Making the Ordinary Come Alive

A friend of mine recently posted this passage from William Martin's, The Parent's Tao Te Ching: Ancient Advice for Modern Parents on her facebook page

When I read this it summed up perfectly a lesson the Lord had reminded me of recently. This excerpt is a great example of where my phrase, 'ordinary moments, extraordinary life' takes root. There is so much beauty in life's simple pleasures if we take the time to seek them out, or let them happen as they come, and give them the chance to take root in our hearts. 

I was just thinking about this when I took these pictures of a few of my kids while we were attending family camp. We had come back to our little family cabin to quickly change out of swim suits and head back for organized game time. While some of the kids were changing a few of the big kids made their way into the creek by our cabin and began to explore. 

As I looked down on them from a little bridge above I witnessed them helping each other across the rocks and water. They were excitedly pointing out treasures and creatures to each other. Squealing in joy at these new discoveries and not wanting each other to miss out on any of it. 

As I watched my children from my vantage point above I was suddenly in no hurry to get back for camp game time. It was time to let go of the busy schedule and live in the beautiful moment they were experiencing right then.  The hope in my heart that day was that when my children grow up and reflect back on their childhood, that moments like this would come back to them. That ordinary moments exploring creeks and catching frogs would add together to build an extraordinary childhood for them. 

Ordinary Moments, Extraordinary Life

I'm often told that these days when my kids are young, are going to fly by.  I try to think back on my oldest daughter learning to crawl, or her sweet little 3 year old face covered in sticky pink cotton candy from a visit to the fair.  I realize if it were not for pictures and videos these moments would be gone. My brain has to push out the old to make room for constant assault of here and now. When I look at a photo it brings the moments back to me. It fills in the blanks left behind with time. It's time travel. A little bit of magic if you ask me.

I always wish I would have taken more photos and videos when my youngest two were babies. Alas the daily demands of caring for two kids 11 months apart in age didn't even leave me with a thought to record the daily chaos. But in this age of social media I'm thinking more about it. I learned about this free cell phone app called Timehop. It shows you what you posted on facebook, twitter, and instagram, exactly one year ago, two years ago etc. I really enjoy opening the app each day and seeing my kids faces look back at me over the past 5 years that I have been using these social media outlets. I'm watching them grow up before my eyes. I'm reminded what they looked like and what they were doing years ago on this very day. So all this got me thinking. What can I post today that will capture this day, these moments, this stage in life so I can time travel back to this very day when I open my app in 2015 and beyond? I know I won't recall the joys of potty training an ADHD child, or the explosive diapers of a baby with cystic fibrosis, or that my sweet Katie was student of the month. My boys may not remember that they got along a year ago and were cuddled up in bed together playing games on their kindles when I went to see what they were up to. But now I have proof! On days they need to be reminded that their siblings are their biggest blessings I will pull up these photos to show them how lucky they are to have so many siblings to share this unique journey with. I'm documenting these days as they go by and I'm hoping it will be a blessing to them as they grow older. This is my legacy. This is my joy. To watch them grow, to shape them as I can, but to really just celebrate who God has made them to be.

I've taken on the challenge to commit to capturing moments. Messy ones, sweet ones, frustrating ones, slow gentle days, crazy hectic days that feel like they will never end, days I question why I'm doing this at all, and the days I feel like I'm a rock star at what I do. I want to be able to travel back to these fleeting moments and reflect on how they have all been added together to give me this crazy beautiful life I call my own.  I want the raw and real moments along with the sweet ones. I want to be able to show my daughters that motherhood is the most complicated, challenging, and beautiful thing they may ever do. That families are formed in ways that you may never see coming. That you may never have it all together, but together you can have it all.

How will you capture your moments? What is happening around you right now that you can document and preserve? It only takes a moment to snap some photos during your day on your cell phone. Think about capturing a moment as it happens. When you walk in to find your toddler has taken off his diaper and proceeded to paint all over the walls with its contents during nap time, stop and take a breath. Then pull out your phone and take a picture. You will want this photo when he's 18. That's where you get payback from cleaning poop off his wall all those years earlier.

