Today the mess is some of their best work in a while. Riley has a cold and her asthma is flaring up so we are home all day together and they are left to their own messy madness. Keagan has rigged up an impressive mess of jump ropes and bungee cords all up the stairs and then hanging off the ledge to hook onto belts they are wearing. They have been happily pretending to bungee jump for the last hour. It’s quiet clever and keeping them at least focused on one mess at a time so I’m going with it. This is all while Riley is of course wearing a Cinderella dress that leaves mass amounts of glitter everywhere she goes and Keagan makes endless videos of her singing and dancing! 
The mess after a super fun play date yesterday where I got to chat with the moms who happen to also be my friends had me whining a little. But the thought that I’ve had a lot lately came swimming right back up to the surface before I could actually whine out loud.
Life is Messy!
All of life is messy and I might as well embrace the mess and enjoy and stumble thru the clean up the best I can.
My house can get messy, my kids hands and faces can get messy, and man my car can get seriously messy! But my finances are messy too, my worries that keep me up at night are, the decisions I make on what’s best for the girls and my discipline efforts are, yep, all messy! Trying to build my faith is messy, trying to figure out how I can help those I love who are struggling is very messy, big changes at work are messy and trying to accept and celebrate change is messy. Trying to balance relationships, working, momming, helping my mom, my calling, the girls school work and activities, keeping a house running and everything while meeting the expectations I have for myself and the girls is really quite messy. Riley’s special needs, care, appointments and decisions are messy. Both girls futures are messy. Teaching them the ups and downs of life are messy. Riley’s tantrums, Keagan’s sassyness and dyslexia, and both girls questions about their past, their future and life are all really messy! So pretty much all of it, all of the above and so much more, is really SO messy.
Living in the mess is not something that I consider myself to be very good at. I’m the girl who is dog tired doing the dishes because there is no way I’m falling asleep with dirty dishes in the sink. Or the mom who has said a million times “sure I will do that as soon as i clean the kitchen first.” So being ok with the messy is going to take some serious concerted effort. But it’s definitely worth the try! And the truth is I’ve been living amidst all the mess for a very long time and surviving just fine. So maybe it won’t be as hard as I think. Because thankfully I’ve got the best clean up partner in the Lord Himself. He has carried me thru a lot of messes in the past and passed me the cleaning tools I needed during others. With Him I know I can face messes from spilled Yogurt, poop in the bath tub (both happened yesterday) to massively destructive tornados which thankfully haven’t come in a while but could always be just around the corner. Regardless, I know He is there. He sees the messes coming, will prepare us and will help us muddle thru them. And that will make all the messy difference in the world!
So we’ve been making tons of messes since the last time I blogged! See even my blog is a mess. We have had serious amounts of play dates with friends as we have entered a new stage of life where Keagan and Riley beg for more time with their friends constantly. So thankfully I am good friends with most of their friends moms! My favorite recent play dates were a big group going to see “The Greatest Showman” together (best movie EVER) and a trip with the Lakes to see the animals at the FFA show! But we’ve had lots of other ones at home with pretending and giggling girls for hours.
The girls took a really fun sewing lesson from Carol and Maddie Ivey and made darling valentines dish rags! Keagan was really great using the sewing machine and Riley knew exactly what needed to be done when and even ironed all by herself! They both loved it!
Of course Riley had more doctors appointments, impressive bed head and lots of love and attention at school! Man I love that smiley diva!
And of course Keagan has entertained us all, worked hard at school, did lots of “experiments”, had her beautiful art work displayed in the Hall, and had a blast at tennis and play practice!
We’ve all had lots of fun at school with some seriously awesome Scottie’s!
And even better times out of school with so many people we love including being part of one seriously cute fan club for Coach’s last basketball game ever.
We’ve had lots of good quality time together with just the three of us too. We’ve sung at the top of our lungs to “the Greatest Showman” soundtrack in the car, had dance parties, did lots of reading, discovered a new love of chocolate chip pancakes and mommy may have even jammed her toe playing a very competitive game of red light/green light!
The girls talked me into wearing their Easter dresses to church super early and we had a power struggle over what we were going to wear on picture day and ended up at Target at their bedtime compromising on something. On both occasions that looked so stinkin cute! And as a bonus they matched and were not in T-shirt’s!
And picture day happened to also be Valentine’s Day! I got the sweetest homemade cards from the girls, which are my absolute favorite! And they got showered with gifts from me, Grama Linda, Sister Curtis, friends at school including an extra sweet gift for Riley from Alessandro and their traditional heart pizza from their dad!
So we’ve been busy, with all of this and so much more that I can’t even remember! And busy is definitely messy too! So we’ve come back to that and it’s time I just accept my messy life. The opposite of that option is perfect and orderly and although I like my kitchen and sometimes my schedule that way, that is definitely not us! Perfect and orderly sounds like boring and ordinary, nothing that the Kikuchi girls are! So let me embrace the mess, for amidst my mess is my beautiful life which doesn’t just need to be cleaned up but lived and loved. Only with His help do I think I can do that! And one day I will look back at the beautiful messy art we have created together. Although messy I’m sure that will be one glorious picture!
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