Joy in the Journey

Today I am looking at my children crawling on the floor. They are pretending to be lions. "Roar." Watch out they are coming!!!!! The air is rippling with their giggles and roaring. Their eyes sparkle and I see that they are happy. They ARE happy. They are happy with me in their lives. They are happy because they feel safe to learn and grow and explore their world in a home where their mother loves them more than life itself. I survive because it's at moments like this that I feel my father in heaven's love the most. I feel his peace and know that because of Him, I am able to breath and experience these moments. I live for moments like this. I am a mother and I am a child of God. Together, those 2 things make life worth living. Even though I don't understand my path, I do know I am able to find "joy in the journey". Excuse me, I am being beckoned to roll on the floor and I must obey;)

Easter Sunday

I wanted to do something inspiring and creative for Easter Sunday. I didn't try very hard, but oh well. BUT then I remembered something that could be fun, at least for people who know my mom.
My mom has terminal lung cancer, never smoked a day in her life. We don't know how long she will be on this earth with us. I decided to wanted to tell you about all the great Eater memories I have because of my amazing mom.

Every Easter we would wake up and the living room floor would be covered in wrapped candies of all varieties. We always got an outfit and a toy. I would look forward to seeing what cute new cloths I would get.
One year the "Easter Bunny" hide my basket. I couldn't find it anywhere. My sister and I thought we didn't get one. She eventually found hers, but I didn't. I started crying, for sure the Easter Bunny had left me out. My sisters went outside into the garage and I followed them. What to my wondering eyes did appear, but an Easter basket with my name on it:) Silly bunny, he must have put it down to get in the door when his hands were so full and forgot;)
Another time, I got side walk chalk and my mom helped me draw a hop scotch game and she taught me how to play hop scotch.
I think the most memorable was last year when my son was 3. We spent it at my mom's house because there was a big possibility the cancer had spread to her brain and stomach and I wanted to spend as much time with her as possible. It was just my son, my parents, and me (hubby was in school and couldn't get it off).  We dyed Easter eggs and my son had so much fun. His hands were dyed for the rest of the week.
My mom the Easter Bunny sprinkled candy all over the floor just like she he use to for us when I was a kid. She added a few extra things into his basket that she had found and knew he would love. It was so precious watching my son running and squealing around the room. He found all the eggs and said, "that silly Easter Bunny hid all the eggs Nana."
We live in a different state than my parents and they have not been able to see my son grow up. Our trips home have been few and far between. It was really special for my parents to spend one on one time with my little man on Easter. It is a moment I won't forget:)

No longer a tradition

I am a little torn with this because we have had this tradition for all 6 years of our marriage. And all 6 of those years was spent with one or both of us in school. When my hubby and I got married, we were both students. AKA not a lot of money and a extremely small apartment. We are talking 130 square feet MAYBE. There wasn't a lot of room for a Christmas tree, but I really wanted one. So, we taped 3 bamboo sticks together and wrapped lights and garland around it. Then we hung a few ornaments. It was small, but it was our non-traditional tree. I loved it. When we moved for medical school, we kept the tradition alive due to lack of funds.


This year I braved black Friday and bought a Christmas tree. I love it, but I am missing my bamboo tree that brought so much holiday cheer to our family.


I know there is a time to move on, especially considering that is wasn't stable and I have an 18 month old who would pull it over. I'm just reminiscing about the simplicity of those times. Even though we didn't have much financially, we still felt flooded with blessings and love. That bamboo tree represents the joy we found in the simple things in life.
I am now viewing my new Christmas tree as a symbol of growth and moving forward as we better our lives.