Mommy mantra of the Week

What a week!  Ever have one of those? Can't-wait-til-it's-over; where-is-the-weekend? why-is-this- happening-to-me? weeks?  Not that anything very bad happened, or that my life fell apart, it was just alot of things compiled into one that by the time it was over I felt like there was not much of me left.  OY!  Rather than list the details, there is one question that keeps coming back to me through all of the chaos.  "Where did *I* go?"  As a mom, wife, and especially a homeschool parent, it sometimes is all too easy to get lost in expectations or even in the day-to-day. Before you know it the woman you were before Mt. Washmore, sleepless nights, dirty diapers, and the never ending quest for the perfect curriculum has all but disappeared. 

As I wrote an article I had a deadline for, I wrote in a style that is not my own.  WHY? Because I had thought the editors wanted something grown-up, something professional, someting...boring. Turned out that I was completely wrong and they went with something very similar to what I would have written if I wasn't so concerned about what I thought they would be interested in.  Lesson learned: trying to be someone you're not is never the way to go. So you can bet that won't happen again. But it got me to thinking, where is that girl who used to be bold and not care (too much) what people think? Sure you have to take other people's feelings into consideration and we can't always speak our mind at every moment. I do, however, wish some of that fearlessness would rise back up in me. So, this week's mommy mantra is to never let go of who you really are.  Keep those good things that make you YOU. You never know when you'll need them.

True calling of Motherhood

I saw this on Nobel Womanhoods facebook page this morning and just loved it.

You see, there is no higher calling, no greater privilege than being a vessel of life and later a teacher of souls which will live for ever. This is a crucial point: These children will live forever, either in Heaven, or in Hell. We not only have the privilege of introducing them to the world, but God has given us the... honor of assisting our husbands in the great work of introducing these little ones to the God Who loves them. No empire, no credential, no golden treasure, no corporate success story can ever rival the glory of this calling.Praying mothers, teaching mothers, faithful mothers – the Church needs you. She needs mothers who will crave children, and love them and bless them to be the warriors of the next generation. Motherhood! Blessed motherhood! The time has come to once again sing the praises of this calling. Though bloodied by the barbs of feminism, Christian motherhood will not be vanquished."

~ Beall Phillips in Verses of Virtue

Over the past two or three years, I've been studying the Mother heart of God. It's an odd concept since we generally see God as our Father, so don't think I've gone crazy or 'new age' or anything. Basically following the thought process that God is everything we need and created women in His image with His unique in their ability to nurture, mother and give life both spiritually and physically, the conclusion is that He has planted in each of us mothers heart after His own to raise our children. Some of us tap into that heart in our relationship with Him, some don't. For me it's been a long journey that will ever-continue as I attempt to cast off the old and put on the new likeness of Christ as a mother to my children. Reminders like this that my daily teaching, training, nurtuing and pouring life into my children may not show immediate rewards or fruit, but in the end the fruit will remain.

Pure Joy

I'm reading this book called Pure Joy by Arther Burke and Crysal Wade. Basically, it is a book of blessings (prayers) to read over your children to bless them and enlarge their spirit in relationship to God. We all have heard God created us body, soul and spirit, but only when we take some time to ponder what exactly those three parts of us are do we start to understand what our spirit is. Our spirit is the part of us that connects to God, it is not the soul which is our will, personality, emotions. Our spirit is the part of us that leaps during worship, grieves during intercession and daily communes with our Savior.
So as I pray these blessings over my children I pray that the eyes of their heart may be opened, that they feel the love of the Father and know who they are in Christ. That they understand the destiny they have in Him as well as their legitimacy in Him. I pray they easily experience His presence and abide in His joy.
What a blessing to abide in His joy! I know I need that joy every day. Not just happiness, but abiding joy that endures through every trial and storm. The joy of His presence, knowing He is my Rock, my Comfort, holding me in the palm of His hand.
Lord, keep me wrapped in your joy today!

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And then she was four

Where did the chubby cheeks and dimpled thighs go? How can my baby be hanging upside down from the monkey bars and daring to ride big sister's old two wheeler bike? How can she be four?

