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Small Graces

This last week was another hectic one. I'm starting to get the feeling that life is never going to slow down.

There were a bunch of things this week that I wanted to get done but didn't: half finished blog posts, piles of unfolded laundry, untouched baking supplies, crafts/projects waiting to be started, etc. It's a struggle because when things are undone, or not done as well as I like, I can quickly begin to feel like a failure. Then an ugly cycle of self doubt, anger, regret, and then more self doubt ensues. There was a LOT that didn't get done this past week but I am feeling really proud of myself because that cycle also didn't happen. I made choices, sometime difficult ones, to let some things fall off my radar so I could enjoy/focus on others: a long chat with a dear friend, aimless walks with my kiddos, undistracted cuddles with Jeremy, and some "just me" time sitting on our front porch thanking the Lord for all He's given me. They were the better things; less tangible, harder to describe, and impossible to measure, but life-giving.

the simple beauty of sunlight never ceases to amaze me

treasures from a new-to-me thrift store

one of our neighbors has a forest of sunflowers

feeding some ducks

seeing this family of ducks brought my children such delight and when they begged me to read one of my
favorite picture books, make way for ducklings, my heart about burst

Big Buddy turned six this past week. My children's birthdays have been some of life's most bittersweet moments for me. I couldn't be prouder of the man Big Buddy is growing into; he's inquisitive, determined, compassionate, quick to laugh, and adventurous. It's just all happening too fast! I often hear  the saying "the days a long but the years are short"  when people are discussing parenting - and it's so true! How is it that some days can leave me counting down the minutes until bedtime and yet I still feel like these precious years are slipping away far too fast.




big buddy's aunt nonie knows him very well - birthday blocks that build a ginormous scorpion

It's become our tradition to have a little family celebration on the kids' actual birthdays and then a party with friends at another time. The pictures above are from the morning of Big Buddy's birthday. The picture below is a little glimpse of the party we threw for both the boys on Saturday (Mini Man's 4th birthday is less than two weeks away); hopefully, I'll share some more photos and details later this week. 


This post is part of weekly series inspired in part by Bob Bennett's song "Small Graces".


sometimes they slip by without notice
sometimes they are very hard to see
other times it's very clear when they are happening to me


they are a reminder to the heart there is more to this life than meets they eye...
He is in the small graces, the little moments when the miracles come...

small graces pointing me to the larger one...
little glimpses of the kingdom come



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