"Will you please quit pacing," Mike said, referring to my path between the laundry room, kitchen and living room that strongly resembled a hamster spinning on its wheel.

"Pacing isn't going to help," he said.

Yielding to his wisdom, I plopped in my recliner that matches Mike's. They're comfy chairs, just right for rocking and reading to grandchildren. I got up and paced again.

Oldest daughter, Elizabeth, called at 7:30 that morning to tell me that her throat was raw and she was going to the clinic to get checked for strep throat. At 11:30 a.m. when I saw her name on my caller ID, I was expecting to learn if it was a positive or negative strep test.

"Mom," she said. "I'm in the hospital. I was at the doctor waiting for my test results and my water broke."

Oh, honey, welcome to parenting where you learn to expect the unexpected.

Mark made record time from the hog barn where he was delivering pigs, to their home for the bags they weren't expecting to need for another week or so, to the hospital where Elizabeth had checked herself in.

That was this morning; this is 10 o'clock at night. Who knew grandparenting could be so difficult?

"I think I'll go to bed," I said.

"Do that," Mike said. "You're making me nervous."

At 5:30 the next morning the phone rang and Mike and I both jumped out of bed. A proud, tired and very happy new daddy said, "It's a boy!" After learning that mother and baby were healthy and well, I recorded the stats: Landon Mark, 8 pounds, 14 ounces, 21 inches, with a full head of dark hair.

Amazing new feelings washed over Grandpa (heavy on the grand) and I as we soaked in the blessing and gave God thanks.

Ten minutes later, middle daughter Stephanie who recently returned home from college for the summer, stomped up the stairs from her basement bedroom in frustration. "I'm waiting! I heard the phone, and I've been in my bed waiting for someone to come down and tell me the news! If you're not coming to me, I'm coming to you!"

We shared the details and the proud Auntie spent the next 20 minutes texting every college friend who wasn't a direct relative to the people back at home. She honored the parents and grandparents by allowing them to share that news. Auntie Melanie didn't need a personal announcement. She couldn't help but hear every detail from the comfort of her bed.

Wess Stafford, president and CEO of Compassion International and author of the must-read book for parents and grandparents, "Too Small To Ignore" (Waterbrook Press, 2005), writes, "Childhood - we get only one pass at it, and yet it dictates the quality of the rest of our lives."

If you are a parent with children living under your roof, the meter is running. We only get one shot at this home-building thing. Only one. If you have children in college, married or married with children, you already know that time is not on our side.

Parenting isn't the only thing that's happening in your life. You've got a marriage, maybe a career, errands to run and meetings to attend. There's a lot going on in your life, a lot of important things going on your life, and you're exhausted. Understanding all of that, I'm reiterating Stafford's wisdom - you only get one shot at this family-building thing.

Here are some of the actions he recommends we take to invest in the children in your family.

. Always remember that there is no higher calling than to raise a child.

Our culture glorifies a great many things - your job, your home, your vehicles, your looks, your bank account, etc. If you're employed outside of the home, what do you work harder at? Be honest. What do you work harder at - your tasks at work or your role as Dad or Mom? The greatest measure of success is not our bottom line, but our hearts - how we loved God and how we loved people - especially the little ones entrusted into our care.

. Enter into your children's world.

Before you go to the computer to check your e-mails, before you head to your favorite chair to read the paper, or to the kitchen to make a meal, go to your kids. Enter into their world. Stafford writes, "When children live in a nurturing, safe environment surrounded by family, friends and a supportive community of people who love them, believe in them and affirm their lives, they dare to dream of what they might become. If we nurture the dreams of children, the world will be blessed. If we destroy those dreams, the world is doomed!"

. Bring your children into your world.

Granted, mothers of preschoolers are wondering if there's a world outside of their children's that belongs to them, but let me explain.

Stafford shares this story from his childhood while his parents were missionaries in Africa: I know it would have been much easier for my father to leave his little boy behind in the house. He didn't need my help in digging the well, but he converted a little shovel to just my size and he let me get down in the muck - a boy's heaven. I now realize my digging time was usually when the men were resting anyway, but as far as I was concerned, I was doing my part, just like a grownup.

I remember being lowered on a sling by rope and pulley to what I thought was the bottom of the earth. Looking up, I could see the sky and my father's face in a small disc of light high above the murky darkness of the well. I loved that man and would do anything for him. There was precious little going on in my life that I wouldn't gladly share with him. We were friends!

Leaving our kids behind when we enter into the "adult" world also leaves behind missed opportunities to invest in their lives.

Whenever possible, bring your children into your world - whether you're baking cookies, weeding the flowerbed folding clothes, or driving a tractor or pickup. When you ask them to enter your world, will it take more effort? Yes. More time? Definitely. More patience? Probably. But you'll also experience so much more as you build relationships, build life skills and build precious memories.

Those are just three of many ways to invest in the children under your roof - something that can be applied to grandparents, uncles and aunts, and other beloved family members, too.

Every child needs to have at least one person who loves him or her unconditionally.

Not "if only you were ..." or

"I love you when ..." or

"I love you because ..."

Instead, someone who will say, "I love you and always will. Nothing you could ever say or do would lessen my love for you."

Little Landon has been blessed with parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts, great-grandparents, and a host of others who will do just that.

Faithfully do the same for every child within your sphere of influence.

...

Lenae Bulthuis is a wife, mom and friend who muses from her back porch on a Minnesota grain and livestock farm.