who in the world is this family??

could this possibly be us??
were the boys ever that small??
did i really shoot all my photos on that fuzzy point and shoot camera??
i can hardly remember that moment in time.
in fact, it seems like another lifetime ago.
so does this, and this and this, and this.
it's crazy to think 3 years from now i'll be thinking the same exact thing about these:

our life.
it doesn't stop.
literally.
never.
it's an insane concept when you stop to think about life.
how we were created.
c r e a t e d in a fabulous way that is so intricate and amazing it is hard to comprehend even the simplest of concepts when you stop to think how amazing it really is.

my boys are fascinated with planets. the universe.
they talk constantly about taking a rocket to a distant planet and exploring uncharted territory. one day this past summer, we were daydreaming about skipping rocks whilst floating in Saturn's icy rock rings. foster was using a hula hoop and spinning around pretending to be the rings, and rowan was attempting to shoot tennis balls amidst the spinning "planet".
 and it occurred to me. a foundational thought that i have forgotten for nearly all of my life.
i am standing on a planet right now!
i don't need to fly into outer space, i am already orbiting on a planet, orbiting the sun, which is probably orbiting some distant galaxy in the vastness of space, which, in turn, is orbiting some far off star cluster that is more breathtaking than anything we can comprehend.
i jumped up and exclaimed, "do you realize we are on a planet right now?? we are literally orbiting in space!!" we freaked out together at the realization of something so crazy awesome.
our play began to change. suddenly their conversations moved to "whoa, check out this planet i'm on!!!"

amazing how my perspective gets lost in all of this moving. always moving. changing.
it's a dose of perspective i need constantly.
i'm not the only thing in the universe. in fact, i am so ridiculously small, i am, in fact, awed by the fact that God thinks i matter at all. my little life and the things i get so stressed about are so minute in the scheme of the universe. smaller than small. a teeny tiny spec. a molecule so small it's hardly visible when compared to eternity.

once again, my kids bring me perspective.
they explore the things i forget to notice.
and they change.
everyday, they are changing.
growing up.
the thing we parents always boast "wow, look how big you are getting!"
it's happening.
i see their independence growing right before my eyes.
foster took a shower last week all by himself. not a bath. a shower.
he hopped in, closed the curtain and said, "i'll be out later mom. don't worry about me. oh, and keep this curtain closed. i'm taking a shower."

someday, when days of making little lunches, and doing load after load of laundry filled with adorable little pants and shirts, and holding whining toddlers, and kissing little scrapes is over. i'll look back and wish it was all here again. but time will have moved.
oh my dear little ones...stop changing and growing and moving long enough for me to cherish you right where you are. right at this moment. i am so fantastically in love with you, i can hardly stand it.

we are orbiting on an awesome planet in outer space.
a concept that is mind bogglingly incredible.
and our moments are moving
no one knows how many we each have left
our moments
perhaps we can use them in such a way that we remember they aren't really ours to begin with.