Kristin Hill Taylor

Seeking God as the Author of Every Story

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home & away

April 14, 2011 by Kristin Leave a Comment

I’m going away for the weekend. Without my kids. For the second time this month.

After this weekend, I will have spent more nights [four] away from my kids than I had previously [three] in Cate’s almost four years of life. Not that I’m keeping track. But I do think about it because it’s hard for me.

I want to put a disclaimer in here, now, that I realize every family, every mom, every kid is different. People have different needs. People have different ways of coping. People have different responsibilities and are blessed in different ways. So what I’m going to say about me may have absolutely nothing to do with you.

And that’s OK. We’ll still be friends.

I like to check on my kids before I go to bed. I’ve done it nearly every night for the 47 months Cate has been in our family. And I’ve done it for the almost 17 months Ben has been here. I plan to keep doing it for a long time.

Likewise, I like the couple hours Greg and I have without kids most evenings. We watch TV and movies. We play Words with Friends or whatever two-person game is our current addiction. Sometimes we have things to talk about. Sometimes he works and I fold laundry. But it’s a break from answering questions, changing diapers, filling a sippy cup with soy milk, explaining what we’re going to do next, reassembling a toy, reminding Ben not to climb there or stick his hand in the toilet, and asking Cate to remember Ben is smaller than she is.

The evenings on the couch with my husband are my time to be refreshed as a mom. Of course, I squeeze in time to read on the porch swing while they’re napping, texting and Facebooking my friends from the convenience of my iPhone, or meeting a friend and her kids for lunch during the day. Those are times of refreshment as well.

And every now and then I get to do something fun with just Greg. Like go to the Final Four. Or a baseball game. Or an amusement park. Maybe even dinner and a movie. And those times are sweet. And they’re good for my kids too because they need to know their Daddy and I love each other and value our marriage.

But I never want leaving my kids to be easy. I never want to want to leave them. I want to always want to be home.

With Greg.

With my kids.

Because this is where God called me to be, and it’s the hardest, most unpredictable, most rewarding place I’ve ever been.

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Filed Under: Ben, Cate, family, Greg, motherhood

Comments

  1. Life as I know it says

    April 16, 2011 at 8:02 pm

    I love hearing your heart in this post.

    Reply

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About Me

Telling stories is my therapy and I love sharing them with friends on my porch.

The main characters in my stories are my entrepreneur husband, our high school girl who never forgets, our middle school boy who has no fear, and our joy-filled first-grade girl. As we live out our stories, we seek God as the author of them all.

Learn more about my story here.

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🎶 All throughout my history / Your faithfulness 🎶 All throughout my history / Your faithfulness has walked beside me / The winter storms made way for spring / In every season, from where I'm standing / I see the evidence of Your goodness / All over my life … 🎶 @joshbaldwin in “Evidence”

I love summer. But my summer has started off busy: appointments, book edits deadline, establish new habits with the kids at home. All that’s necessary and good, it just cuts into my down time beside the pool. 

Today we have two open gyms for our basketball players, my book study with a few friends, a new weekly high school girls’ book study at our house, and a monthly dad-son character study. 

I long for a little more white space on the calendar, but I also wouldn’t change a thing because the kids are only 16, 13, and 7 once. This summer will only be this summer once. And I’ve already learned time flies with big kids. 

So here we are finding out footing, singing praises with church friends on our porch, grilling delicious chicken, and squeezing in the wide-open spaces when we can. This is evidence of the good stuff. 

#84daysofsummer #poolpeople #momlife #momconfessions #faithlife #livingfaithfully #favoritethings #choosingJOY #countryliving #reallife #PorchStories
The Hill family reunion at @shelterpointretreat ha The Hill family reunion at @shelterpointretreat has become a favorite tradition to kick off summer! The weather was perfect and everyone enjoyed one another. 

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Hello, #84daysofsummer! ☀️ #TeamTaylor #girl Hello, #84daysofsummer! ☀️ 

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But this made me wonder: how do we know if a book is going to be weird, contain elements we don’t like, or go places that don’t make sense? I don’t like to read much about a book before I read the book. Usually, I do a better job of picking books for myself. 

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I needed this low-key weekend that was pleasant we I needed this low-key weekend that was pleasant weather, a mixture of productivity and rest, and had plenty of wide-open space to enjoy our property and each other. 

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And that’s a wrap on soccer season! I love watch And that’s a wrap on soccer season! I love watching them both play. 

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On Mothers Day, I wanted to sit by the pool with a On Mothers Day, I wanted to sit by the pool with a book, but I didn’t know what I wanted to read. Whenever I have indecision about books, picking up a thriller usually helps because of the story’s pace. 

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“The moments you collect may not be loud or flashy. They might be quiet or covered or a far-off view you were lucky to catch. But this I know to be true: A moment savored says to your soul, ‘You have lived something beautiful.’ And it keeps you buoyed. It sustains you when you’re running empty. It lifts you up and carries you forward.” — Joanna Gaines in @magnolia summer 2023 journal issue no. 27 

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I’ve read quite a few World War II novels, but t I’ve read quite a few World War II novels, but this one by Soraya M. Lane focused on three nurses, their friendships, and how the war changed their lives. It’s a hard story, but it’s full of love and hope despite the destruction around them. 

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