Getting up

Kids learn from their experiences. 

So it wasn't surprising to us when Carter started crying the other day and all of a sudden Oliver came in from behind and Mya came in from the front, surrounding him with love and comfort. 

Because it's what they know. It's what they've seen. It's what they've lived--particularly over these past couple of weeks. If someone is hurting, if someone is crying, if someone needs help...they've learned that you run to them. You hold them. You comfort them. You soothe them. You're there for them.

But what we also want to teach them is that even when you do go through hardships, heartache or stress, it's important to keep going. It's important to get up, get dressed and keep moving forward. And it's hard. Yes it is. I stayed in my pajamas and curled up under the covers for most of the day just after we got the terrible news about our baby. Because life was just too hard to face in that moment, and the days that followed. 

But we want to show our kids that even when life throws situations at you that make you feel like you will literally crumble and break, it's good and okay to be sad...but it's also important to still try to find the good...the happy...the moments of joy that are always still there. They're just a bit harder to see with the fog of sadness that you're living in. 

So we dressed the kids up for Easter. We put them in cute Easter dresses, and button up shirts and I got out of my pajamas and slapped on some mascara and made a point of trying to move on as if this Easter was just the same as every other Easter--even if it wasn't.   

  

And although with every brushstroke that I applied to my lashes that morning I felt like I would literally crumble, I did it. And I walked downstairs and picked up my kids and actually felt different. I could actually feel the shift from sorrow, and pajamas, and tears to possibly...just possibly happiness.

Which isn't hard when you see these little ones all barefoot and adorable.

       

Because when you get up and get dressed and force yourself to keep moving, even when you feel like you can barely get through the next moment, it's amazing how many better moments you might find.  

And the Easter bunny? Well that little bunny came and surprised these kids with eggs and books and bubbles and treats hidden all over mom and dad's house.

And as they tore around the house, happy as could be, it was hard to feel complete sadness...because there was just so much happiness in that very moment.

(Easter cards magically appeared in the mailbox for all of the kids that morning)

And by the time that we sat down and divided out all of the treats so that all of the kids ended up with the same amount, as we have always done since the time that Jen and I were little, life felt just a wee bit brighter. Not perfect. Not great yet. But brighter.

But this past Friday afternoon one little phone call changed our world. One little phone call from a fabulous company where Terry had an interview on Thursday...and they then offered him the job the very next day.

HIRED.

I can't even tell you how relieved we feel. How grateful we feel. How much stress has instantly been removed from our lives. A fabulous company. A fabulous new job. Our rainbow is starting to appear.

From sitting together the day after getting out of the hospital after having surgery, going over interview questions...telling ourselves that we can do this...telling our brains to focus..focus..focus, when all we wanted to do was cry...all ended up being worth it.

Thank you again to everyone who so generously offered to take Terry's resume, put in a good word for him or sent him job postings--we will never be able to thank you enough.

Thank you thank you thank you.

Erica xox