Retreat House MN

There are two questions I get about Retreat House:
1. How did you get here?
2.What is it?
Let me answer the first question here.

How did I get here?

You know, I have been asking myself this question for a couple of months. Trying to think back and figure out where this all started. I've even gone as far back as my freshman Social Studies class. Oh, I just lost some of you didn't I? I just had a flashback to Exposition of Genesis when we spend 6 weeks on 1-2. Not the chapters. We spent 6 weeks on Genesis 1:1-2. Seriously. Anyway, I'm not going to go into that kind of detail.

For more than a decade, I have had an idea in the back of my head. Wouldn't it be great to open a coffee shop/café that would be a community gathering place. You know the kind of place where the old men go to have coffee in the morning. A place where groups could meet for Bible study, team building or just catching up with each other. This idea of creating space for people to come and expecting God to come and move.

But let me start few years ago when I attended a leadership retreat. We were studying Luke 13 where Jesus heals the bent over women. What I had never noticed is that it doesn't tell us she pursued Jesus.

He saw her. HE saw her.

She wasn't invisible to Jesus. I'm not invisible to Jesus. I didn't even realize until that moment that I had felt invisible. I felt like I could drift away and no one would ever notice I was gone or that I had been there at all. At the end of the retreat, we were all to write a letter to ourselves that the speaker would mail to us at a later date. I cried when I wrote it. I cried when I received in the mail. I even cried again today when I read it.

Dear Angela, beloved one of God,

Remember how the Lord met you at this retreat. Even though you tried your best to hide, he still found you bent over [hiding] in your tent. He poked in His head and said, "My dear, dear daughter. I found you. I see you. You are not invisible!

Remember my love for you is like a hurricane, you are a tree. Bending under the wave of my wind, love and mercy. Believe me when I say that I will lead you with my hand. Accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.

It's okay to hang exposed. I already know all of who you [are] and I love you. Come, sit with me. Sit knee to knee, toe to toe, brow to brow. Let me look into you. More importantly look at how you are in my eyes. My wonderfully made daughter, I have very special plans for us. I will be glorified and you will be blessed.

Remember who I am

Remember who and whose you are.

First let me apologize for the Crower Band song quote. That was the first time I had heard that song and it was so impactful to me. That part made me cry because it sounds so cheesy! But on with the story...

That weekend started me on a journey of seeing myself, allowing myself to be seen, and living in surrender to whatever God has for my life.

The speaker from the retreat  agreed to meet with me and we began a mentoring relationship. Among other ways she has spoken into my life, she encouraged me to read Radical Hospitality. Hospitality is second nature to me. My mom was the "hostess with the mostess". But this book looked at hospitality in a different way. This book talks of Benedictine hospitality. It's about much more than serving coffee. It's about welcoming the stranger. It's about recognizing the image of God in another person.

More recently, God has used IF:Gathering to wreck me (in all the best ways) and the Lead Stories podcast to make me uncomfortable in the status quo of my life.

Before I attended IF in 2015, a burden for my neighbors began to weigh heavy on my heart. I desired to make space for my neighbors to come. To come for coffee with neighbors and conversation, but I also wanted to make space for God to lead and guide conversations. I didn't have anything formal planned. I didn't have any expectations, beyond that I expected God to come and move, rather I didn't have any expectations of my neighbors. At the end of IF, we were to write our next steps on a stone and pile it on the Ebenezer in the front of the venue. Mine said, "IF:Coffee". IF has IF:Table where you invite neighbors for a meal and conversation, but God reconfirmed my coffee with neighbors. When I returned home, I continued to host them and other neighbors even hosted a couple. My desire to create space for God to move continued.

In the time leading up to IF in 2016, I was beginning to realize I had myself shut up. I wasn't allowing anyone in. Mostly, I wasn't allowing my husband in. I wasn't allowing myself to be seen by him. I wasn't allowing myself to be loved by him. I was holding him at arms length. During IF that year, I realized not only was I not allowing myself to be seen by my husband, I wasn't allowing myself to be seen by God (which is ridiculous that I think I can hide from him) or others. As I peeled back my reasons of why I wasn't allowing myself to be seen, I realized it's because I was afraid. I was afraid of truly being seen, of being exposed. More specifically, I was afraid of being exposed as a phony. It wasn't as though I was going around telling lies about myself, but I was afraid if people were to see me, all of me, they would see something ugly inside that I (unconsciously) work so hard to hide. There was a tension. I realized we all want to be seen, but we don't want to be exposed. I guess I feared not being welcomed. I feared I wouldn't receive grace (I need so much grace). At the end of the conference that year, we were to write on a domino what we sensed God was leading us to do. The idea was that if we all did what was written on our domino, we would fall into the next person and there would be a domino effect of people obeying where God was leading. I wrote one word: SEEN. I was going to allow myself to be seen AND I was going see others.

