finding joy in the journey

a parenting sampler of my summer thus far.

• painting a church dress with toothpaste. i'm thankful my kids brush their teeth and it's not a battle anymore.
• a drawing on the wall with a whole tube of brand new lipstick. my child likes beautiful things and it creative.
• 8 little black pieces of rubber that go on the ends of skull ear buds - destroyed. my child can figure things out on her own. she didn't need any help.
• formatting a 500 gig external hard drive full of all the cheney family photos. we have a lot of photos on my blog which i started in 2008. it could be a lot worse.
• a hole in the bathroom door on accident. my child is strong and able to use the bathroom. i don't change any diapers.
• blatant disobedience. my children are free thinkers.
• children micromanaging their parents. my children are learning how lead {like hitler}
• they ate all the chocolate. if they didn't, i would have!
• and drank all the diet pepsi. they have a taste for fine things.

i attended a women's conference at my church a few weekends ago. one of the talks was entitled, 'this too shall pass.' when i think of that statement it is often in reference to situations like the ones i've listed above. but the speaker reminded us that it is more than just the negative.

• anna still speaks like a little girl. this too shall pass
• nicole and matthew couldn't pronounce spaghetti correctly. this has passed
• i don't change diapers or bottle feed anymore. this has passed
• nicole and matthew don't believe in santa claus. this has passed
• anna believes in santa claus. this too shall pass
• nicole and matthew don't have any baby teeth. this has passed
• anna still has a mouthful of baby teeth. this too shall pass
• all my kids are in all day school this year. this too shall pass
• all our kids live at home. this too shall pass

my aunt jill told me on nicole's 5th birthday that she [nicole] would be graduating from high school the very next week. nicole is 14 and starting high school. jill was right!

i just need to keep reminding myself to find joy in this journey because we are living our 'someday' and for the most part, it's pretty darn good.