These March Dayz...

Winter's been a doozy...but mayhap we are on the tail end of things.
One can always Hope, anyway.

At any rate ~ a cold and snowy March has been a million times better than a pukey, sick February...
I'll take it.  Begrudgingly...

Someone once said that "Childhood is a Journey; not a race."
This little space for recording our Days of Journey together has sat sorely quiet for many a week as of late.
But not for lack of living...

In all of its various forms.

One Family Day, we literally dug ourselves out of the snow and made a fire pit out back for making hotdogs and s'mores.  It was cold.  It was windy.  It felt a little Arctic...but we determined that we were going to play outside...and that WE WERE GOING TO HAVE FUN!!! Or else....

And we did.
And it was.
Until it wasn't.
So, then we came back inside and finished cooking our hotdogs in our downstairs fireplace.

We have a couple of little maples that we are attempting to tap for syrup.  While we see our friends pouring gallons of sap over into tubs that reside in their awesome homemade sugar shacks....our trees are plodding along with a good one inch of sap in each bucket.

Our yield is going to be Epic this year....

Crazy days.
Lazy days.
Hazy days...where when I lay my head down at night, I honestly can't even remember what I did for the day....

This is life, right now....
It is full, and it is good.

And oh so over the top chaotic-ally messy.....

I found this blog post today, and I loved it.
I thought it was super funny and super encouraging.

I think this generation of Moms has it way hard....

Too many things vying for our attention.
Too many programs we feel we are missing out on if we don't enroll our kids in them.
Too many perfect Facebook updates to read.
Too much comparing.
So many unrealistic expectations in which we are setting ourselves up for failure....
So much joy suckaging from our souls....

Man, I can barely keep my kids clothed.
Oh wait.....

So, here's the deal...
How about you do YOU...and I'll do ME.
We'll both do the very best that we can....and we'll both keep it as honestly real as possible...

We'll love and we'll laugh...and we'll ache and we'll cry.
You'll do some things way better than I will....and that's okay.
And maybe I'll be gifted in an area where you aren't so much.  That's okay, too.

"Nothing steals joy away from parenting than believing you're doing a terrible job at it." ~ Jen Hatmaker

Preach it, sister.
Truth.

And nothing much more makes us feel like we're doing a crappy job than when we compare ourselves to each other.  Good grief, what a nasty game.  And what a slippery path to walk.  If I look hard enough, I will always, easily find someone who is doing every single thing that I am doing...plus more.  And way better.  This sends me wallowing down the "I suck-eth" trail of Motherhood.  But, then again...if I look hard enough, I can probably find someone who isn't doing as much as I am...as well as I think I am...and so then I become the Snob of the Century.

Both, completely Miz Mamas...

These guys don't expect perfection.
These guys don't ever get perfection.
But, these kids know that I love them wildly.  Always and forever.  No matter what.

And guess what.....God feels the same exact way about us Mamas, too.
There's not a single thing we could do that would make Him love us more.
And there's not a single thing we can do that could make Him love us less.

He loves us through the mundane.
And He loves us through all of the madness, just the same...
Both the tame and the untamed moments...
Through the blissy...and maybe even especially through the messy.....

He is gracious.
He is tender.
His specialty is redemption....

"This is the most shocking truth;  The God who knows us truly, loves us still!" ~ Bryan Chapell

Rest in this, Sweet Sisters...
It is well with my soul.