The Making of M.O.M.

Dear Two Year Old Son of Mine,

I love you so much sometimes I wonder how my heart holds all the love. I look at your big, blue eyes and your sweet smile and I know that God purposed for you to be my son long before I even thought I wanted to be a Mom.

The love I have for you is inexplicable.

As is my frustration with you today.

Today is the day ~~the music~~ my desire to potty train you died.

Sweet mercy. Please use the bathroom in the toilet. All of it. Not just the pee. I know you are capable because YOU'VE DONE IT BEFORE. Perhaps you prefer your Dad to be home to poop in the potty, since that's when you seem to do it best (like I'm a freaking liar who only claims that you won't poop in the potty).

If there are many more days like today, you will certainly have your wish FULL TIME. Because I, your Mother, will return to the work force and allow your Dad to play poop with you. We may make half the income we currently live on and your Dad might go crazy but, sweet mercy, I AM DONE POTTY TRAINING YOU.

Done.

You can wear diapers the rest of your life, for all I care. But be warned. If you are still crapping in your diaper a year from now, you will be changing yourself.

I refuse to get into a battle of the wills with you over the toilet and your poop. I REFUSE. So now, I will be that Mom who allows her very-capable-of-using-the-potty 2 year old to wear a diaper. I will be that Mom who, when her sweet and (not-so) innocent 2 year old lovingly says,

"Mommy. I pee pee in potty?"

will respond, probably too harshly, with, "Go in your diaper."

And when other people, who have not cleaned your poop off of things that should NEVER have poop on them, look at me and wonder why I won't rush a "ready to potty train" two year old to the bathroom at his deceleration that "I pee pee in potty, Mommy?", look at me like I'm a cruel Mother who doesn't want her boy to ditch diapers, I will ignore them.

Because, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS GOOD AND HOLY PLEASE MAKE IT STOP, I refuse to battle you over an issue that is clearly you demonstrating your willpower.

I love you immensely. Much more than I ever thought possible. But you can crap in your pants until your 4, for all I care. Consider this your warning. You have 1 year, maybe less, and you're changing your own diaper. FOREVER.

With all my heart and love,

Mommy

If I had a dollar for every time we've heard, "Y'all are crazy," well....let's just say our ministry would be almost fully funded.

Yes, I agree, we are crazy. But you know what?

There are others like us.

Sure those other families may look different and maybe they don't dance quite as well as we Beavers do. But they are crazy too. And I take some comfort in their craziness. These families are sold out for Jesus, serving Him radically in missions. And I'd like to introduce you to some of them.

(Click on their names to go to their blogs)

This sweet family are the Helsbys. We "know" the Helsbys through an ongoing relationship via email. They are serving orphaned and vulnerable children of Tanzania and they have SIX kids as well. We "met" them through Chris and Lindy since they stayed at Livingstone Guesthouse when Becky neared her due date with their littlest one a few years ago. Becky has not been afraid to be real, practical and encouraging to me through many, many emails. She's set me straight on things I thought I knew and tenderly encouraged me in areas where she sees my heart aching.

We are crazy, so are the Helsbys.

Then there are the Swansons. We met this sweet family the 1st night of Candidate Week. The first thing Geoff asked me was, "So, do y'all know where you are going?" When I said, "Not a clue" we both breathed a sigh of relief that neither of us had any idea where the Lord was leading us.

The Swansons have 3 kids, one of whom, Sophia, has a manageable, yet serious, medical condition. They are leaving for Namibia (pronounced: Nuh-mi-bee-ya) in 2012.

We are crazy, so are the Swansons.

Then there's the Bentz Family. They are current Africa Inland Mission (AIM) missionaries heading to Lesotho (pronounced: Lee-sue-two) at the end of December. They have 4 children. I don't know them personally but from reading their blog it's obvious they have been on a faith journey since their initial pursuit of missions.

We are crazy, and from the looks of it, so is the Bentz family.

We also met the Tuckers at Candidate Week. Their sweet girls (along with Sophia from the Swanson family) loved on our kids so much during that week. They let our kids join the "big kid" table and Elizabeth really assumed the role of teenager much too easily.

The Tuckers are leaving to serve with AIM Air in December of 2011. Their servants hearts were so apparent to us while we were at Candidate Week.

We are crazy, so are the Tuckers.

Also there's the Lockwoods. Again, I don't know the Lockwoods personally. They have TWELVE children and serve the people of Mexico. Jaynee writes with such love for the Lord and such a heart of service. Talk about people who are CRAZY! Twelve kids AND missionaries.

We are crazy, so are the Lockwoods.

And then there are other families we know that aren't what normal people would call "missionaries" but are, in fact, on their own mission field.

There's this family who adopted from Rwanda when the world said, "Why? You already have enough kids?"

And this family who fostered then adopted a son. And if that wasn't enough they are now fostering a teenaged boy and LOVING IT.

And this family who is adopting from Ethiopia when they too "Already have enough kids."

And this family who is fostering two little ones while their own kids are still "young."

And finally, this family, who just adopted their 4th child (and it's their 2nd adoption) from China. Both adoptions were special needs children. Both frowned upon by the world around them.

And so many others that I can't even begin to list them all. Folks I know planting churches in cities that border our own. Folks loving on kids, teenagers, adults, people with special needs and orphans and following God's calling to pursue something crazy and beyond their own ability.

We are crazy, and so are most of our friends.

I hope that if you are reading this and not feeling a little crazy that you'll pray about the area of your life that God wants, desires and dreams to use in a crazy way. And join our family and our friends in being crazy in the eyes of the world.

Apparently, we Beavers aren't alone in the crazy. It's so good to know that CRAZY has company. And what awesome company it is, too.