“Do you think my kids will remember how often we ate off of paper plates?” I have asked many friends this question as a joke, but truly I have wondered. Will my kids remember the “paper plate season” of life? The season when mom was trying to keep the toddlers safe and fed and homeschool the big kids and keep the house running so we often ate off of paper plates??

There are seasons for everything, aren’t there? And it is okay if a paper plate season is one of them. I am learning that there is something beautiful about all the seasons- even the challenging or hard ones.

Often times I fight against the season I am in. I feel frustrated with the things I can’t do that I used to be able to do. I feel annoyed when I make a plan that I think will work and it fails miserably. But often in these situations, the reason my efforts fail is because I am fighting against the natural season I am in.

What would happen if I embraced the hard and the beautiful about my current season? Maybe I would notice how fun it is to have a dance party with my 3 year old? Maybe I would notice how free and joyful I feel running around the kitchen island with my 1 year old while he giggles and giggles.

Perhaps I can’t get to an event on time with my 4 kids to save my life… that’s just not the season I’m in. But maybe it’s the season for slow mornings, waffles, and reading our kids devo together at the table.

Maybe we don’t start our actual homeschool day until 11am… but isn’t that flexibility an amazing benefit of homeschooling?

I am trying to lean into the now and not be frustrated by how I “think” things are supposed to go right now. When I sit back and think about it, there are so many things that this season of life offers me and I don’t want to miss a moment of it.