Soft Place to Land

(This is my girth... a self-portrait if you will.)

Yesterday afternoon, I was recovering from church in my nice cool room and Oliver traipsed in. For SOME reason, Oliver firmly believes in napping every single day of the week except Sundays.

Sundays are hard. I'm in the nursery at church, so I spend 2 hours wrangling a dozen babies ages 18 months- 3 years, and then an additional hour and ten minutes (WHY!? WHY MUST WE HAVE AN EXTRA TEN MINUTES???) wrangling my own children. (At least Derek helps.)

So, by the time we stumble home, I'm pretty much DONE.

On goes a movie, and I head to my bed. I can't sleep ever, napping alludes me, but rest, oh sweet rest I can accomplish.

Anyway, so I was lounging and in came Mr. O. He had all sorts of things to discuss. 
(This is Oliver, hiding from my camera phone!)

And we discussed them.

Then Ez woke up and joined the party. 

(This is Ezra, shirtless. It's HOT.)

It was nice. It was slow and comfortable and thanks to my husband's diligence at shopping the classifieds, nice and cool from the window A/C cranking.

It's been on my mind a lot... am I available to these little people? I must keep the household running. I must continually clean, cook, educate, etc. but am I here? Presently?

The term "Soft place to land" has been floating in my head.

Sometimes, I fail at this endeavor, being their "soft place." I'm not perfectly patient, or completely selfless.

Am I their "soft place to land"? Even now, as little as their are, they tend to need validation, comfort and love. I want them to know that I (and their daddy) are that place.

As they grow, I want to that to continue. They will not always climb into my lap, cry and need kissing, but my goal is to always be their "soft place." They know I'm here, I'm their confidant, their safety net.

Truthfully, I have NO idea how to accomplish this, especially in a world so full of... others and their influences. I suppose I'll learn as they grow.

Let's hope it works. :)