Being a mom certainly makes me appreciate other moms out there... especially my own mom. Not just because Grandma is a great babysitter but because I now realize how much she sacrificed by being my mom.
Let's talk about how wonderful it is to have your life totally consumed by mini-humans. You do the cooking, the serving, the feeding, the shopping, the cleaning, the laundering, the bathing, the scheduling, the driving, the entertaining, the reading, and the teaching. To name a few of the job duties. These are all wonderful things to do. Wonderful, wonderful things. But they are time-consuming things.
How did my mom, or any mom--past, present, or future, have time to, I don't know, write a thank you note?!?? I barely have time to brush my teeth, so how do I put pen to paper in a thoughtful way to thank those who have been so helpful or giving to us? Well, I'll tell you... 1) It's by the grace of God and 2) It. Takes. Days. Several starts and stops during a period of
days.
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| My tiny army |
As a mom to this "tiny army that I created myself" (thank you, Jen Hatmaker, for that painfully accurate description), I have some daily decisions to make. During nap time, should I, a) clean up the whole house because
uninterrupted cleaning, hello? b) take a shower because umm... I can't remember if it has been one day or two or three since I last showered? or c) also take a nap? Yup, also take a nap usually wins.
My mom has told me that when I was a little girl I did not take naps. I never thought about how challenging that could have been until now. She said sometimes she would lock us both in the bedroom and let me run around while she "napped" on the bed. A mom will always improvise. I believe it. I would do it. I may have already done this.
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| What an absolute contrast to when they are awake |
Scripture from Romans puts it all in perspective: "... we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit..." So these wonderful, time-consuming things that we do for the mini-humans in our life is really God's love poured out. Now, isn't that the truth?
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| The sunny view outside my kitchen door... |
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| ...compared to what awaits inside my kitchen. |
You are doing a great job! It is so hard, especially at these ages. Once they can play together, it's a tiny bit easier and then that's when you clean. Then they come destroy what you've cleaned. It feels thankless most of the time.
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