Sometimes Moments

  Motherhood is full of “Sometimes Moments”….  

   Little one,

  I get tired and weary of the lists in my head, and the jobs that weigh on my shoulders, and I don’t always give you the best of me.

  This is a sad reality to face, because there is nothing I love more than to serve you, teach you and instruct you.  I love to see your eyes shine with joy when you do a job right, and are praised, or to hear your giggles from the other room, as I prep supper for our family.

  Someday I am going to be gone.  Hopefully not for a long, long time.  Someday you will tell your children and grandchildren, stories from your childhood.  And oh man, do I hope you have GREAT stories to tell!

   See, Motherhood is full of “Sometimes Moments”:

       

  Sometimes I can’t relax reading books to you, because my To Do list is running through my head, so I stop after 3 stories.

Sometimes I even skip pages or paragraphs, and I am sorry for that.   

  Sometimes I surprise you with a huge stack of books, and read to you ALL of lunch time while you eat.  I love to look around the table and see you all experiencing the book in such a real way. {to the point that I have to remind you to EAT!}

  Sometimes I answer harshly, and I see your eyes flinch.  These moments haunt me at night when I lie in bed and process the day. I want to rewind and answer softly, because I love you so much.

  Sometimes, I remember to kneel down next to you and softly correct, pointing you back to a Savior that loves you so so much more than I could ever offer, even at my best.

  Sometimes when you ask for fresh water and ice in your night time cup, I sigh and make my irritation known without words, even though I tell you to serve others joyfully!   

  Sometimes I answer “Sure, sweetie!” And even put a drop of peppermint oil, or the chlorophyll you like so much, inside.  I love to treat you to the little things that mean so much.  

  Sometimes you ask to wear a certain dress to the store, and I roll my eyes and point to your room and say, “Go put on your pink leggings NOW,” even though it wouldn’t be the end of the world to let you wear that dress everyday.

  Sometimes I let you wear your favorite pink & black dress up high heels to run errands.  I love how proud you are to be “a fancy lady”.

Sometimes I get so frustrated at you for coming in head to toe covered in dirt.  I tell you to get into that laundry room, strip down and wash up in a mad voice.  

 Sometimes, I giggle and put my feet in the mud puddle you discovered, so we can talk about how good it feels to squish it between our toes.

  Sometimes, you wait outside on the trampoline for me to come jump with you while I finish up a phone call.  But, instead of cutting them short, and making you the priority, I stay on the phone and suddenly it’s supper time and daddy is home, so I call you inside instead.  I am sorry for that.

  Sometimes I don’t answer that phone call, so that we can spend the time between after school and supper playing “Popcorn” on the trampoline, or just lying there, staring up at the clouds, talking.

  Sometimes I say ‘NO’ to something, just because No is often the quicker answer to come.

  Sometimes I say ‘YES’ and see your mouth drop open with surprise, and eyes light up with joy.  This makes me want to say Yes a whole lot more.

  Sometimes I rush through family prayer time, because I have so many photos to edit, and a blog post to finish, or an article to turn in.  I know you can tell the difference, and I so want to show you with my actions, that prayer time is a priority.  That the quiet at the end of the day with you is worth savoring.

  Sometimes, I rub your back, sing you a song, read your Bible Story, AND library books.  You get so excited about that, like it’s Christmas!

  I love our nightly tradition of praying, all as a family, taking turns going around the room.  It blesses me to hear you talk to your Father in Heaven, and tell Him about your day, your dreams and hearts desires for your future life.

  Sometimes I want the World to STOP, so I can have you all to myself without distractions.  No phone calls, no homework, no errands to run, no school committee meetings, no deadlines….just Family.

Just together.

  Shutting the gate to the World and just existing.  Slowing life down to a snails pace, so that I can be to you who I want to be. So that we can savor these years together that we are all under one roof.

  “Sometimes Moments” come each and every day, and I have a choice to make each and every time……..

And you know what?

  I choose you, little one.

  You make my heart swell with love and joy.

  I choose to make all my “Sometimes Moments” count with you……

  Because just like we sing at night, “My Heart Says, I LOVE YOU…..”

All my love,

Mommy

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So Long For Now……

  A portion of this post from the archives, the rest……

From my Heart.

  As couple after couple, call us, write us or email, pleading with us to help them put together the shattered pieces of their lives and marriage.  To merely be used as a vessel by the Lord, to pour clean water over them and help point them in the right direction, I once again realized we are in a battle…..

A CONSTANT battle to keep our eyes on Jesus.  With satan working overtime throwing things at us left, right, left, right, chucking things under our feet to make us stumble.  Shrieking with glee when he succeeds.

Because BUSY means Burdened Under Satan’s Yoke.

We MUST keep our eyes on Jesus.

We MUST not break our focus for a mere moment.

We MUST not let anything divide our families, our homes, our marriages.

  Our packed calendars rob us of family time, devotion time, prayer time, alone time….

Clear ‘em!!!!

Clear those calendars.

Make date night with your spouse a priority. Don’t just say it, make it happen.

Make family dinner a non-negotiable.

Nothing is more important than family.

No job more important then pointing your kids towards Jesus.

  We MUST not let Social Media rob us of conversations during home time….

