Letters to our Children | May, 2014

Each month I am participating in a blog circle with a group of extremely talented photographers and we are sharing our letters to our children. See the bottom of this entry for a link to the next photographer in this circle.

Noah & Silas,

I’m writing to both of you this month.  This month you blessed me with another Mother’s Day.  Every year I’m overwhelmed and bursting with thankfulness that I get to be called your Mommy.  Seriously, the joy in that is something I will cherish to my dying day.  

Noah, you first made me a Mommy eight years ago, as I was still carrying you in my womb and cherishing the hopes and the dreams to come.  That first Mother’s Day I hadn’t yet met you face-to-face, and yet I cradled you under my heart and loved you more with every heartbeat, with every breath I took, with every moment I felt you kick and every hiccup that made me laugh.  You were the first person, EVER, in the whole world to call me ‘Mommy.’  I will never forget that.  I was watching your sweet face the other night as you were talking with me and a verse came to my heart.  I think it is your verse.  Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).  I’ve never met anyone with an innocence and purity quite like yours.  In your little black and white world you’ve taken everything I’ve ever told you about the Lord to heart, buried that treasure deep down inside, and now you see the world through the lens of His goodness and wisdom.  You teach me so many beautiful things every day.

Silas, you just turned six.  How is that possible?  You turned six and you lost your first tooth.  And with these little milestones, you broke my heart.  It’s just too much!  I joke that you have to stop this growing up nonsense.  Right now, you don’t just call me ‘Mommy.’  You call me, ‘Beautiful Queen Fairy Mommy.’  And you say that you’re my King.  And then we both laugh because it’s just our joke and no one else cares.  You are so much like me, and yet all your own.  You are like I wish I felt the freedom to be as a child.  I wish I had been as brave and fearless as you are.  I wish that I had been as comfortable in my own skin – able to admit mistakes because I knew I would find love; willing to try new things because those around me would laugh with me in success or miserable failure and I would realize that it’s not the end of the world; able to laugh at myself.  Funny thing about you being like me…  I see in you my own heartaches and struggles.  I hope and pray that the roots I’ve worked so hard to give you is partly responsible for the beautiful freedom and joy I see in your eyes.  Yet please, please always remember this:  Jesus made you and loves you, and the rest of the world is just noise.  

I’m so thankful for you two letting me take these photos.  These were for me.  They remind me of you and what makes you, YOU.  Noah, you love reading more than anything in the world.  And you love animals.  I find it fitting that Dixie just had to join us – of course, she did!  Silas, you love adventure.  And you can’t do things the “normal” way – you have to take off your shirt and play in the dirt.  I love that you color outside the lines.  You two are so beautiful to me.  I love you.

Love and kisses like crazy,

Mommy

“Some people care to much.  I think it’s called love” | Winnie the Pooh

“The things the make me different are the things that make me.”  | Winnie the Pooh

“When late morning rolls around and you’re feeling a bit out of sorts, don’t worry; 

you’re probably just a little eleven o’clockish.” | Winnie the Pooh

“Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.” | Winnie the Pooh

“What day is it?” asked Pooh.

“It’s today,” squeaked Piglet.

“My favorite day,” said Pooh. | Winnie the Pooh

“Promise me you’ll always remember:

You’re BRAVER than you believe, and STRONGER than you seem, and SMARTER than you think.”  | Christopher Robin

“Rivers know this:  There is no hurry.  We will get there someday.”  | Winnie the Pooh

“We’ll be Friends Forever, won’t we, Pooh?”  asked Piglet.

“Even Longer,” Pooh answered.  | Winnie the Pooh

Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind.  “Pooh?” he whispered.

“Yes, Piglet?”

“Nothing,” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s hand.  “I just wanted to be sure of you.”  | Winnie the Pooh

“As soon as I saw you I knew an adventure was going to happen.”  | Winnie the Pooh

“Any day spent with you is my favorite day.  So, today is my new favorite day.”  | Winnie the Pooh

To see the next entry in this circle, click here to see Bobbi-Jo’s letter to to her children and the beautiful photos she’s captured this month.