Spider Craft

The thing I'm loving about the start of school nursery is our new routine. Little T now has a long morning nap which allows me to have some time with each boy individually.

Big T usually wants to do arts or crafts. I enjoy this time as I get to just be and chat with my eldest boy, and today he decided he wanted to make a spider on a web. I had planned another craft but I quickly came up with this simple idea...

These are the times that make me smile.

And Little T? Well, he's almost walking. So soon they'll be no stopping us.

A time for everything

At our wedding, we had the Ecclesiastes reading of "A Time for everything". At the time we felt that, although not fate, we had been lucky to meet when we did. If we had met in the years before, then we both wouldn't have been in "the right place" and our relationship may have struggled.

Since then, I have found myself repeating this many times. Its becoming a family phrase similar to our "Do it and its done" and "Before the foundations of the earth". It makes me laugh to think that my children may mockingly recite it back to me like me and my sisters do to my mother with "Whatsoever things are pure...". We've made lots of decisions over the years and most of them fit into the "to everything there is a season" category, even though its not always felt like that at the time.

But just recently, I've noticed that this also has a different meaning in our lives. The situations, people and places haven't changed, its actually our perspective that has. A time to every purpose under the sun. As we grow and change as people and a family, so also do our needs, desires and hopes.

Here's a basic example. Some years ago, we visited a family friend for a coastal holiday. We were saving for our wedding so it was an inexpensive way of getting away. Previously, I had been used to hotel holidays in interesting places. I enjoyed it back then but in a "not sure I want to revisit" way. This year found us back there with two children under five years old. I couldn't get over how impressed I was at the getaway. Everything was the same, but my perspective had changed. I loved the fact that our "home" was quiet and out of the way so the boys could settle after busy days. The beach and seafront splash/play area were amazing, and we really did have everything that we needed close by (rockpools, toilets, ice-cream...). Instead of seeing a quiet seaside town, I saw a vibrant community that embraced all ages. We spent just two out of seven days on day trips, whereas before it was the reverse. Nothing had really changed about the place apart from our needs as a family.

Another family mantra that we, especially Big T, spouts is "Everybody's different". The above description of our lovely holiday this year will sound horrific to others but everybody is different. And I know that as the years fly by that our needs, hopes and desires will again be different.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm just surprised to have discovered such a simple reality for me and I am going to try to be more open to change and "being different".