beauty even in the hard

I have a favorite local nursery, one that is huge and airy and out in the country. There are several other nurseries around town, but this one is the one that calls my name. I look forward to our visit every spring. We usually go during the week when it is fairly empty because…well, crowds stress me out. Big, empty beautiful nurseries….happy place. I always bring my camera, it is too beautiful there to leave it at home!
If you only saw those photos, you would think we had a picture perfect visit. We were supposed to be getting my Mother’s Day flowers. Let’s just say the trip got cut very short after I took those few photos and I ended up in the car with two boys. I was frustrated. They were in trouble. It was not a picture perfect day. It was quite the opposite.

The next morning we had a big family meeting on what it means to live unselfishly and show initiative.

Parenting is hard. Goodness, I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world, but being a parent is not picture perfect. We have ugly days in our house.  Days where selfishness seems to take root and causes destruction. Days that we are just so thankful come to a close and we get to start over in the morning.

I’m thankful for fresh starts.

Sweet moments with my youngest before not-so-sweet moments with her brothers. Beauty can be found even in the hard and frustrating. Pictures of flowers remind me of that today.