there is a valley called peace of mind

And I found myself right in the thick of it as I walked along next to my husband, with the babies in tow, up in the mountains last week. There is nothing that feels as beautiful as knowing that you have settled into your little place as wife and mama, that the people you get to be with everyday really are your whole world, and that this life-- the one where your husband spontaneously takes a Monday off and loads the family into the car for a day of togetherness and adventure-- this is the life you have always dreamed of and you sometimes have to stop and catch your breath when you have those moments of realizing that you are living it. This valley of peace of mind? I've been there in bits of my life before, but never as fully as I am now as I try to fulfill, what I believe is, the measure of my creation-- being a wife and mother. I love it here. And yes there are dips and bumps and there will be times where I will have mountains to climb and be forced out of this valley, but I know the beauty of this place now, and I pray that wherever I am in my life I can find this place again.

And you know what they say about this valley of peace of mind?

There is a river running right by its side :).

And there is a baby wearing sunglasses and a mama trailblazing through the dense brush (with the baby attached to her, of course) to catch up to her boys ahead.

There are steep spill-ways and muddy hills (also very steep) that you will all fall down (if you look closely at my bum-- but don't-- you will see evidence of my slide down the muddy hill).

There are places that are pretty treacherous and definitely not really toddler-friendly, and you will question your (and your husband's) sanity for deciding to bring babies along on this adventure.

But there are also wide, flat places that are full of rocks to be thrown into rivers that you have to meander very s l o w l y down because your boy will stop to collect and then throw as many rocks as he can down the cliff into the water. And, even though it is a little bit hard, there is no way you would have wanted to leave the babies behind. This is the season of your life where toting kids around wherever you go is part of the deal. A most blessed and sacred part of the deal.

And for as many of the 'I'm an inadequate mother' places, there are also the places where you are a rockstar and do a little fly-fishing with one child playing in the water at your feet and one (sleeping) child strapped to your body.

There are the places where you hang out with the babes on the riverbanks and watch the daddy do his thing.

And that thing he does? He does it amazingly well. And he is really handsome.

You hike back to the car with these people you love and you feel it, that peace of mind valley.

And the best part? Even when you run out of gas in the canyon and your husband has to hitch a ride into the nearest town to buy a gas can and gas, and you are left stranded on the side of the road on a hot day-- even when things definitely could be going better-- you are still in that valley. You are in the valley because you choose (and at first it is kind of a hard choice to make) to not be mad at your husband for driving WAY too far up the canyon with a low tank of gas and instead you make funny faces in the car with your boy while you wait. And wait.

Happy, full, peaceful days. Dreams? Coming true. Every single little day.