Social Distancing Ourselves to the Woods

“Kids don’t remember their best day of television…”

I recently saw that quote and wanted to share. Right now, our world is looking at a Global Pandemic. We have been faced with worry, anxiety, consuming thoughts, and all the what ifs. Something our family has always done, health pandemic or not, is go OUTSIDE when we are needing a reset. Being outdoors is one of our favorite weekend pastimes so this past Sunday wasn’t really that different for us… This is me encouraging you all, whoever and wherever you may be, to try this as soon as your time allows—and for us now, looking down the lens of potentially three or more weeks of school and work OFF, this is going to happen even more often.

Hiking.

Have you ever felt that bitter taste in your heart and soul? Like this feeling of YUCK when realizing the negativity and hateful comments/words that the universe just tosses around like NO big deal? I bet anything that you have and you may be feeling and tasing those things right now! There is almost constant news coverage going on about the COVID-19 (Corona Virus), and LOTS of people are obsessing, panicking, and even verbally attacking one another. It can be downright exhausting, and I refuse to let my mind get sucked in. Sometimes then, more than ever, adventure is a necessity. Let it cleanse your heart, let it rid the nasty negativity from your overwhelmed soul. Go be in nature. Listen to the trees. Go HIKE!

This is a place called Garvin Brown Nature Preserve. It is a 46-acre preserve super close to River Road, and it is open from dusk until dawn. We discovered this beautiful location not too long ago, and I will never forget Christmas Day 2019—when it was a freakishly warm Christmas and we all went here for a nice long stroll. Elsa pranced around, running through brush and all the water she could find.. I know without a doubt that trails and water were 100% her love language (and the same is now true for Emma, which is pretty dang sweet.) There is something just completely wonderful about Garvin Brown and if you are local reading this, I highly, highly encourage you to go and explore, especially while we are being told to practice extreme social distancing…take your kids, your pup(s), or just even yourself, and go breathe. You will never regret slowing down and enjoying the SIMPLE joys of life, I promise. And your kids will be better for it too!

PS: We had NO IDEA what this terrifying looking fish was (and pretty soon found out) but do you know?! Tell me in the comments below if you 100% know (WITHOUT GOOGLING) what kind it is!! I mean, OH MY WORD, can you imagine swimming with this thing?! (Not that you would swim in the Ohio River, but STILL.)

Seasons and Some Updates

“The seasons teach us how to do life well, revealing a life-giving rhythm: we flourish through intentional periods of stillness, growth, hard work, and rest.” -Lara Casey

It’s not quite spring but with it being March 1st, we are basically there. We can all feel it, right? The temperatures warming up, the difference in how the sunshine feels on our backs, how even the wind has shifted from less wintry to more springlike. I LOVE Spring. Since having horses, I’m not one who enjoys the cold anymore…as a kid I would love to watch the snow fall and even to play in it, but I’d rather ride my horses in a short sleeve shirt and not have to worry about bundling in layers while working with them…Needless to say, I am welcoming this season.

Stillness, growth, hard work, and rest. Where are you currently at with your season?

Tomorrow Elsa has an ultrasound recheck which of course I am pretty nervous about. A couple of months ago we found out that she has a mass in her liver and our veterinarian recommended a recheck to see if it grows or spreads or what is going on with it…since getting on liver medication, she actually seems to be feeling better. Now I am more concerned with her declining strength in her hind legs and how it seems to be more of a challenge to get up for her these days. I remember our Lab’s decline in overall health once he had his cancer diagnosis, and it’s hard for my mind NOT to go there with worry. Overall I’ve done pretty well though, at least for now. And we don’t even know for certain if the mass is cancerous…I know aging is part of reality when it comes to us AND our pets, and while I don’t necessarily like it, I am trusting the Lord for strength and the ability to handle whatever I find out.

Speaking of medical tests, I am actually getting a CAT SCAN on Tuesday of this week! This seems to be the week of new news, ah the joys of being an adult. I went to the doctor last week hoping she would confirm my umbilical hernia….AND she did. I feel pretty silly that I felt as if my protruding bellybutton was just part of the process after having kids. I don’t even remember what a normal bellybutton looks like?! But when the lump started growing (cute huh?) and causing some pain and discomfort I was like, ‘Huh..this may not be NORMAL.’ Ha! So after the Cat Scan, I suppose we will see about surgery and when it will happen—I am hoping it can wait until Spring Break when I have time off.

Those are the two ‘biggest’ things so far this month. I mean, it is March 1st so truthfully I’m sure there will be lots more to update y’all on soon enough. I am getting a little busier with photo sessions and hope that continues. I’d love if I could book a few more weddings for 2020 but again, trusting the Lord. What are some things going on for you this month!? Anything to celebrate or that you could use prayer for? Send me an email and let’s chat. I love connecting with you guys and am so thankful for you here!

Motherhood and Sick Days

Most days I don’t think about my role, being Mom just seems normal. But there are a couple instances when I have felt like my heart is walking outside of my body and one of the times was when I went on vacation for the first time without my kids, and Asa and I were simply ALONE. Just the two of us. Without our kids. The first day I remember being somewhat giddy and excited and READY for several days with JUST my husband. And then I woke the next morning and my heart had disappeared. GONE. I was anxious and confused and overwhelmed and wondering constantly IF my kids were okay. Would the sitters remember to do this or that or what to sing them or how to comfort them? My heart was outside of my chest as I walked around the city and the beach, and as people passed us by—”They don’t know that I’m a Mom,” I thought.

