From Struggle to Reward

Oh my GOODNESS! It’s been a long week of editing. My house is a disaster. My washing machine is out completely. I had three short shoots Tuesday, and we had cheer practice two days this week in addition to Wednesday’s normal church night. We started working on the Christmas play, and I started panicking about not having enough time to do what we wanted to do on that. I started on the floor cheer, and started panicking about not having enough time to perfect that. Panicking was the overall theme this week in general.

Noah and I had a pretty serious talk about where we fit in as a couple now that life has become so busy, and sometimes you need that...even when it starts as an aggressive talk (aka an argument! Yes! Happy and in love people have healthy (and sometimes unhealthy) arguments)! I don’t leave my kids a lot and make time for Noah. We typically get baby sitters for a night around Valentine’s Day and our anniversary. We probably need to do that a little more....even if it’s just for an evening.

Carlea and I are taking a red-eye trip to NYC tonight. It’s been a really long time since it’s just been the two of us. I want her to have such a good time. We’ve struggled the past couple of years having the kind of relationship we used to have. Between little brother needing a lot of attention, Addie suddenly becoming the annoying little sister, and changes in schools Carlea has had trouble adjusting her attitude at home, and I have trouble being understanding. We are on the path to recovery I think, but it’s taken several come to Jesus moments. Lord help me when the hormones start. She doesn’t know that she’s getting a dog for Christmas. It’s an inside dog which I swore I’d never own. She will flip Christmas morning....absolutely flip. She needs a companion, and she needs some responsibility so that she can understand the mom part of my life a little better and maybe grow to appreciate me a little more.

When we leave tonight, I hope to have all my Christmas galleries finished so that next week I can finish my Capitol Market sessions and my full sessions.

I had a session that was so so special to me. One of my dearest friends struggled with infertility for years. It’s not my story to tell, but I will say that things between us became distant as her struggle continued, because I was having babies, and I’m sure it’s hard to watch when that’s all you want in the world and you can’t have it. It was hard for me to even talk about my kids or my pregnancies, because I was so worried about her. A couple years ago, I received a call from her saying she and her husband had finally registered to be foster/adoptive parents. She asked me to write a reference, and I did...crying the whole time I wrote it and every time I read it after. It wasn’t long before she and her husband got the news on which they’d been waiting. A baby (unborn baby) was going to be needing a home. Long story, very short: they finally became parents!!!

They asked to me photograph their girl after the adoption was finalized, and I was so excited I couldn’t stand it. I decided to take my son with me because my friend and her family are like family to me, so I knew they wouldn’t mind. Lincoln fell asleep, so when I got there, I carried him in and sat in the rocking chair so he’d go back to full sleep. I look over, and in the rocking chair across from me, there is my friend rocking her baby also, and it hit me. Here we are finally....rocking our babies together. The Lord is good. The Lord is so good. Taking those pics (even though we aren’t sharing them right now) has been the highlight of my new career. I will be forever thankful that my very special friend, with so much love to give, has finally become a mother.

I really wrote a book today. I will close with a short Noah story to lighten the mood!

We paid our boat off last month. That’s exciting to say the least. In honor of that, I will tell you one of our classic boat stories...the maiden voyage.

We were young and stupid. There I said it. We neither had ever really had money of our own to do as we wanted (not really). So, what do we do? We buy a boat of course! I grew up on a boat, so of course I’m all for it. Carlea was a year old, and I wanted her to experience that side of my childhood. Noah, though...oh Noah....he’d only ever been on a boat twice. So we had to buy a boat.

We found the cutest red/white boat. Noah LOVES the color red. It matched his truck perfectly. We took it home and it sat for a good week. Then, with no license on the side, no idea how to operate it, we load Carlea up and take her out on the Kanawha River.

Lesson #1: If you aren’t an avid boater, it’s a good idea to ride up stream in case something happens so that you can float down stream to your starting point....lesson learned...

We launched at Daniel Boone Park and managed to start her up and ride down to the mouth of the Elk River. We decided to picnic there. When we went to restart the boat to head back up river, it wouldn’t start. IT WOULD NOT START!!

Lesson #2: Know your boat....lesson learned.

After an hour of trying and failing to start the boat, I say, “Can I call Dad?”

That was met with a solid and definitive, “NO!”

At at one point Noah (aka Giligan) was trying to fight the current with our trolling motor...until the battery went dead. He flooded the big motor, and eventually drained the main battery.

Hour three: “can I call Dad?”

I was given a nod. I called my dad, and of course my daddy comes to save the day, arriving swiftly in hero style, flipping his boat around like a pro to hook our new boat to his and tow us back up the river. I swear he looked like super man at four hours in. Noah is embarrased. Mom was trying to drive Dad’s boat while dad fixed the ropes...she almost drove us into a barge. Noah keeps waving at people and saying, “First time on the water!” By this time, it’s dark. We finally get back to the boat launch, and figure out how to get it back to the trailer without a motor. We pull it out of the water, and hear a scraping noise that was LOUD. Sooooo, turns out we didn’t know how to raise the motor all the way, and we dragged it all the way up the parking lot. Good times.

Dad says, “Just park it at my house and we will figure it out tomorrow.” So that’s what we did.

Early the next morning Dad calls and says, “Did y’all push the choke any?”

..............

”ummm...huh?”

I don’t know how we got it started the first time. That’s a mystery; however, apparently there is a button that you push on the throttle that is the choke and makes starting the boat easier.....good to know.

That is segment one of “The Boat Chronicles.” Stay tuned for more sprinkled throughout my blogs.

I told you that story for two reasons. The first reason already being stated: WE PAID HER OFF!! The second reason is more subtle. Noah has said so many times that he wished we had thought buying the boat through more. There are tons of reasons why, but that boat has given us so much. A lot of laughs are due to that boat. I love storytelling, and I have oh so many stories to tell. That boat is family time. That boat is memories. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Yes getting it taken care of and ready for winter or summer is a hassle, but it’s provided us with so many good times that I can’t regret buying it...even if we were young and stupid!

This was the Maiden Voyage I do believe! At least Carlea was cute lol

The moral of my two stories today is: Struggles are hard, but the rewards are grand.

Matthew 6:31-34

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.