A Picture Worth A Thousand Words Explained

Every day, there are magical moments amidst the seemingly dull-dailiness of it all. Some days, we have to look harder for those moments than others. Today, the special moments I want to remember when my kids are grown and out of the house were much more glaringly obvious. I thank God for the laughter and the joy (last week was a bit rough).
Taking pictures of these hysterical moments preserves the mental picture for all time. (Plus, the images will make for some great slide-shows at their weddings. I’m a good mom like that). :)

So now for the story behind the photo—

My little guy (this is my middle son) was so excited to find his swim goggles buried in the sandbox. It was nearly 50-degrees out today (that’s balmy for us right now), and the boys were digging being outside (literally). That explains the wet sand all over his hand-me-down sweats that he picked out to wear today. From that point of discovery on, those goggles were plastered to his face. (He even ate dinner with them on. He is now sleeping with them off).

To burn off some of the boys’ energy, exercise the dog, and enjoy the nice spring-like day, we were heading out for a walk. My son was planning to go with his goggles on. We were heading to the small corner store, and I was really tempted to force him to take them off since he looked so silly. But then I realized that these goofy goggles were really special to him, and wearing them made him feel like a super-hero (or something like that?). Who was I to get in the way of a boy and his dreams? :)

When we allow our children a little creative expression, we are usually amazed, or at the very least humored, with the results. We make our children feel special when we give them some creative license (within reason). I could have told my son he looked extremely strange, and he was not allowed to go anywhere with the goggles on (except to a pool, which is obviously out of the question right now). But instead, I thought “What’s the big deal? Let’s go with it,” and I am so glad I did. If nothing else, I have a super funny picture he will beg me to destroy someday. But I won’t, because I cherish the magical memory it represents, and so will he.

These are the things we will look back on, yearningly, when it’s all said and done. Cherish them.

On a side note, I have been working on a post about how the super lies in the ordinary. It will be coming in the next few weeks. A friend and I were talking about it, and she told me about one blog's celebration of the ordinary moments in all of our lives. I was blessed by what they shared, and hope you will be too:

"Ordinary is where we all live most of the time. And yet our mundane, repetitive days are full of enduring work. Homes are being built. Families are being knit together. Little souls are being shaped for eternity.
The tedious is, in fact, momentous—when done for the sake of Christ: “…so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior” (Titus 2:10).
This truth can be lost in piles of laundry and dirty dishes. We need help to see the glory peaking out from behind the ordinary.
Our hope is that you’ll see your own ordinary, yet glorious life in these pictures. That you’ll glimpse the faithfulness of God that undergirds his faithful ones. That you’ll see reflections of the eternal in the everyday."
--girltalkhome.com

What silly, special moments are you celebrating today?

(linked to Works for Me Wednesday)