Leave the cell phone on the charger in the laundry room when you walk in the door; the texts can wait, Facebook can wait.  We MUST not let TV and Computer, iPhones and ipads steal precious playtime moments…leave them off until nap/bedtime if you have young children. 

  Don’t answer the phone during dinner, if its important, they’ll leave you a message and you can call them afterwards. Show your kids with your actions, just how important dinner time is.  Spend that time VISITING about the day, not staring at the TV.  Our family loves to do “Good, Bad and Blessing” going around the table and each family member shares their good, bad and blessing from the day….try it! You may just love it.

  Help your kids make good choices about how many “extra” activities they can be a part of.  What happened to the days of letting kids be KIDS?
Just playing. Imagining. Exploring. Sending them out to play and ride bikes until porch lights came on and our moms called us home for dinner.

  Remember, for EVERY activity you chose to enroll your kids in, you are taking from the “Family Pie” of time together time.  There are only so many pieces to go around before you are left with crumbs.

   Sacrifices are made each and every time we say YES to something else.  We are raising a generation of busy kids, who in turn will become adults that need to be “busy” because they’ve never learned to just relax, stay home and be still.  

    And let’s not forget the love of our life, and the time we must spend with them.  Sit with your husband or wife for at minimum of THIRTY MINUTES of face to face time each evening.  Face to face, not staring at the tv together, looking at each other.  Surely your favorite show, or email inbox can wait?! 

Who is to be our number one human priority as directed by God’s word? 

Our spouse. 

Show them!  Use that face to face time to learn something about them that you didn’t know 24 hours ago.  Look them in the eyes and remember all the reasons you fell in love with them.  Do this and watch your marriage blossom and grow.  Set a stinkin’ timer if you have to. 

JUST DO IT.

  Wherever you are, be ALL there.  I am not preaching to you, I am preaching to ME! We all need to evaluate how our time is being spent!!!!!!!

Cause guess what satan says?

Every time you are not talking to your kids…..

I AM.

 Every time you are not working towards growing with your spouse,

I AM MAKING SURE YOU ARE BACKSLIDING.

When you are too busy?

I AM NOT.

I seek to destroy your marriage and family. I hate it and I hate you.  It would be my pleasure to use your lack of time together for harm, for evil, as a tool to ultimately destroy your lives.

When we don’t chose God every moment of every day, we automatically default to satan.

Think about that for a moment……pretty tough to swallow, isn’t it? 

  I don’t want to default to satan ever.   I seem to spend a lot of my time fighting off his attacks on my home and marriage, while balancing a really full calendar full of photography appointments, upcoming blogs I need to write, projects I said I’d be a part of, things I need to get accomplished around my home.  It all just feels like too much.  Like I have been doing a balancing act for too long, unsuccessfully.

Friends, I need a break. 

  Somewhere along the last year of fighting for my marriage and maintaining “regular life”, I have lost my focus.  I feel as if I have missed an entire year with my family while I was hurting, healing, seeking, sharing and forgiving.  The last year can not be viewed as a loss, it’s can’t…..

For it SAVED us. Praise His name!

  I am not sure what to say except, I need to cut back somewhere, and one of the places is the blog.  It takes my last piece of the “Family Pie” and I only have crumbs to offer the ones I love most. I am also cutting back in other areas, including how many photography appointments I take every week, as the editing process takes much time from family, too.

  As an overly busy summer draws to a close, I need time to be Mommy, playing on the floor in the living room or out jumping on the trampoline. I need time to be Wife, relaxing on the couch next to her husband, unwinding after a long day. I need time to do something for me, like curl up with a Christian novel during nap time, on a couch I haven’t sat on regularly in MONTHS. 

Mostly, I just need to BE STILL.

That’s what it really all boils down to, isn’t it?

Being still. 

Tylan came up to my desk the other day during nap time:

“Mommy’s are busy, aren’t they?”

Yes buddy, Mommy’s have a lot of jobs to do!

“You’re a mommy that takes pictures now too, aren’t you?”

Yup.

“You write your blog……”

I do!  {Now, I am wondering now, where he is going with this…….}

“Mommy?”

Yes, buddy.

“I miss when you were just my mom.”

Oh honey bear, I am so so very sorry.

  I am taking 3 weeks off of blogging to think, pray, evaluate how my time can be best spent, and mostly……

To be still. 

I will miss you, friends, but I’ll be back soon, check back with me around Labor Day. 
It’s time this Momma shows her family where her priorities are…….

  ~T

 

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Making Every Moment Count

This is post 2 for today, head back 1 post for some yummy Hummus Pizza! 

Do you know the BEST time to talk to your kids about life, the Bible, manners, their future spouses, hopes and dreams…you know, the heart to heart stuff?

  In the car.

  Yup, the car. 

It’s guaranteed time with your kids near-full attention! I mean really, where are they going to go? They are strapped in! You have a CAPTIVE audience!

Guess that means its time to put down your cell phone.

Guess that means no more starting a movie the second the van door slides closed.

Guess that means turning the radio off.

Talk to them about what they see outside their windows.  Pray for them on the trip to school.  Talk to them about their day when you pick them up. 

Just talk to them.  Then listen.

Betcha you won’t be sorry………

Kids say the coolest things.

~T