despite spring showing it's first signs of arrival, the snow has decided to remind us that it is still, in fact, winter.
the kids are home this week for Mid-winter break. They had slight colds at the start, and are already on the mend. Adam is working from home today and made pancakes when he got up :)
i've been feeling quiet these days...introspective and full of desire to learn more about being a godly wife and mother. I finished reading "bringing up boys" which i highly recommend. i hear they have a "bringing up girls" which i would love to read as well.
i have been going down memory lane a lot these days... reading old journals, pregnancy journals, watching old home videos of the kids as babies and toddlers, and looking at photo archives. It's amazing how it all seems like another lifetime. Or at times, even like i'm reading about or watching someone else's life. I've forgotten so much, but other times i'll look at a photo and remember all that went on that day. i'll remember weird details that have nothing to do with the photo. strange. i remember that when i took certain videos, i would ask ashlyn to say something or do something b/c i knew that in the future i'd want to remember what she sounded like or see glimpses of her personality. how right i was! i fell in love with my children all over again. i wish i could go back and play with them and hold them once more. what a sweet time that was...i didn't realize the half of it. It's hard to savor every moment when you are tired, changing diapers and dealing with two young ones 24/7. i was so young and was figuring out how to be a parent. I did love it though. i would turn the camera on myself and gush about how much i loved them and how much i loved my husband. i knew i was blessed. i was. i am. i think now about how much adam and i have gone through and how much life we have shared....i've known him almost half my life! we still have so much more life to experience together. It excites me!
ashlyn turns 9 a week from today. Her last single digit birthday. Her personality is maturing more and more. She's sweet, she's smart, she's loving, and she can be such a self directed little thing! She is daddy's girl, but also loves to hug and love on me as much as she can. Friends are important to her, but she's also fine being alone to craft or read. I'm excited to watch her grow more and more into her own person. halfway to 18. I'm praying that adam and i will continually look to the Lord in raising her (and ben!) through those tougher years. Well, i mean, what other way is there to do it!?
We are blessed. it's hard not to look at what others have and compare yourself. i think the internet magnifies that whole thing. facebook, blogs, etc. i want to work on focusing on MY life. what God has given, and being thankful for it. So what if we don't have the most stylish house or furniture or clothes or take the best vacations, or______? We won't remember those things 20 yrs from now. we will remember the time we spent together. we'll care if we have instilled the right things in our children. If they are well rounded, responsible, and love the Lord. we'll care if they know what it means to be a good wife and mother, a good husband and father.
xoxo
enjoy this last bit of february! i can't believe march is almost here...
