Up Late

I have no pictures to post tonight. I haven't sat down to write in a while.  I am up late and have so many thoughts swimming around in my head, I think writing a few things down will help slow them so I can get some sleep.

I watched a short inspirational video that was produced by my church tonight. I've seen it before and I remember being touched then. The reason I love it so much is that it gives me the sense that all of the crazy and mind numbing distractions that are out there in the world don't have to run our lives. I don't have to look perfect. My kids don't have to be perfectly mannered. It's okay if I allow my dessert for bunko night to be purchased from my local public store. 

When it comes down to it, I don't have to please everyone. If I try, I fail. I worry needlessly and enter a state of anxiety that renders me useless to those who need me most...my family.

I have spots all over my carpet. Why? Because my kids can't remember to keep their food in the kitchen to save their lives. I do not have the teenage swimsuit body I once had. Why? Because I am aging, and I had four kids. I am incredibly busy and finding the 2 hours a day it would take, plus counting calories, to get it is not worth my effort. I feel fine with attempting a half an hour a day and squeezing in a few crunches now and then and then letting time and life do what she will with the rest of me. 

I digress. The woman in this video (I'm sure some of you have heard of) is named Stephanie Nielson. She and her husband were in an airplane crash and she was burned on over 80% of her body. Needless to say, she has been through a lot. She is a mother and a blogger and is still recovering. I believe she even appeared on Oprah. I love her testimony and her positive attitude. She says, "I am not my body". 

Isn't that true with all of us? We are so much more than just "our bodies". We have spirits and a purpose in this life, we just need to find it, accept it, and live it.  

On the way home from a shoot tonight I was thinking about all of the choices I have made in my life to get me to the point I am at now. Would I change anything? Honestly, yes I would...(I would have majored in Speech Pathology the first semester of college instead of figuring it out ten years later)...I guess all of us would, but I wouldn't touch anything that would change my family, or my role as a stay at home Mom. I do work outside of the home a little. I am a photographer, but my sole responsibility is to my family and I am grateful to have it. 

I don't know what trials I will have to face beyond tonight. I pray they are not as extreme as Stephanie Neilson's; but even so, with the smaller, day to day challenges I want to have a good attitude and I want to be grateful for all the blessings I have. I am me, that's who I am.