During 2016 I was also listening to the Lead Stories Podcast. The hosts define leaders as anyone who has influence. They've shared their experiences in leadership and interviewed many people over the year. People who had taken steps in their lives. Small steps of obedience that have led them to serve God in a variety of ways. One interview in particular has come back to me several times over the year. They interviewed Gwen Adams who works with an organization called Priceless Alaska. She shared the story about how their organization started. There were a group of woman who wanted to help fight human trafficking in Alaska.

So they began to pray. And pray. And pray.

They prayed for nine months for God to lead them to where they could be involved in the fight. When he finally revealed how they could be involved, the timing was perfect. (You'll have to listen to the podcast for the rest of the story.) This and a other stories like it gave me confidence that as I seek God he will direct my small steps and direct them in His (perfect) timing.

This all sounds very clean and clear as I tell it now, but there were countless places I saw God working and tried to jump in and be a part of it. Each time I was pushed out. It was as though what God was doing was a river flowing. I kept jumping in the river, wanting to go where God was going, but I kept getting thrown out. Finally in frustration I shared my river analogy with someone. She reflected back to me that maybe I was trying to get in the wrong river. Just like large rivers have smaller rivers that feed into them, maybe there's a different small river I was supposed to get into. A small river that still flowed into the large river of what God was doing, but different than where I was trying to jump in.... As she spoke, her words resonated with my soul. I took time with God to pray and seek His wisdom and direction about this other river. One thing was clear. I needed to be still and know He is God.

Another bit of wisdom I heard was from Andy Stanley in his Leadership Podcast on Visioneering. He shared that he gets so many ideas for new ministries, etc, that sometimes he just needs to sit on them for about a month to see if he's still as excited about it when it first came to him. I think part of my problem was that I had been frantic, running after every idea I had or every place I saw God moving.

So I took time to breathe. I took time to just be. If you know me, I am a doer. I've often said that if someone could just tell me what I need to "do" to just "be", that would be great. But more than anything, I wanted to be obedient.

Then a local retreat space closed their physical space. It was such a loss for me personally. As word got round that they closed, I heard from others what a loss it was for them. Then there was a nudge that I could run a place like that. Okay. There's a nudge. I'm not going to jump in the river, I'm going to sit on it, keep it to myself for awhile. I went ahead and ordered Starting a Small Business for Dummies. I didn't think it would hurt to educate myself. Especially since I have never run a business and thought I never would. When I absent-mindedly left the book on the dining room table, my husband picked it up and asked if there was something we should talk about. I told him not yet.

Shortly after, I had lunch with a friend who, since graduating from seminary, hadn't found the right fit. I kept thinking about all the ways she's gifted and all the people I know who are gifted in different areas that would make for great sessions at a retreat house.

I should fast, I thought. I have lots-o-issues with food, so I went to two other things I spend a lot of time doing: Facebook and all things British. I decided to fast from them for a week and spend that time educating myself about starting a business and praying for God's wisdom and clarity.

By the end of the week, I knew I needed to talk to two people. I needed to talk to the owner of the retreat space that closed and my lunch friend.

To my astonishment, the owner agreed to meet with me. I had requested to know all the eyes wide open things about owning/running a retreat space. I got what I asked for. She told me all the things she wished she would have known before starting hers. She also warned me that had she known these things, she may not have done it. I assured her that those were exactly the kinds of things I wanted/needed to hear. For the next 45 minutes we talked about zoning, liability insurance, gathering a board, etc. It should have been the most discouraging, disappointing conversation. But I was not deterred. In my marrow I know that if this is God's thing, then he'll clear the obstacles (in his timing). If he doesn't remove the obstacles, I know I'm being obedient and that's what this is about, not the end result.

