I have no idea what your typical anniversary looks like. This year, ours fell on a Wednesday. we hit 21 years. And the day felt much like any other day. We both ended up working a few hours. Wrangling kids. Running an errand here or there. And ended with Bible class (him teaching one class and me in another). 
Is it an a-typical anniversary? Or is it a typical one? (See what I did there?)

While summer might be a slower time of year for some, for me it just means a different kind of juggling. Since I'm married to a teacher, my whole family is home with me during the school break. As someone who works from home, it's not ideal in some ways.
In other ways, it's really nice because I set my own hours for the most part, so if I want to take off every Tuesday morning to go to story time at the library, I can do that too.
But it's all about juggling, no matter what time of year it is. And lately, I'm not doing it well.

I finally got comfortable with myself when I was around 30. Know how I can tell? I decided to dye some of my hair bright pink. Just a bit of peekaboo color under the top layer, so that it showed when I pulled some back or the wind blowed.
My husband loved it. I loved it. My dad thought I'd lost my mind. 
We didn't have kids yet back then. That was right before we started the more intensive fertility treatments. And I just needed something different. I never really thought about what would happen down the road.

Does God ever cause you to stop and be still, whether you want to or not? I'm not sure how much you know about me, but I ... don't stop much. I work four jobs, am a mom, a wife, a Bible class teacher, and on several committees at church. Needless to say, I put myself under a lot of stress.
And this week it caught up with me.
I was having weird sensations in my chest. Fluttering, tightening, and shortness of breath. All can be signs of stress and anxiety. In women, they can also be signs of an oncoming heart attack. Needless to say, I didn't wait too long (okay, I waited two days) before being checked out.

I love me some dirt therapy. Do you know what I mean by that? Getting out and digging around in the dirt, pulling weeds, and nurturing flowers. I love it, despite how much it makes my legs and back hurt when I let the weeds grow up and take over like they have. 
Every time I've walked past my front flower garden this spring, I get mixed emotions. One is to cringe because of how badly I've let the grass and weeds take over.
The other is to praise God for the beauty of His creation. Because, y'all. My flowers have been stunning this spring.

The last few years, our family has participated in a huge convention called Lads to Leaders. It's a place where our kids can practice song leading, speeches, Scripture reading, and Bible Bowl, among other things--in other words, practice and learn so they can be leaders in the church in a few years. It's so much fun and rewarding and great, but it's also Easter weekend, which can be exhausting and a bit overwhelming.
Well, silly me, I can't let go of our other traditions we've instigated all these years, which complicates things even more.

The first foot pedal I learned to use wasn't in a vehicle. It was attached to a sewing machine.
I fully admit I have a rather charmed life. I had two grandmothers and a mother who knew how to sew (along with several aunts). I grew up knowing about quilting and crochet and embroidery and cross stitch. Doing crafts. Baking. Gardening and canning. Entering items in the fair to see if we could win a ribbon.
Am I as good as the women who came before me at doing all these things? Probably not. But I carry on the traditions of "homemaker" as best I can, pulling out the sewing machine and preserving veggies in the summer. And my children see me doing it, which means hopefully we'll have another generation after me to carry it forward again.

From the years when our children were little bitty and couldn't sit still through until now, when there are still wiggles and moments it's hard for them to focus, my husband and I have had one goal. Bring our children up to love God. To us, that means being at Sunday school and worship services and all things in between. Every time the doors are open. We also sing hymns and praise songs around the house and in the car. We talk about God in our everyday conversations. Because they need to see God in us more than anything.
But that doesn't mean it's always been easy. Bringing a baby to church sometimes means the mama doesn't get anything out of the services for a while because she's so focused on teaching how to be quiet. Or making sure cheerios aren't spilled all over the floor.

Happy first day of Spring!
​When we first moved into our house back in January of 2018, we had no idea why there were tires in the backyard. Turns out they were used to plant daffodils. We didn't really want tires in our backyard, so we dug them up and later dug up the daffodil bulbs, replanting them in my front flower bed.
Of course, you know what happens if you don't get all the bulbs, don't you?
​See that picture above? It's from a bulb or two we missed when we dug up "all" the daffodils a few years back. And it's from this year.

While I didn't necessarily set new year's resolutions this year, I did set some personal goals for myself. Mostly things that would lower my stress levels which have been building like crazy over the last year or so.
One of the goals is to stay on top of dishes. And to straighten the house every now and then when I can't stand having to hop over legos and books anymore.
But another--one I'm honestly more serious about--is keeping my inbox from overflowing like it was doing last year. Do you know how stressful it is to come in and see you have over 100 unread emails?