He settles the childless woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the Lord. Psalm 113:9 

When I was a little girl, I loved playing with dolls. Of course, they were all girls because it would have just been plain weird to play mom to a boy doll. I would dress my baby girls in frilly dresses, put bows in their hair and paint their nails with my magic markers.

One of my favorites was my Chrissy doll. You could push her belly button while tugging on her silky red hair and it would grow long down her back. She had a knob to roll her hair back up into the hole on the top of her head. It sounds morbid now, but back then I thought she was perfect. At least she was until the day I gave her a spiky Alfalfa haircut. Despite this one mishap, I was a really good mother. And I was completely content in my little perfect mommy and baby world, except for one thing—my brother.

One day I was driving all of my babies on my bed in my pretend horse-drawn wagon. We watched a lot of Daniel Boone back in those days. And being the wild savage that he was, my brother ran into my room, screaming and flailing his arms with his tomahawk and chopped each of my babies until they fell off my bed. I was devastated. There was another time that he hung my babies by clothespins on the clothesline and shot at them one by one with his bow and arrows. Ughhh, boys!

God has a sense of humor, doesn’t He? When I grew up and was able to have real babies of my own, He blessed me with not one but two of these creatures.

Taylor is our biological son, born first. I fell in love with him the second I knew he existed. Although I did not know what to do with him at first, God helped me figure it out. We were rocking right along and, when he was 3, we decided to try to have another child. After 4 years of trying to get pregnant with no success, my husband and I decided that we would adopt a second child, a little girl.

Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. (Proverbs 19:21) Taylor was praying for a little brother, so when God worked out those details, we brought home our son Bradley from Ukraine at 15 months old. We knew he was our boy and we fell in love with him the first time we met him. I was destined to be a MOB (Mother of Boys).

Instead of barbies and purses, we played legos, Lincoln logs and ball. We had about 4,000 matchbox cars around our house and lots of tractors and trains and motorcycles and bikes. What is it with boys and stuff that rolls?

After my husband, my boys are the greatest gift God could have given me. I love my boys with all of my heart, and I have learned so much being their mom.

1. Boys need love, support, encouragement, security and admiration just as much as we girls do, even if they do not show it or need it expressed in the same way.
2. They give really good hugs, especially when they become bigger than you.
3. Giving them Jesus works for everything. My boys could not be more different than each other. Taylor is compassionate and Bradley is strong-willed, which means I have needed to be even more compassionate and strong-willed at times. There is only source that I could go to for this. That’s Jesus.
4. I will never be a member of the boys club, but being the woman who is loved and gets to love these men when they are tender little ones is so special. While I did not have a princess daughter; in my little boys’ eyes, I was the princess. I received proposals from each of them when they were about 3. Pretty cool!
5. There is no greater honor than raising a godly heritage of young men that we pray will grow to lead their own families for the Lord.  As an aside, I am thankful too that God has given me opportunities to sow into the lives of women of different ages through Grace In The Wilderness.

Hey, instead of raising girls, I am raising husbands, fathers and God-fearing men. And I could not be more fulfilled than that.

Speaking of husbands, Taylor, my 21 year old, just got engaged in January. Yes, I am finally getting a girl, and she is absolutely precious! I love you, Reid! I cannot wait!

What is your favorite thing about being a mother of boys (MOB)? Please share in comments below.

Dear Lord: Thank you for giving us the wonderful blessing of being mothers. When we need help in parenting, may we always look to You, our heavenly Father. You are the ultimate source of wisdom and grace. Amen