Enjoying every moment...

I just took this picture of Aidan napping in the "tent" I made in his room. He asked to sleep in it for his nap, so I made a little bed for him and he went right to sleep.

Last night, Seth gave me a belated Christmas present: Loving the little years: Motherhood in the trenches by Rachel Jankovic. I read it all. (it is a quick read-only about 100 pages). I laughed, cried, empathized, felt inspired, discouraged, convicted, and encouraged. I would highly recommend this book to any mother of little people. It was one of the best books I have read about parenting.

Let's just say that motherhood has been a real struggle for me as of late. Like, I don't know whether to pull my own hair out, lock myself in the closet, scream, or pummel my child....Seriously, a struggle. In my desperation, I have felt most like a failure, handling things the wrong way, aggravated, frustrated, longing for some "me" time, seeing misbehavior as a cause to ruin my day. I have woken up with a bad attitude, feeling tired, focusing on all the "things" that need to get done and how taking care of the kids gets in the way of accomplishing much. I have hated this about myself too.

Then, I read this book. And I breathed in deeply. I cried a little. Then I buckled up and realized how much I needed a change of heart.

Here is just one such excerpt that spoke to me:

As you deal with your children, deal with yourself always and first. This is what it looks like and feels like to walk with God, as a mother.
God treats us with great kindness as we fail daily. He takes the long view of our sin--knowing that every time we fail and repent, we grow in our walk with Him. It is easy for us to accept this, because our sins are, well, ours.
But our children sin against us, annoy us, and mess up our stuff. We want to hold it against them, complain about them (if only to ourselves), and feel put upon by their sin. We have a much harder time accepting that every failure from them is a wonderful opportunity for repentance and growth and not an opportunity for us to exact penance.
It is no abstract thing--the state of your heart is the state of your home. You cannot harbor resentment secretly toward your children and expect their hearts to be submissive and tender. You cannot be greedy with your time and expect them to share their toys. And perhaps most importantly, you cannont resist your opportunities to be corrected by God and expect them to receive correction from you.
God has given us the job of teaching His law and demonstrating His grace. We are to be guides to our children as they learn to walk with God.
Sin is just a fact of life. Is is the way we deal with it that changes ours.


There is so much more in this book...and it is super funny too. Be encouraged today mothers. I know I was.

I started my morning pushing past the tiredness of being up in the night with little ones, made some fun Mickey Mouse pancakes, built a tent, and read books under it. I enjoyed each and every moment, and I intend to keep my heart in the right place so I can continue to do so.