Whew… we are all so very sad and so very sorry for the people who lost everything this week; family, friends, pets, possessions, comfort… what do you even say?  How are these people going to rebuild absolutely everything… how do they even make sense of anything right now!?!  I saw a picture of a little girl riding her bike through the rubble, and it just tore me up!  Our lives on earth are so fragile and short.  Even a long full life, is but one little blink of the earth’s eye (if the earth was a human, and it had eyes, the time we’re here is just one blink of that human’s eye in its life story).  I’m fascinated with our purpose, our evolution… how in the last 100 years what progress we have made as humans, in comparison to our 200,000 years of existence here on earth.  Every generation builds on the next to try to figure things out, to be the best we can be… and during these times of devastation, it feels like the earth is just throwing us around, making us feel like tiny match sticks.  It’s too much when you really sit down and think about it…

Another Mommy blogger wrote exactly what I was thinking in a way I couldn’t articulate until I read her words, so I’ll copy the relevant part of what she wrote for you to read: “My home has never faced major destruction. I can’t imagine the grief that would be associated with losing all you own.  Before I knew the devastation these recent tornadoes would cause, I was sitting on the roof thinking a lot about the storms of life. I share happy pictures on my blog because photography is a gift in my life. When personal storms rage around me, there is something about photography that helps me find beauty. Helps me gain a healthy perspective. Right now you will see happy pictures of my kids playing on my blog because photography is healing to me, but my family is facing some personal storms.”

This is true for me/us as well… it always has been… our happy times make my heart so full, but we are far from perfect, and at times, our lives are extremely difficult; you can’t even imagine.  I have described our blog to friends in the past as “my happy place,” and the pictures of my little ones truly put the storms into perspective and bring me so much peace!!!  People blog for different reasons.  Our blog (during this season of life) is simply a public online scrapbook.  From day to day, it looks much like what you would find in a traditional paper bound scrapbook… with just lots more pictures because it is online.  It’s not a tell-all, but it’s not meant to make you think our lives are perfect either.  It’s simply the happy pictures of my kids playing because that is healing to me… and the only reason my blog is not private, is because I pray it gives you reprieve too, and makes you laugh and smile!  And then the heavier things in life are more bearable, do-able.  Because I believe little things add up to make a big difference.  Just like all of the volunteers in Oklahoma, picking up one piece of rubble at a time right now.  They will rebuild… we are resilient; humans are amazing.  The little building blocks of the past have all made a difference in the strides we have made to this day.  But we need each other to keep the pieces together.  I hope the pieces of our story that we share publicly with you on our online scrapbook add up in your life.  So, for now, I’ll just keep on doing what helps me get through my storms… sharing pictures of our beautiful loves!

The Pond Girls, May 14, 2013, Rose (2), Anna Kate (4) and Noelle (7)