...for ten dirty feet that never seem to stop.
...for fifty little (and not so little) fingers that smudge the windows, find their way in cake batter and cookie dough, wipe my tears and tickle my tummy.
...for a husband that loves me unconditionally, no matter how unloving I can be at times.
...for home. It's not the house of my dreams, but the home within the house is greater than anything I've ever dreamed.
...for friends. The ones in real life and the ones that "live" in my computer. The friends that love me for who I am. The friends that know little about me, but are always there to listen and encourage in areas where we have a connection. The friends that I've known for years and the ones that I'm just getting to know.
...for health struggles and how God uses them in our lives to mold us, refine us and use us for His Glory.
...for giggles and belly laughs...especially when they appear for no reason.
...for hot showers...even if they are often interrupted.
...for warm sweaters and funky socks.
...for mint tea and kids that don't mind sharing their favorite mugs.
...for a husband that works a lot and still comes home and jumps right in where needed.
...for nose-rubbies and bear-hugs
...for Thanksgiving dinners past, a house full of loved ones all gone now. The memories with us forever.
...for Thanksgiving traditions...making butter, kids providing entertainment with song and dance, homemade cranberry sauce.
...for new opportunities and challenges
Most of all for a God that loves me more than I will ever begin to understand. That he came to me in the depths of despair, drew me to Himself,made this broken mess into His child is something that I will forever stand in amazement and gratitude.
How deep the Father's Love for me...
Thank you, Jesus...for this...for your Life poured out for mine...for me, this wayward, mess to find the way...for life more abundantly than I ever knew possible...for love that takes my breath away...
every time he kisses me,
every time they say "I love you, mommy",
every time I read your Word.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Calming the Morning Mayhem
First, the facts...
1.Mornings are often crazy around here.
2.Five children ranging in age from 4-11 with four of them being boys does not equal quiet and peaceful. All of my children are capable of being quiet, one of them prefers much quiet, but generally our neighbors would say we are not a quiet bunch.
3.I am not a morning person and I rarely get more than 5hrs of sleep...even that is usually broken into snippets throughout the night.
4.Three of my children are going 100 miles an hour the moment their feet hit the floor.
5.I am a perfectionist and constantly disappoint myself that I'm not one of *those* homeschool mom's...you know, the ones that have the house spotless, meals prepped and school done all by noon?
6.Despite the above disappointment, I consider it a good day if we have breakfast eaten and cleaned up, math finished and laundry started by noon.
7.If we make it through breakfast, math, laundry by noon AND haven't had a tantrum from anyone (me included) than it's an extra-good day.
8. I've learned that I often (always?) am the one that sets the tone for the day and if I'm crabby, whiny and slothful the children will quickly follow suit.
9.If my morning starts off well, it's much easier to keep the whole day pointed in the right direction.
10. God knows all of the above facts and yet, every day he gives me a new morning to try again. Complaining aside, I truly am very thankful for each day of life I'm given. (those mornings would be so much better if they started say around 11am though)
Lately, I've been thinking a lot about how to make mornings calm. How can we start off in the right direction even after a rough night of little sleep? I've had to think of what exactly I mean by terms like calm and quiet and cheerful. The dictionary definitions aren't necessarily what I'm after here.
Which brings me to having a long hard conversation with myself about what I would like our mornings to look like here. I had to stop comparing with other families and with what I thought was the ideal and really think of what would/could work here and how we could change things to achieve that.
I don't expect complete quiet and tranquility (though I'd love that). I don't necessarily want everyone to jump into the productivity of the day from the get-go. In some ways I actually like our slower, laid-back approach. I do think we need to be more purposeful and better at time management. After much thinking, praying, talking to myself and a little talking to Kev, I think we are finally getting into a bit of a morning groove that works well for us. I'm tweaking here and there and this week has been way off for several reason (hence the reason I'm doing a blog post NOW while children are playing rather than doing schoolwork...love the flexibility in homeschooling that we can play now, school later when needed).
Our new "recipe" for a calm morning:
1. Start my morning the night before. Having a plan for breakfast (maybe even having it prepped), clothes out for everyone, the house picked up so we aren't waking to the previous days mess.
2. Quiet time for prayer, scripture reading, hymn singing. I'll be honest. At this time in life, this part is hard for me. No matter what time I get up, kids wake shortly after and I get frustrated having that time interrupted. I finally had to lay it down and realize what's important to me is spending time in the Word not the fact that it is time alone. If a child (or children) is/are awake, they join me. I also cherish my shower time that's usually not interrupted more than 5 times with "I gotta go potty"...yes, with seven people in the house, we still only have one bathroom.
