In the beginning ...

Wow. I actually did it! I have wanted an avenue for my thoughts, and this will be it. The title? Well, I have those around me who claim to have had their children with deliberateness - you know, planned around the right month for conception and delivery, spaced them "properly", minimized work conflicts. And they have very different thoughts on raising children - I want to raise mine with deliberateness. All five of them. Yes, five, ages 16, 10, 9, 7, and 5. Not one had a spot in my day-planner. There is only 13 months between the 10 & 9 year old - makes them especially close. It may sound cliche, but my kids have made me into a much better person than I ever could have dreamed I could be. They mean everything to me, and sometimes I think the world is not good enough for them. Not all of the world, mind you. Just the ugly, selfish, lazy, uninspired parts. The parts that fail to see what could be, the parts that want us to believe we are the be-all and end-all. Because I no longer believe that. And I am the better for it.