Don't Forget - A Committment

I have a horrible memory. I want to remember so many things about my life right now. I can't tell you how many times I see something during my day that I want to take a mental picture of and remember forever. A few minutes later, it is gone. Most of what I remember has been retold to me by my husband. I do remember random things now and then, but it's definitely not my strength.

I think about this blog all the time. You would never know based on the number of times I've posted in the past year (umm, three). At one time I thought maybe just posting pictures often would jog my memory and the captions would be all the commentary necessary. I've taken about 125 pictures since Kate was born, all on the iPad (not great pics). A majority of those were taken in the hospital. That's not a lot and doesn't begin to capture our life and the memories we've made. I'd like to think that if we had a camera we would take more pictures. Not sure how true that is.

My point is, I want to remember. I want to remember how great some of my days are and how challenging some of them are. I want to remember all of the silly, funny, sneaky, brilliant, amazing, frustrating, wonderful things my kids do and say. I want to remember what I'm struggling with and see how God shows up! I want to remember my personal victories and remind myself that I do have strengths, on those days that I doubt.

I don't think many people, if any, read this blog. That's okay because I want to do this for me and for my family. I am committing to updating at least once a week for the next month. I would also like to hop on and post quick little memories or photos as they happen, if possible. I'm writing this down so that maybe, just maybe, I'll actually do it. :)

That's Life

That's what we've been doing. Life. So many things. Too many to name. These children are hard work but I've been doing a lot of reading and praying about how to make sure I enjoy the work. I have the best job in the entire world....by a mile! I mean, look at these sweet faces?!

How do I balance my tasks with enjoying them? There are only so many hours in the day. I've heard to many times to dismiss it: "enjoy these years, they'll be gone before you know it." Thomas is 4. He starts Kindergarten next year. Caroline is 14 months old. She'll be the big sister in April of next year. This new baby in my belly may very well be my baby forever. This may be it.

Lord, help me to honor you in my mothering. Help me to raise the children you've blessed us with to love you and love people. Help me to balance that with being a homemaker, and teaching them skills that will be necessary in this life on earth. Amen.

 

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March Update in Pictures

Ok, so in March I took 4, count them, 4 pictures...all within a 2 minute window. So sad. As mentioned in the last post, I got an iPad 2. I love it and I've taken some pictures on it as well. At some point I'll be savvy enough to get those pictures into this here blog thingy. K? Until then....

Oh yeah, and don't look for April. In April I took ZERO pictures. Next comes May - a birthday month...there are bound to be some pictures, right? Right??!!

February Update in Pictures

We are still here. I now take so few pictures, that I will just use the few I took the past few months to update on what we've been up to.  I'm going to miss so much, but this is the best I can do right now. My mid-year resolution (is there such a thing?!) is to take more pictures and update the blog regularly, now that I've figured out how to do it on my iPad (I think). I know, I'll believe it when I see it too...

Cute, right? Look at those eyes. Caroline is 7 months old!

Thomas is a great helper and an even better big brother! Here he is helping me get Caroline in the morning.

He usually tells Caroline good morning, then gets her new diaper ready. He puts it right on top of the wipes every time. :)

Another sweet picture of Caroline, for good measure.

Thomas posing with his potty training reward chart. It worked. He's potty trained. That was fun (not really).

A rare shot of me and my kiddos. Check out the cheesy smile on that one! :)

March is up next.....did you see that coming??

Fort Night

Not to be confused with fortnight, meaning a period of two weeks or 14 days. (Did you know that? ...neither did I.  Thanks Merriam Webster)

My guys are camped out in Thomas' room tonight.  Daddy and Thomas have enjoyed making forts in his room recently and tonight they made a fort to sleep in.  After supper and a bath, they hung out in the fort to watch Thomas's new Veggie Tales movie, King George and the Ducky.  I joined them in the fort for dessert.  We made s'mores in the microwave.  Yum!  These are those times that make me feel happy.  Happy to be married to my husband, and happy to have a sweet sweet boy named Thomas.

The outside of Fort Thomas

Dessert time in the fort

Goodnight. :)

An Ode to Gaga AKA "Grandma Floppy Socks"

At dinner tonight, Caroline wanted to channel her Great-Gaga.  Not the singer...the best Great-Grandma in the whole world.  Gaga likes to wear her socks half on, half off.  Makes sense, right?  Keep your toes warm without making the rest of your foot hot.  Maybe someone should market that.

Cutie little feet

The cutie pie attached to those feet

Here's another idea...someone should make baby socks that STAY ON!

One Thousand Gifts

Lately, I have been (slowly) reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp.  This book is a challenging read for me in many ways but has been wonderful so far.  Her style of writing is so beautiful, but for someone who sometimes struggles with focus and comprehension, it just takes a while.  Is the content worth it?  Yes.  The basis of the book is "living fully right where you are".  The word that weaves throughout the book is Eucharisteo.  "He gave thanks."  Thanks with grace and joy.  You should read the book.

Any who, it is a lovely and sometimes sobering reminder to live with grace, joy and constant thanksgiving, on the good days and especially on the bad days.  Ann started to list 1,000 gifts.  Things she could be thankful for.  She started seeking out things to be thankful for.  Things like "jam piled high on toast", "crackle in fireplace", "bandages and pain relief."  She intentionally looked for joy in her days and, as I understand it, still keeps a list well beyond 1,000.

I've contemplated doing the same, but I'm awful for getting excited about something, spending lots of time getting ready for it, doing it for a week or two and then it trails off.  I don't want 1,000 gifts to be a project, I think the point is to make it a way of life.  Find joy.  Be thankful to God, who has blessed us with the house that needs cleaning, the food that needs to be washed from dirty dishes, the children who need...everything.  I struggle to find joy in the mundane and thankfulness in the frustration my day brings.  Last night I read about Ann witnessing a particularly frustrating interaction between her boys over toast and getting mad, really mad.  God reminded me through this book:

"Straw comes in all shapes and the back of a camel can be weak and it's toast and surely there's something behind it that I should seek out but I don't even care.  It's my own face that obscures the face of God.  How can I help this son of mine see when I can't see?  The parent must always self-parent first, self-preach before child-teach, because who can bring peace unless they've held their own peace?  Christ incarnated in the parent is the only hope of incarnating Christ in the child - yet how do I admit that people made in the Image can make me blind to God, my own soul contorting, skewing all the faces?  Why gouge out your own eyes when crusading for Beauty?  Pain drives us to the mad acts."

God, today I pray that I can find joy and grace and beauty in the midst of it all.  Help me to see and help my children see.  Remind me to self-preach before I child-teach.  Help me to hold onto peace and share it with the little ones I'm with.