3. Family prayer time. Kev is trying to be ready for work early enough that we have a bit of time to spend praying together before he leaves for work.
4. Hot beverages. My new favorite part of the morning! Wish I had thought of it BEFORE I tossed out the coffee pot a week or two ago. I gave up daily coffee drinking years ago and only occasionally had a cup (or two). So, in a fit of decluttering I tossed it. It's okay, really, I don't need the caffeine and I'm enjoying a variety of herbal teas instead. Kev also bought powdered, instant cappuccino mix from Sam's. It's actually yummy, but I won't buy it again once we use it up. Some mornings, the children are also enjoying a cup of tea...though I think it does FAR more to calm me than it does them.
5. The children have my shower time to play, read, pretty much whatever they want (within the bounds of what's allowable for our family). Having this boundary of shower=play time, but when mom is done school begins has been great.
6. Routine. I have resisted a set routine for years. I have tried them only to toss the idea a few days later. I'm really not even sure why I rebel against this concept so much. I actually like structure and some of my children NEED structure...as in to breathe, they seriously must have structure in their life. My own lack of self discipline has hindered that. So, while I'm maintaining the right to flex when needed, I am finally waving the white flag and creating routines for us to follow.
7. Flexibility. I have to remind myself and the kids that sometimes we really have to "go with the flow" and that is okay. Learning to go with the flow instead of fighting it has been hard for a couple of kids. (Which is one of the reasons we need the routine...but I'm trying to strike the balance of giving routine and teaching them to be flexible)
8. Meeting sensory needs. We have a set time and specific activities each morning for brushing, bouncing, etc. It has been AMAZING to see how much this one little thing has turned our mornings around (though not so little when it's being done times five).
9. Laying down my expectations for schooling. I am learning to meet my kids where they are at (isn't that one of the reasons I homeschool? so why is this so hard for me at times?). I often have high expectations and get frustrated easily when they don't meet them. Facing that this is more my problem than theirs has been a hard, but necessary thing. I am not lowering my expectations, but I'm rearranging them...figuring out what *I* need to do to help them meet them instead of just being frustrated. Also, accepting that some expectations may never be met and that is totally okay.
10. Simplicity. We are getting rid of excess stuff, excess activities, excess school subjects...coming back to the things that are most important to our family and focusing on them. When I let go of all the "extras" it is much less overwhelming.
I am very hopeful that as we continue to tweak routines, simplify life and work together towards our family goals that I might eventually even be able to say I'm a morning person...or maybe not.
1.Mornings are often crazy around here.
2.Five children ranging in age from 4-11 with four of them being boys does not equal quiet and peaceful. All of my children are capable of being quiet, one of them prefers much quiet, but generally our neighbors would say we are not a quiet bunch.
3.I am not a morning person and I rarely get more than 5hrs of sleep...even that is usually broken into snippets throughout the night.
4.Three of my children are going 100 miles an hour the moment their feet hit the floor.
5.I am a perfectionist and constantly disappoint myself that I'm not one of *those* homeschool mom's...you know, the ones that have the house spotless, meals prepped and school done all by noon?
6.Despite the above disappointment, I consider it a good day if we have breakfast eaten and cleaned up, math finished and laundry started by noon.
7.If we make it through breakfast, math, laundry by noon AND haven't had a tantrum from anyone (me included) than it's an extra-good day.
8. I've learned that I often (always?) am the one that sets the tone for the day and if I'm crabby, whiny and slothful the children will quickly follow suit.
9.If my morning starts off well, it's much easier to keep the whole day pointed in the right direction.
10. God knows all of the above facts and yet, every day he gives me a new morning to try again. Complaining aside, I truly am very thankful for each day of life I'm given. (those mornings would be so much better if they started say around 11am though)
Lately, I've been thinking a lot about how to make mornings calm. How can we start off in the right direction even after a rough night of little sleep? I've had to think of what exactly I mean by terms like calm and quiet and cheerful. The dictionary definitions aren't necessarily what I'm after here.
Which brings me to having a long hard conversation with myself about what I would like our mornings to look like here. I had to stop comparing with other families and with what I thought was the ideal and really think of what would/could work here and how we could change things to achieve that.
