Forever Beloved

As I was driving home, the words kept running through my mind.  I went in the house, grabbed my camera, and walked around.  Breakfast dishes in the sink {rather than the dishwasher}, remnants of a recent art project not put away, shoes and dog toys in a pile by my door…

This won’t last forever.

And someday, I’ll be wishing I could walk down those steps and see a pile of shoes in front of my door.  Someday, I’ll walk into a nice, tidy kitchen and wish I had breakfast dishes to pick up.  Someday, while doing an art project myself, I’ll wish I had little hands beside me doing their own.  As I took these pictures today, I had myself a little mama moment, while tears streamed down my face.

I thought back to that sweet little boy, saving every penny to buy himself his first 4-wheeler. The look of pride on his face when he realized he finally had enough. Riding on the back with him and teaching him to shift. Oh, how fast time goes.

I thought back to that sweet little girl who always had a dirty face.  The evenings spent sitting on the living room floor, listening to her tell me each of her babies names.  

I thought back to all the times I would sit on the couch, and those two little sweet faces would argue over who got to sit, snuggle and usually fall asleep in my nest.

I’m so thankful that over the years, we’ve made it a priority to spend as much time as possible with our littles. All the times I turned up the music and danced crazily around the room with my babies come back to me when I see them doing random, crazy dancing while laughing.  All of the notes I wrote and hid in my boys lunch come back to me when he sends me a text that just says “love you mama”.  All of the times I scooped little miss up and hugged her come back to me when she throws her arms around my waist and squeezes me.  And all the times we held hands to pray before sharing a meal wash over me like a blessing when I see him bow his head and say the prayer.

These times, they won’t last forever. So while the shoes and dishes might be a nuisance, I’m choosing to see the blessing in them. 

 I’m thankful that I still get to have those little moments.