The next day I had lunch with my friend. My expectation was that I would share this vision/idea with her and give her time to think, pray and seek God about whether or not she wanted to be involved. We met at 11:30am and didn't leave the table until 2:30pm. We had a name and I was to go home and purchase our domain name and social media handles.

It's been a bit of a blur since then, but now we're busy preparing our business plan.

That is how I got here...

Anything? Even the Small Call?

The word anything has been very popular lately in the circles I find myself. I believe a lot of it has to do with Jennie Allen's book Anything. I have to admit I haven't yet read the book. However, I have attended the last two IF:Gatherings and have come away with what I believe the book is nudging us to do, live a life of surrender to God and what he has for my life.

Something you have to understand about me is I like attention. I'm the youngest in my family and have some of the common youngest personality traits; I'm good at avoiding work and I like attention. If you ask my sisters, they'll back this up. Goodness, my name plate at work says my title is Superstar Diva of Calvary the Musical.

So when I have prayed and surrendered, I fully expected that I was going to get a Jennie Allen type of call on my life. I fully thought the vision or call I sensed a couple decades earlier when I was watching Lucy Swindoll at Women of Faith would come to be. As I watched Lucy on the stage I felt God was telling me that was what he had for me, but there was more life for me to live first. Of course in my early twenty-something confidence I didn't want to wait, didn't understand what I could learn that I didn't already know. I was ready to go. Bring it on I told God. Oh my goodness. It's a good thing I didn't realize then all I needed (still need) to learn.

This time my surrender didn't come quick, but it did eventually come. Being in my early forties, I'm so aware of all I don't know. Fear, insecurity and laziness kept me from surrendering in the beginning, but those things began to be put aside and I stood surrendered.

Ok God, bring it. I'm ready. It was much like standing at the bank of a river. The river of what God is doing is flowing by me. I want to jump in, but I keep getting thrown back onto shore. It's like the Lego video games when you turn on invincibility. You try to jump off a cliff, building or into a river, but your little Lego person keeps getting spit back out. What was I supposed to do?

God began to burden my heart for victims of human trafficking. For whatever reason, Duluth was on my heart. I live in the Twin Cities and it would have been much more convenient to be burdened for here, but no it was Duluth. I even discovered a great ministry there, Life House. I stopped into the office and contacted them twice about wanting to get involved. No response came. I was thrown back onto the shore.

When I heard of two children in foster care that we have a connection to, I thought this could be it. This could be what God is calling me to do. This call had a built in confirmer. If God was really leading me in this direction, he'd need to change my husband's heart. He didn't. Thrown back on shore again.

It has been agonizing. My heart is broken for the broken people in this world. I'm at a point when I'm ready to get my hands dirty, ready to get into the trenches, ready to get uncomfortable, but I keep getting thrown out of the river. Where is this big call Lord? I'm here. I'm surrendering. I want to serve, but each time I jump in the river I get thrown back out.

A few months back I had a chance to attend a live taping of the Lead Stories podcast (it's a great podcast, you should check it out). Those of us in the audience were given a chance to ask questions. I got up and gave my river analogy. Then one of the hosts said something that was so clearly for me. She talked about how sometimes there are several small rivers that flow into larger rivers. Maybe (she told me to pray about this and I did) I was trying to get into the wrong small river. Maybe there is a different place God has for me to launch.

Her words were reassuring and confirming of what I had been experiencing with God. Is my call really not the big call river? Is my call the small call river?

Does my call not include being on stage? It doesn't seem to be that right now.
Does my call not include being a writer? Well it couldn't because I only have fractions of or pieces of books written. So it doesn't seem to be that right now.

Does my call include loving and serving my neighbors? Yes

Does my call include loving and serving my family? Yes

Does my call include serving and supporting those with "big calls" on their life? Yes

Does my call include loving and serving my husband and children when they are driving me crazy? Yes

Does it include staying in my job at my church even when I don't think I can take seeing the underbelly (that every church has-come on, it's full of humans) of it anymore? Yes

This so called small call starts to not feel very small. It starts to feel monotonous, mundane. It feels like only by the grace of God will I get through this day kind of call.

But this is where I'm called. This is where I'm called to love, serve and support. It's not always an easy call and I'm not going to lie, I still secretly hope for a big call, but here I am. I've made it to a different small river, a river that feels even smaller then the other small river, but you know what? I'm still part of what God is doing. This smaller than small river is about what God us doing and not about the size of a call or about me. It's about living for the one who loves me and gave himself for me. Today that is enough.

