Halley Rossler

 “The days are long but the years are short!”

As I was cleaning up a few items in my little boy’s room on Sunday I looked up and saw all of his dress up costumes and superhero capes. I sat down in the middle of the floor and was overcome with emotions as I began reflecting on the past two years. I have always heard the quote, “The days are long and the years are short”,  but now that I am a mom, I completely understand the true meaning behind that quote. 

These are the days that I wish I could simply freeze time but I know the years are going to keep going by and I need to cherish every moment and make these long days count. We are raising boys to be men and we have a big job to do. Our children are learning from from us everyday. They imitate our actions and our words and as parents we are in the buisness of making lifelong deposits into their lives. How we treat our children and what we do in our own lives has a direct impact on our children and their development.

I have to say that becoming a parent overnight to two little boys was single handedly the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. As parents I think we are on a constant cycle of refinement while raising little humans who are trying to navigate and figure out this big world. It has an extra zing to it when raising little humans who did not have the best start in life and they often carry the weight of those beginnings on their shoulders and in their hearts.

As parents, we make mistakes, make repairs, and try again differently and hope and pray we are getting it right some of the time (I will share more about this topic later). Our children teach us so much about ourselves and they force us to grow as adults and parents. I hope and pray, despite my many shortcomings as a parent, that my boys grow up feeling loved, confident in who they are, and knowing they can be anything they want to be in this life if they work hard and stay focused.

Right now they are dressing up in costumes and pretending to be superheroes, but one day those childhood dreams and pretend play will be the real world and they will be grown men. My heart’s desire is to raise two boys to be good men who know and love Jesus, who are confident in who they are as adults, and who always treat others treat others with respect and kindness.  I know that I must model those same character traits for my children because they are going to learn by seeing my actions and not just hearing my words. 

This is a video of my youngest in one of his special outfits telling us how to play baseball.