Everyday Stuff

When I was a teenager, I had a long list of Things I Wanted To Do With My Life.  All of them fell into what I would have called the "exciting" category.  I wanted to go places, travel the world, do big things.  I wanted to learn to fly, create new things, teach children across the world.

You know what didn't even make it onto my list?  Yep, you guessed it - being a stay at home mom.  It's strange looking back at who I was then.  I had absolutely loved having my mom home with me when I was little and really couldn't imagine it any other way.  I wanted to have kids but that seemed so far away.  When I thought about being a stay at home mom, truthfully the words that came to mind were dull, boring, chore, sloooooow days...not at all the life I thought I wanted.

I smile as I write that because I can say without a doubt that this time, right now, is the most content I have ever been in my life.  I feel the most fulfilled, the most challenged, the most excited about every day, and the happiest that I can ever remember being.  Of course it is stressful, tiring, frustrating, hard and all of that at times, too :)  But I am so thankful to be where I am, spending my day with these precious little ones.  Only God, in His amazing ways, knew that I wouldn't have to go around the world to teach children...He brought them to me!

Teaching Matthew these last few weeks has been so wonderful and I am so glad we have made this decision for our family.  He is reading up a storm, starting to write, and soaking up everything!  This week we made a mailbox out of a cardboard box and then made notes to pretend to mail.  Matthew wrote one to my sister, Sarah :)

This little girl is such a ham - she cracks me up!  She has been home 7 months now and I see even more evidence every day that she knows that we are her forever.  It's awesome to see!

There is a whole lot of laughter in this house, especially from these two crazy boys and their Daddy!  He let them brush his teeth the other night and apparently that was the most hilarious thing ever.  The boys were laughing so hard and we were laughing at them laughing!

Every day there are a hundred little things that make me giggle.  Like Nathan pushing his transformers around in a doll stroller.  He is such a little boy!!!

It may not seem from the outside looking in that I have the best job in the whole wide world.  People may look at me at the grocery store with a cart full of children and groceries and they may be thinking how glad they are that it's not them!  But I continue to look around in amazement at the little ones God has blessed me with and thank Him for giving me a life so good that I couldn't even dream it up on my own.  It was all Him, and I will never stop thanking Him for what He has done!