Moments

I wish I was good at scrapbooking, journaling, picture taking and the like. I want to be...love the idea of it. I love it that my daughters & daughter-in-law all seem to be good at it. I can remember so many times over the years that my children would do or say something so cute and I would think, "I have to write that down". I never did. All the wishing and regrets won't change that. But, I realize that while the exact phrase or antic may not be preserved...the moment is never lost because it's not as much the 'what' they did or said that defines the moment and makes a memory as it is 'how' those moments make up the fabric of our memories. I don't remember each cute thing said or done, but I do remember the connections made and the awe I felt as my children's individuality emerged. Those moments afforded us the opportunity to reinforce our children's worth to us as we expressed our delight in them as an individual...you know, not en masse...my famous lumping our whole crew together. My Children (and their friends) will forever remember my calling up the stairs, "kids!" or "girls!" With five children, it was just easier to handle them as a unit, but I so loved those solo moments. Just one-on-one with an emerging personality enjoying a moment that will last a lifetime. So...I don't have a scrapebook for each of my children the way I wish I did. I didn't journal all about their childhood antics. I don't even have adequate photo albums. What I do have are the memories of how the moments of their lives have woven threads of love and connection throughout my heart. Life's pretty interesting.

Seasons of Life...

It seems that about the time we get comfortable with the rhythms of our lives...the dance changes! What an interesting thing these seasons of our lives are. Years ago when my husband and I were starting out in ministry, with 3 small children, we realized that we were frequently saying, "when things slow down", finally one day we realized that things were not going to slow down! What we had to do was adjust to this new season of our life rather than try to make the season fit us - we adjusted our attitudes to fit the season. We understand this in dealing with the elements. If it's cold out, we dress accordingly. Doesn't matter if we like the cold...we deal with it. We didn't necessarily like soccer practice, basketball practice (it was divide and conquer...taking multiple children to different gyms for practices/games scheduled for the same time). It was a season, it blessed our children, so we did it! Thank God the seasons change. And thank God for a husband that had the wisdom early in our marriage to make sure that he and I were prepared for the season when it would be just the two of us. Here we are married 29 years and we still like each other and enjoy spending time together! Of course, as with nature there is sometime the unexpected...you know, a sudden rain or wind....so, we have awhile before we are actually completely alone. Our oldest is 29 - youngest is 10. Life's cool.