Authentic Motherhood

So it turns out I'm just as bad at blogging as I am about sending out photos...but before we get in to that I want to tell you a story about today.

We were on the way home from church when Grant, looking down at his shirt, says,"6, 8, sixty eight!" I look back at him and realize that he's actually reading the number embroidered on his shirt from Children's Place that says established in 89. After being amazed that my three year old was reading the number 89 upside down I began to reflect on the truth of that moment. Grant was completely accurate in what he was saying, it was just that he was looking at the number upside down. He wasn't wrong, just looking at it the wrong way.

So now back to why I'm such a bad blogger. Truthfully we've had a rough couple of months. We learned in early January that it's very likely that Grant has Celiacs disease. We've spent the last few months investigating what this means, what we need to do to diagnose and what the next steps are for Grant. I was overloaded in February planning a women's retreat for an unknown number of attendees and feeling the stress of being a perfectionist. The week prior to the retreat Brian was out of town and Sydney developed a horrible case of hives as a reaction to strawberries. Brian had been home for one day from his trip when he was in a minor car accident. Finally, in March Sydney went to the dentist with a toothache and in one hour our cavity free five year old went from cavity free to needing caps, a baby root canal and a new dentist visit each week!

To be completely honest I was beginning to feel a bit sorry for myself. I was so tired and really wishing for a normal routine that I lost sight of how abundantly blessed I am. Unbeknownst to me a friend noticed my change in attitude and began to pray. So this week God reminded me over and over just how really blessed I am. I went from reading my life upside down to right side up! My circumstances haven't changed but my perspective has. My normal now includes figuring out how to make gluten-free calzone but I have some really great friends who want to help me figure it out. I am surrounded by people who notice that I'm not as upbeat as normal and begin to pray. I am blessed with three beautiful children who are healthy happy kids, and I have a really terrific husband who is able to make me laugh in the midst of family chaos.

So reflecting on the last three months, in a world that is now right side up, I'll try to catch you up on the positive happenings at the Erie Boonstras. Brian is still busy at his job in Denver and been training for a 10K. I planned and then attended the hugely successful Divine Sisterhood retreat and have been doing some training myself. Sydney has reached the verge of reading and become a major little soccer player. Grant is close behind Sydney on the reading front and has learned to pee standing up. Cole is learning a new word every day and still thinks he's five years old which brings constant laughter to our home. Oh and did I mention that Brian and I spent 9 days in Hawaii?