Moments of Perfection in the Middle of an Imperfect World

Do you ever have those moments where you just want to make the world stop rotating on it’s axis because everything feels so perfect?  Life is so short and moments like that are so fleeting you barely dare to blink so you don’t miss them.

I’ve been trying to learn to savor without grasping.

To look forward to without becoming entitled.

But mostly, I’m still learning how to be more intentional.  To listen to the whippoorwill (why, oh why can’t they mate all summer so I can listen to them?). To watch the curtains blow in the breeze.  To see the light change from the glow of morning to bright noon and back to pink in the evening.  To smell stinky baby feet when I take off Zara’s shoes and socks and listen to her erupt in giggles, crinkle up her nose and beg for more.  To see beyond the noise and dirt and see the sheer happiness of boys creating enormous tunnels and hills and roads in the garden.

It feels way too easy to get caught up in my own little rotation.  Laundry. Cook. Clean. Pack suitcases. Repeat.  Traveling pretty much every week for 2 and half months will do that to you. (I’m quite sure the next time someone asks if I’m a stay at home Mom I’m going to change that to Mobile Mom.)  But life doesn’t have to control us, even when a planned full of fun schedule gets overloaded thanks to a totaled van, insurance calls, car shopping, and doctor visits.  Sometimes we need to be a little less rigid and a little more like this.

We’ve had so many perfect moments this Spring.  So many, many things to be grateful for.

Things like friends who come hang out with us for a weekend.  Seriously, who gets to hang out with out of town friends on their birthday?

These girls have been such a gift of friendship for so many years! No matter how long we’ve been apart, it feels like minutes because our hearts beat so much the same.  Fun, funny, and passionate about living life the way Jesus wants them to live …. oh, how I love them.

Things like clear answered prayers and renters for our house in Virginia after nearly two months of silence and an empty house and wondering if we were reading God wrong.  We feel so, so blessed that not only have we been given renters again, both times we’ve been given such amazing renters.  People with integrity and who care well for our home while we are away.  David and I had fun doing some work around the house to get it ready and the boys had a blast playing with cousins again.

[Don’t you just want to squeeze them??]

There were three beautiful weddings to photograph, an evening at the river taking family pictures with David’s family, and a relaxing day with my Mom while David testified at a custody hearing.

There were hours and hours of planning, cooking, prayers and creating decor for staff retreat and the goosebump way specific prayers were answered that weekend.  I may or may not have been emotionally spent by the time the weekend was over.  We loved every minute of getting ready and felt strongly that God would work powerfully through that time.  Sometimes I think my faith is getting stronger until I am blown away by the way He answers and I realize I didn’t fully believe or I wouldn’t have been surprised.  I am learning more and more how incredibly powerful prayer is.

There were birthdays celebrated and milestones reached.

AND there was the first regular cake for Liam in SIX YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Seriously, people.  Plexus works!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Liam has been on the Plexus probiotic and the X factor (a multivitamin with aloe which is so helpful for digestive issues) for three months and he is able to tolerate sooooooo many more foods.  We were gone for three days while David represented camp at a homeschool convention and I did not pack one single food item for Liam!!!!! (Do you have any idea how much easier it is to go away for a weekend when you don’t have to think through and pack food?)  While I wouldn’t want him eating large portions of gluten three meals a day every day for days on end, I rarely limit his intake on anything except for peanut because we’re not touching that until an allergist says it’s safe.  There are no more “my tummy hurts,” and no more emotional meltdowns because he doesn’t feel well.  And best of all, I love to see the look in his eyes when he says “May I eat this?” and I know I can say sure because he’s going to be fine!!!  I am so excited to see his gut getting so much stronger and healthier!! (You can read more of our Plexus story here or go here to buy products for yourself. Or if you want to talk more, I’d love to chat! You can email me at smilesbymiles[at]gmail[dot]com.)

There have been so many good moments, yes.  But it’s almost summer.  And somehow, I have a feeling the best is yet to come.  What happiness has been happening in your life recently? I’d love to hear some “sunshine thoughts” as my friend calls them. 🙂

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