{pretty, happy, funny, real}

 

~Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life~

Every Thursday at Like Mother, Like Daughter

{pretty} and {happy}

On Sunday we celebrated our 12th anniversary!  I had lovely visions of a quiet evening spent at the beach watching the waves while relaxing in a lawn chair.  Instead, we ended up deciding to use the free mini-golf coupons the kids earned through the library summer reading program.  The evening wasn't quite what I had in mind, but it was all about what our anniversary means right now...family, kids, chaos, fun!

{funny}

This kid is obsessed with the ride-on vehicles!  He loved this racecar, and loved a ride-on tractor inside the arcade even more.  He doesn't really care if we pay for it to move or not, he just loves sitting in them!  We did pay for him ride the tractor one, since his siblings got to drive the go-carts.

fun and funny kids on the go-carts!

{real}

I was really, really nervous today.  I felt sick all day and I think it was just nerves.  It took the ultrasound tech a long time to find the baby.  In the beginning it did not look optimistic at all.  It just looked like an empty sac to me.  After some more measurements of other things, she went back and there was baby!  With a little beating heart.  So, so grateful.  Thank you so very much for your prayers. 

I'm also really grateful for Auntie Leila's words on her blog today.  They had a get together in the DC area and she was encouraging moms to find friends and make a community.  Such good reminders, and just what I needed to hear...

"Find the people.  Make them dinner. Throw them a baby shower.  Watch their kids while they go to the doctor."

"Finding your pocket of friends, because yes, we do need kindred spirits: Worship somewhere with the most beauty that is the closest geographically that you can manage. Do you know what I mean? Your own parish is best if possible. "

"Want a list of some fallacies?  The fallacy of thinking that everyone else already has friends.  The fallacy that you can't break into a group.  The fallacy of pre-conceived ideas (that you

think that you can only be friends with a person who thinks just like you or looks just like you).  The fallacy that everyone who is your friend will be your best friend."

"Be generous, be virtuous, be welcoming, be hospitable, be kind, don't worry too much if you need to work on these things, but rather, join the club.  Oh, and pray! Ask God, "Who is my neighbor?"

And He will add best friends unto you...."

If you read my post earlier this week you might be laughing at the timing.  Did Auntie Leila read my blog?  I've been believing these fallacies, thinking that everyone has friends already, or that I have to find best friends that have all the same interests as me.  It's okay that my best friends may be in another city.  I can still be a part of an uplifting community here.  I can continue to invite families over for dinner, host tea parties, coordinate co-ops, and make some meals (This is a hard one for me, every time I make a meal for someone there seems to be a big catastrophe!).

I have friends who will watch my kids while I go to the doctor.  And I've gone to the doctor a lot recently!  Thanks, M, and the others who have offered.  I have local friends who have reached out in kindness to me this week (I hope it's not because they felt sorry for me after reading my sob-story, whiney blog post!), and I have friends back home who I know will be there for me no matter what.  I am blessed to have a local community and a home community of lovely families and I need to be grateful for that.