Process Through Grief

Usually I love the On This Day app on Facebook. It's so fun to see what I posted in past years. It's been great to see posts I made about fun things my boys did when they were younger (and to get them in their baby books. That's something I could quite get done while chasing them around the house).

This week has been different.
This week has been a reminder of my mom's last week with us.

August 2, 2009
God hath not promised skies always blue, Flower-strewn pathways all our lives through; God hath not promised sun without rain, Joy without sorrow, peace without pain. BUT God hath promised strength for the day, Rest for the labor, light for the way, Grace

August 3, 2009
When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows rolls. What ever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, "It is well, It is well with my soul"...Easier said than done, but I'm trying.

August 4, 2009
Mom has taken a turn. The Hospice nurse thinks it'll be days. Thank you so much for all your prayers. They are carrying us through.


When I made these posts, I didn't know she would go so soon.
I didn't know this posts would follow.

August 6, 2009
Carole C. Schrade passed away peacefully yesterday (8/5/09) morning. She was surrounded by family...

When today's On This Day came up I thought it was interesting to see my process through grief.

August 5, 2010
Breckenridge Orchestra salute to Rodgers & Hammerstein has been a great (& tearful) way to remember my mom.

August 5, 2011
thinking about my mom. can't believe it's been two years.

August 5, 2012
Silence

August 5, 2013
Four years ago today my mom lost her battle with cancer. It is, of course, not the outcome I would have chosen. However, I'm amazed at all I've learned about my mom and myself in these four years. I've also experience relationship with the Lord in unimaginable intimate ways. So, even though I wouldn't have chosen it, I'm thankful for what I've learned from it.

August 5, 2014
All things work for good...

August 5, 2015
Six years ago today my mom lost her battle with uterine cancer.
Six years ago she received the most amazing healing of heaven.
I miss her everyday, but have found these two things to be thankful for:
1. Grieving my mom's death was hard because I had a good relationship with her. I didn't have to grieve for things left unsaid or unsettled.
2. In the process of my grief, I have come to know the Lord so intimately. In those early days of grief when the pain was raw, He showed himself in a thousand ways. He took, still takes, each step with me. I can say from deep within my soul, "the Lord is good".

It took me two years to begin to feel like myself again.
It took four year before I began to come to terms with my loss.

The latest lesson I've learned is recognizing grief when it comes and allowing myself to go through it. I haven't had another loss like my mom dying (thank God), but when friends move to the other end of the country, when co workers move on to different opportunities, even when I'm not able to make it to a party where I know all my friends will be. I allow myself to grieve.

Grief has been a companion for many years. I fought against her company, but I have come to accept she's always with me.

I can honestly say thankful for what she's taught me about myself and my God.

So I will share this on Facebook and next year when On This Day shows me this post, I will be reminded. I will be reminded of my process through grief.

I see you

Six months ago I took this picture.

Six months ago I made a commitment. I made commitment to let myself to be seen

really seen

Six months ago I made a commitment to see others. To say to them in either word or deed,

I see you.

I see you.

I gotta be honest with you. It's not been easy. I still have many days of hiding myself, making myself invisible, not letting myself be seen.

What I've noticed lately is how little I really see others around me.

During a conversation with a friend about the homeless, those begging for help. I heard myself say I heard myself reveal the darkness in my heart

Oh, I don't really see them. I don't see them.

Oh the darkness in my heart.

Today was a different kind of day.

Maybe it was grace.

Maybe it was the feeling of swimming in a familiar lake of grief,

marinating in my sadness and loss.

Today was a different kind of day.

Distracted by my self, my loss, my grief, my stress, my schedule I found myself not realizing the drive thru line had moved forward. The rumble and rev of the engine behind me jolted me back into the reality I was desperately trying to avoid, to escape. As I glanced into my rearview mirror, I saw their faces, hanging low. They looked tired, worn out. Heads hanging at the end of bent necks.

Pay for their order a familiar whisper came to me. My heart began to pound.

Pay for their order the whisper nudged. I'm learning to be obedient to the familiar whisper. The more I turn my ear to it, the more I hear it. The more I obey it, the easier it's become to recognize.