I've also had to work on letting myself be in photos. It's easier to be the one taking them and not have to worry about how plump I look in the photo.  But I'm thinking I will never be as young as I am right now. I will want to remember how I look right now as I move on the wrinkles and smile lines phase of life. I want my daughters to be comfortable having their picture taken, so I need to set the example for them. I am beautifully and wonderfully made, and so are they.  All too soon these type of days will be gone and replaced by different kinds of days with their own special moments. These beautiful children of mine will be grown and capturing their own moments. I hope I will be able to convince them to capture their own days and send them to me as they begin to go off on their own journeys. But for right now these ordinary moments of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, homework, tantrums, and pre-teen hormonal fluctuations, are adding up to make one extraordinary life.

Check out this link to the free Time Hop app I mentioned by clicking on the link. It's not to late to start capturing your families daily moments! Timehop App

The End is the Beginning is the End

Not quite sure why the title to an old Smashing Pumpkins B-Side came to mind when I sat down to begin my first blog post. I guess it always comes back to a song for me. Music finds its way into the weave of my every day life. I love how a song can take you back to an exact moment in your life. How it brings back the way you felt, the way something smelled, the person you were with.  I was just thanking God today for the gift of being able to connect with Him in worship through music. Music is a powerful thing. It can freeze a moment forever, it can be in the background of an adventure, it can clarify, it can connect, it can make you move. Music makes you think,  helps you feel, it can describe what you couldn't put in words yourself. Music, it can change the world. It has changed mine.

On my drive home from Costco today Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton came on the radio. It brought me right back to eleventh grade. The first time I ever heard that song was at a friends Christmas party. It was also the first party I had been to with a live DJ. Pretty fancy stuff. You couldn't help but feel there was magic in the air. There were even twinkly white Christmas lights for goodness sake. There is something to be said about young teenage love and trying to haphazardly apply the meaning of lyrics to how you are feeling that exact moment in time. I fell for the easy simplicity of a complex thing that Wonderful Tonight encompasses. All these years later it still gives me a flood of warmth, romantic thoughts and unsaid feelings. When giving the DJ for our wedding reception a list of songs we wanted in the mix that night this song definitely made my cut. Almost 13 years have passed since our wedding night. I still find myself learning more about love with each passing year. I can't help but wonder how much my view and understanding of love will change over the next 13 years. All I know is that I choose the very best partner for this crazy adventure. No one else could handle my brand of crazy like this man does.

In our dating days and early years of marriage we use to go to as many concerts as we could together. Somewhere along the line it went from seeing U2, Counting Crows, and Roger Waters, to The Wiggles Live in Concert. As we quickly added more children to our family the days of concert going fizzled out all together. But this year that began to change. We took the oldest 4 kids to Winter Jam 2013 for Katie's 7th Birthday up at the Portland Rose Garden. This tour had loads of our favorite Christian bands playing including David Crowder, 10th Ave North, and the Newsboys. There is just something to be said about live music.  I forgot that truly unique feeling of thousands of people all singing the same song together at the top of their lungs. The feeling of connection with thousands of people coursing through your blood as the sound of the drum kit echoes in your heart. I can't help but wonder if this will even begin to touch the feeling of worship at the feet of the Lord in Heaven. When all the saints will sing in one voice in everlasting worship of the One True King. If this deep feeling of connectivity and longing at a rock concert can even begin to show us a taste of whats to come all I can say is bring it on!

This experience in November relighted a fire in me. This along with the fact that U2 will be releasing a new album this year since their last one back in 2009. I'm determined to reclaim the fun and adventure of attending concerts with my man. We are kicking off this renewed desire with our Valentine's gift to each other. We purchased Bruno Mars tickets for August and we are going to run from there. It's time to put the music back in our marriage adventures! We are dreaming up where to go see U2 when they tour. We want to go somewhere we have never been before for at least one of the times we see them on their upcoming tour. It's nice to bring back the spirit of adventure. Just us and thousands of others, gathering together in unity for a taste of eternity...

Wonderful Tonight Live