Intentional Living, Beautiful Moments, & The Art of Being Present
Motherhood isn’t glamorous.
It was never intended to be.
No, far deeper than glamour, motherhood is sacred.
A high and holy calling. That's what I see when I peer into these eyes.
And I dare not underestimate a single moment. Now, or ever.
Happy 4 months to my tiny girl. ;-)
"Hey Pappy, there's something on your... on your face..."
"...it looks kind of silly and feels funny!"
"No, no! I don't want to touch it!"
"No, no, NO, not my face!"
"Oh. That wasn't so bad...maybe just, maybe just let me touch it one more time, okay?"
"Oh I can yank it! Is that what it's for? For Everyn's to yank on??"
"It is! That's what it's for! To YANK on! It must be."
"Oh now I like it, Pappy! I like it a lot! Just don't put it on my face again, ok?? That's kind of scary..."
*A Pappy isn't a Pappy without a beard. In all my 30 years I've never seem him without it. This was a major mile marker in Ev's life: acceptance and celebration of Pappy's beard. Success!*
A week in photos.
Sometimes it's so much easier to show rather than tell! Particularly when you're in the middle of the zillion logistics that come with buying a house, packing, moving, tending to the dozens of home projects that have to be completed prior to move-in, and let's not forget tending to a darling tiny girl every moment of the day... But hey, you guys tend to prefer photos anyway, right?? ;-)
That said, here are a few glimpses of our week:
What did your week look like??
Colorado is such a stunning state. In light of all the tragedy occurring as we speak, this post is a tad bittersweet. My heart goes out to all of those affected by the on-going fires. God be with them.
On a more positive note, I'm proud to report that Everyn did incredibly well on both flights! She essentially slept, thankfully. I only had to sneer at one flight attendant when she demanded we take our sleeping infant out of her sling for take-off because "she can't be in the seat belt with you." Um, riiight. First of all she wasn't in the seat belt with me, the sling and she were both over top of it, and secondly she'd be safer where exactly?? And let's be real, if this plane were to crash we all know that seat belt isn't saving anyone.
For the record, we did not remove her from the sling and she slept peacefully the entire flight. I was ready to fight had the flight attendant made an issue of it, but she seemed to turn a blind eye following my incredulous expression. Smart move, lady...
But back to lovely Colorado. Here's a few glimpses for ya:
We took long drives. We hiked, we laughed, we frolicked. (as brilliantly captured in that one particular photo above) We explored. We talked. We cooked and snacked and took tons and tons of photos. We even had one big blow up that ended in all of us being better, as a family, understanding each other a bit more and vowing again to keep fighting for one another, with one another, always until we understand. Fighting for means fighting with, you know.
It was glorious.
As to testing out the Everyn plus travel theory, despite all sorts of hiccups along the way we came home with new found confidence, evoking late night whispers of, "St. Thomas? We can totally do it. Lake Como, Italy? Absolutely! We've got this..."
We're home now and moving right along. I'm packing box after box, selling stuff on craigslist, getting more excited by the day about moving! Can't wait to settle into our little cottage. It's a dream come true in it's own right, the birth of a family, the birth of a ministry.
Happy 4th to everyone! Be safe. Enjoy it. And don't take a minute of it for granted!
I can already tell she's not a laid back, 'let's just hang out and chat' kind of girl. *sigh* I knew it. I knew that'd be too easy. Thanks, God. Further refinement. You betcha. I'm all over it. ;-)
Nope! Not this one. She's a 'let's go, let's play, let's do this' kinda girl! All. The. Time. Totally flies in the face of my slooooow, Sabbath-practicing life style. HOWEVER. This particular characteristic does make for a fantastic travel buddy! And that, my friends, is excellent news.
I have about a thousand photos from Colorado to post, but haven't quite finished sorting thru and editing them all. Should have them finished very shortly, but until then how abouts I leave you with this:
Bet you're smiling, huh??
Our tiny girl hit the 3 month mark yesterday. It's so terribly bittersweet witnessing the weeks fly by. I desperately want time to stand still and speed up all at once. My heart feels entangled in a thousand different emotions. It's the plight of every Momma on the planet, no doubt. I can't think about it too much or I'll seriously start weeping...
So! To celebrate we're headed to Colorado in the morning for a week with the family. Technically it isn't to celebrate Ev's three months, but then, sure it is! Why not? I'm all about celebrating. In fact, Josh and I stopped by Whole Foods tonight after driving by our new house to make sure it still had a roof. (Did you hear about the CRAZY hail storm that hit our area a couple days ago?! Wow. It was no joke. My car had $8000 worth of damage! Thank goodness for insurance.) ANYway, as we were walking out of Whole Foods I was feeling all jubilant and announced to Josh, "I'm in a celebratory mood!" "Me, too!" he declared. "Let's celebrate!"
Neither of us had anything in particular in mind, so we just decided to celebrate a whole host of things: Everyn, just because. That fact that it was Friday. A week off. A little dream cottage awaiting us when we get back. Barbecue for dinner. God's goodness. A new flavor of kombucha. The Rockies. Family. Potentially a new car?? Ya know, whatever sounded good. That's just how we roll... ;-)
So here's to... all of that! Happy weekend, friends. I'll be back soon with a slew of pictures!