How sweet to sit with my baby on my lap. She is always singing, dancing, bringing in the light. Still she is my baby. She loves to cuddle up on the couch and read book after book after book. She will dance whenever and WHEREVER she hears music--be it at home, at church or in the grocery store.

Three is such a magical age. Three is silly, surprising and full of nonsense. Three year olds say things like "mac-a-moni n' cheese", "fwusterbated" and my favorite quote of all, "My foot isn't tired at all, my foot doesn't want to go to bed. My foot wants to stay awake with you." Three is so precious, and now three is over.

And now time marches on to four. FOUR!!?!! What will this new age bring? I've been down this road before, watching my babies grow, change, become. It is an awsome privelege to be a part of the molding and shaping of these amazing children. Continually I am humbled by the task set before me by my Savior to point these arrows to Him. Still such a big leap from one year to the next overnight is hard on mommy's nerves. They quickly sprout , yet still....still I can see their baby-face hiding just below their skin. She will always be my little Roo, my baby-cakes. And I...I will always be here to play some music, read a story and spot her when she's on those dreadful monkey bars, because that's what a mommy does.

Back to life, back to reality

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The past 3 weeks have been sick days here. It started with Superman on a Tuesday morning. His eyes were red, he slept all day-so not normal for my busy little guy-his throuat hurt, he was just miserable. That afternooon, I told the gal I babysit for, she probably should keep her little guy home since my boy was sick.

The next day, Wednesday was a thrill! My washing machine decided to unplug it's hose-you know the hose that ALL the water drains through. It's a magical hose that mysteriously takes all the water from the washer into never-never land and in the end, my clothes are clean and clinging to the sides of the washer. Well when that hose wriggles free, water goes everywhere! Yes, I had over AN INCH of water from my laundry room right on through to my kitchen and I barely caught it before it seeped into the living room carpet. It took me over 5 hours to sop up all that water, and then wait til hubby was home to re-attach the hose so I could now wash every single towel we owned. Ah the joy! And yes, Superman was still sick, even worse with fever and aches, so that was a tough day.

The following week, both my girls and I caught the terrible flu bug. I was on the couch for 3 days sleeping in and out of conciencness. The girls were pretty much the same. I think we watched every single Veggie Tale and Disney movie we own. My wonderful husband decided I was too incompetent (haha, I jest, I begged him!) to take care of myself and the kids, so he stayed home and nursed us all back to health over the next 5 days. By the next Sunday night I still had a high fever and not fully well, but at least I could move without groaning (what a wimp!). The little one we babysit had issues of his own and developed pink eye and an ear infection, so at least we were all sick at the same time.

Today is Monday, almost a full 3 weeks since it all started. Life is slowly getting back to normal. The little guy is back, no more fevers or sore throats for my own children. School has resumed-although were not getting very far very fast, but at least it's done! And it snowed this morning-just a little bit, but enough to look pretty falling as we watched out the window.

Things I am thankful for

Little Roo and I read a new Winnie the Pooh story yesterday where the gang made a book of what they were thankful for on a rainy day. Last week had me thinking of spring and sunny days, and now, blech, the rain is here again. At least it's not blizzard weather or anything diasterous, but rain, rain, go away. So the kids and I made our own list of what we're thankful for on rainy days.

Hot Chocolate---number one! of course ;)
watching movies under blankets on the couch
baking cookies and more cookies
watching the birds swoop in and get their worms after the rain stops
puddle jumping
raindrop races on the window
rainbows
building tents in the living room and playing camping
soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch
finger painting

so there you go! There's always something to be thankful for!

Organized....what's that?

I've been trying, ever since Christmas, trying to get back into a groove of staying organized and keeping up on school, housework. projects, etc, etc, etc...It seems like an overwhelming task lately and I was beginning to think I should throw in the towel and be one of those folks who just don't give a darn about the sink full of smelly, dirty dishes, the piles of laundry- both dirty and clean and in need of folding or putting away, the layers of dust on just about everything...oh, dear, I've just given myself away!

