitement, "God just made my tooth ready and now it's out!"
And then the next night, another tooth came out. It was his first top one that had just barely been loose. It didn't fall out on its own like the last tooth - this one had a lot of help from a certain five-year-old. His mouth was bleeding and tender this time, and he had a look on his face that showed he knew he shouldn't have done it.
Patience is such a hard thing to teach. I suppose it's hard to teach anything that you struggle to learn yourself every day. Of everything that I pray for and ask God to help me with on a daily basis, having patience is probably at the top of that list. As wonderful and amazing as this mothering job of mine is, it most definitely requires more patience than anything else I've ever done. I try to apologize to my kids when I lose it, and I try to let them hear me pray for help. I try to let them know that we all need patience - it just looks a little different when you're a grown-up than it does when you're a kid. But going to God for help is always the same.
Loving this sweet boy's smile full of holes.....
