Family life is a whirlwind of joy, tears, laughter, and of course, chaos.

But within that chaos is the writing of a beautiful family story. The spilled milk, the muddy footprints, and the bedtime shenanigans… you know, all the things that can leave you wanting to pull all your hair out. That is where your family’s legacy is unfolding.

There are moments, even in the most difficult days, when precious memories are being made. Will we notice? Will we remember? 

I struggled with depression after my second child was born. On top of that the next couple years were… a lot… (to say the least). I remember feeling like I was failing my babies at every moment. They weren’t getting the mother I wanted them to have or that I thought I would be. Everyday I thought… did I do enough? Did I love on them enough? Do they know how much I love them? 

Can you relate?

Eventually I started to look back on photos and videos from that season. Do you know what I realized?  I was somehow able to make memories with my children even when I was overcome with my own emotions and unable to register all I was giving to them. The mother I watched in those videos was not the mother I remembered. Our minds are creatively deceptive like that. The videos and pictures from that time are absolutely priceless to me because they show that my kids did get parts of me that I thought I wasn’t able to give.

Since becoming a mother and struggling in a million different ways, I’ve come to a realization that perhaps we need to shift our perspective to intentionally seeking beauty in the everyday messes. Embrace the imperfections and documenting the raw, unfiltered moments…whether through photos, videos, or scribbled notes. One day these little snippets of documentation will mean more than you realize in the moment.