Sisters

I am thrilled beyond thrilled that my daughters each have a sister.

Sisters are a unique gift in life, a sacred, safe relationship where someone knows all of you and loves you still.

Ella and Sophia, I pray for you the kind of sisterly bond that is deep and strong and unmatched.

I pray that you will love each other and learn from each other, spurring one another on towards the Lord.

I pray that your friendship would be the deepest, safest that you will find, and I pray that you will grow more closely as the years go by.

I pray for lots of laughter and giggles, for hours of playing dolls and house together, for late-night talks about boys, for shared cups of tea, for swapping clothes and recipes, for standing up in each other's weddings, and for being at each other's births.  I pray that you will each be there for the other when you are needed, and I pray that you will be able to laugh and cry and celebrate and mourn together.

I pray for a lifetime of sweet memories together, and I pray deep, rich blessings over your relationship always.

Our Summer Rhythm

We have been soaking up our summer days more than ever before.

It seems like each day, after eating some bagels and fruit and doing morning chores, we are off...either to a playdate, a park, or to our backyard to play with friends.

Each day, we play and play, kids running around in bathing suits, me trying to keep up with them while keeping baby Sophia out of the sun, and attempting to have adult conversations with friends while the kids play.  We play our morning away, eat a picnic lunch, play some more, throw some dry clothes on the littles, and come home for the kids to crash.  They nap, I do dishes, throw the wet suits, towels, and picnic blankets in the wash, fold some laundry, and make dinner.  We eat outside, throw everyone in the bath, put them to bed in fresh, cozy jammies, and hurry through our chores to have a little relaxing ourselves.  I make sure the suits, towels, and picnic blankets are in the dryer before we go to sleep, for in the morning, we wake up and do it all over again, throwing on suits again, packing up the towels and sunscreen and sandwiches, and race out the door for another fun summer day.

This is our summer rhythm.

And I love it.

The pile on my desk is growing, the floors really could use a mopping, and my baby books are begging to be updated, but they can all wait.

After all, it is summer, and we are busy living it to the full.

Thankful Thursday

Happy Thankful Thursday!

Sammy's Thankful List...

I am thankful for bagels.

I am thankful for Barnes and Noble

I am thankful for God.

I am thankful for my own self.

I am thankful for spices.

Micah's Thankful List...

I am thankful that we get to go out to breakfast...

I am thankful for going to Disneyworld.

I am thankful that we got to go on an airplane.

And for Nana and Papa...

And My Thankful List...

Ella was on a rampage this morning.  Although she has slowed down a lot in all the things she gets into and climbs on, she gets in these modes where she will have a day, or a few hours, where she is just in a mood.  She emptied the whole shelf of books, throwing them one by one onto the floor.  She dumped out a big   puzzle Sammy and I had just finished putting together, dumped out bins of toys, and emptied a large basket of things.  She was in destruct-mode.  But as soon as it was naptime, that little, almost-two-year-old of mine stopped moving and snuggled in close while we sang and rocked in our well-loved rocking chair.  And so I decided that this snuggle time was too precious to just lay her down after the usual one song.  So I sang some more and rocked that never-stopping, destructive, sweet-pea of mine right to sleep...So today, I am thankful for sweet, unexpected cuddle time with my littles.  

I am thankful for Sammy's sense of humor developing and how he cracks up at the silliest and slightest of things...For example, he just said to me as I am writing this sentence, "Mommy, what if you scooped your whole head off and ate it?  That is so yucky.  Only bad guys like to do what we don't."  Ah, the mind of a three-year-old.  

I am thankful for Micah's chattering phone calls in which he details for me all that is happening in Florida.  Last night, he talked to me for a sold thirty minutes, going on about the day and asking me, "How are you guys?  What have you been up to?"  So sweet.

And I cannot even express how thankful I am for such sacrificial and generous parents who would choose to take their vacation time and money and spend it on a trip centered around my son and his best bud.  How amazing.  I am thrilled Micah had the opportunity to go to Florida, see the ocean, and have a magical day at Disneyworld.  So grateful for amazing people who love on our children.

What are you thankful for today?

Contentment

I have been thinking a lot this week on contentment.

I have always considered myself to be a pretty content person.  I love life.  I love people.  And I, thankfully, tend to be a "glass-half-full" kind of person.

But after reading a chapter on contentment from the book Living With Less so your Family Has More, by Mark and Jill Savage, I have been challenged to examine my heart and to increase the contentment in my life.

Although I love my family, my home, my role as a stay-at-home mama, and the relationships in my life, I have, at times, let envy and comparison rear its ugly head in my life.  I will confess that I have gone to a friend's house for a playdate, only to think in my head that their home is so much bigger and nicer than mine. Or I have noticed other moms around me looking and dressing way cuter than I feel, or losing their baby weight way faster than me.  I have seen the ways in which other moms seem so calm in their discipline, never seeming to lose their cool, and I have noticed if their husband's jobs don't require them to travel or have a less demanding schedule.  I sometimes see others having more financial freedom than us...and I don't want to notice.

