So This Is What A Brother Is Like???

I grew up in a family with two sisters.  We always did "girl stuff", like painting each other's nails, sharing clothes, making crafts like beaded bracelets, doing make-overs and playing orphanage with our baby dolls.  I think the closest thing to playing rough was riding our bikes in the neighborhood and fishing for crawdads in the stream across the street.  

My dad got so used to being around us emotional gals that he now has a big, soft, sweet and sensitive heart!   I remember him getting teary-eyed when we watched the movie, "Bambi".  I wouldn't change my childhood for anything!  I love sisters!  I don't know life any other way.  I never experienced what having a brother would be like.  I remember wondering, but never really knowing the truth of a brother-sister relationship . And well...now I can kind of imagine!  Let me explain....

We have only one son in the midst of three girls.  He is  Austin.  His name means, "passionate and fiery"!  His name says it all!  As an infant... he screamed a lot.  As a toddler...he did everything I told him NOT TO DO or NOT TO TOUCH!  As a preschooler, he never liked coloring or sitting in one spot for more than one minute.  And now, as a five year old, he has discovered the art of pestering girls until they cry!  When he found out that we were adopting another girl, all his dreams were crushed.  He had a bed made next to his car bed for 1 year, as he awaited a little brother.  He was just sure that God would want him to have a brother!  Well, as you know, Avalon is not a boy!  Yes, she is a she!  From the moment he found out this devastating news, he wanted nothing to do with her.  When Erik and I brought his new baby sister home from the hospital, he took Nana aside and said, "I am very upset!  I did not want another sister!"  He turned away with a sad face and left the front room, where everyone else greeted her. One day later, his hardened heart melted, as he held Avalon in his arms... for the first time.  He then said sweetly, "We can keep her mom, I like her now.  And I like her name."  He then fell asleep with her in his lap.

In spite of Austin and Avalon's bumpy beginning.  They are buddies.  No one can make her smile more than her big brother, Austin.  He is the one who sits next to her in the back seat of the car and feeds her the bottle.  He is the one who sings songs to her, while trying to calm her down in the car.  He is the one who rubs her bare feet and whispers into her ears,  "Avalon...hi Avalon...hi baby..." It is Austin who can get the biggest smiles and loudest laughter from his sissy!

So I may never relate to Aspen or Auburn when they say, "Mom, help me!  Austin keeps bothering me!"  "Mommy,  make him stop chasing me!"  "Mommy, tell him to stop shooting me!" I never had a brother to rough house with or wrestle.  I never had a brother to throw balls at my head, or steal my food -when I wasn't looking, or jump on me -while I am sleeping, or poke me -while doing school work. 

But... now I have a son.  I get it now!  BOYS ARE CRAZY!  (Austin is eating dog food in the kitchen, as I am writing this blog now!)  He just got Erik's golf clubs out of the closet and is attempting to golf in the hallway.  He break dances in the front room to the band, "Skillet".  He make guns, plays with swords, jumps from the couch onto 10 pillows on the floor, eats as many bananas as he can fit in his mouth at one time.  He does head-stands, hula-hoops for the number 500, does pogo stick tricks, skateboard jumps, extreme scooter riding and loves to burn the tar out of marshmallow's at campfires!  That is what having a brother is like!  No thanks!  I am happy with sisters! 

 But it sure is fun raising a boy!  I get the great honor of molding and shaping his passionate, fiery heart into a man!  I get to help him learn how to balance out his wild personality into a brother who loves and protects his sisters...and one day... his wife.

"For because of our faith, He has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to actually becoming all that God has in mind for us to be."  Romans 5:2