Enjoying the Realness of Life

Days go by and turn into a blur. Everyday life seems mundane unless we take it by force and make something of it. I don't know about you, but I don't want to go through life feeling like I'm running on a hamster wheel. Sometimes days feel like just that. Get the kids up for school, make breakfast and lunches. Get them dressed, yell to tell them to brush their teeth five times, grab everything they need, double check backpacks and home work, tie shoes, check faces for cleanliness and rush out the door with only minutes to spare.

Once the older two are dropped off at school my toddler and I head back home  to make coffee so that I can happily function, check e-mails, check blog stats, prayer & devotions, check e-mail again, login to work, check messages and then get to work on whatever tasks I have for the day while starting my first load of laundry.

Some days, all I do is clean. I feel like I live to clean. Some days I feel like I want more out of life other than cleaning, laundry and working on the computer. Something deeper, crazy and direct direction from God. I want to make a difference. I want to spend more time with my children. I want to impact people for a greater purpose. I want to install in my children godly values and I want them to grow up to know how much I valued our time together.

This blogging life of mine isn't perfect and no one's life is. We get messy! Ask any creative! That's why I'm posting today. I want to show you the real and how I enjoy or want to pull out my hair sometimes.

Two weeks ago I was under stress to get some big deadlines accomplished. I had set up a movie for my toddler so that I could complete my photos for my the magazine column that I write for.

As I was busily snapping photos with the flash blaring every few seconds, my sweet toddler watched me with curiosity. 

I stopped to acknowledge her and she gave me a huge smile and said, "Take a picture of me!" Naturally I could have said that I don't have time. Or I'll do it later, mommy is busy. But, on this day, I put my stress aside and happily went with all of  her photo shoot ideas. It was so worth it. I stopped and actually enjoyed the moments and brushed my to do list to the side.

The realness of life looks like this. It's OK to ignore all of this to spend time with your kids. The messes will always be there. This is is 100% what my home looks like when I'm working on projects.

Step stool,stuff on the stairs that need to be taken up stairs.

Fabric from the rocking chair makeover that I was elbows deep in.

I will forever cherish these impromptu photos. I encourage you to step away from whatever chore you are doing to play with your kids, tend to their happy little requests. Those moments when you say yes can lead to memories etched onto your heart. They are only little once. Enjoy everything that is real in your life and don't stress. Everything will be OK.