Moving Day

Okay, so I was just going to get on here and tell you, my dear friends, that I wasn't going to be around today!  Helping move my parents today (right now I'm just waiting out a little one's nap!).  Instead here I am, posting a whole bunch of unedited photos.  I just couldn't resist!  I'm so happy that we can finally get outside again!  And I love how beautiful the world looks in the spring.  I'm looking forward to some more adventures with the kids this summer just like last summer.

Moving my parents is a little bittersweet.  Moving has never been easy for me-- I get attached to places way more than I should.  My parents have been in their current town ever since my oldest kids were small.  I love thinking back to happy times visiting my parents from out of state, playing in a backyard pool, jumping on the trampoline, popsicles, barbeques, chasing kids across the lawn, swings, walks, cookies, crafts, extra hands to help me and love my little ones, and treasured time with my parents (lots of great talks!).  Maybe that is why the memories are especially sweet- so many people I love in one place, without the usual distractions.  And any place I watch my kids grow will always have a special place in my heart.

But, on the flipside, I am happy that my parents can make any place feel like home!  The reason the places they leave are so bittersweet is that I have happy memories in those places.  So I guess the fact that these moves make me a little sentimental is a sign of my blessings-- that I have made happy memories with people I love.

And...I am so excited to have them moving closer to me!  SO excited!  It has gotten harder to travel to them since my older kids have gotten involved with school and sports.  Looking forward to happy memories in their new place.

A Little Bend in the Road

Over the last week, I think I reached the first real bend in my road.  The one where I think I just want to sit down on a rock and rest a bit.  Ok, maybe forever.

I've had a few setbacks, and I've been a little discouraged.   (BTW, this months resolutions are NOT happening!)

Then I realized a few things. 

One day, feeling down, I sat at the computer and nursed baby.  I was grumpy because I had a lot to do.  I started wondering why I'm doing this-- it is hard to find time for the things I need to do, let alone want to do.  Then I looked down at his face.  And he looked up at me with those big brown eyes and smiled that smile that is meant only for Mom.  The one that tells me I am his universe right now.  And everything else.  And I realized THIS.  THIS is why I'm doing my project.  For that little face, and four others.  And not for any other reason.  Not for my health, or sanity, or pocketbook, or figure.



I read this quote (here, one of my favorite posts of Stephanie Nielsen, their back-to-school feast):


Photo credit: Justin Hackworth

I read this quote (here):


And saw this video via Design Mom (TEARS)-- so beautiful and inspiring, about a French Designer and how one letter to Mother Theresa changed her life:



"Come, all hands are needed." 

New favorite quote.  Reminds me not to get so caught up in life's little details that I miss the big picture.

I remembered that God is on my side, and He will help me, and make up for the things I give up along the way.

That my blessings far outnumber my challenges.   I just need to take a step back and see them! 

And a few principles I've learned along the way.

1.  Habits make hard things easier.

2.  Taking care of myself is important-- when I don't get enough rest, or nutritious food, it undermines my ability to care for others and be kind or patient with others. 

3.  Little aggravations are common in any relationship, especially marriage.  How I handle those little things can either create an ulcer or a pearl, depending on how those minor aggravations are handled. 

4.  Instead of complaining or venting, maybe a gratitude list is in order:  the baby smell on my hands, the way the mountains look like russet velvet, the little drawing or note left on the counter, the mountain of laundry that shows I have lots of people to influence, care for, and love.



(this picture of a "duck" was presented to me with pride this morning!  Isn't that the most darling duck?  It is gray and look at all those webbed feet!  I got a major kick out of this)

5.  The biggest hurdle to doing something good is simply starting that thing.  I am so tempted by all my busy to-do's to cut out the time with the kids or cancel a date or tell the family they can't come over.  But as soon as I have begun said activity, my load is lightened and I am so glad I didn't give up prematurely.

6.  Doing things for others is the quickest way for me out of the doldrums.  I finally sent off my "Hondeydukes" package to a friend and instantly felt my day brighten. (more about this later)

Hard days aren't forever.  I have to be flexible, looking for ways to readjust if needed, and remember my priorities.   These days won't last forever.

Little Things on a Saturday Morning

Woke up, my hard working husband gone, a cute little baby nestled up to me.  It was as if I forgot in the night I have a baby, and when I woke up it was such a pleasant surprise.

Later he discovered his belly button and mine too.

I discovered that if I blow in his face, his wispy brown hair flutters, he wrinkles his nose and squints his eyes and tips his face back in the cutest smile that shows his gums punctuated by a few little pearly white teeth.

Made a list of positive things about my kids, so I'm armed for some positive talk; I almost cried when my sweet little three year old beamed at the words we wrote about her-- sweet, forgiving, smart.  How have I never noticed how forgiving she is until just now?

Went for a run -- morning was beautiful and fragrant and air humming with insects.  White moths fluttering among bending willow branches.  Busy cyclists in bright pink and orange, a fair announcer echoing, parents holding toddlers on a yellow mini-train. 

On the way back, I looked across a large pasture toward the mountains and thought of all the different runs I've been on in different parts of the world.  For me they have come to symbolize what is great about the life I live right now.  When we lived in England, my son and I had a little "forest" we'd traverse, where we'd look at bugs, he'd stand on protruding roots and say "yah!" and I'd watch the sunlight filter through those beautiful English trees.  I thought life didn't get any better, and I worried that when our time there came to an end, I would leave that behind forever.  Yet in every place we've lived we've found a new walk we love, coming to symbolize that there is something good about each time of life we're in, we just need to find it and appreciate it and soak it in.

Today my baby would crane his neck backward and cheese a broad, grayish-brown-eyed smile through a slit between the bright blue stroller canopy and the stroller itself.  His little legs ended in chubby pointing-out toes, too small to bend with the stroller seat.  I looked out over the pasture, patches of tall red, brown, and green grasses, two horses, a rickety rust train taking its time down the tracks; the mountains, velvet with spring green, pines in tall herds running imperceptibly down the mountain, a rook-shaped piece of snow melting in the peak, and giraffe-spot dapples of shade and light from billowy white clouds. 

I may be working toward a destination but the best part is looking around at what I have right now.  :)