Five Minute Friday: DETERMINE

 This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday. Five minutes of free-flow writing shared with whoever wants to read it. This week’s prompt is: DETERMINE.

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I'm not even sure where I first heard it... No doubt one of the gentle parenting blogs I low key follow.  It seems so simple but is so hard to implement:

"Do you need help or a cheerleader?"

That one simple question makes me squirm as I now have to actively choose to watch my child struggle to get something done, when I quickly could have done in less than 3 seconds.

The premise is simple.  Before swooping in to help with a task, no matter how big or small, purely ask if they need you to fix it or just wait while they do it.  

However, since implementing this, I've been amazed at how much she truly does "want a cheerleader".  Although my way most definitely would have saved her (and me) time, the beaming pride that comes radiating off of her when she has completed whatever task it is, is intoxicating. 

The other morning, we woke up to the sounds of this little love bursting into our room with a breakfast tray that she made all by herself, unprompted, just to show us how much she loves us.  With a cutting board adorned with a fruit smiley face, all of the silverware we could ever use, and cups full of goldfish, she bounded around the room explaining every step of the process. I was in absolute awe of the incredible growing girl in front of my eyes. She is changing.  Too fast. 

All of a sudden, she is learning to be more independent.  And I am starting to understand how capable she is.  Today, it's opening a snack.  Tomorrow, it will be cooking dinner.  A few more blinks and it will be walking into her dorm building.  Holding her own babies for the first time.  And then choosing to be a cheerleader for her own little loves.

Motherhood is this crazy roller coaster of struggling and stumbling along and somehow coming to the other side with perspective.  It's slowly learning, even when you don't realize it and then somehow being in a place to pass along what you've learned. What a privilege to be entrusted with something so precious. 

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Five Minute Friday: IMPORTANT

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday. Five minutes of free-flow writing shared with whoever wants to read it. This week’s prompt is: IMPORTANT.

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We are finally here.  A time I thought we would never get to.  It seemed so impossible and so far away, yet here we are: the girls are finally on the move.  

And by on the move, I mean, they are everywhere.  In the bathroom, in the pantry.  In the trashcan, in the fridge.  In the garage, in last night's dinner still on the floor.

Eleanor (L) and Lucy (R)

With their bowed legs and diaper booty, with their t-rex arms flapping and squeals of delight, they are off. 

I never knew how important sweeping was until I was diving to fish the two day old hard boiled egg out of a tiny mouth...

I am so grateful that we have made it to this stage.  I am so exhausted now that we have made it to this stage.  I forgot how hard it was to walk through this stage!

But seriously, where did that dried up meat come from?  I JUST SWEPT!  And for the love, big kids, NO LEGOS DOWNSTAIRS!!

Yet here we are.  Doing the walking behind, making sure they don't fall.  Doing the walking before, clearing a path. Walking alongside, just to watch their beaming faces as they do something new for the first time.  And see the twinkle in their eyes wondering if they are getting caught as they do something naughty.

Plug covers, the gates on both ends of the stairs, and the dustpan are my most cherish possessions at the moment and I never thought I'd be so grateful for our monstrosity of a baby jail in the front room. 

Eleanor (L) and Lucy (R)

The important thing is that they are safe, they are learning, and they are finding joy in experiencing things for the first time.

And I am so thankful I get a front row seat.

Eleanor (L) and Lucy (R)

STOP.

Five Minute Friday: ANNOUNCE

 This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday. Five minutes of free-flow writing shared with whoever wants to read it. This week’s prompt is: ANNOUNCE.

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In the spring of 2012 we announced to our family and friends that we were expecting our first child!  For Jeff's family, we gave his mom a 'birthday present' frame that housed a photo of a sonogram.  For mine, we gave my mom a souvenir from a mission trip to Haiti, that we just returned from: a small statue of a pregnant lady.  

Four years later, to the month, we slid another sonogram photo in front of Jeff's mom's eyes while we were looking at children's ministry lessons. Because we had to change our upcoming travel plans to Haiti, due to this pregnancy and the arrival of Zika, we blurted out the reason to my parents over dinner at Cotton Patch. 