I don't expect complete quiet and tranquility (though I'd love that). I don't necessarily want everyone to jump into the productivity of the day from the get-go. In some ways I actually like our slower, laid-back approach. I do think we need to be more purposeful and better at time management. After much thinking, praying, talking to myself and a little talking to Kev, I think we are finally getting into a bit of a morning groove that works well for us. I'm tweaking here and there and this week has been way off for several reason (hence the reason I'm doing a blog post NOW while children are playing rather than doing schoolwork...love the flexibility in homeschooling that we can play now, school later when needed).
Our new "recipe" for a calm morning:
1. Start my morning the night before. Having a plan for breakfast (maybe even having it prepped), clothes out for everyone, the house picked up so we aren't waking to the previous days mess.
2. Quiet time for prayer, scripture reading, hymn singing. I'll be honest. At this time in life, this part is hard for me. No matter what time I get up, kids wake shortly after and I get frustrated having that time interrupted. I finally had to lay it down and realize what's important to me is spending time in the Word not the fact that it is time alone. If a child (or children) is/are awake, they join me. I also cherish my shower time that's usually not interrupted more than 5 times with "I gotta go potty"...yes, with seven people in the house, we still only have one bathroom.
3. Family prayer time. Kev is trying to be ready for work early enough that we have a bit of time to spend praying together before he leaves for work.
4. Hot beverages. My new favorite part of the morning! Wish I had thought of it BEFORE I tossed out the coffee pot a week or two ago. I gave up daily coffee drinking years ago and only occasionally had a cup (or two). So, in a fit of decluttering I tossed it. It's okay, really, I don't need the caffeine and I'm enjoying a variety of herbal teas instead. Kev also bought powdered, instant cappuccino mix from Sam's. It's actually yummy, but I won't buy it again once we use it up. Some mornings, the children are also enjoying a cup of tea...though I think it does FAR more to calm me than it does them.
5. The children have my shower time to play, read, pretty much whatever they want (within the bounds of what's allowable for our family). Having this boundary of shower=play time, but when mom is done school begins has been great.
6. Routine. I have resisted a set routine for years. I have tried them only to toss the idea a few days later. I'm really not even sure why I rebel against this concept so much. I actually like structure and some of my children NEED structure...as in to breathe, they seriously must have structure in their life. My own lack of self discipline has hindered that. So, while I'm maintaining the right to flex when needed, I am finally waving the white flag and creating routines for us to follow.
7. Flexibility. I have to remind myself and the kids that sometimes we really have to "go with the flow" and that is okay. Learning to go with the flow instead of fighting it has been hard for a couple of kids. (Which is one of the reasons we need the routine...but I'm trying to strike the balance of giving routine and teaching them to be flexible)
8. Meeting sensory needs. We have a set time and specific activities each morning for brushing, bouncing, etc. It has been AMAZING to see how much this one little thing has turned our mornings around (though not so little when it's being done times five).
9. Laying down my expectations for schooling. I am learning to meet my kids where they are at (isn't that one of the reasons I homeschool? so why is this so hard for me at times?). I often have high expectations and get frustrated easily when they don't meet them. Facing that this is more my problem than theirs has been a hard, but necessary thing. I am not lowering my expectations, but I'm rearranging them...figuring out what *I* need to do to help them meet them instead of just being frustrated. Also, accepting that some expectations may never be met and that is totally okay.
10. Simplicity. We are getting rid of excess stuff, excess activities, excess school subjects...coming back to the things that are most important to our family and focusing on them. When I let go of all the "extras" it is much less overwhelming.
I am very hopeful that as we continue to tweak routines, simplify life and work together towards our family goals that I might eventually even be able to say I'm a morning person...or maybe not.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Hard days
Some days are just hard.
We can refrain from publically complaining.
We can plaster a fake smile on our face.
We can determine to make lemons out of lemonade.
We can let the day go to pot and just use escapism as a means of coping.
We can call our spouse to vent.
We can yell at the kids or ignore them or just plug them in front of the TV.
We can count to ten a zillion times to keep our cool.
We can decide to redeem the day by tossing the schedule and just have some fun.
We can hide in the closet eating chocolate and crying.
We can cuddle with the kids, give them the chocolate (well, not here, but you could) and just have a bad day together.
We can send the kids outside and waste too much time on the computer.
We can call the kids in and spend the afternoon lost in a great read-a-loud.
We can tweet and facebook every whiny thought that enters our mind.
We can email just our closest friends a simple message that says, "HELP!"
We can threaten to move to Australia (and even start looking for a travel agent)
We can do one of the above, all of the above, or any other number of coping mechanisms to get through the day.
