Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Gearing up for Summer!

School isn't even out yet and already I am feeling like my summer is fully booked!  Did anyone else start feeling anxiety over their summer schedule back in April, or is that just me?  With swimming lessons, birthday parties, dance classes, church activities and all of the little weekend excursions we already have planned, it promises to be a fun, but busy, summer.
Slip 'n Slides work so much better when you have Daddy to launch you down them!

My husband only has one scheduled weekend off a month and we already have commitments, most of them out of town, for every single one of them this summer.  What about all of the projects that I am hoping to get done around our little farm?  The list is endless and it seems like we are going to have very little opportunity to tackle any of our planned DIY projecst this summer.  And so, I start stressing.

If you are anything like me, you allow yourself to get bogged down in the planning and the details.  I find myself, way too often, forgetting to enjoy the moment I'm in because I am worried about what I have to get done tomorrow.  How do we mothers turn off the constant reel of "things to do" in our minds so we can sit back and appreciate what is going on around us right now?  If you have the answer, please leave me a comment and share your wisdom!  I need it!  You can be my own personal Yoda:)

This summer I want to do something that I have found very elusive the last couple of years...enjoy my children.  Does that sound bad?  What I mean is that I allow myself to get swept up in the endlessness of my to-do list that I don't take the time to just sit back and watch my girls be little girls.  They are growing up faster than I can believe and there are times that I wonder if I am missing it.

I need to watch them chase lightning bugs.  I need to watch them twirling in summer dresses with flowers in their hair.  I need to jump in their little pool and splash with them.  I need to remember that the things that will make me smile years down the road are those moments.  The details will take care of themselves.  Our weekend getaways will be just as fun even if we don't come home to a spotless house.  The dishes are just as easily loaded into the dishwasher the next morning if we decide to take advantage of the free admission evening at the pool.  Bedtime doesn't need to be a hard and fast rule in July when we have a fire in the pit and there are s'mores to be eaten.

Summer is just about to begin and this year, I want it to be different.  I am making myself a promise.  I am going to worry less, enjoy more, and love my girls in the moment.  Will I always get it right?  Probably not, but I am going to try harder than I did last summer.  I am going to be more of the mommy I want to be this time around.  I am going to take hold of a passage that was read at our wedding, and probably many of yours, and make it my mantra for the summer.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.  1 Corinthians 13:4-8a

I am writing these verses out and hanging them up where I will read them everyday.  This is what I want to give to my children and my husband this summer.  If I can just keep these words at the forefront of my mind when the kids are tracking wet sand and melted popsicles over my freshly mopped floors, I think everyone will be happier!  What are you going to be more intentional about this summer?  How are you going to make it the best one yet?  Please share your tips because I could always use some!


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