Love them where they are at

This post is a little all over the place but stick with me there are some nuggets in here somewhere lol!

Love them where they are at! This little phrase is such an important reminder. Everyone is different and that is the best news ever! Mommas own this for your littles! It looks drastically different for each of them and spoiler alert that is OK! We need to show up and love the kids and qualities they have and not the ones we dreamed up. Oh and I don't for a minute mean not to be an encourager in your child's life. Be that all of the days! I just mean it is ok to love your kid and be fiercely proud of them even if they are not going to Harvard or making the next Olympic team. Their accomplishments and failures are not your measuring stick! Let that marinate for just a sec... Some of the worst parents in the world have amazing kids and vice versa. We put into them, love them pray for them and guide them but then they have to own it and make it theirs. This is the hardest thing ever! Don't get sucked into to the crazy mom conversation of one ups. You know how this goes. Said mom shares all the amazing things their kid is doing then gives you that snarky side eye about the nothing they clearly think your child is. After you valiantly restrain your self from gagging or smacking them just walk away. This person is not your friend. Sometimes my kids are fragile and need some extra encouraging and sometimes they need to suck it up and put their big girl pants on! Here is the honest truth I want my kids to first and foremost love the Lord, to be kind and to give all effort in all they do. Everything else is just gravy. Wether they are smart, athletic, artistic, actors, singers, funny, or even if they watch Netflix like it is their job! Embrace the little things. That is what fills the days.

This year I so want to be intentional. With my actions, my friendships and especially my family.
The pages are ours to fill!
Write your story well!
Show up for your life!
Put the effort in!
ALL of it ALL OF THE EFFORT!!!
These are the things I am constantly repeating in our home. My kids are SO OVER ME! They are not  encouraged by my enthusiasm! Not even one of them! UGGG who are these people! They are sick and tired of my optimism! Well sister Sue that is just too bad! I am going to continue on because it is my job and I am just praying so hard some of it sticks! Again this mom thing is hard! I so want to be good at it! The truth is sometimes I make the wrong call. I fall short daily. These days I need to recalibrate sometimes apologize and keep going. Because sometimes I also nail it! This is parenting! And all of us have these struggles even if some refuse to throw it all out there. So there it is.

Side note if you all could please keep Tay in your prayers. She tore her ACL and Meniscus in 2 places. She will be having surgery soon to repair it but this completely ruins the plans she had for this and next year. She will not be able to play soccer for her senior year or her first year of college. Soccer is her thing and finding life without it has been challenging. Before you roll your eyes at us to far back, we know there are so many things that could be worse and that she will play again, and that this is not the end of the world. But we also know as a 17 year old senior who only wants to play soccer this is life shattering! I know God has big plans for her and that even when His plans are  not ours His are better. That said I am excited see where this disappointing turn takes us! In case you are wondering at this point in the path these truths are not actually encouraging her! She knows them to be true but wants them left unsaid for now. So I bite my tongue to keep most of it held in! Thanks for praying I will keep you posted!