Thankfully, the Lord has calmed my messy and somewhat cluttered mind and given me a peace in the midst of the chaos. I don't know, but sometimes I feel like the only one who seriously feels like I'm going crazy if my house is a disaster. Does anyone else feel that way?

After talking with a VERY good friend, and after giving my issues to the Lord, the peace He sent was so, well, peaceful. I looked online and found some great resources on organizing school, home and life. I'm sure there are more out there, so please feel free to share.

Joanne has a great blog with great photos of her homemaking journal. WOW, she's got it together and it is so inspiring.

Donna Young has great schedules and planners you can print.

The Homeschool Mom has great ideas, schedules, articles, menus... They'll even email you weekly menus.

Flylady is perfect for just starting to organize and clean your home, and she's so real and funny, I just love her site.

Saving Dinner Leanne Ely's book Saving Dinner inspired me to be more consistent with menu planning and shopping.


Then after doing research, taking notes and getting myself all organized in my head-and on paper; I am slowly beginning to get back to my old organized self. Now, I am nowhere near orgnaized like these ladies, but in my own little corner of life, I am beginning to get an overall sense of how to keep the balance between chaos and peace--at least as far as clutter, dishes and the like are concerned,*L*.

P-C-C=Post-Christmas-crazyness

Whew, Chirstmas is over! Sad and yet I sigh a sigh of relief. We had a quiet Christmas, but it is still chaotic and wild with my duckies stuck in the house due to the freezing weather and constant rain. It DID snow a teensy-weensy bit on Christmas day, and that was very exciting. The kids have been going a bit stir crazy from not going outside much in the last couple of weeks.

Wednesday there was a break in the weather and Sugarplum got to try out her new roller skates and Superman tested his new skateboard down at the park near our home. Little E. rode along on her trike she got for her B-day. We were only there about a half-hour before the cold got to them--well to me anyways. Little E.'s fingers, nose and chubby cheeks were bright red and both the kids's pants had got wet from minor spills off their new wheels. So we headed home for hot chocolate and a treat from our stash. ***side note: We received a HUGE amount of cookies, brownies and other treats from several friends. If you are in the neighborhood and need a fix for your sweet tooth, come on over!**

Today we dabbled in our Advent/Christmas lapbooks. Sugarplum went to town on an ABC Advent coloring page that we turned into a cute calendar. The littles basically colored a bit and pleaded with big sis to share her new art set with them. Which she eventually did after a little chat about sharing. I hope to have thier lapbooks finished tomorrow so I can load up the pics here and on the new lapbook blog....Seems like so much to do!

I still have not fully moved over to the new blog... and not sure if I will. I think it's mainly for lapbooks, resources etc, and not for blogging or rambling--do I ramble?!?! I'll figure it out. Ah, well, that's me, so much to figure out, never enough time to do it in.

A breath of fresh air

Well a new school year is on the horizon and I am slowly getting it together. I have been getting my year plan organized in my head and now that I have a couple of weeks off of daycare, I'll be able to relax and put everything onto paper. I'm a paper person, if it's not on paper, it isn't real, going to happen or able to stop floating around in my head. I already have the first week planned out, but I'd like to create a school planner or buy one if I can find one I like so I can keep it all organized in one place.

The hard part-well one of the hard parts-- of this year is trying to forsee how everything will fit together. Like, will I do notebooks or lapbooks for Bible time, or just have them read the Bible? How will I fit Five in a Row into everything else we have going on? Will I be able to schedule any of our h.s. co-op classes into our week? I am not the kind of person who can just fly by the seat of my pants; I need a plan, a yes or no answer, plan A and plan B...Ah the grid-like mind can sometimes drive me crazy, lol. I know it will all come together eventually.

I need a breath of fresh air before I begin, before we begin. So we are going to be doing that tomorrow. Get away from everything, everyone, every family drama, every worry and care of school, work, money, house, etc., etc, etc. IT will be good, no great to set everything aside and just BE for the day. We all need a breath of fresh air to clear our minds, settle our spirit, come back to our center, and regain our perspective and focus on the ONE who really matters.