Mother Love

motherhood + home + family

FIVE SHOTS + CHATTER

I’ve recently picked up my camera again, after letting it intimidate me for far too long. I have this problem with not doing something if I can’t do it perfectly or nearly perfectly. Which is why my camera has sat by my desk for six months or more…until I finally realized how silly it is to let something collect dust just because it kicks your bum sometimes. I’m a hands-on-need-someone-to-show-me kind of learner, and cameras are confusing and I still don’t really get what ISO and aperture and all that is, but the point is I never will if I don’t give it a shot.

I don’t know if all the photos I use on this blog will be my own from here on out…I would like that to happen, especially since I recently read an article that said a photographer has a legal right to sue someone who uses their work without permission. Yikes. I get the majority of the photos I use in my posts via Tumblr, which is basically people collecting photos from other Tumblrs and blogs and websites, so there is no real or easy way to always trace the photo back to the original or ask for permission to use someone’s work. I guess in my unprofessional opinion, someone shouldn’t post their work on the internet without their logo or business name on the photo if they don’t want them to be re-used by others. In any case, I don’t want to break the law or get sued for that matter. All the more reason to pick up that camera and figure it out.

Here are five shots + chatter to go with them:
one.
I cannot fully live without peanut butter. My favorite is from the 365 brand from Whole Foods, and I always stock up when I’m in South Carolina, or get my mom to bring some with her when she visits. I’ve learned the best way to mix up the separated oil is to empty the jar into a bowl and stir it around in there. Trying to emulsify it in the jar is just disaster, albeit a tasty one!

two. This guy talked me into taking a walk in the snow (as in snow-ing) on Sunday, because as much as I love the winter and the snow, I mostly just like to watch it from the warm indoors. He shot with his weapon (gun) and I shot with mine (camera).

three. My mom-in-law and sister-in-laws and I went out to a British eatery for a tea luncheon a few weeks ago, and it was such a fun time. We had the real-deal tea cups and tea pots imported from England, delicious tea, dainty sandwiches, and tasty pastry selections for dessert. All we needed were some accents and the Queen (or Princess Kate!) yet.

four. I’m about getting ready for spring, but I’m not ready to put my soup pot away yet! Seriously, soups are one of my favorite things to make. I think it’s because it’s one of the few things that is virtually impossible to mess up and you can create something tasty (usually) without following a recipe. This soup started with sauteed onions and carrots and garlic, and ended with some chorizo (so excited to finally find some at a random farmer’s market last Saturday), garbanzo beans, and kale thrown in to finish it off. Mostly it was just all stuff sitting in my fridge that needed to be used up…best way to make a soup, I say!

five. My coffee station is probably one of my favorite spots in the kitchen, especially after being awake for two-plus hours last night because of the insane wind beating against our house! Coffee, coffee, coffee, chocolate, coffee…makes everything better.

Cheers + a merry day to you all.

What about you: what are five things that you have done or enjoyed lately?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

ENOUGH PT. II

I would venture to say that most of us believe this: that I have to be a certain way in order to be completely accepted, loved, or valued.

I think life has taught most of us to believe that who we are, in this very moment, is never enough. Life has taught us to believe that we must constantly try to be someone different, someone better, someone prettier, stronger, more successful, etc. I’m not talking about the right and good desire to really be the best we can be; I’m talking about the core belief that who I am right-now-this-second is not somehow good enough.

I believe strongly in personal growth and development, and that to become complacent with life and with ourselves is to become dull and uninspiring. I believe in learning from people who have wisdom and knowledge to offer, in learning from the Word of God, and in learning from experiences. And I believe that all of these things can make us better, stronger, and more successful, and that is a good thing.

But I also know that some of us have let that desire to be better become a drive to BE better (a play on words perhaps, but think of the difference between become better and be better). The desire makes that subtle shift from learning to be the best you can be to learning to be worthy of love and acceptance. It becomes a feeling of striving and drivenness, not pleasure.

Think about this: Jesus died for us, right? And why…?

He died so that we may know the love of God, that we may know the connection with God. And why…? Why did He want us to know the love and connection of God? Because He loves us. It’s such a simple truth that is often escapes almost un-noticed in my mind. He loved us, He died for us, and it’s good to stop and think of why.

So that we might be loved.

He actually wants us to feel loved. But yet most of us live our life feeling like we have to be different, be better, in order to be loved. The feeling of love is always out-there, always “when I become this or overcome that or learn how to be this.” But I know that it’s in this moment that we are meant to be loved…

Sometimes humans will love us conditionally. Sometimes humans will project an expectation on you that you have to reach in order to be accepted or counted worthy by them. This is sad, but it’s not love. It’s not the love that Jesus wants you to know.

I think that Jesus died so that we can know love and so that we can just rest in love. I think He died so that, yes, we can grow and develop into a better person all of our life, but that ultimately we know deep inside that we are good enough today.

You don’t have to be any different to be loved.

What about you: do you find yourself feeling like you have to be different/better in order for people or God to love you? 

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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