Record Keeper

 I like to keep records of my life.  I always have.  When I was little, I had a blue book where I carefully glued every greeting and birthday card I had ever received, and I often opened it up and read the sweet messages that were inside of them.  I journaled, I scrapbooked at a young age, and I made sure that I wrote down important events in my life.  Then I married Joe.  My journal turned more into our family scrapbook with my notes about what we were doing.  Then we had Kate.  And that scrapbook was so detailed that I can remember every single story of her life.  Then we had Jake.  And man he was cute. I took thousands of pictures of that bright blond headed boy with the cutest smile and humor that could win anyone over.  But I was now a touch busier with two kids... and half of our things were in North Carolina and half of our things were in California, and I said to myself.... 

"It's ok.  Once you get all of your stuff in one spot, you can catch up."  

Well, I still kept taking pictures, because life is truly incredible.  And I wanted to remember every moment.  But the scrapbooking was put to the side, because my materials were on the other side of the country in storage.  And it weighed heavily on my shoulders.  

When Luke arrive almost 2 months early, I kept snapping as many shots as I could.  Too many important moments and miracles that I couldn't forget.  But now 3 kids and working and homeschooling?  The weight of the lack of record keeping was almost unbearable...  

I have a running joke with my sister that every single year when I write out my goals-- THIS YEAR will be the year.  I'll get back into putting my pictures together and telling our story, so our family has something wonderful to look back on.  

We moved to Chile.  I did a great job recording our experiences there on the blog.  But zero books were made during that process.  And then we moved back to California just long enough to get pregnant and have Mack and try to find a house only to realize we would be moving again.  I'm really tired of not having my books in a row on my shelf ;)  

Then Jake and Joe said something to me the other day that made me stop and reconsider.  They told me that they loved when I was doing the blog.  Joe said it was something he could look at wherever he was and it helped him to remember places we had been and experiences we have had.  He liked it better that the books because I could actually write more than I would have been able to in the books.  Jake told me that he loved it too.  He said that all of our memories could be in one place and then, the wise boy that he is, said that each of the kids could print them out, so I wouldn't have to make books for each one of them.  Genius.

Hmmmm...  So, I'm thinking about resurrecting this blog again.  Sharing our adventures and little moments that happen so we can look back and remember. Unless anyone has any better ideas.  (I've lost the desire to post things on social media these days.  Maybe I will occasionally.  I don't want my kids seeing me on it all of the time, because when they eventually have it, I don't want them focused on the screen instead of enjoying the life they have around them.)

   We've lived in Switzerland for almost 2 years.  I can hardly believe that.  We have already been to 16 countries and few islands.   And I haven't recorded much of it because by the time I've gone through my photos, we are already on another trip!  So.  Here's my thought.  I'm going to start with today.  Maybe I'll be able to work my way backward little by little.  I hope so.  

But for now, I'm going to tell you what happened this morning.  So I don't forget.