Family Pictures + Learning Lessons the Hard Way

Last weekend I begged Trevor to be a good sport and help take some family pictures of us.  It's not the taking of the pictures that is the problem...it is all the work leading up to the pictures: getting our outfits around, getting us all ready, packing Jasper's snacks, toys, and necessities, packing all the camera gear along with a tripod, and then being the photographer and the mom at the same time.We definitely need to get our pictures taken by someone else soon, but I said if we just got one of all three of us that was good I would be happy.  It was a lot of work, but we got a good one.  And I am so glad that we went to all the trouble because now we have these pictures to treasure for a lifetime.  Time goes by so quickly, and I want to remember it all.Life is crazy in the way that you can be on a high one minute, and the next feel like the world is caving in.  On Sunday, I was on a high, and it was a high for me because we spent the day just the three of us.  And also, on Saturday we had cleaned the house, mowed the lawn, done all the laundry, and the fridge was filled with groceries.  These tasks being done make me happy, and when they are all done at the same time, which is rare, I am ecstatic.So when I woke up Monday morning and the sun was shining, I smiled knowing that it was going to be a good day.  I felt I was starting the week off right, and I even dared to say it was going to be a great week.But for no reason at all, by Monday afternoon I was down.  Already down on myself about the workload that lay ahead of me, I felt tired, and when I'm tired I become emotionally unstable.  Any evening that I start to think my world is ending and everything is a mess, I look at Trevor and say, "I think it is time for me to go to bed because I'm about to lose it."  Whenever I was upset in the evenings, I always remember this being my mom's advice.  Go to bed, get some sleep, everything will look better in the morning. And it is so true.Tuesday felt better, and I was trying to give myself a kick in the pants to restart my week the way I had wanted it to go.  And then, in a instant, everything changed again.  My Dad fell off a ladder trimming trees, my brother called me and told me to come quick, and within the four minutes it took me and Jasper to get to their house the EMS was already there.I am usually pretty good during these types of emergency situations, quick, organized, delegating to each family member what they are in charge of.  But I don't want to be good at it any more, I don't want to be tested at it even one more time.  I do not want to see someone I love hurt or sick.But I was reminded again that this is not our choice.  We cannot prevent these things from happening.  And even if I can give you a laundry list of bad things that have already happened to my family and feel that we have already paid our dues, it still doesn't mean that we will not have anything bad happen to us in the future, even the near future.Luckily, my Dad is ok, meaning it wasn't terribly serious.  He has a fractured rib, fractured vertebrae, and two fractured transverse processes.  It is painful, but no surgery and nothing can be done for it other than to rest and let it heal.  The doctors and nurses kept saying he did a number on himself, but that he was lucky.  We are thankful for that.And once again, God has shown me and my family that health is not something to be taken lightly or for granted.  Here I was having a bad day on Monday for no good reason, and yet all my family was healthy.  I read once that God continues to put people and events in our path to teach us the lessons we need to learn; we can either learn it the first time or He can keep putting us in the same situation.  I don't think or believe that this all happened just to teach me a life lesson, but each time something like this occurs I am reminded of a few of my weaknesses that I need to work on: being thankful everyday, being able to accept help and know how to ask for help, not allow daily tasks to make me anxiety ridden, and living one day at a time.I am always working on being better in these areas, and I feel that I have been given the perfect storm of life circumstances to help me grow and learn to be better at these.  I am still working on it, but you better believe that I am taking even better notes this time trying to let it sink in a little deeper.  And maybe, just maybe, I won't have to be taught these lessons the hard way again for awhile.Enjoy your weekend and be thankful and present!He is really into laying on the kisses lately.  We won't complain one bit.He is getting so big, and soon I will not be able to hold him like this.  I am aware of it every time I pick him up lately, and I cherish being able to hold him still for a little while longer.He had a Timeout during our pictures.His smile melts my heart.