Make a Wish

Aubrey was selected to make a wish with the Make A Wish Foundation. Her cardiologist told us he recommended her at our last visit. We began explaining it to Aubrey, how they want to grant wishes to kids who are sick or have things that require them to have to go to the doctor a lot. She said, "I just have a cough." I am thankful that the heart thing doesn't bother her enough for her to think of that.

Our next conversation was about what her greatest wish would be. Her first comment was, "I'd like to go to the fair." I said we probably will go to the Alaska State fair this summer and is there something else you don't think we would do normally? She thought and said, "maybe a special craft?"

Needless to say we helped her to dream a little bigger and when the Make A Wish volunteers came, with much excitement and anticipation, she wished to go to Disney World.

Moments of Greatness

I have always wanted to be great. I am realizing that there are a lot of things that I can do really well. Things I enjoy doing, especially when I am doing them well. I can cook and sew and paint. I like to decorate and keep a clean home. I was a pretty good athlete and I know I still have that in me. I am a great mom, patient and creative. I am a loving and loyal wife and friend. And I love to study God's Word and be faithful to pray. Sounds like I am pretty much an all-around superstar, right? Not exactly. The problem is a matter of focus and capacity. You see, when I am diligently working out and making healthy meals for my family, I have no time to sew or paint. Or when my house is really clean, I probably lost patience with the kids or missed teachable moments somewhere along the way. When I am consistently getting in the Word and working on a quilt, I can't find the time to work out and I might even forget to plan anything for dinner. The latest battle this spring is that I am loving time outside doing yard work and playing with the kids, but the inside stuff is all suffering a bit. Thankfully, my family loves eggs for dinner...again.

I think that as moms, we tend to load ourselves down with guilt over the things that don't get done each day. It is almost like a badge we wear. Either that or we try to keep up the appearance that we really do all those great things all the time. We pin our ideals to our virtual pinboard and act like our lives live up to our fantasy world.

So what is the point? I don't think God intends for us to carry around the self inflicted guilt. So maybe we aren't great at everything all the time, but we all have our lovely moments of greatness for which we can be proud and our moments that are not so great to keep us humble.

Heart Run 2012