This Extra Ordinary Life

Every day life can be so hectic and overwhelming at times. I am reading a book right now that has blown me away, offered profound perspective, and has prompted me to give thanks throughout the day for even the most mundane of things....because they are not mundane to some. They are not even so mundane to me, when I actually take the time to stop and relish in them. So even though I often feel exhausted and overwhelmed, I have much to be thankful for. Today was a busy day, an ordinary day. Here are a few things I enjoyed about it.

Highlights From My Ordinary Day

• No headaches (the absence of pain is quite lovely as of lately)
• Big brown eyes and a bright smile to rouse me awake
  
• Ham and eggs
  
• Singing praise songs and dancing around the living room
• A high-five for producing one amazing number "8"
  
• Little hands slather sunscreen where I cannot reach
  
• A cool dip in the pool
  
• Watching my little fish tirelessly swim, and swim, and swim some more
  
• The warmth of the sun on my back, a breeze softly brushes my face
  
• Tutus, wands, and feathers swishing about the ballet studio with giggles galore
• Sharing a smoothie with my favorite girl
• Shopping for new underwear!
• A glorious sunset on the drive home
• Sweeping clouds resemble giant birds, gliding side by side in the evening sky
  
• Making a necklace out of plastic beads
• A four-year-old offers to massage my feet
  
• New life fluttering inside me
• Alphabet soup
• Chocolate dessert
• The click of the front door- my husband returns home from work
• His hand rubbing my swollen belly
  
• Bedtime chatter
• Silence
• Her breath on my skin as she surrenders to childhood dreams
  
• Nice hot shower
• Snoring man
  
• Midnight snack
• Soft, cozy pillow
• 3 pages in my book
• Heavy eyelids
• Big exhale
• Peace
  

The Dad Life

Okay, so if you have not seen this video, it is hysterical. To all my dad friends, and to my own babies' Daddy, here's to embracing the Dad Life!

The Card

Does anyone remember the post about our stuffed turtle, Honu? Well, I mentioned something in that post that was very special to me...something I had lost a long time ago and hoped to one day find. So, first, let me tell you all that Xee and I were looking for our wedding video a few weeks back, hoping to watch it with Phoebe on our anniversary. We both thought we knew just where it was....

Wrong. We couldn't find it. We looked through so many boxes, and made a mess of the garage trying to find it.

No luck.

I began to worry that it wouldn't turn up. I prayed, knowing it may seem like a trivial matter, yet knowing God cares about these things too.

Phoebe and I came home from running errands a few days ago, to find a video tape sitting on the kitchen counter with a note attached. It was simply a smiley face and Xee's signature. He had spent much of the morning on his day off combing through the garage one more time....lo' and behold! The tape!

Phew! Thank you Lord!

Then....

Last night I was laying down with Phoebe for her bedtime. I glanced over at the bookshelf in her room, and noticed a few books I had just brought in from one of the many boxes we shuffled through while looking for that wedding video. "Hmm...I think I might read her this Winnie the Pooh book", I thought.

Back up a month or so. During one of my migraine episodes, I woke up in the middle of the night and had a random thought. Out of nowhere I thought about a card. The one I misplaced so long ago. I thought it was kind of strange that I was thinking of it, but I was suddenly compelled by the thought that maybe I had put it somewhere "safe" the day I moved out of my college apartment. "Where would I have put it", I wondered to myself.

Instantly I just knew: "A book. I bet you put it in a book". And for the first time in ten years, I suddenly felt so certain that this little treasure of mine would one day be found.

A couple weeks passed and I forgot all about the idea.

Until last night...when I grabbed that Pooh book. You see, in college I collected classic children's books, hoping to one day read them to my kids. So I grabbed the book and when I opened it up, a wonderful surprise was there waiting for me. I slammed the book shut and ran downstairs to show Xee.

"Ten years!", I shouted to him. TEN YEARS I have been praying to find that card. Not just any card. THE card! The card that started it all. The card that swept me completely off my feet and suddenly changed everything for me. The card that melted me, and revealed to me that this guy was different. Maybe even the one. Most definitely the one!

I read that card and held it closely to my heart. Such familiar handwriting, such familiar words. Ten years I have wondered about that card. Ten years I have believed it to be lost, hoping that maybe I was somehow wrong, but truly believing that I wasn't. It was lost.

A card. Something so simple, but still so important to me. A treasure from the past.

This has been a week of lost and founds, a bit of reassurance. A reminder for me to keep believing....

Never stop praying for even the slightest thing. Never stop believing that God cares about the most insignificant detail of your life. You never know just how or when a little hope or reassurance might come your way.