In This Moment

"For me, the secret of motherhood is in the moments. To stop and hear the peals of laughter, to touch the tiny hands, to notice the organic smell of their sun-warmed bodies after they come in from playing outside on a hot day--to be deliberate enough to enjoy it all. Who--when they've slowed down enough and have come outside of themselves enough--could not enjoy a child? This is the surest way I know of enjoying motherhood--ENJOYING my children. Taking the time and learning the skills of being present in the moment.

This is my greatest desire and my greatest anxiety--that it's going too quickly and that I've had too many children too fast, to be able to squeeze all the life and love out of these moments that I can. I feel as though I'm in a race against time to suck all of the joyful marrow out of each stage before it's gone."

--Emily Halverson, from The Mother In Me.

There is much to be said on this role of motherhood. But for me, right now in this period of my life, the words above capture my feelings so perfectly. And I am praying earnestly that I can learn more and more how to savor the moments of mothering. I do love it. My children are such beautiful and dear little souls. They bring chaos and stress and a hundred different chores into my life, but they have brought so much love, so much happiness and an entirely new, more humbling and powerful perspective into my life.

Thank you, Bentley, Caroline and Olivia for helping me become the woman and mother I hope to be. And thank you to all the mothers in my life who remind me daily of the tenderness and sanctity of our role--you continually inspire and teach me.