Lifetime Commitment

I remember when the boys (meaning C.J. and Jon) were babies and I was a walking, sleep-deprived, zombie.  My biggest focus at that point was "when do they start sleeping through the night?"  Of course, they eventually caught on to how wonderful an uninterrupted night of sleep can be and that stage of our lives was gratefully left behind!

My next focus became.. "at what age do they go through a whole day without crying?"  Now this took a lot longer than I thought it would.  I don't exactly remember when this happened but I want to say probably around 3 years old.  Good thing they were so cute.

 




C.J.





 

 

 



Jon

The next big question for me was "when do they start becoming responsible for their own homework?"  Whew!   I had no idea!  having a firstborn who was a natural leader, planner, and self motivated person - if, at times that bordered on obsessive - I did not have to do much with him at all.  I don't remember studying with him for any tests - including Spelling - and he achieved straight A's pretty much all though Elementary School.  Jon was every bit as smart as C.J. but not motivated or organized enough to do much on his own.  Normally, toward the end of each quarter, his teacher would present me with a list of work he hadn't turned in.... at which point I would make him bring home the entire contents of his desk.... at which point we would go through his folders and books.... at which point we would find 95% of his missing work completely finished and just never turned in???  After turning all missing work in, he would pull through the quarter with all A's and B's.  Unfortunately, middle/high school teachers cannot be as forgiving so he went through quite a string of failing/close to failing semesters before he finally got his act together about two years ago. ***Big Sigh***


Now, we are in the stage of our lives where we are asking ourselves "when does our financial commitment to our children end?"  Despite the older two having summer jobs... they are still financially dependant on us.  C.J. is much less since 1). his father has taken the bulk of that responsibility the past few months and 2). C.J. still has money left from his summer job.  Lauren, however, blew through her job money in a matter of weeks... weeks that I can count on one hand!!!!  So, that responsibility is still ours. Is that normal?


Oh well.. regardless.. there is one commitment to our children that will NEVER end... the commitment of the heart.  No matter what "stage of life" we are in... I will never ask when THAT commitment will end... because it NEVER will.


And...just because... here are pictures of my other baby... when he was a baby.

Zack