For more Motivate Me Monday, visit Sarah at The Fifth Street Palace.

“Life’s What You Make It”

Don’t let no small frustration
Ever bring you down
No no no no
Just take a situation
And turn it all around

With a new attitude everything can change
Make it how you want it to be
Stayin’ mad, why do that?
Give yourself a break
Laugh about it and you’ll see

Life’s what you make it
So let’s make it rock
Life’s what you make it
So come on come on (everybody now)

Why be sad, broken hearted?
Theres so much to do
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
Life is hard or
It’s a party
The choice is up to you

With a new attitude everything can change
Make it how you want it to be
Stayin’ sad, why do that?
Give yourself a break….

Lets celebrate it
Join in everyone
You decide
‘Cause life’s…what you make it….

I needed to hear those words….Don’t let no small frustration ever bring you down. Just take a situation and turn it all around. With a new attitude everything can change.  Yep, it’s up to me.  Am I going to let one little bill and one crazy collector ruin my day, ruin my perspective?  I think not!  It’s time to rise above, and it’s time to pull myself back up those couple of rungs and keep on climbing.  God’s in control, and He’s given me the ability to choose….do I let the little stuff push me down, or do I keep climbing, only to rise above?

For more Motivate Me Monday, visit Sarah at The Fifth Street Palace.

It’s the sound of your kids growing.  They’re growing up before your very eyes.  You may not see it, you may not realize it, but every second, they are getting taller, and they aren’t going to stop.  Before you know it, they’ll be as tall or taller than you are.  The bad thing is….there’s nothing you can do to stop it.

I realized this tonight.  My kids are growing.  It seems like yesterday, I was holding Jaden in my arms, bringing him home from the hospital.  It seems like just yesterday that Jacob was a toddler, playing at the back door with his best friend, his dog, Smudge.  Now, they just keep growing, and there’s nothing I can do about it.  I have to some day let them go, and it may seem like a long time, but I know in my heart of hearts that it’s coming quicker than lightning.  Look at the past 8 years….gone!  My boys are growing, and yours are too.

I could ask why we have to let them go….why do they have to grow up, only to leave home at some point, venturing out on their own?  Why do I have to watch them grow up, growing more and more independent?  Why can’t my babies just be my babies forever?  But I won’t ask that question; oh, I feel the question burning inside; I’m not ready to let them go.  Thank the good Lord that the time is a ways away….but is it?

Love your kids today…watch them grow…be in the moment, and watch them grow; don’t realize that they’ve grown up when it’s already too late.  Enjoy this moment in time; relish your children.  You can never love your children too much….Shhhhh….can you hear it?

For more Motivate Me Monday, visit Sarah at The Fifth Street Palace.

It’s so easy to run the rat race every single day, just scraping through the maze of events, not really “getting it” because of all the clutter taking up our lives.

This week has afforded me some real bonding time with my boys, without the added stressors of having to be somewhere, having to get this, this, and this done for school, and honestly, I don’t want it to change.  Jacob and I have played many a rousing game of Battleship and Uno, and he’s getting to be quite the champion.  Jaden has had many a game of monster chase the baby games, giggling and laughing the whole way.  So, you ask, how am I going to keep the peace and the tranquility that this week, albeit a hard week for Jacob, has afforded us?  I’ve really taken a hard look at our schedule, and I took the advice of a friend.  I asked God how He wanted me to work out our homeschool schedule.  How does He want it to be?  Then I moved and shifted some things around…for example, by Friday, we are just dead to school, so I decided to make it a fun day with just an hour of core school and the rest fun stuff like art and music and board games for thinking skills.  Jacob loves board games, so he was thrilled with this idea.

Not only with my kids’ schedules, but with my own, I’m keeping my work hours to early, early mornings and naptime….possibly a little bit in the evenings, after they’re in bed; it depends on what Dan is doing.  I’m also decluttering my blog.  It doesn’t look like it now, I know, but I’m rebuilding my blog on WordPress right now, making it, hopefully, a place of serenity.  It’ll still have all the same subject matter, but I do want to have more homemaking articles and things, and it’s going to have a very shabby chic appearance.

This decluttering in my life has been a necessary thing….it’s like when you clean out a closet, and you have a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment afterwards.  Once that closet is cleaned out, you can keep it clutter free because there’s a place for everything.  That’s like life….once you clear the clutter, you have a place for the important things in your life, for the things that God deems important.  What is stopping you today?  What kind of clutter is hindering you from having the joyous walk that is available to you as a wife and mommy?  Is it spiritual clutter?  Is it physical clutter?  Is it clutter that you’ve been unwilling to clean out up until now? What are you missing out on because of the clutter that is blocking your path?  Get rid of it!  Rework things, and clean out! A time to gain, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to throw away Ecclesiastes 3:6.

