Moment-capturing.

It's late in the evening, and I'm sitting in my week-old home. Dill is playing church basketball down the street; all three kids are snoozing in their freshly-painted bedrooms. I'm sitting on my comfy couch in my family room, admiring my beautiful, clean, white kitchen when all the sudden, it hits me:

At this moment, everything is pretty darn near perfect.

I'm taking a mental photograph of this so one day, when everything feels not-even-close-to-perfect again, I can remind myself that these times of peace and wholeness do come.

A month ago, when I was frantically throwing my whole life into boxes, simultaneously hating and mourning my first home (talk about an awkward feeling!) and dealing with the insurmountable anxiety that comes with major change, I could not envision this moment. All I saw were document signing appointments, realtor phone calls, inspections, appraisals, walk-throughs, storage units, moving trucks, packing, packing and more packing. Living with my parents and two youngest sisters AND their puppy for three weeks. Driving them all totally insane. Then, packing up and moving AGAIN. Then, painting the interior of the new house (because what parent of three children wants flat white paint throughout their entire home)?

Well, we got through it all. Sure, there are still pictures to be hung, miscellaneous items to be unpacked, garage shelves to be reassembled. But those things are not crucial. They can wait.

The crazy-stressful mandatory stuff: it's done.

And, why am I telling you all of this?

Because you're probably going through something hard, too. And I want you to know that the hard stuff will end. Life is about ebb and flow, give and take, here and there. It's not all hard. Sometimes, if only for a moment, it's basically perfect.

Just don't forget to pause for a minute, breathe in, and gratefully enjoy the peace.