I saw this quote somewhere on Pinterest recently, and I have not been able to shake it from my head.
Everyone wants to leave a mark and to feel like they made a difference in the world.
When I think of my kids, when I think of life on this earth, and even when I think of my day-to-day life…I hope and pray that I am not average. Who dreams of being average, right!?
For us, we are in the middle of tackling our foster care paper work to get recertified. We started in January, but in reality it hasn’t been until the last two weeks have we really started going after it. There are so many forms and appointments needed to get this done. It’s consuming and draining. As I have finally started it, its had me thinking “why has it taken 5 months to get this done?” It is our heart beat. It is a part of our calling. We want to help. Why have we waited so long to get back into it?
The short of the answer is we moved, we lived with a friends for a while, and since then we have been setting up house. The deeper issue is that I wasn’t ready. I think our whole family needed time to heal.
I know for me, I left our last experience thinking my voice didn’t matter. Doing this ministry didn’t matter. We didn’t make a difference. No one cared what we thought.
It’s important to know the state of your heart. That may be how I felt, but it wasn’t the truth. My voice did matter. It mattered when I spoke truth to the hurting heart and those who had power of his/her future. What others did with given information was not my responsibility. It was just my job to love well.
It may not be foster care for you. It may just be your relationship with your own kids. It may be your job, your ministry, your neighborhood, etc. But, can you relate?
The days can be so long. The moments can feel like they don’t matter. It can seem like there are no roots growing. But what I know to be true is those are emotional responses. It takes the hard work of showing up every day, week, month doing the small things that may be considered average to produce change or become something powerful.
It is the commitment to the average everyday tasks and experiences done in truth and love that can be awesome. I made this little sign and printed it huge as an engineer print, and it now hangs in my kids bathroom to remind us all.
I first showed you this bathroom here, and I am excited to now have a print in it that I think can speak truth over my kids, our company, and any other hurting child that comes through our doors.
Mom life is hard. Foster care is hard, yet these two jobs may be the most important roles I ever play. May these average moments (like getting an afternoon snack handed out that all three agree on) matter.
There are moments when I see that they do matter. As we have tackled our paper work, gone to doctor visits and prepared for home visits. I have asked my kids…
“Do you want to do foster care again?”
“Why do you want to do this again?”
“Why do we do this?”
Their responses melt me, stop me in my tracks, and remind me: it’s not about me.
So, we can love on kids
So, we can help make their lives different
I want the kids to feel special
I want them to feel love
Hope their family will treat them better and learn good stuff
Hope their mom and dad can be good parents
Give them good food
Take good care of them
I can share my toys
I can be nice to them
Love it patient. Love is kind.
I’m excited to meet new people.
I hope they like to catch bugs.
These sweet kids are a huge part of my world. The way I talk and walk in my everyday moments are affecting the little hearts in my home…no matter if they are my biological, extended family, or in the foster care system. Words and actions have power.
So, all you tired, emotionally exhausted, have nothing left to give at the end of the day mamas out there know this…you aren’t average. Those dreams of being something awesome…are already true. Pick up your feet, wipe off the dust, ask for forgiveness, forgive yourself, pray for strength and keep on going. Just keep swimming.
**Please note: This print is now available as an automatic download purchase here, so you too can print it out.**
If you have been following along, you know we just moved from Georgia to Indiana at the end of last year. We have been busily making 
As soon as they were hung, the boys wanted to pose with their heroes, 
As I sat watching their joy, I thought about how we are creating this space together. They are loving it as much as me. Although I wouldn’t choose it all (like the loathed posters), I am happy that they are happy with it.
4. Go with your gut. There are times I have questioned myself. I have thought that it might seem weird or that’s not how its done in magazines, if I go with my first instinct. That moment that I hesitate is usually the point I regret. I wanted two accents walls in this room (the 
5. One more thing that I always keep in mind when creating a space, is that paint is cheap. Don’t beat yourself up over it. In the scheme of room design elements, paint is one of the cheapest to buy. I do paint samples most of the time, so I can see what the color looks like dried and in different lighting throughout the day. When it comes down to it though, I just start getting color on those walls. I can always change it, but the hardest part is just getting started.
I still want to hang some of their art and a few signs I made them, but I am holding off until we get the bunk bed built. That’s the last big thing for this room. I can’t wait to get their mattresses off the floor, but they don’t seem to mind. They will miss these moments once their beds are lofted in the air.
Breaking habits can be hard. Change can be hard, but it’s a battle worth fighting at times.
I want to be a better judge of my time. I want to be more proactive with my schedule. I don’t want my little girl to say “mom, move your phone. I want to show you my picture.” I want to be drawing with her. I want to reclaim my schedule and life. I want the ideas in my head to be with where I am. Instead of thinking of the next thing I need/want to do. I want to fight to be present in all the little moments.
My memory is bad, and I am learning maybe it’s because my head is full of lots of little distractions that it’s not remembering the big things. I want to fight for that to change. I want to quiet my heart and be present.
So, I will continue to fight for a quiet heart. In my 
Are you drawn to nature?
I started with tying some basic string around a stick I found on one of our hikes. We try hike at least once a week. I think it does all us good to get out in nature, unplug, and exercise.
I turned the knot of my string to the back side of my stick. I cut it the length I wanted pushed on a pretty wood bead, and then hot glued a feather to the end of the string. Once the feather hot glue was set, I added a little more glue to the feather’s quill and pushed the bead on top. Quills kind of gross me out, so the bead helps cover that up.
I’m sure you could change the order of these two steps and tie the string on last. Do which ever is easiest for you!
I did one long row feathers, and I then went back and added a shorter row. I love the layered look, but also the simplicity that they are spread out and not overly packed in.
Once I had all my string tied on, I added a little drop of hot glue to the knot on back. I wanted them to stay in one place and not shift up and down the stick or for the knots to turn to the front.
After the glue dried, I nailed two small nails into my wall and set my new wood wind chime or rather wall art on top. I love it, although I do struggle with what it is called?! What do you think?
I am so thankful that even though we are trying to sell our house, my sweet husband still lets me put nails in the walls. He said, it’s still our house, so I will treat it as so! I love how this natural simple wall art compliments my crazy, fun patterns and colors in my room so well.
What do you think of color mixed with natural elements? Does that combo make your heart smile too?