That moment when you should tell your kids how incredibly amazingly awesome they are EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

I read something yesterday and its been racing through my mind as I remembered seeing it once before in a book I was reading. It was a statement of, we as a "culture" are encouraging our kids too much for their own reality. We are setting them up for failure by telling them they are awesome. Ugh when I even write it, it makes me cringe.

At the end of baseball season this year Gabe was not chosen for the all star team in his age category. It was devastating to him.  We walked through the process of telling him the obvious. It was a little painful but nothing we couldn't work through and learn from. I couldn't tell you how many times we used the word awesome to describe how he performed on the baseball field through out the season. It was our definition of awesome. No comparison to anyone else and no opinion of anyone else. It never mattered. I am confused at how this could be confusing to him. Yes... The feeling of not being adequate, good enough, below average, defeat they were all there. Does that change his awesomeness? Not a bit! Unless he lets it. Unless he believes he's been defeated.. He's not good enough... The minute he lets it enter his soul is the only time it really matters. All other times he will forever have a mama and a daddy who thinks he's nothing less. What's even cooler than that?!? His awesomeness led to so many life lessons.

Willy sat Gabe down and explained to him that he was not among the top picks. But he asked him some important questions... 1. Do you love it? 2. Do you want to become better? His answers to both questions were YES! So thats what we did. If you see any of my boys (all 3).. You will see them wearing necklaces with the letters CBS . It's a symbol of their awesomeness! It stands for Come Back Stronger. On the back of Willys there is a verse engraved.  It hangs around his neck as a reminder of a season of weakness that brought so much strength.

2 Corinthians 12 9-10

9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

We made sure to explain to Gabe That through this all... In his weaknesses. He is strong. He is good enough. And he is AWESOME! Not only do we think that..... but he was created in the likeness of God. Fearfully, Wonderfully, Awesomely made! I will not dispute or argue that.

Don't buy into the mindset "too much" encouragement. Everyone knows there is a reality. Our children will experience enough of it on their own. But I refuse to sit back and make a decision that I will not build them up because of fearing those who will perform at a higher level or judge their abilities will hurt their feelings. Perhaps it's the word.... say it ....AWESOME, that some people have a problem with. The praise. The confidence. The accolades. And yet don't all leaders portray those characteristics? Many of them going through life battling the same voices trying to resonate in their own souls "you are average". "You are not good enough". "You can't do that". "You're a failure".  Im not sure I have ever met a parent that would not want their child to be a leader yet we are holding back and keeping them from believing they can be.  

We ALL learned alot from this "season". On this side of it all I know without a doubt we are stronger. I know I have a little boy who still loves baseball. Who knows his mom and dad think he's the best ball player ever. To know he was created Awesomely in the image of God. Who is the giver of talent and the desire to work hard and can make him an amazing all star if he never even makes an all star team. So ask him one day if he's awesome.... He will say yes!!!! He may even pull at his collar and say it. Weak? Sometimes.. And he knows who gives him strength. 

I encourage you to take a moment. Some days they may need many moments. But tell your kids how wonderfully amazingly incredibly awesome they really are. And that you will forever think so.

PS...For my mother that will wonder if we ever tell Ben he is amazingly awesome here is his lunch from this morning. Dont worry....he is equally awesome, Mom.

That moment when....The husband starts you a blog.....

After months of contemplating, thinking and being pushed. I have finally taken the challenge to start a blog. I have been reading alot! I read a book a few weeks ago that really got me stirring. It reminded me that we all have a story. I forget often that our stories most times inspire, warn, entertain and encourage others along their own journey. Sometimes we dont realize the value of our own. In the past year I decided to start living differently. Living in such a way, out loud, that maybe it can encourage someone else along the way. So this is my life story. A little about me and who inspires me to be the best me. 

These are my boys. All three of them. I always say Willy is my oldest. He has been the love of over half of my life. I knew when we first met that he was everything I wanted to make a life with. He was was not only funny but fun. He lives life like no one else I have ever met. He has overcome so much. If you know him for all that he is you know that statistically his life shouldnt be anywhere near the place he is in now. He teaches me so much about myself and LIFE. I have never met anyone so passionate about knowing that the Lord desires our very best. His plans are far better than those of what the world may decide for us. Little did I know when we married the amazing life we would experience. I did not say easy. I did say amazing. Because everything amazing and wonderful comes with sacrifice, discipline and commitment. It comes with heart ache. Stretching and changing. I can not imagine doing all of those things with another person on this planet. I know he was made for me. Not for all pleasure now...I mean look at him;) But for the simple fact of helping me become a better me. In fact...If you dont like my blogging you can blame him. He was my biggest fan and cheerleader to start this journey. He encourages me and spurs me to be greater. He is an wonderful Dad to those two adorable little boys. I often observe at school and sporting functions the lack of presence of fathers. Maybe they are there for the BIG things. But all of the things in between..... Every practice...every small bag of candy or the 1,000th certificate of summer reading. HE IS THERE. PRESENT! In it all.The boys adore him. And theres always a fight about whos on his team. For EVERYTHING! 

The little ones are my hearts (I have two) that live on the outside of my body. Like most moms I am sure. The instant I met them I feel like I experienced a taste of how the Lord loves us. With no conditions. A sacrificial love of putting aside myself for the sake of their very own souls. They teach us something everyday that needs to change inside our own hearts. They are little versions and mini mes and sometimes that is very scary. 

Just a little introduction of WHY I do what I do. WHO I am and want to become. Its because they deserve the very best I can be. They will love me no matter what. They will always be there when I need them. But remember....I am living for more than the memories we are making. I am living for moments that impress upon their hearts along their own journey. One day my own memory may fail. Thats why every moment I live intentionally is creating a memory far beyond my own. 

Onto the next moment......