My Seedlings

Published August 29, 2012 | By Kelly Raudenbush

Some of my favorite mom moments happen without me even being a part of the moment. You know, listening to the kids playing together nicely in another room (which always seems to happen when I need to be ushering them to bed), overhearing one of their conversations, watching as my husband makes them all laugh.

Yesterday was one of those moments for me.

Soaking in the last days of freedom this week, we spent the afternoon at a local park. Evan found some sort of seed that he got all excited about planting in the dirt where we were sitting under a big ole tree. All three of the big kids got right on into it with him, using sticks and little rocks to carve out a very shallow little hole in the dry dirt where they were convinced this little seed would thrive. They buried it under dusty dirt and used shovels to bring water up to get it off to a good start.

They hunted and found one or two more of the same seeds. More digging, more burying, more watering.

“They can be a family.” – Ashlyn

“Yeah, the big tree is the mama and all the little trees are the babies.” – Evan

I’m sitting there, just smiling to myself, looking all deep in thought in my reading.

Then, their hunt turned up some different kinds of seeds. Who know what they were from really. They may have been rocks. Whatever they were, they looked different.

Then, I heard:

“I know, let’s plant all different kinds of seeds. Then, they can be adopted!” – Evan

“Yeah!” – Ashlyn

Digging, burying, watering. Repeat. Until a handful were seemingly safe and sound in the dirt, and it was over.

Nothing extraordinary. Just my children playing. But, my smile to myself got a little bigger and my heart swelled a bit as I was reminded how comfortable they are with how our family has grown.

Our adopting our fourth child hasn’t been an issue for our biological children one bit. In their eyes, it’s just how their sister came home.

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Kelly Raudenbush

Forever changed by our experience of being adopted and adopting, Kelly is a stay-at-home mom/manager to 4 children and a professional juggler, juggling her calling as wife and mother with her secondary callings (professional editing, WAGI, and serving adoptive families through The Sparrow Fund). You can learn more about their adoption story, how they’ve been changed, and what life for them looks like on their personal blog. If you are expecting (waiting to bring your little one home via adoption, that is), click HERE and enter to win a little giveaway just for fun.

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Posted in Family Stories

My Seedlings

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