All things considered.

I love my job. Maybe sometimes that fact isn't clear to people.

Like when I'm having panic attacks from all the stress.

Like when I complain endlessly about too many kids.

Like when I roll my eyes at all the insanity brought by the participants and the crazy children.

But I LOVE it.

I love being the shoulder they cry on.

I love when the four year old autistic boy tells me he's going to be tall like his daddy, and I tell him that I think he'll be a great daddy - and I get to be part of the driving force that will get him there.

I love the smiles I get that are just for me.

I love the way their eyes light up.

I love reading books and rocking them to sleep.

I love chasing them around the backyard and blowing bubbles that stick in their hair.

I love getting to be a big part of their development. I love thinking about the future - will they remember me?

I love divinely inspired words that can help their mothers be the best mothers that they can be.

I love hugs and tickles and laughter.


....................................................................................................................................................................

While I truly love our life here, sometimes I can't help but look back and ahead. Back to our trip to Uganda and our short layover in Amsterdam. I can't wait to travel with my husband again... Out of the country. We're so great together.

I am inspired by friends and people all over the world that are doing amazing things with themselves. Like my friend Holly, in Colombia. She's there for two years, and I'm so excited to hear all her stories and see the amazing work that she does! She inspires me.

Though I don't know these people, they are still inspiring in their trust in God and their honesty.  They're in Peru with their four children!

I can't wait til it's our turn. And that time is coming up faster than I realize.

We're moving quickly on our way to paying off all of our loans. Car loan - check. School loans - the end is coming up quickly! 

Perhaps we should start planning.

I wonder where we'll end up.

How we'll get there.

I can't wait to look back on our lives ten years in the future.

On that note, where will we be in ten years?

We'll be in our mid-thirties. A house? Kids? A dog? A white picket fence?

I'm okay with that - even excited for it.

The twenty year old me would see that and scoff.

The American dream? Not for me!

Older, wiser.

So much needs to be done here, and I get to be a part of it.

I just can't wait to see where we end up!