For more Motivate Me Monday, visit Sarah at The Fifth Street Palace.

In Anne of Green Gables, Miss Stacie always had this quote she would say to Anne: Tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it. (I have to add one word….”Yet.”) It’s fresh with no mistakes in it….yet. At least, that’s my motto.

Lately, I’ve had my days where I feel like the most horrible mama in the world. With both homeschooling and working from home, I feel like some days are a blur, they go so fast. I mean, my kids haven’t gotten outside for a few days (granted, one’s been sick, and it’s been cold, cold, cold); my toddler has been watching way more tv than the “experts” think he should watch; and frankly, I’ve had my moments where the last thing I want to do is sit down and play a round of the infamous Candy Land or the even more infamous Mouse Trap. (Have you ever tried to put Mouse Trap together? Mouse Trap is so not my friend; in fact, when the name is even said, I cringe inside. LOL) I’ve even had moments, seconds, where I’ve done the unthinkable….(gasp)….I’ve yelled, raised my voice, at them….(Hey, I’m just keepin’ it real here; I am soooo not perfect).

Does the fact that I have let my toddler watch Sesame Street and Max and Ruby during quite a bit of our homeschool hours lately make me a bad mom? Does the fact that my kids haven’t gotten any sunshine for the past week make me a failure? Does the fact that my kids might not have 3-4 organic fruits and veggies on their plate at every meal make me despicable? Does the fact that I occasionally shut myself in the bathroom just to have a second of peace or sneak a bite of chocolate make me a terrible mother? (I just have to say here that the bathroom is not my sanctuary anymore….it’s becoming “the place to be,” the proverbial gathering place, the feeding trough for my little natives….need I say more?) Does the fact that I totally lost it trying to teach myself and Jacob origami last week make me horrible?

I’ve been mulling this over the last few days; I really have. You can ask my dear, sweet husband, as he is my ever faithful, listening ear. I may not feel like a good mom some days, but at the end of the day, when I kiss those 2 precious boys and tuck them into bed and hear the words, “Mommy, I love you,” I know I’ve gotta be doing something right. When my oldest asks me if he can help carry the groceries in, maybe my efforts with him on manners/courtesy lately are finally paying off. When my toddler actually listens to me in the store and looks me in the eye and stops his erratic behavior (granted, it took 3 times, but he finally listened), maybe the efforts to stay consistent are working. Maybe I’m being too unrealistic and harsh with myself.

Maybe this has happened with you. Do you go through each day, feeling as if you can’t get anything right? No matter how hard you try, you just feel like you are failing? Maybe it’s time to stop judging yourself so harshly, especially when it comes to comparing yourself with other mamas. So what if you need to turn Sesame Street on for a little bit? (I have that puppy set to record on my DVR.) So what if your child doesn’t get his organic peas and carrots at every meal? If your kids are loved by you, and they know it….if your kids are learning and growing more and more each day….if you are doing your best, then you are doing a good job, Mama. Don’t overthink this motherhood task. Relax, and enjoy the ride (and we all know it’s going to be a long, rollercoaster ride). See yourself through your Heavenly Father’s eyes, Who loves you more than you’ll ever know. Even when we fall, He is right there to pick us up and dust us off, and kick our rears in motion again. I promise you that when you start seeing yourself in His light….being a faithful, Godly, and consistent mama is only going to get better and better because the judgment is gone. You can finally focus on what’s important, your children, not yourself.

So, remember, Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it….yet. Give yourself that margin of error; it’s ok.:)

For more Motivate Me Monday, visit Sarah at The Fifth Street Palace.

For more Motivate Me Monday, visit Sarah at The Fifth Street Palace.

