Ordinary is just right

There are days when I feel like it all goes wrong.

I don't get up early. I don't get my quiet time in before the day starts. Milk is spilled. Clothes are forgotten in the washer. Bath water wasn't emptied the night before. Strawberries mold in the fridge (even though we JUST got them). A library book gets a torn page. Reading lessons don't go smoothly. Math is frustrating. I don't get a shower. The dust keeps dusting the furniture. Legos are lost. Toothpaste is smeared all over the sink. Dirty clothes don't make it into their baskets. Clothes don't match. Shoes get too small too quickly.

But these days are still just normal ol' days. And they are short-lived and over in the blink of an eye. 

The thing I love most about pictures is how they capture those moments that are gone in a blink. For me, they are the best reminder I have of how blessed I am. Of how even when days go wrong, the memories we are making together are going "right."

That's not to say that there aren't some days that I would not want to re-live. We've had a handful of those! But most days are just ordinary days, made up of ordinary moments. I find that it's the ordinary moments that melt my heart. Those moments that remind me how quickly time goes by and how much pressure I put on myself to make sure things are going right. You, too?

On my computer, I have about 150 pictures for a screen saver. They scroll through over and over throughout the day, and I find myself stopping many times just to watch and remember. Those ordinary moments, gone so quickly, are some of the sweetest memories I have. And they weren't staged, were rarely planned or expected.

That's how life works, I've come to understand. Our ordinary lives are the most beautiful things of all.

Sitting in an old wheelbarrow.



An ordinary afternoon of playing outside.



Tickled about something, just between the two of them.



The day the tiny one moved out of his incubator.



Her first "pose."



Laughing hysterically just a couple of hours before she cut her head open and had to have stitches smack dab in the middle of her forehead. (And we had to cut that shirt off of her, straight up the middle.)



Singing "Jesus Loves Me" to her stuffed bear.



Looking for fish.



Laughing at his first ocean waves.



Fishin'.



Taking a walk after supper.



A kiss from Cinderella.



Running at the beach.



Here, I found the kiddos sitting IN the sandbox playing. They looked up and smiled.



Buddy-Ro at 4 months blowing bubbles.



Peanut learning to tolerate "tummy time."



 

There's nothing extraordinary about any of these pictures. They are just beautiful moments captured from an ordinary and normal and sometimes messy life. Why do I put so much pressure on myself to do things "right" - when these pictures don't show anything wrong? Mamas, we are doing it right!! Go back through your own pictures (not someone else's on FB or Instagram). Go back through your memories and enjoy those ordinary moments that have made your heart so full. You are blessed, Mama. Don't forget it!!