I love family.
I love everything it stands for.
Sometimes I go on and on about my family... my personal one and my extended one.
I bet it looks ideal to some.
But under the smiles, warm stories and sweet pictures...it's still messy.
The definition for family isn't perfection. I'm sure most of you would agree to this.
We have fights. We get tired/frustrated at each other.
There is tension and problems.
But what family means is that even though all that exsists, you don't give up on each other.
Today was one of those days I wanted to give up.
Scott was gone all day at a MentorKids event. We had L's football game. Moma went with us to help me with three kiddos at a forever long football event. I'm not sure if it was the busy week catching up with us, my kids are getting sick or just the perfect storm. Whatever it was, it was a bad day. Like a really bad day. Kids screaming. Puree Carrots spit everywhere. Temper tantrums. Baby not napping. Pee on the floor kind of bad day.
By the time Scott got home, I wanted to fly to Hawaii. I wanted to give up.
Thankfully, bedtime does exist. After the kids were all tucked in and the house grew quiet, I started thinking. I did kind of give up because I felt defeated.
I was even more mad that I had editing to do and couldn't just go to sleep. But that's the brilliant part of the story. It's where my perspective got totally turned around. I've been watching old Parenthood episodes at night while I edit. It's no secret that I'm pretty much IN LOVE with this show.
Anyways, the season finale for Season 1 is about this fight that two of the cousins get into over a boy. One really messed up and the other really wasn't handling it good. They both had made mistakes and they were no longer speaking. The girl that messed up ended up running away.
When they find where she is, the aunt and angry cousin go after her. When they get to the truck stop she is at, the cousin wants to go in alone. It's raining and the adults are standing out in it watching through the glass as their daughters are working it out. You see them talking, even fighting a little. Then one grabs the others hand. And then they hug..no more of an embrace. I'm doing a pretty lame job of describing such a beautiful scene. But the point is...there was a real mess there... it would have been easier just to go their merry ways without one another, but they didn't.
I started crying thinking of my kids. The way I'd been so easily angered. How I'd acted frustrated over everyone of their mistakes. And mostly, how I wanted to give up on them and us and how hard this whole parenting thing can be. But I won't give up.
Thankfully, God's mercies are new every morning. And I'm not sure about you, but I can earnestly feel that. Not that tomorrow will be easier or even end with a floor free of pee. It will be a fresh start.
Don't give up on your family. They are worth the fight. Worth trying again and again.
I think that is why I get caught up in all these television shows centered around a tight family. Though it may not be based off anything Biblical...it's screams His truth. We were put on this earth with others. We weren't meant to go it all alone. Family is our gift...whatever that looks like for you. Treasure it and fight for it.
and just because it makes me happy....
here is my crazy family from last June.
we are missing three babes, but I found it when I did my 2011 family album and forgot how fitting it was. enjoy the craziness!
I love everything it stands for.
Sometimes I go on and on about my family... my personal one and my extended one.
I bet it looks ideal to some.
But under the smiles, warm stories and sweet pictures...it's still messy.
The definition for family isn't perfection. I'm sure most of you would agree to this.
We have fights. We get tired/frustrated at each other.
There is tension and problems.
But what family means is that even though all that exsists, you don't give up on each other.
Today was one of those days I wanted to give up.
Scott was gone all day at a MentorKids event. We had L's football game. Moma went with us to help me with three kiddos at a forever long football event. I'm not sure if it was the busy week catching up with us, my kids are getting sick or just the perfect storm. Whatever it was, it was a bad day. Like a really bad day. Kids screaming. Puree Carrots spit everywhere. Temper tantrums. Baby not napping. Pee on the floor kind of bad day.
By the time Scott got home, I wanted to fly to Hawaii. I wanted to give up.
Thankfully, bedtime does exist. After the kids were all tucked in and the house grew quiet, I started thinking. I did kind of give up because I felt defeated.
I was even more mad that I had editing to do and couldn't just go to sleep. But that's the brilliant part of the story. It's where my perspective got totally turned around. I've been watching old Parenthood episodes at night while I edit. It's no secret that I'm pretty much IN LOVE with this show.
Anyways, the season finale for Season 1 is about this fight that two of the cousins get into over a boy. One really messed up and the other really wasn't handling it good. They both had made mistakes and they were no longer speaking. The girl that messed up ended up running away.
When they find where she is, the aunt and angry cousin go after her. When they get to the truck stop she is at, the cousin wants to go in alone. It's raining and the adults are standing out in it watching through the glass as their daughters are working it out. You see them talking, even fighting a little. Then one grabs the others hand. And then they hug..no more of an embrace. I'm doing a pretty lame job of describing such a beautiful scene. But the point is...there was a real mess there... it would have been easier just to go their merry ways without one another, but they didn't.
I started crying thinking of my kids. The way I'd been so easily angered. How I'd acted frustrated over everyone of their mistakes. And mostly, how I wanted to give up on them and us and how hard this whole parenting thing can be. But I won't give up.
Thankfully, God's mercies are new every morning. And I'm not sure about you, but I can earnestly feel that. Not that tomorrow will be easier or even end with a floor free of pee. It will be a fresh start.
Don't give up on your family. They are worth the fight. Worth trying again and again.
I think that is why I get caught up in all these television shows centered around a tight family. Though it may not be based off anything Biblical...it's screams His truth. We were put on this earth with others. We weren't meant to go it all alone. Family is our gift...whatever that looks like for you. Treasure it and fight for it.
and just because it makes me happy....
here is my crazy family from last June.
we are missing three babes, but I found it when I did my 2011 family album and forgot how fitting it was. enjoy the craziness!
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