This one’s for all my blog friends

My two-year blog anniversary slipped quietly by last month.

Last year I was much more intentional about celebrating it. I reflected, I wrote down what I had learned, I had several giveaways to celebrate.

It was fun. Fitting for a first birthday.

This year I have been busy with birth kits (yes, they’re still coming in!) and babies. Oh, mah babies.

Judah, my miracle boy, has been keeping me up all night, every night and my energy reserves are running dangerously low. I’ve cut out many non-essentials in the name of desperately trying to find margin for this sleepless season of my life. (And then there’s the little fact that I keep falling asleep fully clothed at 7:30pm.)

So the occasion came and went – one of many things that slipped through the cracks lately. And that’s okay.

There’s grace.

As difficult as this season has been for me, my heart is full.

Together we have rallied over 5000 birth kits from all over the globe. (I’m not sure if you realize how amazing this actually is.)

I have many stories to share about that. And I will. Soon.

My boy Levi is delighting me to no end with his conversation and storytelling and dramatics. He just keeps getting funnier and smarter and more adorable and sometimes I want to burst just thinking about him. I can’t believe he’s ours. We’re just so, so lucky.

He’s now potty trained and even though we decided to keep him in diapers at night (as grace to us since Judah’s up several times a night) he’s gone and night trained himself. Literally. Such a clever young lad. I couldn’t be more proud of the way he is growing up – not just the potty training, but the developing into a sweet and interesting young person who is just so incredibly fun to be around.

And my darling Judah has captured my heart in a way I don’t even know how to describe. He literally has me wrapped around his finger. (Perhaps not always a good thing.) He’s a mama’s boy through and through and I am drinking in his fleeting babyhood. (Except for the lack of sleep part.)

At eight months he’s incredibly determined – crawling, pulling up, and starting to cruise, climbing stairs, standing on his own for a few seconds at a time, busting at the seems to be able to keep up with his big brother. He’s so incredibly quick to smile and flash his six—yes, six—teeth. I’m so proud of him too – the amazing little boy that’s starting to emerge from behind his babyness. He is my heart on the outside all over again.

I write this from an island off the shore of our city where we are staying for a couple of days of meetings. Though busy, our work is meaningful and we serve alongside people who love us and love their neighbors and it really is a privilege to spend our days together helping others in need.

In a few days time Ryan and I bundle our babies onto a plane and take them to my homeland. I can’t wait to introduce Judah to the Land of the Free, and Ryan and Levi to the summer of my youth.

The air will be crisp and clean and scented of pine in Oregon. My Oregon.

Together we will stay up late and walk by the river and watch fireworks off the butte and have picnics with people that we love beyond much.

Life has been kinda hard the last several weeks, I have to be honest, but it is also sweet.

The days are long but the years are short so I’m doing my best to breathe deeply and take it all in.

There’s so much to give thanks for in the midst of the pacing and laundry and meetings and matchbox cars and meltdowns and milestones.

And this blog – the one that I love with the name that I loathe – this blog has been so good to me over the last two years. I’ve learned so much through writing, through listening, through connecting, through reading, through imagining.

I will forever be glad for that whim I listened to when I first began to hit ‘publish’.

Through the Memos I’ve made friends in unexpected places. I’ve found community and camaraderie, inspiration, and validation. I’ve been challenged and stretched, entertained and amused. I’ve been shaped and I’ve been strengthened.

Thank you for coming with me – for reading, for befriending, for contributing, for showing support when I needed it most. Thank you for giggling with me and gushing with me.

Motherhood is so much sweeter when we journey together. Isn’t it?

I’m so grateful to have you connected to my creating here.

Dear friends, I’m not going anywhere. I have plenty more to write here. (And here and here and here.) I just wanted to say thank you.