To Write

I enjoy blogging for a number of reasons. It's a great way to catch up with family and friends (and even some new friends!:) It allows the release of some of the creativity I enjoy with a few people who are over two. Hopefully portions encourage even just one soul from time to time. Then there are these three words: pictures and stories. Beautiful things, I believe.

But there's more.

A couple weeks ago Joe sent me an e-mail that basically thanked me for capturing our family's memories and stories. It was sweet and heartfelt, took me by surprise, and really meant a lot to me. You see, writing and making memories have always been close to my heart.

That's when it hit me. In addition to the hats of teacher, nurse, chef, chauffeur, etc. that I put on every day, I also can add the title of "family historian." The big things in life are worth capturing, for sure. I mean, we don't want to forget the moves we've made or the births of each of our children.

But there's more.

I don't want to forget the little things that are sure to become foggy as moments and days turn into years and decades. I want Hope to know that she has always loved to twirl for Jesus and for Madison to be reassured that her grin has always lit up the room . I want Joe to remember being silly and spending time with his daughters has made all the difference. I want to know that my children challenged me to be a better person and that the little things were some of the biggest after all.

For now I am grateful for this little place to record the moments that I can. I hope that someday my family will read these words and fully understand my heart toward each of them:

It is my honor and joy to be this gateway to the moments that have helped to define you. I pray that when you read the words and see the pictures here you will know that this was done to glorify the Lord and, thereby, to strengthen you.

I hope that someday, Joe, we will be old and grey sitting on a front porch somewhere together. That we will read portions of this to one another in awe of where God has taken our family. That we will share all these memories with grandchildren who just won't believe, "what mommy did when she was my age!"

I hope that someday, girls, you will sit down and pour over the pages that tell bits and pieces of your life's story. That you will cry and laugh and be glad you can "remember" in this way. That you will know, in our triumphs and in our utter failures, you are loved. You have a history. You have an irreplaceable role in this family.

You have an irreplaceable role and calling in this world.

My being given this front seat to each of your lives is indeed a joy and honor. I write because I love you down to the very details that time can make blurry. I write because I want to remember you the way you are now, forever and for always. I write because I know that you are headed to do great things, and I don't want to miss out on all the signs along the way.

I write because I am not even close to perfect and neither is our family, but He allows me to see the glory of the every day when I sit down to reflect. I write to remember for myself, not just in the years to come, but for the gift of today.
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Do you know what I mean?