Do Over

We've been trucking along and overall enjoying the end of lazy summer mornings. Lots of them I find myself getting up to fix breakfast and then trying to convince the older girls they really want to play such and such nearby while Alysse and I attempt to make up for some of the night's lost sleep. When I finally get it together we've been painting with pudding, slathering on shaving cream, reading to baby dolls, and the like.


We got some unexpected news a little while back that has made us stop and reevaluate a few things. I got into my natural "fixer" mode until Joe went away for some much needed friend time this past weekend. Then suddenly I got tired. More of that lost sleep caught up with me, and I felt my patience wearing thin. On and off for about two days I kinda lost my stride. Sure... having all three by myself could account for some it, but I know me. I know my heart. It was at a crossroads, and I had a choice to make.

Discouragement or Hope?

A sweet friend, who my girls love, showed up the next to last night I was solo because she wanted to come help me put them to bed. We did that and solved the world's problems while we were at it until the wee hours of the morning.

I woke up the next morning to mercies anew, to a do-over kind of day. And so I scooped homemade batter into a hot waffle iron until the result was the perfect consistency of crispy and soft. Choose hope.

Had some camera therapy of freeze framing their littleness, a tried and true strategy indeed, and laughed at the genuine laughter mixed with fakey smiles that pleaded for me to get on with it already. Choose hope.

Got us to church. Held a sleeping Alysse close to me as I sung promises I *know* are true. Heard it grow louder. Hope, hope, hope!

Ate lunch with my girls and headed to a nearby farm for an afternoon of corn hole, stick horses, trough digging, animal petting, and make believe. In all of my rearranging, unbuckling, pushing, sweating, reminding-- still it's there... HOPE, HOPE, HOPE!

Got home and had a leftovers dinner, dunked kitty whiskers into a bubble bath, rocked and rocked and rocked some more, and finally fell into my bed with a sweet smelling babe in the crook of my arm and the memory of a day well spent in my head.

Yes, I know me. I know my heart. Unfortunately, this won't be the last time I'll need one of these do-over days.

But I also know that this won't be the last time I choose hope.

~Katrina

But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.
~Isaiah 40:31