December 26

December 31, 2015 Jacqui

HELLO!

I'm Jacqui, the mom behind the camera. Wife of one + momma to five. Writer + speaker. Unqualified philosopher + theologian. Accidental mentor. Chaos manager. Lover of coffee + wine, perspective, and Jesus. Truth teller. Freedom fighter. Worth affirmer. Wanna-be author + world changer. Occasional cusser. Laundry piler. Emoji enthusiast. It's nice to meet you!

I hope you'll stay awhile and take a look at life through my lens, as I seek to find joy in the mess and walk with God through the beauty of everyday life.

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Have I mentioned that I love my neighborhood? Because I do. 💕

All the light you cannot see. #WHPnaturallight

Cookie Day 🍪😬

Yesterday afternoon I tried to drag an utterly exhausted toddler around a museum in lieu of a desperately needed nap. You can imagine how that went. On a rare, free-admission day, we were the unexpected must-see exhibit for droves of people. In their defense, the raging, inconsolable, binky-chucking toddler was hard to miss. The kids and I got separated on few occasions, and upon catching up with me again they said with feigned reassurance, “don’t worry, Mom. We just followed the screaming.” 😒 . But I chose to stay for the bigger kids. I chose to tough it out with the hope he would eventually calm down. I chose to ignore the judgemental stares, or worse, the piercing glares that communicated nothing less than, “are you KILLING that child?” I chose, with the full weight of embarrassment on my shoulders, to be “that mom.” Spoiler alert: after much gnashing of teeth, he finally relented and the rest of our time passed without a hitch, and, dare I say, even joy. . I’m not sure why I’m telling you all of this, except I’ve come to realize that the things which bring us to the very end of ourselves are often the things God uses to minister to our weary souls, who are normally masked by the protective cover of sensibility, productivity, and competence. But standing there exposed in all our naked glory, He can finally see us. The real us. And He loves us still.

Field trippin.’ 🚌🦖🦕

Kindergarten published a class book, and I am smitten.... 😍 “Look up! Look down! Math is all around! A rainbow is larger than a unicorn.” 🌈🦄

It’s a perfectly moody day here in Cleveland, the kind where the wind furiously rattles the naked branches outside my window, intent on plucking every last brittle leaf from the trees and carrying them away on the breeze. We drove downtown to get background checks in order to begin serving in our local schools this morning, and all I could think as we crossed the bridge into the city, staring up at the vast expanse of cloudy sky, was how incredibly BEAUTIFUL it was. The entire palette of grey scumbled together, billowing layer upon layer, stippled across the canvas above. Seagulls filled the brisk air, and if I wasn’t the one driving, I would’ve snapped a million pictures. . Speaking of moody, I am my feelings most days, and this is something I struggle with immensely. It often makes me feel like a failure (why can’t I be more steadfast and even-keeled?), it makes it difficult to speak openly about my thoughts on the daily (because who really wants a side of Debbie Downer with their morning coffee? Would you like one lump of coal or two?), and sometimes it makes me want to disappear (if I can’t show up how they expect me to, then I won’t show up at all). And so sometimes, I do. . But what I saw in the sky today is this: “beautiful” and “moody” can coexist. Perhaps moodiness isn’t something that needs to be hidden or something from which the world needs to be protected as with an umbrella. Clear blue skies are beautiful, too, of course, but that doesn’t make grey ones less so. Just different, and equally important in their own right, for if all we had were sunny days, the earth would soon be parched...and so would we.

11:08pm ⏰ Not quite sure what’s going on with my face & the mirror is hella dirty, so this is me saying ✌🏻 out #onedayhh world. It’s been real. Also, my screen time app is screaming at me & I’m pretty sure I’m gonna wake up with a social media hangover. But I suppose there are worse things. 😴

8:49pm ⏰ When you get to start AND end your day with snuggles, it’s a pretty good day. ♥️ #onedayhh 😴

5:16 pm ⏰ Parent/Teacher Conferences for four kids back-to-back for the next hour. Our Thursday night is LIT. 🔥 Also, apparently my kid is obsessed with Pac-Man... 🤷🏼‍♀️ #themoreyouknow #onedayhh