Perspective: From the eyes of a 9 year old

MOTHER’S DAY WEEKEND:
I had the best, easiest, relaxing weekend in as long as I can remember.  My husband drove us 2 hours away to satisfy a pregnancy craving for Fazzoli’s, bless his heart.

The day before that I had brought home a broken, old wooden rocker that I picked up off of city wide garbage pickup.  My husband just smiled, knowing it was another one of my “projects”.  With the help of the nice neighbor man, it was fixed & rocking again!  Woo hoo!Just before we went out to eat we made a stop at the Spam museum in Austin, MN for a little family field trip.  The kids had a fun time exploring & playing there.

After we had eaten we drove around for about a half hour looking for a Goodwill that I had visited once before and so loved.  GPS led us all over town & had us both frustrated, but my guy did not give up.  Once we found it, the greatest thing happened, he spent an hour and a half in there with the kids & I.  We ended the evening with pizza and visiting with my father in law.

Sunday was filled with flowers being planted, spending time as a family & ending the evening with putting together our new firepit and enjoying hamburgers and smores.  Delightful.

Even with all the goodness, later that night I felt bad.

I was just getting ready to wash the smell of the smoke from the fire off in the shower when I caught a glimpse of my growing belly in the mirror.
My first pregnancy I was thrilled with my expanding midsection.  This time around it’s tougher to be excited about stretching out, because I know it’s never the same afterwards.

My 9 year old princess comes in the bathroom to say goodnight & smiled “aww you’re getting stretch marks!  That’s exciting, it means the baby is healthy and growing”.

Exciting?!?! I took a deep breath, looked at the joy in her eyes, I smiled and said, “yes it is”.
I chose not to be a joy sucker.  I chose not to whine about how those were left over from nearly 5 years ago when her brother was growing in my womb.  I didn’t tell her that those would always be there & that I’d probably even get more in the coming months.  She said good night & went on her way.

After she left the room, I got in the shower & decided to take on her perspective & leave mine behind (because mine stunk & hers was beautiful).  Thank you little girl, for reminding me I’m who God made me to be, & he made me perfectly.

I’m stretched out from carrying my babies & that’s okay.  I love my babies, no matter how old they get, they will always be my babies.  These marks really don’t cause me any harm & I’m thankful to be alive and well enough to enjoy my family each day.  That is what I will focus on, the good, because there is just so much of it!