The Evolution of a Family

Over the past ten years, our changes have been subtle ones. The children don't grow from babies to toddlers to pre-teens overnight. Yet as we look back over the past decade, that is exactly what has happened. We have experienced a series of changes that find us moving from newly-married couple with two, then three, then four small children into where we are today: More than a dozen years of marriage under our belts, all four kids now baptized, two kids on the verge of Young Women's and junior high, and one child who has lost every single one of her baby teeth. Ten years ago I was changing diapers, buckling car seats, putting on three sets of tights each Sunday, fixing three heads of hair, and not only making the food but also spooning it into babies' mouths. Today I no longer have any idea what the children's bathroom habits are, everyone buckles their own seatbelts, the girls can put on their own tights and fix their own hair, and while I am still the main chef around here, everyone can fix their own meals if need be.

Who would have thought that at this very moment the little baby on my lap would be in the kitchen making cookies by herself?

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Ten Christmases later, we are bleary-eyed and puffy after too much food and too little sleep. The PJ's you see will end up staying on for most of the day. But as we took this picture on New Year's Morning, we are looking forward to what the next decade brings. When 2019 is winding itself down into 2020, we will have three children in college and one high school senior. Our children will learn to drive, take finals, go on dates, and get jobs. The independence they have gained during this last decade will continue to increase to the point where they leave us altogether.

I'm not stressing about that yet though. It took me a whole decade to get where I am now, and it's going to take another whole decade to become a near empty-nester as well. And a whole lot longer than that to get used to the idea.