Mother's Day

This year for Mother's Day Sarah drove to Charlotte for the weekend. It was such a nice weekend- low key, full of love and lots of laughs.

On Friday Sarah arrived around lunch time (which means she woke up super early in the morning in order to get here that early in the day- props to her, especially since since she is by far the worst morning person I've ever known. I say that with all the love in my heart Sarah.) After she arrived and we hugged with our eyes closed for an awkwardly long (for those around us) period of time we went out to lunch. Lee and Luca met us at the office (where my mom, dad, and I work).

After lunch Sarah and I drove to Starbucks to grab double chocolatey chip frappuccinos before we headed to get pedicures. Sarah is the sweetest and treated me to such a nice afternoon in honor of Mother's Day. It was really nice to have my toe nails painted (they were not looking so hot) but it was also so nice to be able to have one on one time with Sarah. We don't get to do that as often as we would like since we live in two different cities now, so I savored each moment with her.

After we got our pedicures Sarah and I headed back to my house so we could play with Luca. After some serious play time, I put Luca to bed and headed over to my parents house to watch a movie with my mom and Sarah (my dad and Josh opted out for some reason). It was so much fun to laugh, to cry,  and to pause the movie way too many times for snack and bathroom breaks. It was the kind of night that used to be the norm for us. But since it is now the kind of night that is very rare, I have learned to cherish it even more.

My parents had blue painter's tape on their floors to show their builder areas that needed to get fixed. This area of tape just happened to be in the shape of a tic-tac-toe board so how could we not play a few games?

On Saturday Lee, Luca and I went out to lunch and then headed over to my parents to hang out and let Luca play in their yard. To be completely honest, I had this idea in my head of how I wanted the weekend to go/things I wanted to do with Luca. I knew Sunday would be a short day so I wanted to do something we wouldn't normally do on Saturday.  Sometimes I think I get caught up in creating special moments by doing fun, one of a kind things when in reality the special moments are those we live every day. Watching Luca get excited by the water fountains or stop to sniff every flower lining the walkway or the smile he gets when he sees a milkshake treat and he knows he is going to get a bite- those are the moments that matter. Those are the moments that make life full, moments that I will cherish and hold close to my heart forever. Moments that make life so sweet and remind me of the beauty of motherhood.

The Saturday before Mother's Day was full of those moments and it was absolutely perfect.

(It doesn't matter how many times he has seen the same fountain, you would think each time was his first time.)

After an afternoon full of playing in the dirt pile, running, leaf blowing/mowing, roller coaster rides, giggling, bending down to look at different bugs- Lee left to bring Luca home to go to bed and my mom, Sarah, and I left for the Needtobreathe concert.

For someone who loves playing in the dirt, he really doesn't like when the dirt gets in his shoes. 

The concert was so, so much fun. Colony House, Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors, Ben Rector, and Needtobreathe played. Sarah works for the management company for Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors so she hooked us up with some free lawn tickets. After Ben Rector played, Sarah's friend who is also the manager of Colony House hooked us up with some VIP box seat tickets. The VIP box seats were incredible- we were so much closer to the stage and we also had more room to dance. All the performers put on a great show and it was so nice to be able to spend that time with my mom (and sister) in honor of Mother's Day. The only thing that would've made it better is if H were able to be there with us.

Funny story:  After Drew played "Here We Go" I thought it would be appropriate to tell the guys that were sitting in front of us that my sister was in Drew's music video for the song he just played. They were so excited, so they all took out their phones and watched and we all cheered when Sarah/the bottle of ketchup got .2 seconds of camera time during the video (which you can watch here). Sarah loved that I drew such attention to her. She will thank me someday. (I had to document this moment by snapping this creeper picture because I knew Lee would be so proud of me, since he is always trying to get Sarah a boyfriend.)

VIP seats!

Bear's surprise performance for the people on the lawn just happened to be directly behind our box seats. 

On Sunday, Lee, Luca, and I had a low key morning just hanging out. We took our time getting ready and eating breakfast together. After we were all ready we went over to my parents house to have Mother's Day lunch with my mom (my dad, Sarah, and Josh too). We spent the majority of our time together playing with Luca and following him from activity to activity. Late in the afternoon, Lee and I left because we were serving at church that night.

The first Mother's Day card that Luca picked out for me (mostly) by himself.

(more playing in that dirt pile!)

I feel like the picture above captures what motherhood looks like: pretending to make a leaf blower noise with a wiffle ball bat while your son "mows" the lawn beside you. 

THOSE CURLS! 

This smile is my favorite. 

It felt a little strange leaving my child on Mother's Day to go serve at church. I struggled with it a bit, to be completely honest. But the more I thought about it the more I felt strongly about doing it instead of telling them I couldn't be there (which I thought about doing multiple times). While it made for less time with my boy, I felt like it was something I needed to do. There are so many things I want to teach Luca and I think a lot of the things that I want him to learn I can't tell him, I have to show him. When he sees me, I want him to see a woman who loves the Lord with her whole heart, a woman that serves others with a genuine smile and big heart, a woman that has compassion for others like Jesus did, a woman who honors her commitments even when she doesn't always feel like it- all traits that I pray he harbors in his heart and exhibits in his own life someday. Traits that I pray he values so deeply and looks for in his future bride. So while I didn't love the idea of leaving him, I told myself that the example I long to set for him far outweighed my selfish desires.

The weight of being a mother is a heavy load, but it is one that is an honor to carry. I am so thankful that I get to be Luca's mother. I am also so thankful that I was blessed with a mother that taught me the lessons I long to teach Luca.