At the end of the day though, this truth remains...
some days are just HARD. Sometimes, we even have a string of hard days.
This week has been that for me.
HARD on many fronts. Some moments have even been hard for no particular reason, they're just hard.
It is in these moments...when I'm weak...tired...discouraged...frustrated that I must also remember there is a greater truth.
Yes, there are hard days.
Yet,
there is joy in the morning. (Psalm 30:5)
We will reap a harvest if we don't give up (Galatians 6:9)
Jesus came that we will not only have life, but life abundantly (John 10:10)
I could go on for quite a while listing out more verses.
The bottom line is some days are hard, but even those days are ordained by a Loving God.
He uses it all. The beauty and the ashes. His Glory.
He grows us, challenges us, beckons us to come closer still to His heart...to trust Him more.
On this hard day, I'm centering my mind on the greater Truth. The day may not get easier, but I can handle it (all things through Christ who strenghtens me, Phillipians 4:13).
I am remembering that I was made for this moment...to live this life...to mother these children...to help them with their struggles...to comfort them through their pain...to point them to Jesus...to share His truth with them.
No hiding with chocolate today. We are pushing through the difficulty.
I am hopeful.
Hopeful that today's storm, the one that's been brewing all week, will leave a refreshing calm. Hopeful that tomorrow we will see the rainbow. The rainbow that promises we will not be consumed...we may be in deep,
we may need to tread awhile
...but we will persevere and we will come out of the storm and see the beauty in the destruction.
I think I'm going to gather the children and sing...First, I should call the travel agent back and cancel my flight to Australia.
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!
We can refrain from publically complaining.
We can plaster a fake smile on our face.
We can determine to make lemons out of lemonade.
We can let the day go to pot and just use escapism as a means of coping.
We can call our spouse to vent.
We can yell at the kids or ignore them or just plug them in front of the TV.
We can count to ten a zillion times to keep our cool.
We can decide to redeem the day by tossing the schedule and just have some fun.
We can hide in the closet eating chocolate and crying.
We can cuddle with the kids, give them the chocolate (well, not here, but you could) and just have a bad day together.
We can send the kids outside and waste too much time on the computer.
We can call the kids in and spend the afternoon lost in a great read-a-loud.
We can tweet and facebook every whiny thought that enters our mind.
We can email just our closest friends a simple message that says, "HELP!"
We can threaten to move to Australia (and even start looking for a travel agent)
We can do one of the above, all of the above, or any other number of coping mechanisms to get through the day.
At the end of the day though, this truth remains...
some days are just HARD. Sometimes, we even have a string of hard days.
This week has been that for me.
HARD on many fronts. Some moments have even been hard for no particular reason, they're just hard.
It is in these moments...when I'm weak...tired...discouraged...frustrated that I must also remember there is a greater truth.
Yes, there are hard days.
Yet,
there is joy in the morning. (Psalm 30:5)
We will reap a harvest if we don't give up (Galatians 6:9)
Jesus came that we will not only have life, but life abundantly (John 10:10)
I could go on for quite a while listing out more verses.
The bottom line is some days are hard, but even those days are ordained by a Loving God.
He uses it all. The beauty and the ashes. His Glory.
He grows us, challenges us, beckons us to come closer still to His heart...to trust Him more.
On this hard day, I'm centering my mind on the greater Truth. The day may not get easier, but I can handle it (all things through Christ who strenghtens me, Phillipians 4:13).
I am remembering that I was made for this moment...to live this life...to mother these children...to help them with their struggles...to comfort them through their pain...to point them to Jesus...to share His truth with them.
No hiding with chocolate today. We are pushing through the difficulty.
I am hopeful.
Hopeful that today's storm, the one that's been brewing all week, will leave a refreshing calm. Hopeful that tomorrow we will see the rainbow. The rainbow that promises we will not be consumed...we may be in deep,
we may need to tread awhile
...but we will persevere and we will come out of the storm and see the beauty in the destruction.
I think I'm going to gather the children and sing...First, I should call the travel agent back and cancel my flight to Australia.
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Wordless Wednesday
alternatively titled, how many kids can fit on the exercise ball at one time?
(Jay isn't in pain, not sure why the weird facial expression, except that he was singing...)
be sure and check out more Wordless Wednesday posts here
(Jay isn't in pain, not sure why the weird facial expression, except that he was singing...)
be sure and check out more Wordless Wednesday posts here
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