an eternal moment

Eternal moments.

In the busy seasons of life (hello absolute chaos of back to school routine) I'm sure thankful for them!

I have no doubt that God blesses us with these precious snapshots of what's best in our lives to reflect upon when things seem a bit topsy turvy.

I have several eternal moments stored in my mind.  My best friend asking me to walk the road of life with him; exactly what our last name sounded like when our guide Amy called us to come forward to receive our first child; a moment of peace between my warring two year olds that brought hope of a loving sibling relationship to come; the first impish smile from our little girl; how quickly our wee one pumped his legs across that courtyard to get to us when we first met him...

And last month, one new eternal moment.

One special one actually captured on camera thanks to my sister who noticed it happening.  It started with me digging in the sand with my little guy.   (He and I spent a lot of time building castles in the sand that week).  At first it was just me and him against the tide, but one by one the other kids joined us.  When Ian made his way over from chatting with his mom, my big boy got the biggest grin ever on his face.

One that brought a smile to my face as well as I realized that when it comes to fulfillment from being together as family, genetics or no genetics, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Because when I asked what made him smile, he sighed and said, "This is my favorite day ever!  Look, we're building a castle together, all of our family..."

ps ~ I think sometimes we benefit from the smiles of our friends.  I'd love to hear about one of your eternal moments!