Sundays

I like pictures that are a bit moody. I'm currently trying to define my style and better my photography skills, which is a tricky thing to accomplish when our camera is sub-par and slow as molasses... so bear with me. I'm no professional!

I love it when my kids are cleaned up all fresh and fancy before our family heads to church. Our Sundays generally start pretty mild and laid-back, but by the time it's time to leave, and definitely once we're there, everything get's a little tougher. While the day was still young, I took advantage of our soon-to-be construction zone of a backyard, where new shingles for our roof are stacked neatly in their pretty pink packages. I thought they'd make a super cool backdrop! I tried to capture my kids' playfulness and personalities, and it's funny how deceiving a picture can be. There's always a lot of laughing between the kids, but also a lot of yelling and crying, too. I'd say it's pretty evenly balanced. I often hear myself reminding them, "more laughing than crying, please!" In the hopes that they'll find a way to play happily together again. Della loves to pick Jasper up and spin him around. Any way she can. Henry loves to play dress-up with Della's princess dresses, and Della thinks it's the silliest. Wee Jasper just likes to do whatever everyone else is doing. And everything he knows he's not supposed to do, as well.

Even after getting everything and everyone ready for our Sabbath, not all of us made it to church, and an emotional Jasper made it impossible for me to teach my class of 11 and 12 year-old girls, because he was too sad to stay in the nursery. It was absolute chaos! And I felt discouraged and drained by the end of the day. I wish I could say it's not always this way, but it's become a common trend, and I have a very hard time enjoying this day of "rest". I'm hoping I can improve and work towards making these days, dedicated to family and the Lord, a little more meaningful, and hopefully a little less exhausting and stressful. I feel I must be doing something wrong, but then my soul clings to the hope that it's simply this stage in our lives, with our children being young and unruly. I pray and hope that someday, Sunday can be my favorite day again.

But in all seriousness, look at these beautiful little humans. They will forever have my heart!