$7.18

Their order was $7.18. I rushed to the next window to claim my order and make an attempt to disappear before they realized, before they understood what's happened.

As I glanced again in the rearview mirror, I saw hands and arms reaching and waving thank you. The bright sun hid their faces, hid the heads that had hung low.

I made my way to the stoplight thinking it was done, but then I heard the rumble and rev of the engine again as they pulled along side me.

Windows down so I could hear, so I could see.

Heads that had hung low from bent necks were now held high.

At the end of extended arms were cups held high.

Smiles so bright.

So much joy.

Wet joy and thanksgiving began to pour from my eyes.

I got to be apart of this. I was seen and nudged to act.

I saw them.

I saw them.

What if you did that? What if everyday by word or deed you let someone know

I see you.

Isn't that what everyone is searching for?

To be seen.

To be seen for who they are

Not for their job, their gender or their skin

But for who they are

What if you stopped and let someone know

I see you.

Experiment in trust & obedience

In Februrary of this year I attended IF:Gathering in Austin, TX. It was two days of seeking God and beginning to discern how he wanted me to take the land as Joshua had. It the end of weekend we made our own ebeneezer, our own reminder of how God moved...and did he move.

IF exists to gather, equip and unleash women to the local church and communities. 

 

When I received my stone, I wrote IF:Coffee on it. Somewhat like IF:Table, I had started to invite the women of my neighborhood over for coffee. My intention was for us to get to know each other better and to create space for the Lord to move. I also thought I was supposed to host an IF:Local the following year. 
 

Oh me of little faith and puny plans.

While I was on the right path, I had no idea what God was going to do next.
 

In March, it was time again for Set Apart. This year I had the privilege to host one of our Keynote Speakers. She and a team had put together a travelling conference for women. You book them and they do the rest. As I was telling a friend at my church about the travelling conference, she asked if we were going to bring it to our church. I looked into having them come, but felt led in another direction. 

Why bring someone in? There are women at our church who can teach, who have stories to share, who can lead worship. I spent time in God's presence. If he was leading me to do an event like this, I wanted to be sure I heard right. My desire was for him to lead, for him to prompt each step. I thought I would make it an experiment in obedience and trust.

Gather the women from both campuses together.

My church has two campuses, but we are "one church". This is all kinds of complicated. Not only are there two campuses, but even more cultures. The Lord was leading me to an event where we would bring women from both campuses, from the different cultures together.

I decided to step out in faith.

To test the waters, I started to explain the vision for the event to friends at church. That I was feeling led to bring all the women together, to make space for the Holy Spirit to move, to kick-off our year.

Women caught the vision.

Next thing I knew we had a team of women who wanted to serve, who wanted to help make the vision a reality. IF had made such an impact on me. It was done so well and every piece was intentional. We decided to adopt the format of IF:Gathering for our gathering.

At our first meeting we talked about what our focus was going to be at the event. It quickly came and was agreed that we would focus on our identity in Christ.

In Christ, I am quickly became our focus. We decided to focus on Jesus Sees You (Luke 13:10-17) and You Have Value (Mark 5:21-43) for each session of the event.

In keeping with IF's format, we wanted to find women to teach, lead worship and share their stories of how God has moved in their lives. Finding teachers and worship leaders was a cinch. Finding women who don't usually find themselves speaking, much less sharing about themselves, in front of a large group of women proved to be more difficult. It wasn't until days before the event (literally three days) before we had all the women placed.

As you know, Attempting to Lose Control has been an anthem for me for the last few years. In this I really desired to walk by faith, to let the Holy Spirit lead. As we got closer to the event and still didn't have our story sharing women placed, I kept thinking of a woman from the Set Apart conference. She coordinates volunteers and as we get close to the event, she always says, "Lord, this is your problem. I've done all I can do. You know where the holes are, you need to bring the women to fill them." It became my prayer.

Lord, you know where our holes are. You know who you want to have share. I put it in your hands.

To be honest, there were several times during the last few weeks that I thought I was going to throw up because of nerves. I kept clinging, kept turning back to the Lord, but still very often felt a bit nauseous. The day of the event finally came.

I was at peace.

I WAS AT PEACE!

It was almost an unsettling peace. I wasn't worried or fretting about anything, which made me feel like I should worry and fret.

Go figure.

Finally the evening came. I'm not sure if I can even yet put it into words. He showed up.

