A Thankful Heart

Every morning I spend 10 minutes doing a devotional to try and set my frame of mind for the day and put the small things into perspective while I try and tackle the big things. The subject this morning was time and the idea that our time is fleeting, and we must thankful for every moment we have. The reading spoke about this world and declared that this world will take everything and every person that we love- at some point we will part ways and we will feel loss; we can't escape time and mortality. The devotions main point was that we need to be consciously thankful for the time we do have. I was reminded of a quote from Thoreau "time is but the stream I go a-fishin' in. I drink at it; but while I drink I see the sandy bottom and detect how shallow it is. It's thin current slides away, but eternity remains."
(You can tell I've taught Walden a few times before).

When I was finished with my devotional, it was time to scoop Jack up out of bed and feed him his bottle and start my busy day. I decided to linger while I fed him his bottle and I watched the curl of his toes as he ate, and smelled the baby lotion on his forehead when I nuzzled him before watching him crawl away- he's already a busy guy with lots of books to read and toys to play with. I let myself snuggle with Harper a few minutes longer this morning and tried to memorize the rise and fall of her giggles. I can't believe one day we'll part ways. The thought that this time with them is already running through my fingers, makes me want to stop and document the small things, lest I should forget that all these small things are what make up the big things. So, here are some shots of Jack and Harper just enjoying a normal day-because these "normal days", these are the things that I will one day miss the most.

 

In other news, Tony and I were interviewed for a marketing video for The Mother's Milk Bank of North Texas. We did an on-camera interview and told our story and how we came to be both a recipient family and a donor family. It was bittersweet to tell our story and to explain what it was like to walk back in the NICU as a milk donor and not a mom visiting a sick baby (or babies). But overall, it was fun to be involved in something bigger than ourselves and to be able to give back to an organization that did so much for H&J so early on.

While we were being interviewed in Ft. Worth, Jack and Harper got to go to Great Granny's house and visit her and Aunt Becky, Uncle Rex, and Pop. The kids had a great time crawling all over Granny's house and discovering new things. I don't even think the kids knew Tony and I were gone and we got to spend the evening with family- something we don't do often enough. The kids were wiped out from all their playing and slept the whole way home- success!

One last piece of news to close the blog tonight. Not only have I been thankful for the kids and time spent with family, but Tony has been interviewing for a new position and we found out yesterday that he got the job! Tony's 3 month "vacation" comes to end on Sunday and he begins his new job on Monday. I want to extend a very gracious and heartfelt "thank you" to everyone who has been thinking about and praying for our family through this rough patch. We can't thank you enough!