Just One Picture Please...Or Maybe 26

I usually try to take photos with the girls on Mother's Day and their birthdays. It seems like when we don't go out of our way to schedule getting a picture, Dave and I usually don't get into the photos with the girls. But anyway, on Mother's Day this year, I did not get any pics with the girls. It was just laziness to be perfectly honest. With having the musical in the evening of Mother's Day, I tried to get the girls to relax in the afternoon so they could be well rested, and I ended up dozing off myself :-)

After school on Monday I was determined to get a cute picture of all three girls so I could have my "Mother's Day" photo. It was one of those silly notions, because typically I take anywhere between 300 and 600 photos each month, so I certainly needed one more today. The other 400 in my May folder were not enough. It occurred to me that any photo I took on this particular day wouldn't be as nice as having them in their church clothes, but I just wanted something, anything. I momentarily debated asking them to change into their dresses from the previous morning, but that just seemed crazy. My willingness to settle should have tipped me off that this picture was not going to come easy.

I asked them to sit by the tulip bed and from the very start it was a mess of giggles, trying to make a swing out of their interlocked hands for Rebekah to pose on, not looking in the direction of the camera, closing their eyes and squinting because the sun was too bright and other acts of uncooperativeness. And I thought they were difficult to photograph when they were toddlers.

Alyssa and Rebekah sitting next to each other felt like the hugest obstacle to a successful picture {see the middle photo of the first collage, that's Rebekah pushing Alyssa's face away from her face. They are so full of love for each other, their hearts can't stand it sometimes}, so I thought a change of arrangement would solve the problem. I was wrong.

Photo 130 of 365, taken May 13th:

I never did get the picture I was hoping for that afternoon, but I can't begin to describe how thankful I am for these girls, the people they are becoming and that I get to be their mom.

I have been reading a book my mom gave to Alyssa and it's a book for teens, but I thought I would read it before Alyssa does. The prayer the author has for the book's audience resonated with me, maybe it will for you too. I often feel so caught up and cluttered with our day to day activities and responsibilities, and it's all good, worthwhile stuff we are busy doing. But how much better is this:

"I'm praying God will call you to do something great for His name and His glory. It may not make the headlines, but greatness is determined by God, not by man. Most of all, I am praying you have the courage to answer that call."
~ Living For God As Courageous Teens, by Michael Catt, with Amy Parker

It's my prayer that we always point the girls towards His target for their lives and simply enjoy the little people He has entrusted us with. Even when they won't take proper pictures for us :-)