The kids were watching Tom and Jerry when our youngest blurted out, “Tom and Jerry…come to our house!”
Actually, I think they would fit in just great. Our home is a constant battle ground for sword fights, wrestling matches, and silly pranks. Most done in love, of course.
It’s not the only chaos we lived through in 2025. We’ve moved internationally, house hunted, visited various family members and friends across the US, and spent countless hours in the car. It’s been a year of ups and downs, goodbyes and hellos.
And we’ve all felt the effects. Our same little fella who wanted to invite the cartoons to be members of our family had some other things to say about our life this year that I thought I’d throw in here just for fun…
1) Within 45 minutes of our 8 hour drive, he announced in a distressed voice, “I can’t wait! I can’t wait to get home.”
2) We were having an inside “yard sell” and our rug was wrapped up when our 3 years old started hugging it and saying, “I’m gonna miss you, rug.”
3) We were on a weekend trip for a conference when little man asked, “Can we go back to our new house with spiders and ants so I can get my money?”
4) “Mom, I got a diaper mustache.” Me, “You mean, rash?” “Yes!” (So glad we are finally potty trained!)
5) “Mom, I’m sick. I need medicine. I know gum is actually sugar but it’s also for sick people.”
Our house – and car – is fun, wild, and a bit chaotic.
As much as I love the chaos, I also love the still. I love when everyone goes to bed and I can crawl on the couch with a cup of hot tea, my Bible, my journal, a book, and my thoughts. (That is, the nights I don’t, myself, collapse the moment everyone is finally down.)
I love sitting in silence and creating, but it’s been a season for me where creating is very minimal. I have a million thoughts in my head of what I want to write, do, or prepare, and yet it remains in my head. I’m coming to accept I may not get everything crossed off of my “I’d-love-to-do list” in every season. Some things I have to let go of. Other things, I can’t.
There will not always be a clean room with a candle burning for me to sit in and sip a hot beverage. For every perfect instagram picture is a behind-the-scene picture of chaos. Sometimes it’s literal chaos (especially in a house of boys), other times it’s emotional chaos.
May I encourage you, as I remind myself, whatever 2026 holds, let’s welcome Jesus into our chaos. He’s not waiting for the perfect picture or the perfect us. He simply wants us to journey with Him and to know Him deeply as we surrender everything into His care and love.
Happy New Year to all of my readers!
