Finishing a project and looking ahead...

November 2012 I started a photo project.  My plan was to take one picture a day of Lucy.  I wrote about my motives, here.

And you know what?  It worked.  

When there were days I felt overwhelmed, moments when this two year old was making this baby thing hard, I could scroll back through these pictures and with a smile on my face whisper, 

‘Man I wouldn’t have this any other way.’

They would bring me out of my pity party and remind me of my reality.  My truth.  And that is that I have this amazing, hilarious, beautiful little girl who keeps my days colorful and interesting and full of joy.  And that my baby gets to have this strong, creative, and caring little girl as her big sister.  And that they will have each other for the rest of their lives.  And the stress and the pull and the demands of mothering…well they seem more like a privilege.

And I certainly do not mean to imply that all of this is a one time realization and then that’s it, and I live in that happy place.  I wish that were the case.  There are many different ways to help us remember the gift that is motherhood.  But for me, it is my photographs that bring me back so quickly and easily.  I have quite often heard and read thoughts on putting down the camera to be fully in the moment and I have thought about how that applies to my life.  

But this little project made me realize that for me, the camera has the opposite effect.  It has trained me to see details I think I might have otherwise missed.  It’s become a way for me to ‘list’ my joys.  To capture a small slice of what makes up this season of life.  And the ‘A Lucy Life’ project has been such a sweet and simple way to not only keep me in the moment but to slow this time down so it doesn’t fly past me in a haze.

By the way, if you are wondering the significance of starting the year on November 21, there is none.  One thing I’ve learned about myself is that if I come up with some grand idea and plan on doing it at some future date, it’s more likely to never happen.  So when an idea strikes, I have to go for it.  Hence, a start date of November 21.

So closing out 2013, what does my 2014 look like? 

 

There’s the specifics like, build a new raised bed for a flower garden and plan our out West trip this spring.  There’s also some general stuff like, dating my husband, and more family outings and adventures with our girls.  And there’s the me stuff, more photos, more writing and reading, more creating, more time with my Savior.

But for the most part, my yearly goals look pretty different then they did 10 or even 5 years ago.  It used to be about planing backpacking adventures or cross country road trips.  Grand plans with high expectations.  My new definition of adventure is quite hilarious to me now, but surprisingly as fulfilling.  Now it's less about the grand, and more about being adaptable.  Living a little less spontaneous, but living more intentional.  To sum up, I've seen this floating around the web and thought it was perfectly stated:

   

So there you go.  I'm excited for another year.  Another year of growth in my girls.  Another year of loving my husband.  Another year to grow older and hopefully wiser.

Looking back full of thankfulness, and looking forward with hope and excitement.

(To see the photos and captions in full, you can go here.  Don't be confused by the tumblr dates, taking a picture a day was no problem, posting them each day was another thing!)