faith + inspiration

Wow, it’s hard to believe in two weeks we will be on our way to our new home in Nashville.

It was about exactly one year ago that we started talking about the possibility of moving, and after taking a few trips there to visit Ben’s brother and family, we looked at each other one day and realized that this really might be the next thing for us. It was both an exciting and scary decision…but after taking several months of talking, praying, and thinking about taking our little family to Tennessee, we both felt total peace about making the move. Since that decision, we’ve both had moments of “what are we doing! we love our house and our lake view and our community…and we had such plans for our property and raising our family here! why are we doing this!” But ultimately neither of us have ever questioned the rightness of our decision, and even though a move is always a bittersweet event, it just feels right for us.

We were down in Nashville last week doing work and painting on our new home, and honestly it really helped me start to connect with the excitement of moving. The house feels more like ours with some fresh paint, and I know once we have our belongings in place, it will feel even more like home. A house is just a house, but a home is what you make of a house. Any house can be a home, really, and I’m excited to get to Tennessee and start making it our own.

I have moments where the next two weeks feel a little overwhelming and stressful. I am totally type-A and I thrive on order and organization and routine, so to think of living with packing boxes all around me and my stuff not in total order and just all the changes in the next weeks can make me feel all stressed if I let it. Change is exciting, but it’s also hard. I know we will love our home in Tennessee and being in the south and hopefully it won’t take long before it just feels like home. Yesterday I was starting to feel stressed and overwhelmed about it all…and then I realized that I needed to change my perspective. Instead of looking at the next few weeks in a negative light with a lets-just-get-this-over-with attitude, I decided it was going to be a great few weeks. The changes are an adventure, the packing and boxes and unorganized belongings are a part of the process to something new, and before I know it, we’ll be settled back down into a new routine in our new home.

So in the middle of this busy and slightly crazy season, my prayer is this:: that my heart and mind will still know the rest, quiet, and presence of God no matter how many boxes are stacked up around me or un-routine my day becomes or chaotic my home is.

What about you: what are your tips for making a big move? How do you keep a heart of rest during a busy, chaotic season?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Sometimes it’s easy to think the little things don’t matter.

And in all reality, sometimes they don’t. We can do things, say things, think things that have little to no impact on our lives or those around us. But sometimes those little things that seem so small and insignificant can turn into things much bigger than we realize. And it’s only by their compound effect over time that we suddenly see what the little things can do, either to us or to someone else.

I talk to Ayla a lot, even though she’s too small to fully understand what I say. I talk to her when I’m nursing her, bathing her, changing her diaper, putting on her clothes…or when she’s just sitting in her swing watching me or when we’re driving along in the car. I tell her about what is going on or what we’re planning to do or just whatever conversations come to mind. It might seem silly to talk to such a little person who doesn’t know what’s going on, but I really believe that talking to her now is a way of showing her respect as a person and developing a relationship with her.

One of the little things that I’ve become aware of in my conversations with her is as simple and small as one little word. I caught myself doing this thing in the first few weeks of her life, and the day that I realized it was the day that I stopped. It’s such a little thing really, but I think it’s something that over time could create thought processes and beliefs about herself that I don’t want for her. Whenever she would do something good or that I liked, (i.e. burp after eating, going to sleep easily, not getting worked up when I would dress her, etc.) I would praise her with the words “good girl.” There’s really nothing inherently wrong in saying this…I mean, she was being a good girl. But one day I was giving her a bath and she was being so good and I looked her in the eyes and told her she was a good girl…and something inside of me suddenly just didn’t seem to feel right in calling her that. It was odd at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I didn’t ever want to call her a good girl again.

Because what I don’t want for her is this: I don’t want her to ever believe that her goodness or value is dependent on what she does. If she does good, than she is good. I realized that if I were to repeatedly tell her “good girl” when she did something good, there is a good chance that over time she would come to believe that she had to do to be good. She was a good girl only when she did good.

But I want something different for my little girl’s heart.
I want her to know that because of Jesus she is good.
I want her to grow up knowing that her identity is rooted in something greater than what she does or doesn’t do.
I want her to believe that her parents are proud of her and love her no matter what.

So now when she does something good, I just tell her “good job.” I want her to know that she did good, but whether she did that good or not, it doesn’t change who she is or how I see her. She’s a good girl who does good jobs.

It’s just a little thing, but sometimes those little things actually really matter.

What about you: what are some little things in your life/speech/actions that could potentially cause bigger effects than you realize?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!