Every year for the kids’ birthday I do a scavenger hunt for their presents. It doesn’t have to be extravagant…they just love the hunt, the gifts are secondary, truly. It’s a tradition I began with Mason on a year his gifting was a bit challenging financially and I wanted to make sure it was special. It became a tradition immediately and both, Mason and Sammie, ask early to make sure I will still be doing it that year. The clues always lead to a room in the house where they must unwrap a gift and then read a note to see where to go next.

This year Sammie wanted a girl’s night with her “besties” and what fun it was to surprise her. For the hunt, we got her dressed for the night and had her pack her bags for the surprise night out. She has wonderful friends with wonderful parents, and they all helped me accomplish this little mission. Spending the evening celebrating her with her friends was a treasure to me. How different they all are. How caring, funny, smart and loyal her friends have become and what a gift to me it was to watch them love on my little girl.

Sammie is life. I don’t know how else to describe her. She knows what it is to be alive and make use of every spare moment to soak it all in. Her laugh and spirit are infectious, and I feel so lucky to call her mine. So thankful to be her mom.

I used to have a blog about becoming a mom and somewhere in there I thought of the phrase “momathon.” Knowing the world is full of funny minds I am sure I am not the only one who has used that phrase. There are those days that feel like a lot, a lot of driving, a lot of cleaning, a lot of homework, a lot of…whatever…you fill in the blank. But becoming a mom is the only job I’ve had that I never wanted to quit. I always want to keep trying and although it’s hard, I always feel it’s worth it.

I remember reading a blog and she asked, “What kind of mom are you?” I’ve had to process through that question and think not just about what I am but also what I want to be, more authentically, what God calls me to be? But as I read on in her post, what she was really trying to say was that there are many types, many kinds, many different moms out there.

If we are confessing here, I’m the mom with a clean house, the one who people ask, “Where do the kids play?” and I answer in their rooms or outside. I used to feel like I had to apologize because my home was too clean or felt like my momathon was off the beat of the race. But let me tell you friends, exactly how and who you are, is most likely just what you should and need to be. I work and I play. I change the whole house around while everyone is away and always decorate for holidays, even the off ones like St. Patricks day. I’m the mom who goes to every performance, game, and school party just to get a glimpse of my children in their element. I’m the mom that puts Christmas sheets on the beds every year, let’s the kids decorate their rooms how they want (even if it drives me crazy…and it does), prays every night with them and wishes for them to dream about sugar-rock candy mountains. I’m the mom who gets frustrated, must discipline them, needs a break, is tired of laundry and maybe even of birthday scavenger hunts but does it anyway.

I’m a work in progress and I know it. Getting better and worse at things and having to start over often. I think the take-away from that blog years ago and mine today, is moms come in many shapes and sizes. Thankfully so do families and children. This weekend, celebrating my little one was so fun. The scavenger hunt is a tradition and makes the day special and they just love it, that’s why I keep doing it. Maybe even when they are well into their 20s, 30’s, 40’s I will keep putting these together for them…or maybe, as traditions go, they will tell me about the birthday scavenger hunt they put on for their little ones. Either way, it is good.

I want to inspire life and home. I hope this little note encourages you. This time of year can be busy, hectic, stressful but it’s beautiful, special and has so much anticipation. Soak it in. The reason for this season has nothing to do with decked halls or styled coffee tables. Promise! If you have the clean house or the messy one, the one decorated or the one not, the one finished or the one with so many things still left to do, remember a home is not full of things but full of people. And they need exactly who you are. Cheers to momathoning together. You are killing it!

xo-Jess