birthmarks {playing bride}

birthmarks {rock soup on a sunny day}

birthmarks {learning to do "man-work"}

and now for the girly-girl version of yardwork...

birthmarks {the way they sleep}

sometimes it's sweet...



sometimes it's messy...



a lot of times it's upside down...



but it's never boring.



that's ok...it gives daddy one last cuddle with them each night before we head to bed ourselves.

birthmarks {big shoes, little feet}

birthmarks {the beginning}

i can remember vividly one of the moments that brought me to the point of confession.  i was changing micah's clothes a few weeks back, and as i pulled his shirt up over his chunky tummy, i noticed something i hadn't before.

a birthmark.  something given to him by the lord that makes him unique, something that makes him who he is.

my first thought was, how in this world has he been home with us for a month now and i'm just now noticing his birthmark?  yes, bringing baby #4 home has certainly been unique from our first three experiences.  we weren't able to spend those early weeks with micah doing nothing more than rocking, cuddling, and studying his features, which was even more reason to slow down now that he's home.  i want to be a mom who notices the freckle on her six-year-old's right pointer finger and the birthmark behind her four-year-old's right ear.

or the tiny mark on her new baby's belly.

so here's what's on my heart:  the lord has given me this precious family, and everyday for us holds something unique, something that makes us who we are. 

kind of like birthmarks.  they're the things i want to notice and the things i want to remember.