I have an embarrassing story to share with you. I've learned a lot from it and am still learning, so hopefully it's worth it.
My sister came to visit us a few weeks ago and we went camping for a few days. I had so many things planned I wanted to do while we were there, hiking a few trails, swimming all day, games, long nights by the fire etc..
Here are a few practical things I've learned through the baby and toddler stages with my kiddos. I hope they may help you if you're in that season of life now.
A few reasons why baby might be having a hard time going to sleep or staying asleep through the night for the first year or two. I usually tell first time parents or even myself when I had a new baby,
I wanted to share our little testimony with you about how God provided work for Kyle after we moved here to South Carolina.
We came without any work lined up so right away we started looking around, trying to find something. If you haven't heard of how we moved you can read about it here. Because of how The Lord lead us through our journey, we kind of expected to come here and find work waiting for us. But like I've said before, trusting the Lord isn't always easy but it's always worth it.
We took a month getting settled in, exploring where we live, unpacking and jumping full time into school with the kids.
Birthdays were never a big deal in my family growing up and I don't make them "pinterest perfect" now either. I might be a last minute kinda girl when it comes to certain things but the Lord always takes care of it for me. Although I did go through a season when I felt like I should do more, be more and have more for my kids and husband but the Lord quickly pulled me out of that and showed me that it's just not who I am. It's not worth it, the stress and the money take the joy and peace out of having a great relaxed time. So I end up putting a little something together for our birthdays and we invite a friend or two and always have a lot of fun. I guess maybe I'm still "old school" when it comes to things like that but I'm ok with it.
We celebrated my grandmothers eighty fifth birthday yesterday. To make her day special the kids and I took her out with us, even though we knew she wouldn't remember the trip at all. A few people told me not to worry about it but I feel like even if it's not for her, it's treasured memories for me and my kiddos to spend time with her.
The night before, after I put my kids to bed I overheard them talking, one was telling the other "it's great-grandmas birthday and we want her to feel special, so we will be going out to take her to the butterfly farm".
I hope you all had a wonderful Independence Day weekend. I know we did! It wasn't the traditional way to celebrate but we live in the lower forty eight now, so road trips are a must haha. Kyle and I went to Florida to visit family and meet the newest little members and also to take some time to celebrate being nine years together. Our trip was short and sweet.
It felt so nice to sleep through the nights and we even slept in quite a bit in the mornings. (Such a luxury after having kids haha).
It's our Anniversary today! I can't believe it's been nine whole years already since that chilly summer day in Alaska when Kyle and I said our vows to each other. It was a sweet day, I love how genuine and innocent we both were. I finally get why everyone kept saying "you are so young", now that we are "older" looking at teenagers and how young they are makes me realize how young we actually were. I needed a "permission" slip from my parents to get married lol. But to this day the Lord hasn't failed us and still helps us on our everyday journey.
I didn't realize until now how busy May and June are for our family, kids activities and camps, birthdays, holidays, and our Anniversary. The only other time of year it's as busy for our family is November-December. With so much going on all I can do is slow down and embrace it all. Soak in every moment and enjoy the life I have.
For little Alistairs and my dads birthday we went camping the first weekend of June.
It's not easy work to be a dad. So I want to say thank you for being a good daddy to our children. I am so proud of you and the wonderful father that you are!
When I finally saw you with the possibility of being more then just a friend, it was while doing ministry together at a kids camp in Alaska, just a few short weeks after we both graduated.
Dearest Papachka :)
First of all I want to begin by saying thank you for being my dad, I'm so proud to have you as my father. You've taught me many things by living and modeling life for me. There's not a day that goes by that I don't reflect on something from my childhood, that helps me in life today.
Hey everyone, I just wanted to let you know that I'm thinking about you. I haven't had time to sit down and write but I do think of you often, I hope and pray everything is going well. Can you believe that May is almost over!?!? I'm enjoying all the moments and here's a few I'd like to share with you.
