These are the days...

They might be crazy ones, but they are good ones. Period.

And for some reason, on my nice 40 minute drive home from church tonight, I felt overwhelming compelled to blog about these days - these days that are our life this season - these days that have been entrusted to us for which we are incredibly thankful!

But for a moment, let's just get honest, real honest - life is BUSY! The ministry life is a consuming one - Motherhood is consuming - keeping up (or at least attempting to) with a house and other "obligations" of life is just.plain.busy. There is no other way around it.

For example...

I often run the same load of laundry through the washer multiple times while another load sits in the dryer multiplying in wrinkles with another load or two on the couch waiting to be folded. And when I do finally "catch up" on the laundry, it is usually just in time to start all over again. The dust piles a little too high before I get to it w/ my handy dandy swiffer duster. There are many evenings, dinner does not even cross my mind until about 9:00 at night. And are there 2 or 3 meals in a day b/c I just can't seem to remember? There is at least one, if not a few evenings of the week that I literally meet Kenny at the door to give him a kiss, hand him Caleb, and rush out the door...to be 5 or 10 minutes late to an evening obligation I have for work/church (work and church - still a confusing concept I haven't quite grasped after being at it full time for 4 years!). There are mornings I wake up like a tornado, spinning around, trying to grab everything for Caleb and me, come down for a landing to drop Caleb off, and spin around again rushing in to again make it 5 or 10 minutes late to a meeting. Sometimes (ok, maybe a lot of times) I forget to pay the bills on time. And oh no - Merrell has eaten another sock off the laundry mountain!

And NEWS FLASH - my baby is not the best napper. He takes just after his Daddy - he's a night owl - and does not like to conform. I've read the books. I've tried the techniques and strategies. I've listened to this expert and that. I've read blogs of Mom's who have got it all together whose babies take beautiful long naps and sleep 12 hours through the night and have every answer for every problem. But as you can tell this is blog is in sheer contrast to those - I'm here to admit that I certainly do not have it all together. These are crazy days.

(*Please notice double layer of bumpers

to protect our little adventurer from himself!)

BUT these are the days, the good days!

B/c amidst this current craziness we know as life, there are those moments that absolutely melt your heart and remind you that really, these are the days. Someday, not too far off, my baby boy will outgrow the rocking chair. He won't need my hands to steady him as he walks. All his teeth will eventually be through and he won't need me to soothe him late into the night. I will not always be the silliest person he knows. But right now, I am. Right now, he loves to rock. Right now, he loves to explore with me right by his side ready to catch him when he falls and kiss away the boo-boos. Right now, he loves it when I sing to him off tune. Right now, he thinks it's hilarious when I dance around singing to keep him entertained on those rare occasions I do get dinner on the table at a normal hour. Right now, I get to experience lots of life's exciting firsts through his curious little eyes.

My cup certainly overfloweth! But I'm not going to pretend to have it all together - there are certainly days my cup overfloweth with frustration, exasperation. But I'm learning more and more that we do not get these moments back - they are here today, gone tomorrow. So we can choose to find joy amidst the busyness, cherishing every crazy minute OR we can find defeat in what we feel are our overwhelming circumstances (and we've all got them!).

So I count my blessings b/c we are:

HEALTHY

WHOLE

HAPPY

My baby is crawling. climbing. standing-on-everything. full of silly sounds and faces. curious as ever. happy. healthy. happy. healthy. WHOLE! Praise God!

The laundry will eventually get done. One of these days, I'll get to the dusting. We'll survive with a late meal or two and celebrate the evenings we eat like normal people. We are thankful for that complimentary drop of the late bill fee. We'll cherish the nights we are all home together. We will live in the moment, seeking grace, embracing the "life abundant."

So tonight as I rushed home just in time to get my baby boy down for another late bedtime, I had to grin as he procrastinated with giggles and smiles (and a few fusses!) and when he finally did fall asleep, you better believe that I rocked a few extra minutes in that rocking chair cherishing the feeling of his heavy head on my shoulder, the weight of him completely melted in my arms. And when I laid him in his crib with a blessing, I hovered a little bit longer just to stare...

B/c these are the days - crazy as they may be - sweet as ever - each a gift - non-returnable - full of grace - memories - blessings...

So choose this day to fully embrace the gifts God has given you!