Hello Again from the Mother of Many Teens

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, there was a blogger named Jen who at least attempted to post something regularly.

and then she had six teenagers. and then seven. and then eight.
and she didn't blog for those 3 years...
and then she got back down to 7 again and this blog is being reborn.  

For real, people!  When did this happen?  Just yesterday I had 10 children ages 12 and under!  OK, it was actually 5 years ago, but the time has just slipped away so quickly.

 Not saying' that the little kid stage was a walk in the park or anything, but the whole "I have a junior high youth group living in my house, riding in my van, constantly talking to me every. single. minute. of. the. day. thing" has been a parenting world I was slightly unprepared for and honestly, didn't super love.

Please don't hate me if you love the junior high years.  Here are my very sincere kudos to you!  But, for serious... I'd rather parent a passel of toddlers before having FOUR junior high boys again at the same time.   Oh yes, and our oldest daughters were jr. high and early high school age at that time as well.

Much to my delight and surprise, it seems that after they survive this madness known as "11-14 year olds," it is possible for them to emerge from this brain hibernation time as quite pleasant and fun teenagers!

One totally awesome thing about having 10 children is that by the time the fifth or sixth child hits a certain stage or age, our parenting skills (or lack thereof, ahem...) have been seriously rocked and refined, our responses slowed and softened, our ability to be shocked, awed, or offended is pretty much non-existent.  Well, maybe we're still working on that whole"not being offended" thing, but we are learning!

learning that nothing is so bad you can't survive it,
learning to breathe and rest in Christ,
learning to give grace to both them and us,
learning how to live with Truth, trust, and thanksgiving.

So here we are today:

For our 17, 15, and two 14 1/2 year olds, praying they will forgive and forget all of our great parenting fails and be able to remember the love and commitment and "re-overs" we had together.

Hoping my two 13 year old boys and two 11 year old girls - Yep you heard that right:  we still have four junior higher's in the house, in the van, constantly talking and talking and talking - where was I? Oh yes...  hoping that we can give them more grace, listen more, stress out less about things that will pass, and maybe even enjoy these years a bit (even IF their brains are hibernating for a while).

Thinking that by the time our 7 and 8 year olds hit this stage, I'll feel like it just like I do about the toddler stage:  bring it on!

And, beginning to believe that I might, quite possibly, be able to find the emotional and mental space to begin writing again.

Stay tuned and subscribe so you don't miss some fun stuff (like my first radio interview and a review and giveaway of my friend's new adoption book) later this week!