written dreams and grace.

Call it nesting. Simplifying. Living in the moment. Being present.

For me, in this season, I’m longing for time to slow to a gentler pace.

I find myself marveling as I watch the boys run and play and have conversations with one another. Amazed at how much they have grown. Suddenly, they are these little people with independent thoughts and personalities. They can make their own snacks and fill their own water glasses. They can get up in the night, use the restroom, flush, and go back to bed {I giggle every time I hear their feet pitter patter to the bathroom in the night, why is that? Motherhood never ceases to surprise me}. They can pull their own covers up over their toes. They can walk down the stairs, climb into our warm bed and snuggle between Dave and I in the early morning hours. I can feel their warmth and innocence and I ache to bottle it up forever.

I know the next season is coming. It’s right there, just out of our grasp. These two will be big brothers. Our family dynamic will forever shift. Life will move forward. New adventures and memories wait to be created. We are on the cusp of new and change.

As much as I want to freeze time right now, I also want to jump into the new. The unknown.

I know that the new will not be without hard moments but I remain confident that we will be met in that place with grace. The joy will overshadow the pain. It always does. Joy always triumphs.

Beth said it so well at Created for Care; what my soul aches for is the unforced rhythm of grace.

Slow mornings are savored. Quiet moments to dream and pray and listen. All the while, full of the knowledge that these moments are fleeting. {Newborns have a way of stealing the quiet mornings and slow starts…replacing them with feedings and diaper changes. And more. So much more. Filling the quiet with love, tenderness, and miraculous wonder}. 

I recently started a new family journal for the year. I have already declared 2014 to be the year of hope. I need to record it all. The dreams, the gratitude, the sweet memories.

I need these markers of His faithfulness. Markers that I can read through in the hard. Markers that my children can read when they are grown. Proof that the God we serve is only good and His plans are always worth waiting for.

Because, even though this season is so very sweet, we are so very weary. Weary of the wait for our S. I need these markers. I need to record them and look upon them as we wait. As we step into the new. As we welcome our precious Charlotte and continue to wait for all four of our babies to be under one roof. I need tangible reminders of laughter and joy and written dreams and prayers coming to fruition.

“I am freed to know that my God is huge and my God is able and that if I don’t get what I asked, if I’ll cooperate, I’ll get something bigger.” -Beth Moore

**Isn’t this journal the absolute cutest thing? You can create your own at www.tinyprints.com. I plan to make a new one each year to keep as a special keepsake for our family. You could also make one for each child and write letters to each child in their notebook. I decided to write to all four kiddos in one place…because I’m all about simplifying right now. :)**