As a new parent, I read all the books, magazines, and online posts to try and prepare for the coming changes.  I signed up for the weekly prenatal emails that explained each new step in development, from when my baby was the size of a bean, to an orange or a pear, and eventually, a fully formed little human.  I wanted to know what to expect even before those first few weeks and months, so I sought information from doctors, nurses, parenting experts, and sometimes just confident-looking parents a few years ahead of me on the journey. 

I felt unprepared for this new adventure and relied on the adage that knowledge is power.  I approached it like I do most new or unfamiliar things: by gathering information from a variety of sources.  I thought that by learning all I could, I’d prepare myself for parenting my kids. While I now know that notion is laughable, I can appreciate that my younger self needed the distraction from all the changes that were about to take place in my body and in our lives.

The frantic drive to the hospital to deliver baby number one was the first indicator.  My husband blew through red lights along the early morning streets getting us to the hospital in record time.  And learning the steps that take place during childbirth and practicing breathing during a preplanned class didn’t dispel the fear and panic we felt during labor.  Despite this, our sweet, healthy daughter entered the world, and we officially became adults. 

A day or so later, sore and sleep-deprived, those highly educated doctors and nurses told us it was time to go home.  Just the three of us.  Once settled in the car, with baby snapped safely into her car seat, my husband and I looked at each other and wondered aloud how they could trust us to just drive away with this tiny, precious new life.

But we each learned and grew and thrived.  And even though we mostly knew what to expect with baby number two, we worried about our transition from a family of three to four. We figured it out together, just as we have continued to do so in every new season that comes.  Because the only constant is change, and we’re all just figuring it out as we go along.

I guess my point is that whatever stage you’re in right now, know that you’ve got what it takes to make it (even if you don’t think so).  If you don’t believe me, just take a minute to look back at how far you’ve come.  impossible or improbable – you’ve handled them all.  And you can tackle this new season, too.