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In the Space of Tousled Curls and Tested Boundaries

We are remarkably planted in the space of testing and reestablishing. Over and over again. I suppose some of that is brought upon ourselves. We haven't left ourselves planted for any duration. Still, part of it comes with the chapter of growing a marriage relationship and growing as parents and children. While I'm sometimes a bit of Mary Poppins, I'm equally as loud and frazzled as the Christmas Story Mom. Most often, I find that I'm tired and not doing anything as well as I'd like. In this phase of tousled curls, nursing babies, testing boundaries, and navigating through marriage, I have to trust that the Lord will keep us. There is no way that I can "fill all the spaces".

As a part time homeschool mom, the season of summer isn't really all that different from our other seasons. We still soak up the world around us, seek culture and knowledge, we still study and snuggle, we still make music and art as often as possible. Our explorations require less layers and our days are more inclined to run long than short, but the heart of our family is the same. We learn and grow. We stumble and we wound, we recover and renew.

In this chapter, of tousled curls and tested boundaries, things look a great deal different than I imagined they would when I "grew up and grew a family", it's a little funny. I once imagined that I would know more, in this stage. I once inagined that I'd be more collected and certainly more calm. Here I am, though, in a paradox of wonder and capacity, at the intersection of a full plate and and exploding heart.  I see that I have a choice to make. I can allow the expectations and the challenges to swallow me whole, or I can redef

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