936 Saturdays

The first 52 Saturdays were filled with nursing & cloth diapers & stroller rides & visits to Grandpa & Grammie's house. 

Next came 52 Saturdays of spending time w/ Daddy & learning to walk & Saturday night baths & snuggles. 

52 Saturdays of walking around the block & to the playground & sledding & snow-man building. 
52 Saturdays of Home Depot projects & Shriner clowns & splitting time between parents. 
52 Saturdays of birthday parties & dance recitals & Chutes & Ladders & making cookies. 

(Time is passing quickly.)

It's school time now.  52 Saturdays of Kidgits events & reading homework & playing dress-up.  52 Saturdays of AWANA verses & Little House on the Prairie & visits w/ Daddy.  52 Saturdays of Saturday morning cartoons & Playmo 'Merica & game nights & family devotions. 

We're homeschooling & it's 52 Saturdays of educational events & movie nights & still the Saturday night baths & snuggles.  52 Saturdays of sleepovers & bottle-feeding goats & serving others & campfires.  52 Saturdays of shopping for clothes & pumpkin carving & cleaning bedrooms & singing together.

52 Saturdays of summer camp & mission trips & Grandpa & Grammie's house. 52 Saturdays of camping & going on walks & cousins.  52 Saturdays of sleeping in & musicals & reading books & youth group parties.  

And then I blinked and all of a sudden there are only less than 200 left!  How did we get down to 20%?  Those hours of laundry & hiking & homework & housecleaning & dishes had seemed so long. 
Ahead of us we have Saturdays of driving & first jobs & babysitting & dating (?).  Saturdays of homework & piling wood & summer visitation & friends & Africa. 

Oh, it hasn't been perfect.  But if we had it to do over again, we would just make different mistakes. 

936 Saturdays.  That's what we get. 
Now, that's not all we get.  (Lord willing).  But that is what we get for childhood. And they need those 936 Saturdays . For the foundation of their lives.  For security & roots & spiritual training & family & traditions & work ethic & boredom & to get enough sleep.

I don't want to squander them.  I don't want to say, "Oh, we'll do family devotions next Saturday." 
While it is still called today...
Redeeming the time...

I truly struggle with my messy house.  But I will not look back at those precious, dear 80% of my daughter's childhood Saturdays, and wish I had spent one minute more cleaning than I did. 
We've lived life.  And we've squeezed as many drops of joy out as we could.

This day is never going to come 'round again.  And like a snowball rolling down a mountain, time is picking up speed and seems to have a cumulative effect, getting faster & faster the closer we get to 18 years of age. 

If it's been a grumpy Saturday.... I can be thankful that I have opportunities to discipline.
If it's been a sleepy Saturday.... How wonderful to know that home is a place where we can just BE. 
If it's been a serving Saturday.... Who better to serve with than my family!

We share the joys and our finite Saturdays.  We share Jesus & our faith. 
We mamas... we set the tone.  Dig your heels in and s-l-o-w- it- d-o-w-n. 
In your own way, in a way that works for your family.
The chaos & the mess & the 'musts' that really aren't can wait.  Because there will only be one Saturday when my son is 12 years and 3.5 months old.  There will only be one Saturday when my daughter is 14 years and 3 months old.
I don't want to miss it.