Becoming a mother is one of the best gifts I have ever received. I did not plan to become a mom as young as I did and I also did not plan to have four kids in four years! Haha but that's the story of my life and I wouldn't change a thing about it! The last few days I've been thinking back on all the precious memories I have made with my four little ones and that makes me realize how fast time goes. We can never stop time or even slow it down, all we can really do is learn to savor every precious moment that we get.
Dear Mamachka,
You are such a treasure in my life. I wouldn't be who I am and where I am without you. You are always there when I need a shoulder to lean on. You never say no for an answer, when it comes to helping someone out. Your servants heart is so loving and compassionate, anyone who crosses paths with you is touched and changed in one way or another. Your wisdom and words of advise are always an answer from God and the time you spend in his presence is felt and seen in your daily life. Over the years you have learned to change, let go and grow. I love watching your life because you never cease to teach me by the way you live.
I cannot believe it's been two years since I started to blog! I want to start off by thanking you, for following along on my journey for reading, supporting, commenting and encouraging me in one way or another. Without you I wouldn't be where I am today. There have been many times that I wanted to quit. But whenever someone reached out and says that they have been touched that helped me change my mind and press through the hardness of it. I still have much to learn but it's been a fun journey for me. I don't think I've ever shared the story with you about how and why I stared blogging. So I'll do it today. :)
Over two years ago at the end of 2014 I stared having this feeling that I can and should be doing more in life. At that time I already had my four kiddos, life was busy and fun but I felt like I should still be doing more. I wanted to find something to work on that I could do from home. A few opportunities came up and I thought for sure one would be my answer from God. I prayed for a specific yes or a no...
I'd like to start by thanking my dearest mother for having my kiddos for a few hours, so that I can have a moment of quiet to journal. *Thank you Mamachka for loving my kiddos as much as I do ;) you are a blessing in my life more then words can say. I love you!*
I hope all my rambling will make some sense to you guys, as I sit here on a rainy day and try to put my thought together. :)
So this past weekend we celebrated the Resurrection of our precious Savior and in my last entry I wrote about Life with Jesus and all that he is to me. He doesn't sees to amaze me! His love for us is more then we can comprehend and I am so overwhelmed yet again at how much he loves me and how near he really is!
As I let myself "feel" about an incident that happened the other day, I realized how bad I was hurt. I started sobbing and you wouldn't believe the amount of thoughts that started flooding my mind.
It's Easter Sunday tomorrow and I thought it would be appropriate to talk about Jesus and all that he means to me. And what he's done in my life and how to me he is everything.
Without him I wouldn't have had the family I grew up in. I don't have any idea what my teenage years would have looked like because he literally was my life! Every spare moment I had I spent locked up in my room spending time with the lover of my soul. He was the one who opened my eyes and had my heart skip a beat when I saw the man who would later become my husband. That man has been the greatest gift ever, I can't imagine life without him! Together now we have four precious little gifts, whom we love more then words can say!
Without Jesus I probably would have quit on my marriage a few years ago. Without him I might have not had my precious twins. As a family we wouldn't be where we are today.
As I sit here alone, on this cozy spring morning with the birds chirping outside, I am so overwhelmed by the love that our Father has for us. I am learning how to embrace it and understand it but sometimes I just have to receive it. I just finished journaling in my personal paper journal and felt like maybe someone else out there needed to hear this too, so I'll share what I've been going through with you guys.
Last few weeks have been hard for me personally and I feel like my family as well. We were on the edge with each other and I was disappointed with myself and started to question the Lord. There are things I've been praying about for many months and even years. I felt that it's been long enough and the Lord probably forgot to answer. When clouds like that come over, one thing triggers another and it feels like your whole world is coming apart.
No matter what season you are going through in life, contentment is the key to being happy. You might be a young mom hardly sleeping through the night, or a faithful father who needs to work a lot to provide for his growing family, or in any other busy or hard time you find yourself in life. We might not always like the season we are in but it's truly up to us if we will be happy in it or not. Accepting who you are will help you live life to the fullest. For me the most difficult time was having kids shortly after getting married, we had four kids in four years! That all felt like it happened way too fast and I had to learn how to process it all and find true joy in life despite my circumstances.
