Great article on motherhood!

I read a wonderful article on mothering and Christmas on John Piper's blog, www.desiringgod.org. It is written by Rachel Jankovic who writes one of my favorite books, Learning to Love the Little Years.

If you know me, you know how imperfect I am and how I do not desire to pretend to be someone that I am not. When you read my blog, I hope that you see my imperfections and my flaws, but I also hope that you see my heart. I am human after all! I desire to be what God has called me to be and strive every day to live a life that reflects the glory of Christ. That means I strive to reflect Christ in even my parenting. However, there are many days where I lose my cool and have to bend down and ask forgiveness from my kids and my husband. With that said, I hope that I'm not one of those bloggers who appear to have the perfect family where everything goes perfectly and where I make my readers feel like they just haven't gotten the hang of this thing called motherhood. If I've done that, then I'm incredibly sorry! I'm still learning and figuring it out and making mistakes and probably always will. I'm learning how to be more flexible and not so hard on myself and to let go of that thing we call "mommy guilt" that is often used to make us feel like everyone else has it more together than we do. In fact, the one I struggled with was the feeling that several people I know seem to have their house spotless, watch their kids, have dinner on the table by a certain time, sew, read, blog, and homeschool (along with all that each of those entails), and play with their children. I'm so thankful for my mentor because she pointed out that that's probably what certain people want us to view them as and behind the scenes, they are probably just as frazzled. But letting go of what you think you should be and your idea of what motherhood was supposed to be can be hard, especially when there's not really an immediate reward or acknowledgement from it.

Anyway, read this article if you get a chance. It's very encouraging! Check out her book, too. The article is Of Kids and Christmas.

What I learned on the farm

I blogged about our camping trip, but I didn't blog about what I did after the camping trip.  The kids and I went to the farm and stayed with my parents.  It was nice and relaxing and I had fun playing with the kids and running with them and playing ball with them.  Those are all things that I suddenly become too busy to do when I come home, although I have changed that as much as I can over the past 2 weeks.

You see, my dad is the most patient person I know.  Let me clarify: yes, he can be pushed over the edge, but when he knows in your heart that you want to do something, he supports you and tries to help you learn or understand.  Case in point: On Friday night, Pop told B that they were going to have to eat a big breakfast the next morning because they were going to be going to do some hard work the next day.  The water trough had a leak in it so Pop was going to take B with him to fix it.  Pop easily could have had us watch B until he was done (which I would have done because it would have been much faster).  However, he let B tag along, which B loved, and Pop showed him what he was doing and talked about it.  Pop was so patient with B and when I went out to check on them and to bring B his brown bag lunch (which he was delighted with), I could tell he was having a blast.  He thought he was so big. 

Just watching Pop interact with B in this way reminded me that sometimes (and probably MOST of the time) it is so important that B works WITH me even if it does take a whole day to do things.  I know they say that you enjoy your grandchildren more because you've learned by then what is truly important.  However, I don't want to enjoy my grandchildren more.  I want to enjoy my own children right now.  I'm so thankful for a godly father who demonstrates godly characteristics to me.  He knew I was watching when I was little, but I don't know if he realizes that I'm still watching him today and learning from him.  Thank you Pop for your example in my life and in the lives of your grandchildren.

Side note: we completed this day with a ride on the trailer to check on the cows and to go see the horse and mule.  Baby M and B took turns riding with Pop on the big tractor while Mama and I rode in the trailer with whichever child wasn't driving.  It's really difficult to say which of the kids love the farm more!

Refreshed

I had a wonderful past two days that I'll share more about later.  I'll sum it up by saying that I was with 2 wonderful friends and was so encouraged in my journey through motherhood.  I was forced to spend the entire day with nothing taking my attention away from my kids.  It was great!  I'm so thankful for the opportunity we had to go camping.  Like I said, I'll share more about that later, along with pictures.  This post is mostly to say that I feel refreshed.  I feel like my vision for my family and for my children is more clear.  I see the strengths and weaknesses of both my children AND myself more clearly.  I found out that I am apparently more patient than I thought I was.  We talked a lot about judgment from others (whether it's based on food, nursing, bottle feeding, etc.) when we really do want the best for our family and that mommy guilt others give when we leave our children to keep our marriages strong.  We were reminded how important it was for us to keep our husbands 2nd and our children 3rd.  We got to see God's beautiful creation and spend all day out in it playing with our kids.  I can't believe how much better I feel after having been cut off from the world for a few days.  It was REALLY nice!  I'd highly recommend all moms take a trip with their kids where it's you and them and no house to clean, no work to do, no phones or emails to answer to.  Refreshment.  That was just what my family needed.