But Oh!...To Complete A Thought...

Since the birth of my third child, my life has been a circus.  It's been a fun time and well worth the wait and the money, but also a lot of work.  I have been having trouble making time for myself.  By the time I get the kids to bed and clean up the house... I am ready for my pillow.  I don't think I even think about anything else, except them the entire time they are awake.  So, I celebrate the completion of a thought.  A few months ago I celebrated clean pajamas...or getting dressed at all.  But I have moved past that to a more busy and whirlwind type of life.  I stay home and there are still days when I don't see the sun because I whirl around my home all day teaching them, feeding them, cleaning up after them, loving them, and keeping them entertained.  There is always something to do.

But Oh!...To complete a thought... Thoughts are composed every second in my brain as things are constantly happening all around me every minute of the day with my busy household.  But I rarely finish a thought of my own without interruption.  I have found myself twice this week replying in adult conversation with an answer to a question that was unmistakably random and completely out of place because of the chaos happening around me.  This usually happens when I am on the phone with my husband.

It reminds me of a time I left my close friend in the living room with my gang for about fifteen minutes while I took a phone call.  In that fifteen minutes she got a taste of what my life is like day after day.  I reentered the room to find her with a distressed look.  Our wooden floors were clicking with every dance move our seventy pound Weimaraner could think up in order to get her attention.  She held my four month old tightly as she she leaned over to answer the question my four year old was stammering over...while my six year old was yelling, "Hey GG! Watch this!", as he beat the next level of his new video game.  The baby started crying just before I got off of the phone so I could feel the nervous energy on the opposite end of the house.

Her eyes were wide and she had a huge smile across her face because she was at a loss.  She couldn't understand my four year old, while watching the video game, while consoling my baby, in the midst of a hyper and giant puppy!  It was then that I felt the reassurance of my calling, to be a mother.  I am not saying she is incapable, or that I am the perfect mother.  But I am the perfect mother for MY three boys.
To be honest, I amaze myself sometimes.  I watch my other mom friends and sit in amazement as they answer every question their child asks them with a gentle tone all while doing about three other things.

Yesterday, I took my boys to my friends house.  She and I have been friends since the third grade, and now we have kids of our own the same age.  She saddled her horse for them to ride and threw my little boys leg over as he grabbed the saddle horn.  While her own little one pulls on her pants leg wanting her attention, her cell phone rings.  She picks up her three year old and pulls her cell phone out of her back pocket to take the call.  Her little boy presses his fair skin nose to her cheek and repeats, "Mama, mama...".  Holding the lead rope with her arm, the phone with her neck and her little boy in her arm she smiles and stays at peace the whole time.

Motherhood is a gift.  I believe God graces us with a tenacity for each moment.  It's like a mercy that repeats itself every minute.  It's a true miracle.  We can ask him to help us with the little things... like patience during stressful times and he always comes through when we acknowledge him and ask.

"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace."  -Numbers 6:24

Dear Lord,

I pray you would bless through us and give us peace during stressful days when we don't think we have what it takes to be the mom/leader/wife/homemaker that we want to be.  We thank you for your peace that passes all understanding.  Thank you for hard working single mama's who do it all.  I pray you would bless them pressed down shaken together and running over!  Slow us down so we can enjoy our children while they are in our arms.  Love our husbands through us.  We praise you for your tenacious strength you give us to meet the needs of those around us.

In Jesus' Name,

Amen.