Embrace the ride..

Riding the roller coaster was one of my favorite moments with my little girl...
She had ridden the ride 2 times already with her Auntie..
While I was standing with Baby Jack,
She came running out..
Face so excited..
"Momma, come with me!"
So I went..
and as we RAN through the line..
She kept telling me what to expect..
How awesome it was..
That I HAD to raise my hands..

In that special moment..
where my little girl..
was so precious and sweet..
I also saw a grown up side to Ari..
One who was willing to take risk..
Wanting to do things on her one..
I saw her wonderful brave personality shine through..
And as much as I want her to stay little..
I saw a glimpse of big Aria..
And I realized..
I liked her very much..

side note: this was the only time my hands were up during the ride, they were wrapped around Ari the whole time.. partly because she is so little and partly because I am a chicken.. I am scared of a roller coaster that goes 3 feet off the ground..for real.

I am on a mission...

When I was around 8..

I won poem writing contest..

for mother's day..

Impressed right?

OK here is the truth..

by win..

I mean tied for first..

and by poem writing contest..

I mean a contest with like 6 other kids at our church's mothers day banquet..

Still impressed aren't you?

With such prestige surrounding the poem..

surely you can see why almost 20 years later..

I still have it memorized...

A Mother's mission never ends..

In Fact it just begins..

Each day of a mother's life..

from cooking to cleaning to making the beds..

A Mother's mission isn't the easiest..

but perhaps it is the best..



Here is the thing 8 year old me didn't realize..
that my mission as a mommy..
has nothing to do with housekeeping and culinary skills..
My mission is to love on those kiddos..
(even though having a clean house and feeding them is loving them)

It's to find patience when I have none..
To be understanding when my lip gloss has been used to create a masterpiece on the wall..

To get on the floor and play with them..
when I have a sink full of dishes and rooms to clean..
because they are more important than tasks..

To always speak kindly of their Daddy...
To be on my knees lifting them up to the Father who loves them more than I can fathom...

That is my mission..
to raise kids to know the wonderful love of our Saviour..

So today..
there are many tasks to do..
But only one mission..
To Love God, love others
in everything that I do..
It is more important for me to have a loving house..
than a clean one..

Catch up can wait...

Monday was beautiful..

The sun was shining..

and weather was warm...

and where was I?

Inside..

cleaning a house

that seemed to be messier when I finished..

than when I started..

How does that even happen?

I am still playing catch up this week,

catch up on laundry..

catch up on cleaning..

catch up on dishes..

Catch up.

But there is one thing I can't catch up on..

spending time with my babies..

because

 unlike the endless mountain of laundry..

once those moments are gone..

they are gone..

So today..

it was beautiful outside..

and frankly a disaster inside..

but

 instead of playing catch up..

I just played..

we went outside..

enjoyed the warmth..

enjoyed our time together..

I read this post today..

and thought it was a wonderful idea..

I want my kids to have pictures of me..

to go along with their memories..

But unfortunately I am not too handy with the whole timer thing..

so here are my outtakes..

I managed to leave room..

for an entire other human being..

in the frame..

yet still managed to cut off my head..