Positively (Im)perfect

Written and published on September 30th, 2012. Archived to previous year.    Happy Monday, ya'll--and welcome to the second ever Make It Count Monday! Before you groan too loudly, I'm here to remind you that another Monday means that yes, we've just made it through another week, and the calendar now presents us with seven new beautiful days upon which to bestow our weekly goals! So let the positivity begin! Continue on we shall... ~MOTIVATION~   (What did I accomplish last week?) My goal last week was to set my alarm and get up before the kids during the week. Which I did exactly four out of five "work" days. Though it's tempting to bemoan the days I didn't meet my goal, I will recognize that I gave my kids (and myself!) four more days of breakfast together and four fewer hours of TV (or sleep in my case. Not the point though). Other accomplishments: I learned some sign language to communicate with an awesome preschool mom who is heari

Written and published on September 24th, 2012. Archived to previous year.    Hey, there, and welcome to Make It Count Monday! What is that, you ask? Why, a nifty lil' idea of mine where we can share both our goals and accomplishments each week! Yeah, I'll explain a little more. I talked last week about needing to give ourselves more credit for the many little things we do each day. I loved reading about all the amazing things you guys were doing, and I loved getting to congratulate myself with a well-deserved pat on the back between diaper changes (yes I washed my hands first). It felt pretty good! But I realized while mundanely transferring the darks from the washer into the dryer that I should be doing that a lot more often (both the laundry and the pats on the back). I need more than a one-time deal; I need a rather swift kick in the pants to get going--and stay going. Well three kicks, really: One for direction, one for motivation, and one for accountability. E

Originally published on September 18, 2011 It’s amazing to realize how much has transpired in the space of a year. Pearl earrings from Peter--for our baby who would have been due in June A mere year and change ago, I was in a pretty dark place, having seen yet another “specialist,” trying to process the word ‘infertility’ as it was being thrown at me, and wondering what it meant for our future—a future that we’d dreamed would be filled with the beautiful chaos of lots of kids in the years to come. Then, within weeks of hearing that ugly word, we were face to face with the full reality of my diagnosis as it played out in front of us, saying goodbye to the new little life that we’d created with God’s help, seemingly filled with promise. Three months later, another painful goodbye. I knew it was pointless to question God’s will, since my mere human logic simply couldn't comprehend infinite wisdom. But I felt I wasn't ready to let go of the dreams we had or the expectat

Originally published on September 14, 2011 "This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."  -Psalm 118:24 Lately I’ve had some heavy things weighing on my heart, and it’s hard to write about light-hearted subjects with more important things running through my head. Though I’ve tried to push such thoughts away when it comes to putting words on the page, my motivation for triviality has fallen flat. So I’ve realized that maybe it’s time to do just that—time to address the things that matter most. On certain days my heart sinks as soon as I pull in to the parking lot at work. It has nothing to do with my workload that day or a busy schedule; it’s the flag in front of my Division Headquarters that gets me. Most days it flies high and mighty and proud above the building for all to see. But more often than it should, it flutters quietly at half-mast, the same level as the monument that stands across from it to honor the soldiers from For