A Real Mother's Day (Belated)

I love Mother's Day.  Not because it is a day to feel special about myself.  I love it because for me it is a time to reflect on me being a mother.  And yes, I love reflecting about all my kids' births and various milestones over the years, but that is not what I am talking about here.  I think it is an important time to reflect on what you are doing right or wrong as a mother.  I know I take it for granted so often that my kids are perfect.... perfect just the way they are.  And no, I do not mean they are really "perfect" as in they do no wrong, etc..  I mean that they are perfect even in what we think is sometimes a weakness.  God can use what we view as our child's weakness even when we don't think it is possible.  Oh how I want to TRULY get this concept.  I know it... but I don't always live it.  So often we get hung up on some little things our children do unsatisfactory that we forget that God can use even those things.

• My oldest daughter is slow as molasses on a cold Winter's day.  I mean she never gets in a hurry to do anything.  She dawdles along and makes a 10 minute animal feeding session take an hour.  She stops repeatedly during her school time to chatter instead of staying focused and just whizzing through it.  But God does not see that as a weakness.  She is so laid back and carefree.  There is a blessing in that.  And she does not get stressed about time frames like many of us do. 
• My second daughter is a little momma, but not always in a good way.  Sometimes she jumps in front of me to try to tell her siblings what to do.  She can sometimes overwhelm the baby by insisting on helping when sometimes the baby just wants to figure things out on her own.  There is a blessing in it, though.  She is go-getter.  I joke that she is going to rule the country one day.  She has always been the one that knows where things are that we all have lost.  ;) 
• My son... well, he is just loud and all boy!  Sometimes I have a hard time with it.  I want quiet.  I want him to sit still.  But he is a thinker.  I see rambuctious and God may see determination, hardworking, full of energy, capable. 
• Sahara... well, this one is our full time fussy child and she knows only one volume... loud!  And she is this tiny little shy thing that no one would ever suspect it from... until she is away from a crowd.  We may not see the blessing in her behaviour all the time, but I know God does and in due time we will see it, as well.
• Sienna is too young, but she has started fussing at us when she does not get what she wants.  I can already see she will be very determined.  God can use that in ways that we may not understand right now.

You see... it is not about us!  We may see imperfections... or weaknesses.  God sees POWER!!

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
II Corinthians 12:9

And I want to encourage you to truly to take your role as a mother seriously.  Our most important task is to give them God.  Give them church.  Give them scripture.  Fill their heads with these things rather than things of this world. 

So, what did I want for Mother's Day?  Not to get a thing!... But rather to give to them.  I have always wanted Mother's Day to be about being a mother.  I hear so many mothers that want to get a Spa Day to herself for Mother's Day (and I am not saying that is wrong), but it makes me sad.  If I wanted a Spa Day (which I don't) I would want to share that with my child.  That's just me.... I want to be WITH my kids on Mother's Day.  I want to be a MOTHER on MOTHER'S Day!!!  I want them sitting beside me on the pew in church!  I want to have lunch with them and do something to make them happy.  I want to make them pancakes or something else special.  I want to give them the GIFT of being mothered. 

Actually, I am going to go on to say that we did part of Mother's Day early.  The kids had no idea what we were doing and were asking a million questions about where we were going.  Finally, I had to tell them that we were taking them to get me a Mother's Day gift.  I thought that would hush them for awhile, but they continued trying to guess where we where going.  I did not tell them until we walk in the establishment what we were up to.  We took them to paint pottery.  They were ecstatic!  I told them I wanted them to paint a large platter for me.  I also told them that each of them could make their very own special plate (and I painted Sienna's).  While we were doing this we had them paint a platter for each of the grandmothers.  You see... for me it is about doing something with them.  I want to be their mother... and one that makes memories with them.  And on the actual day of Mother's Day all I truly want is to sit beside them on the pew in church and know that I am doing the MOST IMPORTANT part of mothering.  I want to give them God!  I want them to look back one day and say that I always made sure that they were in church on Mother's Day because it is my belief that God gave them to me and in my own way I want to be there "giving them back TO God" every Mother's Day that I am alive.  

Summertime Ponderings

It is the time of year when life seems so busy.  Hmmmm... well, it seems that way all them time, but now it is that "end of the schooling year time".  Decisions have to be made.  I have to decide if our school year is ending completely.  Learning is easier if it continues year round to some degree.  Yet, we do need some breaks.  And there is so much other stuff to be done.  It is a big planning time.  And vacation is calling and we are struggling with whether we should plan a big trip or some smaller somewhat local trips. 

My thoughts on schooling are:

• We are officially done for our school year. 
• Co-op also ended a couple of weeks ago. 
• We will continue with Math on some level.  We have enough lessons to keep us busy the whole Summer, but I think we are going to do Math 2-3 days a week and cut the lessons down.  I think for Savannah we will go over any new concepts covered in 1-3 lessons each day and work a few problems that are new concepts, then pick 1-2 of one section of the review portions of a lesson.  For Sierra I think I will have her try to do 2-3 lessons of Math on our Math days. 
• I want to keep the kids writing through the Summer from which I will keep a watch over their spelling and such.
• I also think it might be a good time to cover some studies we have not gotten to do in a relaxed way.
• For my littles I want to have some daily schooling that will make it easier to transition into next year.

My thoughts of things we need to do around here:

• Well, it is too much to list right now, but there are many "finish up what you started projects", gardening, vehichle maintenance and repair ,home repairs, the desire for ripping up carpet and replacing with hard surface flooring (probably wood).

My thoughts of vacation:

• I want to go.  I always want to go.  I am one of those people that could travel all the time and never really miss home as long as we are all together.  My little family is my "home". 
• I don't want to pack.  And I don't want to feel like a pack mule loading and unloading our stuff here and there and everywhere.  I want to relax.
• Home... home is where I think we would be most relaxed, but we have such awesome opportunities that we never know when we might lose to really vacation as a family.  My husband has been a teacher and has always had a 2 1/2 - 3 month off for Summer.  Last year he began a job as an Assistant Principal and that Summer got cut short by a few weeks.  This Summer is even shorter.  He will have two off weeks in June.  One of those our family will participate in Vacation Bible School.  He will also have the month of July off except for the last partial week.  And everyone's life is unpredictable.... we never know when those times off could disappear completely, so I feel we should not waste them while we have them.  With all that said... there is a LOT that needs to be done here andd I am usually the only one with the vision for it all. 
• Colorado is our choice destination.  And I want to go and take the kids.  They have been there for Winter (some of them), but not Summer.  I want them to experience camping.  We live in Texas, but we are NOT camping in Texas.  It is too humid and sticky here.  Mix that with the heat and we are just not doing it.  ;)  The issue... issues:  So far away = so much time in a vehicle with five kids wanting to be out of the vehichle. 

Just my Summer ponderings.....
.... Tell me yours or post about it and let me know you posted, so I can go read it.