A friend and I had talked about this over the phone a few weeks ago, about loving people and how hard it can be sometimes, so in honor of that friend and some recent experiences I’ve had, I hope this makes you giggle.:)

This is for all the people in Walmart or Price Cutter who jump out into the middle of the aisle as I’m walking down through, trying desperately to get my shopping done with a toddler who’s shouting, “Home!  Home!” and a 7 year old who can’t leave the toddler alone.  This is for all the people in Walmart who find it fun to stand right in front of me or right in the middle of the aisle, never moving, never saying, “Excuse me,” as they walk slowly in front of me, while I’m trying to decide which type of crackers are healthier.  This is for all the people in Walmart who decided to meet up with friends and have a party while some of us were trying to get our shopping done, all the while having to maneuver around you all while you visited together, smack dab in the middle of what seemed like several aisles; were you following me?  This is for all the people who think because they are on a motorized cart, they have the complete right of way no matter what (no, this is not a slam, just an annoyance to me for the simple fact that they seem to sometimes be very pushy).

I’m trying very hard to love you all….I am; I know that loving my neighbors is the greatest commandment, so I am desperately trying to love you, even though sometimes you make it so hard.

This is for all those pushy, road-raging drivers out there on the road these days.  This is for the semi-truck last night, who even though I was going over the speed limit, thought it would be fun to come up behind me (in the sleety weather, I might add) and flash his brights at me, indicating that I needed to go faster or move over.  (Sorry about shining my brights at you over and over as you went around me; I was having a hard time loving you at the moment; I wasn’t feeling very Christian-like at that moment in time.)  This is for all the people who talk on their cell phones instead of actually paying attention to what is going on in the road.  This is for the person, who literally, the other day held down his horn for probably 5 minutes as he followed another car (had to be road rage).  This is for all of the people who think that coming onto the highway via an entry ramp means they should enter at 20mph, slowly wedging in to 70mph traffic.  This is for you, Mister (you know who you are), who looked right at me as you slid right into the parking spot I was taking at the grocery store, just slid in right in front of me….

I’m trying very hard to love you too….I am; Jesus wanted me to love my neighbors, and you are my neighbors.

Loving others can be so hard, can’t it?  I think that sometimes we think love has to be a feeling, but actually, love is a choice.  We can choose to curse our fellow shoppers and drivers (which is what we feel like doing), or we can choose to love them (which is the farthest thing from our minds probably).  The choice is ours….and I know it’s tough.  I think I’ve failed at this more often than not, but I think one thing that can help us to make the right choice is to have a mind set towards eternity.  Is it really going to matter that he jumped in front of me in 10 years?  Is it really going to matter that someone at the store was rude to us?  Yeah, it bothers us, but where is that person headed for eternity?  And what matters most, in light of eternity?  Should I be getting angry over this small stuff, or should I let it go and focus on the big picture?  Oh, and even more, what effect do my reactions have on my children?  Ouch!  Just some thoughts to ponder….:)

For more Motivate Me Monday, visit Sarah at The Fifth Street Palace

Do you remember the childhood song, “I’ve Got the Joy, Joy, Joy?”  Remember the verse, “Hide it under a bushel, NO!  I’m gonna let it shine!”?  I was reminded of this while reading to Jacob this week.  We’re reading Bartholomew’s Passage (Yes, I know it’s an Advent book, but we started it before Christmas and can’t put it down until we’re done….).  Anyway, we read a section this week about the Essenes:

For more Motivate Me Monday, visit Sarah at The Fifth Street Palace.

Do you ever feel helpless, truly helpless; as if there’s something that you surely ought to be able to do in a situation, but you just can’t find a darn thing to do?  That’s how I’ve been feeling with this whole situation in Haiti.  My heart bleeds for these people, and if I had a way, I’d be on the next plane there….but really, is that feasible for me, and is it what God would have me do right now?  Just jump on a plane, leaving my family behind to fend for themselves for who knows how long?  Don’t get me wrong, I would give my eye teeth right now to go, and I just can’t help feeling that there’s something He wants me to do….

I think we have to do whatever we can.  So, as my heart breaks, and I want to just GO, I have to let my heart rest in His plan for me….after all, His plan may involve prayer, it may involve fundraising, it may involve loving and enjoying my children (never taking a moment with them for granted, as I tearfully watch babies suffering in Haiti), it may involve just being ready to go when it’s His time….hoping this can encourage some of you waiting Mamas out there today.:)  One more note: Dream big, Mamas!  Don’t ever let doubt keep you from doing what you know God wants you to do.  Even if the task at hand seems daunting, dream big….God has planted that dream/desire for a reason, and what He has called you to do, He will provide the way for.  After all, how have other organizations started?  I have a hunch they started with a dream in someone’s heart….think about it, but don’t discount it.

God speaks in the silence of the heart. Listening is the beginning of prayer- Mother Teresa.

For more Motivate Me Monday, visit Sarah at The Fifth Street Palace.