Some thoughts...

I must admit,
in the aftermath of pregnancy I have not been overly thrilled with any pictures of myself.
Until now.
And it was taken by a 2 year old photographer.
My silly Weston took this picture. He has decided that picture taking is preferential to actually being in the picture himself. (Oh no, is this some horrible side-effect to crazy-picture-addicted-mommy-syndrome?! What have I done?!)
It doesn't change the fact that this is due:
Thanks, Weston. You made mommy's day!


Okay. Now on to the rest of things. The rest of things...what am I getting at today?

When I set up this blog my head was filled to overflowing with ideas of things to post about. Things that I wanted to remember. Things I cared about. Things that made me smile. Good things. Even great things.

And now. I am stuck. Where did all those ideas go?
Maybe it comes down to this:
I have been thinking a lot lately.
But writing those thinks...
Well.
That is another matter.

What I have been thinking about: Family. Love. Acceptance. Frustrations. Joys. Forgiveness. Gratitude. Life. Moments. Happiness.

Let's start with:

Family
What does family mean? Not just my little family of four, but family- siblings, parents, in-laws. All of it: family.
What do you do for family? What does the word family compel you to feel? To do?

I grew up with amazing parents. Parents who were not perfect, but loved me in the perfect way that they knew how. We played, laughed, cried, hugged, learned, loved. And we grew. We grew in our understanding of each other. In our love for each other. And our respect for one another. And they gave me an idea, a motto, a standard, if you will:
Family comes first. Always.

I didn't recognize it at first. But I began to see it in the little things they would do. How my dad would work all day Saturday on my grandparents car. How my mom would spend hours, days, weeks on a beautiful, handmade item to give to her sister. How they would give of themselves freely, no matter the cost to themselves. My parents would drop anything for a family member. Always.
Sometimes, I would ask "Can't you just say no, once?" And my mom and dad would always say: Family comes first.

This idea, this standard, has grown with me. The things we do to show we care may have changed from playing outside together, attending each others' special events (ball-games, parties, wrestling matches, etc). to babysitting for each other, time spent together, phone calls, emails, a note in the mail. But it is there, just the same. And always, it includes giving. Giving lots and lots of love and giving of ourselves.

I will be the first to admit that I am still a work in progress. I do not give like I ought and am continually learning what it means to love.

I do believe this, though: We have a loving Heavenly Father. And he sent us here in family groups for a reason. He knows us each personally. He knows our strengths and our weaknesses. He knows who we are and he knows who we need to become in order to return to Him. And he knows how to get us there: Our family.
We are here to help each other along this crazy, wonderful adventure called life.

How grateful I am for family:

For my amazing parents who taught me and continue to teach me about love, about forgiveness, and about hope.
For my fabulous mother and father-in-law who have loved me from day one and made me feel like one of their own, who are such amazing examples to Jeff and I and our sweet boys. I have heard of in-law horror stories...but I don't know or understand what people are talking about. I have been so blessed to have the most wonderful, caring 'Second parents'. They listen, they care, they love. And I truly love them.
For my sisters & sister-in-laws who care, who play with my kiddos with me, who make time for me, who call just to say hi, who send fun cards, who listen, laugh and cry with me, just when I need it most..
For my brothers & bro-in-laws who constantly make me laugh, whose random phone calls make my day, and who love me enough to tell me so out-loud. (as difficult as that is for brothers to say!) who take time out of their busy, busy schedule to help us out, give a blessing, and play with Weston on long days.


For my dear, sweet little boys who teach me how to have fun every single day, who show me how truly wonderful it is to be a mom, and push me to be the best mommy to them that I can be.

And most especially, I am grateful for my amazing and wonderful husband. He is everything to me and I am so grateful to a kind, wise Heavenly Father who knew the person I would need. A person who loves me, takes care of me, laughs with me, gets ice cream for me, swings as high in the sky as he can with me, and makes my life so much better because he is in it. He loves me as I am but helps me on this journey of becoming.

How truly lucky I am to have this big, wonderful family.
You know, luck has nothing to do with it.


Now. As I said before, I have been having lots and lots of thoughts. And part of those thoughts include the fact that we all make choices. And there are consequences. Even as I write this I know that there are people who don't have family members who are encouraging, or loving, or even kind. Heavenly Father knows that too. Isn't it amazing that he knows each and every one of us. He knows if we need a teacher, a friend, a neighbor, or a stranger to touch our lives.
I am comforted by that thought. But it is late, and that is for another post.

Good night.