girlfriend

So today as we are getting in the car after school, Sam announces to me that he has a "girlfriend"! I am utterly shocked. He then proceeds to tell me how "sweet" she is. He says, "Yeah mom, her name is Suzy; (not her real name, I honestly can't remember it) you'd like her. She is wreely sweet." I then fumble with my words and somehow get out, "Oh, you mean a friend that's a girl, right?" "Yes," he replies. (Not that I really feared he understood the real meaning, but I felt relieved just the same!)
Of all my boys, I honestly did not expect to hear that from Sam first. I think I was really thinking it might actually be Asher to say those words to me first! ;) Funny. And both funny and scary how fast they pick up things from other kids. He certainly did not get the "girlfriend" idea from us. But I think, for now, I will rest in the innocence and cuteness of it, in the reality that it was Sam, and be VERY thankful it wasn't some other announcement like, "I punched so-and-so today.", or "So-and-so is mean so I beat him/her up." (Neither of the boys have shown any indications that they would actually DO such things at school, but a mother's imagination can get the best of her sometimes!)
And speaking of imagination, I am now caught in a vortex of the realization of how fast time flies and much sooner than I think ALL my boys will grow into men and one by one begin to announce to us their real "girlfriends"/wives. Then I will officially have been replaced. Ouch. But that's the way God set it up to be. And God is good.

Lord, protect those young girls, whoever and wherever they are, and may they grow to be godly women, wives, and mothers for my boys and future grandchildren. And may my boys learn from Rob and I how to love and serve you first, and how to be godly men, husbands, and fathers. For your glory and your name, not ours. Amen.