Smoky Mountain Getaway

One of my favorite things about photographs is that they make you remember moments that have passed. They can alter your memories of what really happened. Usually images portray what is happy and good. When we look back on them, it is often with fondness for those memories. I’m thankful for that fact. This trip to the mountains, if I’m honest, was not very enjoyable for me. Parts of it were wonderful and I enjoyed being with family, but with sickness, Elle not sleeping much and chasing her all day long to keep her from eating rocks, it wasn’t relaxing…at all. I think everyone else had a good trip, and I’d much rather it be me that had a rough go and not my husband or baby. For those reasons, I cherish these images. They remind me to look for the beauty in some ugly circumstances and the good in bad things. There is always a rainbow…eventually.

These are the happy memories I will look back on for years to come and remember the joy of this season. I’ll remember Eleanora’s happy cheesey grin and the way she was mesmerized by the babbling brook by our cabin. I’ll remember how she loved to throw rocks and Jonathan strumming the guitar. So while these may make you think everything was perfect and wonderful for us, there was actually a lot of “Nooooo!!! Don’t eat that!” and headaches and lack of sleep. I choose not to remember those things and cherish this beautiful season, exhaustion and all. I choose to wake up and be reminded of God’s grace in my life. No matter where I am, I am never without Him. Yes, my hands are so very full, which can be overwhelming sometimes…scratch that, almost all the time! I choose to view them for the blessings that they really are. I choose to look back at these images to remind myself that my hands are full, full of good things.

She was so content to play in the dirt and rocks. We did this for hours to wear her out! Haha!

These two! Goodness, I love them!