As everyone has seen in my previous posts, we are a military family. As a result, I have not lived near my parents for almost five years. Guess who came to visit this week?! Yep, my parents, all the way from Georgia just for us! To say I am thrilled is an understatement. Isn’t it funny how, as parents, we find that we almost need or appreciate our parents more? We all have seen the Facebook meme going around that jokes about adults calling their parents more where their teenage selves would not have. I feel like that’s because as we get older, we see the value of our parents’ opinions. We value their wisdom more and want to share the pieces of our lives. When anything happens with my children or us, the first people I call are my and my husband’s parents. I value their opinion, their wisdom, the knowledge that has come from living the life of a thirty-something year old couple with young kids. I appreciate knowing that our parents are supportive and want nothing more than to see us succeed. I can say that our children are enjoying their nonny and pawpaw, and I am so blessed to witness my parents enjoy being grandparents. (Which, in my case, means lots of cookies and m&ms for the toddler, lol). When we were told by God to honor our parents, I think it means more than obedience. I believe he wanted us to cherish and learn from parents with good foundations and to develop good foundations ourselves. As parents, we are called to train and raise up our children. If we do that successfully, then they will honor us in their actions with the rest of the world as we honor God with our actions. We all stumble and fall, but parenthood isn’t perfect. Motherhood is messy and unpredictable, but at least I have my village and our parents who help me put the little things into perspective.