To some of you, that may sound crazy ;) But to many of you, you’re like, “I get it.”

Once you’re Mom, you’re MOM. And while often you may not think about it because you’re doing the day in and day out and the chores and routine…but do you KNOW how important this role IS?

Enter how I have recently began to feel on sick days. Not my sick days, where I’m feeling like crap and missing MY mom—but the days where fevers are burning my sweet kiddos bodies, their heads are throbbing with headaches, their legs are weak with fatigue, they’re cranky and emotional and exhausted. These days. My heart starts walking outside of my chest and it grasps at their six and seven year old selves. My role as MOM explodes with such uniqueness. I think it was when our kids turned four and five and the baby and toddler days just felt so far behind me; that was when it hit me like a ton of bricks that these days are FLEETING. When they’re sick, who do they want?

Mom.

Dads and husbands, please don’t take offense at this post. Lord knows my kids ADORE their Dad and he is quite literally the BEST Dad there is. Our kids will sit on his lap and rock with him and cuddle, but then it’s time for Mom. The phrase used to be, “Mommy put me down,” when they couldn’t construct great sentences. Now they can actually say, “I love you, Dad. I want Mommy…”

There’s something about being needed isn’t there? Maybe that’s mostly what it is... Having tiny souls want you and need you and love you with all of their being. I kind of laughed as I wrote this out, it sounds so SELFISH. But this blog is really for me to remember how I feel. When our kids are sick, the Mom gene inside of me goes full fledge into overdrive and I’m there for it all. When they wake crying because their fever spikes, my feet fly up the stairs. I hum and sing and stroke their foreheads. I bring fresh cups of ice water and fill their diffusers with all the right blends to make their rooms cozy and clean. There’s something about being MOM on their sick days, that is so fulfilling; that is so valuable. They won’t always need me the way that their little selves do. And I finally understand how my own mom must feel with her daughter living six hours away. Probably like a piece or two of HER heart is outside of her chest… (I wonder if she knows how I FEEL when I am sick?!) When a fever hits me, guess who is the first for me to text and complain to? Yup…my mom!

Also don’t get me wrong—I don’t LIKE when our kids are sick. Heavens, no. I know that there are sicknesses FAR WORSE and more severe than the colds and viruses ours come down with; all I really mean, is that sometimes it is mundane to be Mom, when really there is nothing mundane about it. When they were newborns and then toddlers and were needing me on sick days, it was so different than it is now. It consisted of a lot more HOLDING and rocking and nursing and cuddling. They keep getting older; their legs keep getting longer and more difficult to fit on my lap…they keep becoming more independent.

But they keep needing me. And I pray to God that I NEVER take that for granted.

These thoughts inspired me to create a FREEBIE for YOU. Sign up below to grab my new download, ‘Wellness Support for You & Your Littles.’ Save it, print it, share it, use it. And if you have any questions, always email me! I love hearing from my readers and I am so thankful for ALL of you.

Happy One Year to You, Emma Rose!

From the beginning, we thought Emma would be our Healer. Little did we know how true that would end up being…do you remember when we first got her!? She was seven weeks old and I wrote a post when she was nine weeks, about how wonderful and sweet she was. Well, good news, she STILL is, and never had we have SUCH a cuddly and docile dog. Truthfully I can’t remember a TON about Elsa when she was one year old, but I remember she didn’t crave human touch and cuddling AS much as our little Emma does. It has been so fun to see and watch Emma grow, from a teeny tiny puppy to a gorgeous one year old DOG.

Emma is an English Creme Golden Retriever who we purchased from Cold Spring Mountain Retrievers located in Chuckey, TN. We made it a fun overnight trip with our kids and we came back home with our sweet little girl pup. She has been such a good dog since day but, however we often joke that she is part Humphrey [our chocolate Lab who passed away last spring, whom she adored] and part Elsa [our Golden.] Humphrey loved mischief and he could be pretty sneaky at times…Emma has surprised us a few times with her own curiosity, but she overall, she has been such a trustworthy girl. She does not climb on the furniture, she does not destroy household things [though she did nibble once on our wooden coffee table when she was teething], but frankly, we have been amazed at simply how GOOD she is.

I still swear it’s largely the breed…she and Elsa are the reason that I will ALWAYS want a Golden Retriever. They don’t lick, they don’t jump, they are patient and empathetic, gentle and incredibly loving. When it is muddy outside, Emma knows to sit on a towel right by the door and wait for her paws to be cleaned. When it’s bath time and she is too filthy to just towel down, she knows to go into our shower and she sits and waits to be cleaned up?! Like, HOW?! It makes me giggle thinking about her adorable traits, and ever so grateful that we chose HER.

Flip through the slideshow below to see some of my absolute favorites (though there are so many more, haha. You know me and my picture taking……) xox

She’s a girl with lots of nicknames, one is often Emma Lou. Growing up my childhood dog and best Christmas present EVER, was a white lab who I named Holly Lou. I’m not positive why it was Lou…? But she too, was an ANGEL of a dog. She took to my oldest brother Nathan the most, he has special needs and I think she always just knew. Naturally Emma Lou just flows from my mouth, but she’s lots of names. Emma Rose, Emma Rosie, Emma Lou, Emmie Girl—but the moral of the story is that she has healed in our hearts in so many ways and we are so in love with her fluffy, white, adorable self! Happy first birthday, Emma Rose!