Pressing Pause…Time for a Break!

Summer’s here and I’m looking forward to pressing pause on life to enjoy the little things again! With the True Beauty Conference coming fast (If you’re close to Toledo, Ohio and would love a couple days of awesome fellowship in the Lord, check it out here and register, we’d love to have you!)  and the HUGE to-do list for all those little things around the house that need to be done, I have officially put myself on a countdown to “pressing the pause-button”– it’s time for me to take a little break! I’m going to focus on wrapping up a bunch of loose ends, and then I am pressing pause.

I’ve been trying to intentionally slow down with my littles during the days so that we can enjoy each others company more and make some sweet memories- things like: catching fireflies at night, watching bats, taking walks at dust, reading in the mornings, playing games, doing art…

I’ve been a mom for over 20 years, but it always takes effort to focus on what matters. I don’t know why we are so hard-wired to rush through life, but I know it isn’t good and I have often, through the years, had to choose to lay what appears important and pressing down in order to soak up what’s right in front of me. I was watching the kids run up and down the sidewalk last week, just running and laughing and yelling out being the awesome kids they are and I thought, once again, like I have often thought, many times, with each one of my kids, “I don’t want to miss this…”

Because, you can ya know– Miss THIS. Life happening all around you. The preoccupation of your mind and the ever-yelling to-do list can crowd it out and before you know it, they’re grown. There’s a lot of things I could have put my hand to over the years: causes and plans and purposes I could have devoted myself to… but I would have missed THIS: Blessed Motherhood. Friendships with the humans called “my children”.  I want to relish every moment I have, and the more years I live, the more I realize that I have to DECIDE to do it. It isn’t just going to happen.

We say, wistfully, “Sometimes, you just gotta stop and smell the flowers…” I don’t want to just stoop down and take a whiff, I want to breathe in and enjoy the entire garden I have. A mother’s “flowers” are all around her, they smell like painted nails with glittery pink nail polish and taking an extra half hour to shriek over the bats swooping low in the night. It’s the fragrance of a bedtime story, no, two! It’s Mickey Mouse waffles in the morning, “Just because”. It’s talking, and listening. It’s goofy smiles and snuggles and laughing. It’s late night discussions with teenagers and listening to their favorite song.

It’s T-I-M-E.

It’s L-O-V-E.

Do you smell that sweet fragrance of ‘family’?

So, I’m going to press the pause button and try to grow that pineapple top with the kiddos. We’re going to learn about stars and build with legos. We’re going to read books, oodles and oodles of books. We’re gonna make art…with googly eyes. I’m gonna spray paint something and nourish my soul. We’re going to bake something, and eat it. We gonna chase down the ice cream truck and and chuckle while the kids make the ice-cream man wait and wait till they pick the perfect cold treat.

We’re gonna explore our state and find new and exciting things because… we don’t want to MISS THIS.

Summer is the time for farmers markets, festivals and beaches. For water fights, music and berry-picking. As homeschoolers, we love hands-on learning and field trips during the summer months… I don’t want to miss this! But I will if I get too wrapped up with non-essentials.

So I’m pressing pause to sit down with my flowers and enjoy them while they’re here.

I hope you will too.

–Nicci