By Kayla Runkel 
I don’t know if you know this, but there is no order form you can fill out when the time comes to have children. I know, I was as surprised as you are!
If that were the case, I would currently be the mother of a perfectly well-behaved two-year-old who can speak six languages all while deep cleaning my kitchen. Oh, and of course he has blissfully slept through the night since birth.
But that just isn’t reality, is it? Instead, we must live by the motto: You get what you get and you don’t throw a fit.
I am a boy mom to the core and I have knowingly been one since the moment the ultrasound tech pointed at that black and white screen and joyfully said, “It’s a boy!”
My life revolves around toy cars, mega blocks, and monster trucks. I have stepped on more Hot Wheels in the wee hours of the morning than I care to mention, and I now have the added responsibility to myself and my future daughter-in-law to raise a man who knows how to properly avoid the toilet seat…if you know what I mean.
I love my boy more than mere words could possibly explain. There is just something so freaking fantastic about the relationship between a mother and son. I will be his first love and he will be my most unconditional love. But, apparently, I need a girl.
Please, do not get me wrong: if my next child turns out to be a little girl, I will be an over-the-moon, giddy as a schoolgirl, Julie Andrews singing on a mountaintop kind of excited. But I know from experience that little boys are an equally fantastic gift from above that must be cherished wholly and loved without ceasing. The same goes for little girls.
From the random stranger who approached me in the supermarket to my own friends and family who have all innocently asked when I will try for my girl, please stop. I know there is something incredible to be said about the relationship between a girl and her mother or her father. I know, because I have experienced them both as a daughter.
But each time you tell me I need to “try for a girl,” what I am hearing is that if I don’t have a daughter there will always be an empty space in my life that no son can fill. That breaks my heart to think about because it simply isn’t true.
Each time my son smiles at me, my heart bursts with radiant pride. When I see him bonding with his father over sports cars and race engines, I try not to long for a daughter to bond with over my interests but instead look forward to bringing my son in on them. Because there is no reason he can’t enjoy drag racing and going to the theater.
The Bible tells us that children are God’s best gift and His generous legacy (Psalm 127:3). Boy or girl, biological or adopted, healthy or sick, I am reminded that having a child at all is a blessing to be fully appreciated and eternally grateful for.
So I vow now to be content with the perfectly imperfect children God decides to place in my care. After all, He knows what I need far better than I do.
And I won’t be waiting for the Stork Delivery System to get up and running. I can only imagine my next impeccably well-behaved, multi-lingual, good-sleeping children will be on backorder for months on end anyway.
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