This is a first for me - posting a blog.   I am excited about sharing a "Hot Topic" on Bama Moms, but a bit overwhelmed at the thought that anyone would read or care.  As time goes on, hopefully something of what I share will be "food for thought" or an opportunity for knowledge gained.

I have been married to a wonderfully talented and brilliant man for almost 35 years.  His love and patience have sustained me - he puts up with a lot.   I am a mother to two wonderful sons, Josh and Matthew.  Both have left the nest and are building beautiful families of their own.  Josh got married two years ago and we are so blessed to have a new daughter in our lives, especially one that has brought so much sunshine and joy.  My youngest son, Matthew, last May married a beautiful and talented young woman.  She has been such a blessing to him and to our family.  Now I have two daughters, two sons and yes, three more children that I claim as my own - Henley Barrett, Gaines Livingston and Morri Livingston, my nieces and nephew.  From the time I was a small child, I always said I wanted a large family and at least five children.  Blessings abound, with not only five, but now seven.  What more could a mother ask for than a beautiful family like mine?  I had no idea what the Lord had in store for me.

On April 2, 2008 Linley Mac Morton, burst into this world as the 8 lb. 9 oz. beautiful baby daughter of Josh and Jen and the granddaughter of Joe and Margaret Morton.  That's me - Margaret!!!!! For every grandmother that reads this, I know you will agree that becoming a grandmother is an experience beyond words to truly express and describe.  Over the course of time that Linley grew inside her mother's tummy, I watched my son begin the journey of parenthood.  

He has always been a gentle and caring man, but the level of commitment and involvement related to this new life, his daughter, is a precious experience for his mother to watch.  Both he and Jen are totally engaged in loving Linley.  They are truly in love with her and their hearts are bound to her in love, a love only a parent can know.  They watch her breathe, literally.  What a testimony to our Lord's love for his children.  I have told my children through the years, that when you have a child, the love that you feel is the closest to Divine love that can ever be experienced in this life and yet, our Lord loves us beyond our finite abilities to understand.  How can that be?  How wonderful that knowledge and how amazing to see it manifested.

This experience of grandparenthood brings with it other opportunities as well and that is the absolute joy in that grandchild.  Last Saturday, Joe and I, had our first, "just us time" with Linley.  What a day - a day filled with smiles and coos, dirty diapers, cuddles, strolls, laughter and unparalleled joy and amazement at this new person.  She charmed and fascinated us with every moment and every sound.  Even in sleep, we were mesmerized by her precious sounds as she rested close to our hearts.  We named those sounds "Linley's Lullabies."  So sweet and calming are those breaths and sighs that we wanted to make a CD to play as a remembrance when she's not with us and as a soothing background for sleep.  

I am an educator and as educators we know that the time of greatest opportunity for our children are in the early years.  Holding, talking, reading and nurturing that child pay enormous dividends.  Peek-a-boo, the Itsy, Bitsy Spider and Thumbkin are fun, but that fun is learning!  So, as a challenge to those who take the time to read my ramblings, I encourage you to spend the time to listen to those "lullabies", to enjoy those smiles and coos and to become totally engaged with a precious gift -  a child.  Not only will your heart and life experience our Lord made manifest, but that child's future depends on it.  My Linley, has hearts that are bound to her with love.  It's the greatest of all gifts!!!!!   Until the next blog - enjoy a child!!!!!