He showed up!

The Lord came. There was a beautiful hum of conversation and laughter.

Then came the holy.

I wanted to take off my shoes. 

I thought of Mary. Don't get me wrong, I know I did not just give birth to the savior, but I couldn't help but think of Mary in the stable.

Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. Luke 2:19

The Lord had just allowed her to play a part in His plan, in what He was doing. She did her part, then she sat back and watch the Lord move again.

That's what I did. I had done my part (which mostly consisted of getting out of the way) and sat back and watched the Lord move again. 

He let me play a part. He let this controlling, striving woman play a part in what he was doing. 

The more I gave up control. 

The more I gave up striving. 

The more I stepped aside.

The more the Lord stepped in.

The experiment worked.

The Play is the Thing

The play is the thing. I don't know how many times I heard my theater director say that. Our focus, everything we do should be about the play because the play is the thing. When we're on stage and become self-conscience, we are no longer about the play. We are about ourselves. Everything needs to work toward the telling of the story of the play. The textures and cuts of the fabric are only important when they point toward the play. The mood set by the lighting should contribute to the telling of the story. The set should not distract from the story, but help tell the story because

the play is the thing

This all came back to me a few months ago. I was preparing to speak in front of a large group, of women. As I stood in front of the mirror that morning, I became increasingly insecure. I couldn't figure out why I felt that way. The day before I was speaking in front of these women. Why was I struggling today? It reminded me of a story Staci Eldridge told in her book Captivating. She and her husband, John, were on their way to an event. Staci found herself pulling down the visor, checking her lipstick and the applying more. She did this over and over. "What was I doing?" she asked herself. "I was afraid. At least if my makeup looks good, something deep inside me reasoned, maybe I won't be exposed. Found out. Seen." That was my fear. I was afraid of being exposed. That the shortcomings I try to keep hidden deep inside would be seen.

The play is the thing.

The Kingdom of God is the thing.

My focus was all on me. How I looked. What people would think of me. I wasn't about the Kingdom of God. I was about me.

There came a familiar prompting deep within my soul. Tell the women about your fear.

I'm sorry, what now Lord? Surely you don't mean I should stand in front of those women and actually tell them I'm afraid?!

Tell the women about your fear.

Obedience is something I've been attempting to practice lately. When God prompts, I (try to) obey.

Yes, Lord.

Tell the women about your fear. Tell them My kingdom is the thing.

Yes Lord.

So there I stood on stage doing my thing. In the end I could not not obey.

I told the women things were about to get real (I'm such a dork. things are about to get real? Who says that?!)

There I stood on stage in front of all 600 of them. 

I told them about getting ready.

I told them the play is the thing, the Kingdom of God is the thing.

Then I confesses that I was afraid. 

I confessed that I was making it about me. 

I confessed it needed to be about God.

Set yourself aside today. Let God draw close and show you what he has for you.

Obedence. It was my way of getting out of the way and letting 

the play be the thing, better yet letting

the Kingdom of God be the thing.

Mundane to Marvelous

Tonight I had the privilege of celebrating the coming of a new life. As the mother and father to be opened gifts, the giver of the gift would give a word of advice or a story of experience.

Don't feel bad to let the baby cry

Train the baby up in the ways of the Lord

Cherish the day to day

Take care of yourself so you can take care of the baby.

It was a beautiful night for celebrating a beautiful new family.


As I drove home, I thought about being a parent. If you know my story, you know that we worked and fought to bare our own children. For some reason, the Lord trusted two beautiful boys to us. Though they are years away from the baby stage, I let my mind drift back to the memories of them when they were born.

Both six weeks early

Both times I had to leave the hospital empty

Both spent time in the NICU

Both are now healthy...you'd never know they were preemies.

It was when our first was just over one. We were playing in the backyard when he got a curious look on his face.

He looked left.

He looked right.

Then he looked up.

A plane was flying overhead, leaving a streak across the sky. He raised his chubby little finger and began to grunt. He marveled at the plane flying overhead.

To me the sound of the plane engines were white noise. I'd seen and heard thousands of planes. It was mundane. In that moment I realized I get to rediscover the whole world through the eyes of my child, my children. What had grown to be mundane in my life suddenly because amazing and marvelous. That is one of the best gifts about raising a child.

It can turn the mundane to marvelous