"He's Gonna Be A Handful!"

I love my Caleb. He is so funny. He loves Jesus and he loves life. He is always singing at the top of his lungs, playing his guitar or trying to teach himself to play the keyboard. He loves to make people laugh. Tonight, I got home from a ladies retreat planning meeting in time to tuck my four little men into bed. I showed them the brochure for the Ladies Retreat (Which is in Warm Springs GA Jan 29-30, if you are interested in joining us.) They were so excited that our family's picture was in the brochure. Then I hear Caleb say "Oops, they need to reprint it. It needs to say (Ladies, Call me) under my picture in case any good looking ladies get a hold of it." What a mess. I did laugh at my goofy kid and silence fell upon the bedroom. Then I hear Caleb say, "Hey mom, when you were little what did you wish for?" That was an easy question..."I wished to marry a pastor, have lots of children and drive a mini-van." Matthew chimes in with, "That's really what you wished for. Nobody really wishes to drive a mini-van." Caleb: "Well, you got everything you wished for didn't you?" "Yes, Caleb I did and do you know that in Psalms 34:7 it says "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." To which my precious Caleb replies, "YES, then I WILL get to marry a model." "Not unless you get a breath mint." was Matthew's encouragement. What am I going to do with that boy? I tell you one thing I am going to do and that is continue to cover him in prayer. I know he is just being funny, but I am praying that the Lord will transform his heart's desires and his wish list. A little later as they were trying to drift off to sleep I saw a heavenly ora rising from the mattress and I think I might have heard the halelujah chorus as Matthew said to himself..."I don't care if she's a model as long as she loves Jesus like Lydia does." Lydia is a dear family friend who if we believed in arranged marriages (which I am not opposed to but I think my children would be) she would be who I would pick for Matthew, because she does love Jesus with all that is within her. I pray diligently for my boys and the men they will become. I pray for the women they will one day marry. I pray that the Lord will line their desires up with His desires so that they will seek only that which will bring Him glory all the days of their lives. I am also looking forward to the conversation Caleb and I will have in the days to come as the Lord allows me to teach him how to truly "delight in God." That's the fun part. I love my husband, my four children and even my mini-van, but the fun of delighting in God is the reason the rest of my life so incredible. It's because I know it is what He wants for me. Hey, maybe God's will is for Caleb to marry a model. Somebody has to marry the models. If it's Caleb then I pray he will obey. As conversations like tonight come up it makes me realize that the hedges are getting higher and wider. I am praying those hedges around my children, but the older they grow and the more they share the more I realized how important for those hedges to grow properly and be nurtured in prayer. As a dear friend prays for her children that God would hem them in. Go before them and behind them and hem them in. My Caleb, He's gonna be a handful, but what an awesome joy to watch our Savior mold and shape him into the man of God He desires him to be.