Living Life Intentionally

Sometimes you've just got to hold babies during nap time, cause they are oh-so-snuggley!

As I've gotten older more mature, I've learned how I need to be intentional about life. I need to be intentional about the decisions I make. I need to be intentional about who I surround myself with (that deserves to be a post all of its own), I need to be intentional about what I do with my time, I need to be intentional about how I raise my children, I need to be intentional.

Right now in my life, time speaks more than money. I say this because I don't spend money like I used to. Of course, I don't make it like I used to. Five plus years ago, it was easy to tell what I valued. You could tell just by looking at me. I drove a nice car (heck, I cried when I got rid of that car to move to Scotland!), I carried nice purses, I wore nice clothes, I always needed the latest and greatest. It was a craving so large that it almost couldn't be satisfied. Seriously. I was out of control. Scotland broke me of all that. I remember how painful it was to be broken. But I am so thankful to have given up that obsession of materialism. Especially thankful that it happened before I had kids. I can only imagine what it would have been like transitioning into motherhood and breaking myself of extreme materialism. That would have been fun.

I think the biggest definition of who I am can be described in how I spend my time. Obviously motherhood is the biggest definition of who I am right now. I eat, sleep and breathe my kids. Heck, with an infant, one is lucky to get some sleep in there! But really, that is my current role in life and my time is showing that. One of the most important things in life to me that doesn't get as much time as it deserves is my relationship with Ian. We don't have the 24/7 time together like I have with our babies. But what I have discovered is we have to make the time we do have together count. Cut out distractions. Isla giving us our evenings back (she actually has a bedtime now) helps. Ian is the only person in the world I feel 100% comfortable around. I don't hide anything. He sees the true me just as I am. Now that is a relationship I value and want to keep.

Since becoming a mom, I've discovered how much I truly enjoy good, true friends. People who you can cut out the show with and really be yourself. People who know you haven't showered in days (that was my life after Connor was born. Second time around, I showered daily), that your house is a mess, that your toddler is ,well, a toddler. People that will pray for you when you are having a crappy day. People that will celebrate with you when your baby sleeps through the night. In turn, I want want to be intentional in how I treat these important people in my life. I want my actions toward them to show how much I truly value them.

In the end (heck, even today), I want people to be able to say, "She loved God, she loved her family, she loved her friends. She was fiercely loyal, was always willing to help. She was a prayer warrior." I'm living my life everyday, well most days anyway, intentionally with that goal in mind.