Defining the Season

I like definitions.  And labels.  And boxes.  
I like understanding where I am and who's doing what.
But right now I find it hard to define what season of life I am in.  It seems for so long I was in the season of only having littles, teaching them to be still for naps, be kind to eachother, and walk in a line like ducks at the grocery store.  I am still doing that, and yet...
My oldest turns 18 this week, and he has 9 younger brothers and sisters.  That means I have been having babies for a long time.  I am in my 40's, so I am no longer new at this. I am itching to help some younger mothers along the way, tell them what I know, and encourage them to keep the faith.  Yet I am also a mother to littles, and those littles need naps and a home-based life and a steady routine and a rested Mama.  And that reality keeps me from being physically as involved in my older boys stuff.  
We went to a potluck for speech and debate last weekend, and I was the only one with a nursing baby.  Most of the parents' youngest children were older than my youngest four children.  
It's crazy, really.  As I'm adding to our numbers, the older ones are starting to fall out the other side!  Danny heads off to debate camp this week, and then onto a full-time job through the elections.  Joey is in Kansas City having the time of his life.  The next 3 are pushing their way up and ready to move forward and grow into adulthood.  
Kenny and I have been wanting a larger house for a while now.  He is patiently trying to pay down the mortgage, and I am patiently trying to re-shift and re-organize so we can stay here until he is ready to make that move.  But lately we've joked that if we just wait a while longer, our family will start shrinking and we won't need to move! 
And what am I learning through the whirlwind of changes?  That I will never pass this way again, and so I had better make it count.  As Debbie Pearl writes, "Life is NOW.'  
It's a rich and full season, even if I can't put it in a box.