Everybody Needs A Collin

I don't like to use this blog to brag on my kids! I know that most people that read my posts have children who are equally as bright, sweet, and precious as mine. But, since it's his birthday, is this the cutest face you've ever seen or what?!?!?

On Caleb's birthday, I posted about all the ways that God had used him to teach me various lessons. So, I'll follow that same plan for Collin. Man! Have I learned a thing or two about life from this lively being.

Collin was due around the 10th of March, 2005. But, on February 28th, I was at Bunko and my water broke. We were finished playing, but my group had surprised me with a shower. I knew that Caleb took a little while getting here after my water broke with him. So... I sat down and opened presents before making the 20 minute trip back to my house to meet Scotty. Needless to say, by the time we pulled in my driveway, I was having full blown contractions. And, by the time we arrived at the hospital, my extremely stretched out maternity jeans were SOAKING wet (sorry, guys!). So much for the magazine cover mom pulling up to the hospital looking like a million bucks. I looked like a giant MESS! And, I felt like one, too. But, the delivery went smoothly, and a beautiful baby boy arrived at 12:01 a.m., March 1st.

 

Fast forward a couple of years. Collin was about 2 years old, and my mom had come for a visit. We drove out to Lakeland to eat lunch at Backyard Burger. I'd recently discovered the playroom with the tree house. Everyone had eaten. We sent Caleb and Collin into the playroom, closed the door and sat down to visit. I was sure that we'd have a nice piece of time to visit, because THIS was a new playroom and it looked so fun. Well, they hadn't been in there long when a woman from the drive through pulled up to the side door, opened it and ushered Collin back in to me. YEP!!! He'd let himself out of the playroom and wound up OUTSIDE of the restaurant IN the drive through driveway. So much for looking like "Mom of the Year". No one in Backyard Burger (and it was packed) thought that I even deserved to have children much less any award. However, no one got hurt and we learned a valuable lesson that Collin was going to require a little more supervision than Caleb had always needed. (Although, this same thing was repeated in two other eating establishments during that year! I'm not proud of it, but it's the truth.)

Now, picture Collin about 4 years old. Our sports fanatic, Caleb, began playing ball that year, and we spent MUCH of our time at the field. Collin loved being there. But, I had many plans about how he would look and what he would wear as we sat at the field watching Caleb play. Well, more times than not, Collin insisted on going to the ball field as, Batman, Darth Vader, a Storm Trooper or any other costumed character! Boy, did we get some looks. Again, so much for looking like a magazine cover! Collin wasn't interested.

And, earlier I posted this story abbreviated on Facebook. But, here's the entire version. Collin had a small run in with fact families in Math a couple of weeks ago. His teacher warned me of the bad papers coming home. And, we worked on everything until he had little to no trouble with them. However, the damage had been done. When progress reports came home, Collin had a C in math. Now, I realize that's not terrible. But, I taught school in Clinton. I know his teacher, and I somewhat know the curriculum. And, for some reason, I have in my mind that my children must do well in school. ALL the time. NO exceptions. Seriously, what would it look like if a previous teacher can't prepare her children to do well in school! I had a small fit when I saw the "C" and tried to explain to Collin why I was so upset. He looked at me VERY seriously and VERY respectfully and said, "Mom, I'm not going to the devil over it!"

You see, this precious child has taught me, on more than one occasion, that IMAGE isn't the most important thing. He's pointed out that, often, I focus on things that are of VERY little importance and miss out on what's truly valuable. In other words, he calls me out when I'm majoring on the minor things of life.

Collin came into this world with such LIFE and LAUGHTER. At the same time, he has one of the SWEETEST spirits. We are so blessed to have him. As my sister often says, "Everybody needs a Collin." I don't know about that.  But, we sure do!