Dear kids,

My hope is that when you are an adult, remembering your childhood, unpacking it with your adult eyes, rethinking all that you experienced, you’ll come to understand so much more than what was on the surface. 

You’ll know there was a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, but you’ll remember a unique season of exploration, adventure, discovery, deep relationship, and family intimacy.  You’ll know there was less-than-perfect homeschool, but you’ll remember seeing our country’s most beautiful places, hearing our history of strife and reconciliation, reading books that enchanted you, studying nature more intimately. 

You’ll know of a small home, living in less, maybe even not having space for things you wanted. But you’ll remember snuggling in a bed with your siblings, playing board games around the small table on a rainy day, and having the enormity of the world around you at your fingertips. You’ll remember the visits with family and friends, parked in driveways, shared toys, shared hikes and experiences, fish caught together, shells found together, kindness given and received. 

My hope, kiddos, is that this will change us all. We will work through hard things together. We will forgive together. We will play together. We will explore, give up, rise again, and relax together. We will have deep respect for our land, our trees, our waters because we’ve seen its power, know it’s goodness. We’ve lived its seasons and can be grateful for the changing tides. We will see the world from others’ perspectives, believe in justice for all, and follow or fight for brothers and sisters. We will trust our instincts and guts more than looking side to side at others. We’ll believe in ourselves, prioritize motivations that bring deep satisfaction, not settle for status quo, and trust we have what we need. 

And most of all kiddos, I want you to remember how you came to know your Maker better. That all this wildness, all this becoming, all the conflict that can freely happen because grace goes before, surrounds, and follows. This Maker is an author, a storyteller, an artist, that also knows every hair on your head. No challenge will ever be too great for you. No frustration ever without purpose. You will feel deficient but your strength will come from lying prostrate. And through this posture you will know joy, redemption, and hope. And hope never fails. And as you learn this for yourself, know it more deeply, your trust will increase. And you will live boldly, creatively, and true to yourself because of a confidence that won’t come from you.

So I leave you this set of pictures and stories to trigger those memories, see them in a new light, nestle in to trust what we got to do together, and celebrate all that was redeemed, all that it was.