The not-so-perfect family portraits.

 "It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful." 

The Nester coined this phrase and thank goodness for it! 

Sunday the stars aligned right and were were all ready for church with a second or two to spare.  This happens maybe once a year, if we're lucky.  (my pre-kid self had no idea what a big job mamas have on Sundays! )  So naturally, I decided we should quickly grab a family photo. 

 And this is precisely how they went.  Anna Ruth is three now and can understand directions.  She wanted to obey and make me proud so badly for these pictures she plastered an almost painful looking grin on her face.  Betsy Grace was so enamored with the cat next to the camera we could hardly get her to look up. (I caught her last week cradling the cat's face in her hands and kissing it on the lips!)

These pictures, are obviously the "outtakes".  But I like them just as much as the ones below.  They tell our story.  I admit, I always look at the perfectly posed families on Instagram and Pinterest and think "Do you really look like that? What's your real life like?"  This, my friends, is ours!  

I wouldn't trade it, you know.  I wouldn't trade a picture-perfect photo for these outtakes. 

 To some, you may have already been tempted to click away to another blog, wondering why in the world I would post such "bad" pictures on my blog.  

Let me ask you this-if not this, what else? 

If we don't celebrate our real life that's right smack in front of us...

what else is there?  Reaching for perfectionism? 

I've been there, done that, and I'm weary to the bone from it.  

 But these.....these are my people.  These moments captured put a big lump of tears right in my throat-which is always my test for a "good" picture.  What does the picture make me feel?  

We are Brett, Sara, Anna Ruth, and Betsy Grace. 

A farm-lovin', little country girl kinda family. 

We don't know what we're doing when it comes to parenting most of the time, 

we make dozens of mistakes.

But we choose to love and stick together.

In our home, we believe that there is beauty in almost everything.

In fact, we wake up looking for it. 

We don't have the answers or a grand plan for the next ten years,

but we know God whispers, yells, taps, and takes us right where we need to be each day. 

We seek to create a haven in our home,

a place that's safe, hopeful, full of Jesus, and FUN for our kids and all who pass through. 

Our challenges are greater now than when we had one tiny baby,

but so are our joys and laughs and conversations. 

This is us, unscripted,

un-perfect,

beautiful.