Another four years (and two months) later, we had another announcement.  This one was twice as sweet and we recorded the whole thing!

 

I will never get over the privilege of being able to carry a child.  It is an honor that so many aren't afforded. It took us years between babies, not by choice, but the Lord worked it all out in His perfect timing. I don't think any announcements are coming from our house any time soon, if ever again, but these are by far some of my greatest heart moments. 

Praise be to God, for His most precious gifts! 

Five Minute Friday: Still

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday. Five minutes of free-flow writing shared with whoever wants to read it. This week’s prompt is: STILL.

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No matter how much I get accomplished, there is always more to do. I finish the laundry, just to see another pile growing on the floor. I wash the dishes, only to have more put in as soon as I dry my hands. The older one needs more spelling words practiced. The middle wants another snack. The babies want to eat again, just as soon as I button up my shirt. And for real. Everyone is STILL hungry?!?


I still have emails to answer, calls to return, forms to fill out, teeth to brush, lunches to pack, bottles to clean, and a bed to eventually climb into.


But, every once in a while, in the middle of the never ending to-do list, I am able to pause, take a step back, and peer into our life. I am so grateful for the chaos. Being busy reminds me just how much I have to be thankful for. A wonderful family that I get to be momma to. An amazing husband who, for whatever reason the Lord sees fit, loves me most. A wonderful ministry where I get to see the work the Lord is doing in the hard places in our community and world. And I am in awe of His goodness. Because even in the busyness, His hand is steady.


Stop.

Five Minute Friday: Observant

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up. Five minutes of free-flow writing shared with whoever wants to read it. This week’s prompt is: OBSERVANT.
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Two steel blue eyes look up at me from the plastic box.

Can she feel the love radiating off of every fiber of my being? Even though I can’t touch her?

In the box next to her are another pair of steel blue eyes.

Can she understand how much I love her? That I would give anything in the world to make her happy? To make all of their pain go away?

Their blue eyes pierce my soul and I’m a puddle on the wrong side of the plastic boxes. Both of them are tiny but so mighty.

I can do nothing but sit back and watch. And pray. And marvel at how amazingly wonderful they are and how intricately He has made them.

What a privilege we’ve been given.

I can’t wait to experience the life that’s ahead for these two with the steel blue eyes.


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Five Minute Friday: SUNRISE

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up. Five minutes of free-flow writing shared with whoever wants to read it. This week’s prompt is ONCE.

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One of my favorite things in the world is when the sky changes colors. The black to dark blue, to purple, to orange then pink, and finally light blue. And reversed at the end of the day. My kids know this about me. When we’re together, we all marvel together. If we are apart, they will ask me if I saw it. And if I’m exceptionally busy, they will come and find me, wherever I am and make me stop and come look at the sky. And though it might be a small inconvenience at the time, I am so grateful they help me pause in the midst of the chaos. It’s a sort of reset for us all.

Back when Jude was in school, our drive coincided with the sunrise. Every morning we would thank the Lord for creating the beautiful colors for us to see and acknowledge how the Lord goes out of his way to reveal himself to us, even when we least expect it! Such a beautiful way to begin our day together. 

Five Minute Friday: ONCE

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up. Five minutes of free-flow writing shared with whoever wants to read it. This week’s prompt is ONCE.

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Sometimes the thing is too big. Sometimes it seems too unattainable. Sometimes it seems as if it requires too much of me. It paralyzes me and I don’t even try because it seems too out of reach.

I’ve lived in that train of thought for too much of my life. Too many of my minutes consumed by the weight of the task, no matter how big or small it seems to others.

But what I’ve been noticing is that sometimes all the thing requires is a leap of faith. Not looking at the whole, but staring with one step. My mind doesn’t need to map out the entire journey. My body doesn’t have to take giant leaps at a time. I just have to take the first step. I have to just be courageous once. Sometimes the hardest part of obedience is the beginning.