i choose love

Parenting is hard in so many ways. The sleepless nights that last longer than you wish they would, dealing with a screaming toddler at the grocery store, throwing of foods, hitting phases (it’s a phase, right?), poop getting everywhere, the unexplainable laundry piles that appear basically right when your child is born, judgement from other parents and the general feeling of not knowing what you’re doing half the time. There are a lot of things that are hard, but I think one of the hardest, and most important, is raising a good kid. A kid that has (some what) good manners, seeks God, is happy, confident, smart, kind and most of all loves them self.

Kids are so impressionable. Hunter is at that stage where he repeats everything, so you better watch what you say and do. He also takes in our feelings and can totally sense when something is off. I feel like both my mood and Jacob’s is reflected in him.

Zoe is still super young, but I find it even more important for me to be a good role model to her. She’ll be looking up to me to see how she should treat others, deal with stressful situations and how she should think about herself. I want so badly to instill a sense of self love for herself. That she thinks about herself in a positive way, that she believes in herself and has confidence. That she looks at herself in the mirror and instead of looking for flaws, she sees her beauty on the inside and outside.

But that all starts with me. So I’m going to choose love. I choose to love myself in my strengths and weakness. I choose to love myself when I’m stressed out and feeling like everything is going wrong. I choose to love myself when I’m tired and my pants don’t fit and on the inside I’m bummed about it. And I choose to thank God for all of it, because he had blessed me and given me the strength to make that choice. The choice for love.

Who was your role model growing up?

Heather