Never Too Late

With the arrival of Spring and remembering new life through Jesus as we celebrated Easter, I have been thinking a lot about the fact that for many situations, behaviors, hurts, etc... it really is never too late.

It is never too late to get dressed when you feel down and like you never want to leave the house. It is never too late to pick up that goal of running again. There's still time to say sorry to your kids for being too hard on them and even more time to laugh and love them well. There will always be time to turn around when you have headed down the wrong road in life, even if it means facing people you have let down or hurt (see the story of the Prodigal son in Matthew's 15:11).

And, it's definitely not too late for me to pick up my blog again. Sometime I start things, get sidetracked and then give up because I tend to be a perfectionist feeling defeated but that is starting to change in me.

It's never too late to make changes in your life. (see new book I added on my book list!)

Control

I have some control issues. I recently was feeling a bit out of sorts because I was not feeling like we were following enough of a routine around here. I was honestly just one laminating trip to Kinkos away from making a huge clip art chart for Finley (really for me) that showed everything we were doing each day. I was spending a lot of time thinking about where to put this chart, what to include, etc. I think I didn't get dressed one day while thinking about it... that was when I stopped and threw what I had started away.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am a big supporter of routines but I am learning that sometimes my happiness is a little too dependent on my own agenda and expectations of how a day, event, activity will go. I'm backing up a bit these days to more of a rough outline and thinking a bit more about not trying to be so in control of so many details...

Tula's out of control hair is my reminder to let go a little, no, a lot.

Creative Solutions

Now, this picture could be interpreted in a few different ways:

1. Erin is using alcohol to soothe her children.

2. Erin is using alcohol to soothe herself because of her children.

3. Erin's house was full of fruit flies, the cork wouldn't go back in and Erin needed to improvise before any fruit flies found their fate in our cheap cabernet sauvignon.

Motherhood may be messy but it is teaching me to get creative in all areas of my life and that is beautiful.

Simple Joy

As, I have said before, Motherhood can be messy but it is a beautiful mess if you ask me. Along with the beautiful messes of motherhood also come some simple, yet joy filling pleasures. Fresh flowers like the ones Nathan brought home for his girls (me included) were simple and brought me great joy.

On a different scale of simple pleasures, I finally discovered what was making the bedroom wing of the house smell like poop. You would think I should have been annoyed at discovering my husband's smelly basketball clothing still soaking in the tub of our guest bathroom, but I truly found great joy in solving that smelly mystery (the joy probably came from how humourous I thought it was that I had mistaken his sweathy clothes with a poop smell).

What simple things fill you with joy? Take pictures of them, write about them, share it with someone... it just makes the joy last a little longer.

Confession: I Used To Organize My Socks!

It's true, while some people partied away their college years, I was rolling socks up into neat little balls and organizing them. I might still be doing such strange things if I hadn't had children.

Now, I often consider how and why we all do certain things around the house. For example, please, please stop folding your underwear! Stuff them in a drawer or a basket and use that time to do something much more important.

As you do things around the house or in your work day, consider how necessary certain routines and tasks are and consider changing them up to be more helpful and less work.


Finley's "art drawer" in the kitchen is a space I created for her. I don't spend much time cleaning it unless it won't close or when she starts having meltdowns about not being able to find things.

This is my dirty kitchen that I wanted to clean so badly but naptime was over and the sun was shining so I reminded myself that messes are beautiful but time in the autumn sun with my girls is even more beautiful.


Leaving that messy kitchen meant laying on a blanket outside and getting to welcome Daddy home from his trip with a snuggle on the blanket.

That's Not How You Use It!

I love finding new ways to use old things! Our bottle rack is a great way to dry plastic bags we reuse!





For Christmas I asked for used frames I could put to work in new ways. My brother Glen found some great ones at thrift stores. I filled this one with a white piece of paper and added a border with some leftover scraps of decorative paper. Now it's a cute little whiteboard on the kitchen counter. I plan to write all sorts of interesting things on it!

Look Mom!

Finley and I sculpted a lot of playdough figures last winter and she always had requests for certain animals, but snowmen were the most popular. While I was getting dressed the other day, she called for me to come look at what she had made all by herself. As you can see, it is definitely a snowman! Playing and creating together is so positive for many reasons. One of the reasons I was reminded of this time is that by creating together grows confidence; the pride sparkling in her eyes was priceless.