The list could go on...there are so many different areas in which we can compare to others...finances, houses, children's behavior or successes, relationships, marriages, successes, appearances, etc., etc., etc....

But I don't want to notice.
I don't want to compare.
And I don't want to be jealous.

I want to have contentment rule my head and my heart, thankful for the gifts God has given ME and the journey God has put ME on.  Somedays, I find myself in a good rhythm, content for the 800 square feet that the six of us share in our cozy townhome, thankful for a simpler life with less money and technology and options.  And then others, I falter a bit more.  I am lured by the world's thinking that more money and more space make life easier.  And I wonder when it will be our turn for a break?  For a higher paying job for my husband or a bigger home?  But I continuously come back to the truth that "more" does not equal happy or full or easier.  And that my children are loved and safe and have amazing opportunities, even though they wear hand-me-down clothes, play in a tiny yard, and don't get grand vacations (although my oldest is currently in Florida with his grandparents...ha!).

Our lives are so good and full and rich and I want to focus on this.  We have intentionally chosen that it is our priority for me to be home with our children, and my husband has tried to pursue jobs within his areas of interest and giftedness.  So with Zach working for a non-profit and me at home with our little ones, we have had to choose relationships over money.  And this is what we want.

In Ann Voskamp's book, One Thousand Gifts, one of the BEST books I have ever read, she challenges the reader to live a life of thanks.  One that gives thanks in both the everyday moments and the "ugly beautiful" moments where it is harder to notice the gifts.  I have often kept blessing journals throughout my life and love living in a "seize the moment" type of way, but after reading this book, I have been completely revived in my desire to constantly, constantly give thanks for the gifts around me, noticing them, naming them, and praising God for the beauty that is in life.  For when I ask myself what it really looks like to be a content person, I have learned that it is truly in living a life of gratefulness.

So I am choosing to say "NO" to the comparison and the sin of envy.  Everyone has his or her own story, own journey, and own calling.  And in saying "YES" to that specific calling, it will indeed look different for each of us.  As a wise counselor once said, "When you compare, no one wins."

My goal is to continue to run hard after contentment, to thank God for the things he has blessed us with, and to choose to look at what really and truly matters in life, which is clearly not stuff.  And I will continue to challenge myself to always be counting my gifts and my blessings, in both the easy and hard stages of life, for I believe this is where true contentment lies.

"...I was lost, but now I am found again, Jesus, and I know what I want: to see deeply, to thank deeply, to feel joy deeply.  How my eyes see, perspective, is my key to enter into His gates.  I can only do so with thanksgiving.  If my inner eye has God seeping up through all things, then can't I give thanks for anything?  And if I can give thanks for the good things, the hard things, the absolute everything, I can enter the gates to glory.  Living in his presence is fullness of joy--and seeing shows the way in.  The art of deep seeing makes gratitude possible.
And it is the art of gratitude that makes joy possible."

                                                                                                               - Ann Voskamp

                                                                                                                     One Thousand Gifts

Touch

Our Five Senses Week

Day 5: Touch

Micah...

(still in Florida)

I feel the cold shelf...I am thankful we have shelves to store things.

I am thankful I am alive...I can feel myself.

I felt Nana...she kissed me and I felt her lips.

I feel a squishy toy...I am thankful that Chuck has toys, too.

I can feel...the water in the pool, the giant Chess pieces, the couch, and the pigs in the Angry Birds game.

Me...

Today I felt the cooling mist blowing across the park from the splash pad.

I felt the sweet, slender arms of Ella around my neck, wanting to be held often today for some reason.

I felt the soft baby skin of Sophia, so new and perfect, and I felt the weight of her healthy, chubby body strapped into my carrier at the park today.

I felt a cold glass of lemonade in my hands this afternoon as I took a break to nurse and read and breathe.

And I felt the precious, slobbery lips from my middles as we laughed and nuzzled noses and swapped kisses.

I felt the leather couch underneath me at the worship hour we went to tonight as a family, and I felt my family close and all touching me as we huddled together on the couch as the worship started.

I felt the dry, scratchy grass under my feet as I watered the flowers this evening.

I felt the warm, cleansing water from my shower at the end of the day, refreshing after a hot summer day.

And I feel the smooth keys on our laptop, giving me the freedom to write, process, and capture the gift that is my life.

