Magic and Mayhem

I’m feeling a bit sentimental tonight.  Prepare for a bit of sap! 

There is a saying that has always gone through my mind when I look at my babies.  It often comes to mind especially at the end of the day when I’m falling asleep with a little one snuggled up next to me.  I always marvel at how beautiful and magical they are and think how amazing it all is.  I kiss their heads and think “look what love made.”

Today we had ferocious storms and the sky turned as dark as midnight.  The wind whipped the trees around and the lightning flashed for a while before it all moved on.  Later, Victoria came to me and said “I think I could handle taking a little boy outside to play if he likes!”.  She knows that Alex dearly loves to explore outside.

I stayed inside and puttered in the kitchen but I couldn’t resist peeking out the window into the back yard.  There, in the wet grass, my oldest and my youngest were happily playing with some buckets, bottle caps and rocks.

Victoria was showing Alex how to drop things into the buckets and see if they floated or sank.  They were framed by a giant tree at the entrance to the back yard.  The tree is so tall that we had to have half of it cut around the power lines, but years ago we planted it as a tiny little free sapling.  We never dreamed it could reach that high.

We never dreamed for so much of this.  I had a dozen miscarriages before being blessed with these children.  Babies seemed forever out of reach, as did a home of our own or a garden or so much of what we have.

When we bought this house, it was about to be seized for back taxes.  We paid $2,000 for a run down old house with peeling paint and nothing but grass in the yards.

Over the years we added siding, windows and a new roof.  We painted walls and bought nicer doors.  We rimmed the yard with tiny lilacs that tower over our heads now.  We planted roses that climb towards the second story windows and that silly half of a tree that my children now climb to do their homeschool in.

Looking out the window today, I was struck by how much love has made in our life.  Love has given us these amazing children and a family that has just grown and bloomed.

I’ve lived through a lot of storms in my life, and I’m sure there will be more.  For right now, this minute, I’m just insanely grateful for this house, these kids, this man, this life and even the shrubbery. 

Look what love made.  Amazing stuff.