I've just received my "The Story of Us" journal back from the printer. After using it for several months, the changes I needed to make became clear to me.

"The Story of Us" a family memoir journal.

Nothing is more important to me than my family. I want my kids to know they are loved as they are, they are enough right now and will always be enough to me, and that they belong to me and our family. Owning our imperfect story & celebrating it, is one way I show my love to them.

There are so many crazy things happen in a day. Some ordinary, some mundane, some worth telling all of your friends. The thing they all have in common, these moments, is that they'll be forgotten if I don't write them down. I believe our story and what makes us who we are is more about the in between moments that the momentous moments. If we can find the beauty in those... Our days become about what is good. Our stories are worth writing down and passing down to our kids.

Example: On a very standard Thursday morning we were driving to school (about a 5 minute trip). Between the Dairy Queen & the stoplight and Lucy remembers it's Thursday and today is "Give me a clue" (show & tell). Very quickly in the 3 minutes between where we are and when the stoplight turns green we start shuffling. What's the letter? What do we have in the van? A pouch... no no no... a ping pong paddle (probably the worst letter p item in the van) where's a pen (letter p anyone?) and I grab one of my postcards (another good option)

I find the pen, ask Lucy & Anthony for clue ideas, write them down all before the light... thankfully I'm sitting next to a reusable bag.... he practices, (another p word), we pull up to school!!! Ping pong paddle in the bag, out the door, off to school! I felt triumphant. We totally kicked A$%!!! This story is so telling of our disorganized discombobulated life right now. It's crazy, but full of love, and I want to remember it. This journal is my place to write it down.

If you're interested in keeping your family's memories this is a wonderful place to start!

Ok!! back to the grind! My open house is Thursday! SO much to do!

Thank you for reading!

Mandy Benoit

Maker Monday: 2nd Edition The Story of us Journal