Sweet girl of mine, one day I'll have to explain the madness and evil that exsist in the world and it weighs so heavily in my heart to even think of that day.
My hands shook as I watched the news on Friday.
My eyes filling with tears, trying to remember if your Nino (my brother who lives in Switzerland) had mentioned any trips or where my friends were traveling too.
It's hard to understand how these things are part of our "normal" but they are.
Evil lives amongst us.
What I want you to remember, sweet girl is that we can spread good.
We can spread love.
We can be grateful. Every single day.
We can choose joy. And I solemly swear to choose joy for us.
I will live as the person I want you to be.
I work on being the person you will always be proud of.
I will exude the kindness I want you to always exude.
So even as I worry, I can either put fear in my heart or fill it with love.
I choose joy.
And I hope you always do too.
But I will always worry.
I will worry about you, your dadda, our family and friends.
I will worry about things that I can't control and worry until I change the things I can control.
It's my job as your mama, to always worry for you.
So go, sweet girl, jump, run and giggle in your sweet world of no worries, mama will do that worrying for you.
But I hope one day you look back and know that we lived in joy, even when the world was in turmoil, we chose joy for our family.
Our hearts go out to all those effected by these tragedies going on around the world and I wanted to make sure that I acknowledged it here because recipes, outfits and what went down this weekend seems so insignificant when such craziness is going on. Life changes so much when you have littles, because the worrying is for them, for their futures and as hard as I try to stay positive the worry will always set in. My sweet friend Mia over at Joy Bound Apparel is a constant reminder of choosing joy. Love that I have her floor pillows sitting in our living room (which Zoe rolls all over every day) as a reminder that evil exsists but we can make joy win.
xo
Natalie
PS these pics are part of our family session that happened a couple weeks ago and although my hair was uber dirty and Z skipped her nap that day, we got some really great pics and I can't wait to frame them all! Kristen from Kristen Joy Emack Photography was amazing, patient and super sweet with our girl. Hoping to get more done when K comes home from school next week.
This red Maxi // This Trapeze dress looks so comfy and perfect with boots // This Pleated Toddler Skirt // Cat Print Toddler Dress