In this world of social media, people post amazing happy pictures. Let's face it. nothing is perfect. No one is amazingly happy all the time, not even close. But then if we posted super depressing posts, people would be like, "whoa, what is wrong with that person?" So, happy is better than sad. But, here's the deal. Having kids is hard. My friends and I say, remember when we had babies and they were so hard? Well, welcome to teenagers. Ha! Teenagers are messy, angry, happy, sad, confused. They're a hot mess and they're all over the place. I remember that age. Ugh! It was awful. Could't pay me to go back and do that again. I certainly didn't make good choices all the time. Thankfully, I had parents who loved me unconditionally. They loved me no matter what. Thank you Jesus for that!  As parent's we are supposed to be there for them. I know I haven't always been perfect when it comes to this. It's hard so hard, but as parents, it's our job to continue to try and to pray and to love them where they are. If they think they're a rock star that day, you meet them there. It doesn't mean you have to love everything they're doing or even entertain it but you're there, loving them even when they're rocking out.  Our job is to meet them where they are, happy, sad, confused, and angry. Meet them as Jesus meets us every single day.

 A little background on my husband and I.... We grew up in the midwest. We both came from similar families. Our parents were loving and supportive. Our upbringing was about as perfect as it gets. Family always came first and when we married in 1990, we knew that we'd raise our children the same way our parent's raised us, with unconditional love.


Love is not "if" 
or "because. Love
is "anyway & "even though"
& "in spite of."
Isaiah 54

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