Friday, June 3, 2016

perspective

Once a year, we wake up before the sun and head to the beach to celebrate Memorial Day with some of our dearest friends.

The early rising is not a favorite of mine, but spending time inhaling the salty air, digging my toes under a mound of sand, and watching my children instantly become BFF's with kids they've never played with before is a true favorite of mine.

Initially, we all did our typical Cali complaining about the chilly, cloudy May gray in the air for the first few hours. For living somewhere where there's not much extreme weather, we talk about weather a lot. Within a few hours, the clouds grew weary of our griping and begged the sun the take over the party.

As I sat there under my striped beach umbrella, I absorbed my boys. They change physically from year to year as we celebrate this annual tradition, however, who they are at heart stays the same.




Luke is my explorer. Luke searched for ocean treasures. The sea did not disappoint.



Charlie is the adventurer. His speaks the language of fun and action. Today he was fluent in catching waves with Dad.


Jack is the entertainment. He leads groups, giving each friend a role to play. It reminded me of when I was a kid. There were times that my friends called me "bossy" but I prefer to call it "early leadership."







Today was a moment of stopping busyness in it's tracks and taking time to appreciate all the good around me. I get easily distracted by the stress of work, parenting, and life's challenges that I am blinded to the good all around me. 

In moments like this, a simple refresher on perspective is all that is needed.

So there on the beach, with my toes in the sand, I took deep breaths and filled my soul up with the good.

Much love,
Katie

Monday, March 28, 2016

easter joy in the midst of hard news

We received a call on Good Friday from my dad. What seemed like lingering back pain from an old golf injury is actual metastatic cancer. As you can imagine, I felt shattered into a million pieces like a glass vase accidentally knocked off the kitchen counter.

However, our family has a deep sense of strong resolve. We have each other's backs through thick and thin. And we weren't about to let cancer suck the joy out of celebrating Easter together. So we did what all families do when faced with crisis at Easter. We dyed eggs, baked too many Easter desserts, and made sure that we squeezed the life out of our time together.









Although I do not welcome this uninvited guest into our lives with open arms, I do embrace the opportunity to help, serve, and love my dad more now than ever before because that is what defines family.

We will be strong. We will show up and be brave, and we will stand together and hold each other up when we want to fall.

Love never fails.

Much love,
Katie