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{Not at all} Wordless Wednesday: Soaking In My Childrens’ Summer

August 21, 2013 By Erika Zane

21 Aug

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Do you ever stop and think about how far away adults get from the simplicity of childhood?

Ok, I may be stating the obvious, but really, have you ever actually stopped to think about how much you over-complicate your own life.

I don’t mean the day-to-day parental responsibilities.  Life does come with certain unavoidable baggage and decisions we don’t want to make.  And there are more of them when you have kids than before.

What I mean is, I’ve spent a lot of time this summer thinking about what I do (to myself).  How much of my day I spend worrying about what someone else thinks rather than having fun.  There is a verse in Amy Grant’s song “Don’t try so hard” that goes like this,

Do you remember how the summers felt when we were kids
Oh we didn’t think much about it,
we just lived
Taking our time,
beautiful leisure
When did we start,
trying to measure up
And all this time,
love has been trying to tell us

Don’t try so hard
God gives you grace and you can’t earn it
Don’t think that you’re not worth it
Because you are
He gave you His love and He’s not leaving
Gave you His Son so you’d believe it
You’re lovely even with your scars
Don’t try so hard

It’s kind of makes you think, doesn’t it?  Or is that just me?

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I always knew adults can find lost joy through the eyes of babes.  That’s, honestly, a big part of the reason we decided to start a family.  The joy in the little things was fading away and we thought, “What are we waiting for?”  But then I got caught up in this world, trying to “keep up with the Joneses” and measure up… to who?

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I haven’t been online much because I really have made an intentional effort the past few months to invest more time in enjoying my kids and my husband.  To spend any “extra” time communicating with them and making them feel special and loved and like they aren’t peripheral annoyances that somehow get in the way.

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Writing that, it sounds a little nuts that it would ever get that far, but flip on the TV and watch an episode of just about any sitcom, and that’s exactly the message you’ll get.  That it’s okay to treat your husband like he’s a moron or your kids like they’re screw ups.  Yes, we all have our human moments when we snap, and I understand that sitcoms are satirical, but it’s so easy to get swept up in that line of thought.  I did.

Speaking of, my little annoyances need some lunch. 😉

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Happy {rear} end of summer!

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Filed Under: childhood, Family, Parenting, Photography, wordlesswednesday

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Comments

  1. Amber West says

    August 21, 2013 at 12:22 pm

    I haven’t been blogging as much lately, partly for the same reasons. I’m trying to make sure I don’t lose focus on the important stuff – particularly when it comes to just making time for my family.

    Yesterday, I took a break from my workday to just sit in a room and take silly pictures with Jonas. Thanks for the extra reminder not to lose sight of the more important things. 🙂

    • Erika @aHeartMoreFocused says

      August 29, 2013 at 5:43 pm

      I’ve always felt like you and I were on a similar wavelength 🙂

      Your comment about photos with Jonas actually gave me an idea. D loves silly photos, but only if he gets to take them, too. Only thing is, I’m not really ready to let him touch my camera, sooo, yesterday I set up a little “photo booth” against the wall and we sat on a chest and played with the camera remote. Yay for silly pictures!

  2. Dana says

    August 21, 2013 at 1:25 pm

    Great reminder Erika. Your words are truly going to help me over the next few months adjusting to my new stay-at-home-mom routine. You’ve convinced me to take next week off from blogging to enjoy my kids before they start the school year.

    • Erika @aHeartMoreFocused says

      August 29, 2013 at 6:56 pm

      Thanks Dana! Great idea!

  3. Lauralynn Elliott says

    August 21, 2013 at 3:04 pm

    Well said, Erika. Adults get SO tangled up in…well…everything. We forget the joy of just being. Simple things. Thanks for reminding me.

    • Erika @aHeartMoreFocused says

      August 29, 2013 at 6:58 pm

      🙂 Thanks Lauralynn. Definitely. It’s amazing that I can screw up simple, but I really do. Like every day. Even when I’m intentionally trying not to over complicate.

  4. melanie jean juneau says

    August 22, 2013 at 10:03 am

    🙂

Trackbacks

  1. Project Get More Pictures of Dylan {aka Project Dylan} says:
    August 29, 2013 at 8:48 pm

    […] except then I’d really never post.  I’m sort of an in-the-moment kind of person, both intentionally and unintentionally.  Sometimes I just have the memory of… hey, what’s that?  Ok, you […]

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About me

Hello and welcome.  It’s been a while.  For Lent this year I decided to fast from the thing that took too much of my attention from what is truly important: Social Media.  Though there are countless amazing benefits to Social Media, after about a month offline so far, there are seemingly just as many negatives.  I never realized how much of my brain had been hijacked by it.  I’ve had so many revelations about how much easier it is to move forward when I’m not constantly reminded of the past.  But I still want to record my family as they grow at this ridiculous speed and, I’m realizing, so many of our family’s memories are here.  Those along with so many of the struggles and stages we’ve worked through.  Maybe in the midst of COVID19 isolation and my kids around me so often, I’m brought back to a time when they were too young for school and with me so often.  Writing here during that time helped make up for the limited adult conversation in my days and the overwhelm provided by my… little treasures 😉 My husband, fur babies, three fiesty kids, and I hereby extend an invitation to visit this little sneak peak into our life. We’re super flawed and broken and there aren’t too many dull moments around here.  And I promise it’s not always as magical as some of my golden hour, sun-soaked images would suggest.  There’s usually too much coffee in my system and we welcome all the prayers.  Come on over if you want to process with me.

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