Seeing and Tasting

Our Five Senses Week

Day 3: Seeing

In continuing with our Five Senses Week, here are some of the gifts that Micah and I saw over the past couple of days...  My amazingly generous mom and stepdad took Micah and my nephew, Chuck, on a trip to Florida for the week.  Micah and I talked on the phone and he told me the things he saw on his travel day.  He was too excited to talk for long, but here is his list...

Micah:

I saw with my eyes...

an airplane

clouds

the sky

people

rain

Micah and Chuck at the Orlando airport...

I have been intentionally looking for the gifts that I see around me, and I am amazed at how much I have to be thankful for.  I see my husband crawling under the kitchen table to go in Sammy's pretend "jail" and I see their arms punching the air together as they reenact Bible stories.  I see Micah's excited smile as we load his suitcases and send him off on his first trip away from home without us.  I see fellow worshippers at church raising their hands in adoration of the giver of all good gifts.  I see the blue, blue eyes of all my children - their one commonality unique to just them (as neither Zach nor I have blue eyes).  I see Ella's thin pigtails bouncing around as she is joyfully bouncing from here to there.   I see Sophia's adoring round eyes brighten as she looks at each of us around her.  

I see the many messes around me of children happy at play.  I see our cozy home, imperfect, but perfect for our family at this stage of our lives.  I see the ways in which life is good and the ways in which God is ALWAYS good and I want to focus on these things with deep contentment for the journey God has put me on.

Day 4: Tastimg

Since Micah spent his day with Nana and Papa at the beach, here are some of the things he tasted...

-salt water ("I'm not thankful that God gave me salt water," he says.)

-syrup with pancakes

-peanut butter and honey sandwich

-salty chips

-lemonade

-chocolate and vanilla twisted ice cream

-pizza

And some of the gifts I tasted today...

-hot scrambled eggs

-perfectly ripe, juicy, sweet strawberries that we picked ourselves!  

(Zach had the day off work today so we took our three littles to a nearby farm where you can pick your own strawberries and snap peas.  It was such a fun experience...we picked and sampled and had picnic lunches at the farm before coming home for naps and really enjoyed the day spent outside, soaking up the sunshine and making memories as a family.)

-crunchy snap peas

-salad with fresh vegetables and flavorful feta

-warm pasta with roasted chicken, creamy sauce, and fresh steamed broccoli

-strong fresh parmesan

-olive oil mixed with warm focaccia

-strawberry shortcakes enjoyed on our nightly "mini dates," as we refer to them

Although I wouldn't normally do this exercise of noticing the five senses around me if I didn't have a five-year-old, I am enjoying the challenge to pay attention to the ways in which we can experience life with the amazing bodies God gave us.  I have loved paying attention to these gifts throughout my days and hope I will continue to do so!

Thankful Thursday (a bit late)

Ah!
The day has slipped by with me forgetting about Thankful Thursday!

Lots to be thankful for around here...we are living summer up well, spending as much time outside as possible and cramming in tons of fun activities.  The laundry piles up and I've had to stay up super late to get some of the basic chores done, but I really am loving it and loving the fun moments created with my children.

Today I am thankful for hand me down clothes!  What a blessing for our budget!
Also thankful for our fun week of activities...the beach, the splashpad, dinner at my sister-in-law's, McDonalds playplace, playdate with a childhood friend, park playdates, T-ball, and out for ice cream.  (Confession: We went out to ice cream/had ice cream this week a bit more than what is probably healthy...Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and today!  Not really a planned thing, but I admittedly allowed that to happen!  LOVE going out to ice cream in the summer!)
I am thankful for family living close and thankful that I got to spend time this week with all the girlies in my family and all of my nephews and niece!
I am thankful for the gorgeous weather.
I am thankful this week, most of all, that my husband is coming HOME today after seven L.O.N.G. days of him being done for a work trip.  As is probably obvious for those that know me, I really and truly adore my husband.  He is completely my other half and my best friend and I really really like doing life together.  It is so much better to get through a dinner with overtired children when we look at each other and discreetly roll our eyes or laugh together at the way one of the children said or did something.  I love knowing that at the end of the day, he will come home, and we will be together, and I love knowing that even if I am up late with friends or working on a project, I can crawl into bed next to him and know that he is HERE.  That said, I am relieved that I don't have to do life alone this weekend, and I admit that it will be nice to have someone to help with the many diapers changed each day and the human alarm clocks in our home that go off at FIVE in the morning...and it will probably be healthier for us to stop eating so much ice cream!
As much as I am beyond ready for my other half to come back home, I am so thankful Zach has a job working for a great organization, and I am thankful that he is able to do meaningful work that he enjoys.  It's a stretch for me to say that I am thankful for his traveling, but I will try to be thankful for the fact that life is even sweeter when he comes home after a trip.

Since I am writing this so late, my boys have been fast asleep for hours, so we'll have to catch up with them on their thankful lists another time...

What are you thankful for today?