Oh My Goodness! I’m Just Like My Mother! {And My Kids Will Be Just Like Their Mother Too!}

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Whether we had the greatest mother in the world or not, most of us realize at some point that we are doing something that is just like her. That works for both the good and the bad things.  Seldom do we think about how our kids will be just like us.

There are things I don’t love about my life but I live with them because they would be hard to change. But when you tell me that these things are examples that my children are going to follow it makes me feel desperate to change them.

If I want my kids to value friendships then I really need to model for them making time for friends.  If I want them to stay close to each other then I need to let them see me making time for my siblings.  If I want them to stay connected to me then shouldn’t I be staying connected to my own mother as an example that it is important?

These are the workings of my mind lately.  I have an opportunity to model values to my kids that I want them to have.  It doesn’t mean I can control them as they grow older but that they have seen the benefits of my good choices and know how much the effort is worth.

Are there things you know that you would like your kids to value as they grow older? What are ways that you intentionally model those values for them?

Filed Under: Encouragement for Moms, Inspiration Tagged With:

For the Overwhelmed Mom Who Wants Off of the Crazy Cycle

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I often feel like the most overwhelmed mom who desperately wants off of the crazy cycle.  Occasionally I will think about the crazy busy life I live and feel like dropping everything and moving to some remote village in France.  I imagine it would be quiet and serene and life would be simple.  I would walk to the market and buy fresh bread, butter and cheese everyday.  My kids would wake up early and do chores and work hard because, well, that would be the lifestyle. I would spend my time, while they are at school, gardening and canning and preparing meals.  I would also make time for decorating our home. We would laugh together loud and live joy filled lives.  It would be simple and it would be a beautiful life.

Back to reality.

I wake up early ever morning with a to do list that is already a mile long. We rush to get through breakfast and get 5 kids off to 3 different schools. My days are filled with grocery shopping at different stores to find the best deals, cleaning a house that has toys scattered in every room, meal planning, running all over the place to find the supplies my kids teachers just asked for that they need tomorrow, paying bills, blogging here and there, taking kids to soccer and volleyball practice and games across town, all with my youngest in tow who doesn’t seem to care for any of it…

And the thought creeps in that I hate this busy life.  I really dread it every day.  There’s little joy in the doing and the details seem draining.

One day, while stopping at the 2nd store on my list and agonizing that there are 3 more to go, I had the thought: What if I could live the simple and beautiful life I long for?  What if being grateful and looking for beauty are the keys? What if stopping to survey the beauty and uniqueness of the fresh produce, beautiful flowers and wondering at the blue sky while I walk back to the car were all I really needed to make my life more beautiful and simple?

Summertime: Fresh Strawberries #1

What if I chose the things I love over the things I think I need?  What if I made my shopping excursions about what was available from the farmers market and had the guts to throw something together that night with my finds instead of meal planning boring casseroles & crockpot meals every single day?

What if I made cooking a more enjoyable by thinking of it as art by living in the moment?  What if I treasured the time I spent doing homework with my kids because it was time I actually had with them to invest in who they will become.  What if our car rides to and fro became beautiful because our conversations turned deep as the music was turned down?

We glorify a busy life now days.  We glorify a mom who “does it all.”  Especially if she still looks good and doesn’t seem tired.  But it is running us ragged. We are overwhelmed and listening to voices that keep us in this crazy cycle of being at whits end with no hope of ever not being there {with the exception of when it has all passed us by and our kids are raising their own kids and following in our example of crazy busy lives}.

I wonder at a life with margin; extra space that allows for beauty. It seems thrilling and hopeful and unachievable at the same time.

But it is possible.  It is possible in the laying down of caring about what anyone else thinks of you {and this is really the key}.  It is possible in becoming a hunter for true beauty and a purger of clutter {of things and appointments and tangents}.  It is possible in going after the great things and letting the good things just pass you by.

My calling as a mom is shifting.  I used to feel called to just survive but now I feel called to thrive.  I’m just beginning to figure out what this means but I am excited because it’s nothing less than a life lived more deeply with much beauty along the journey.

Do you feel like you live on the crazy cycle?  Want to step off with me and discover the path to a more beautiful and fulfilling life?

Filed Under: Encouragement for Moms, For the Weary Mom Tagged With: ,

31 Days to Becoming an Organized Mom: Day 31- This. Just This.

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“This. Just This.”  Have you noticed that in social media people are telling you that you should read, or view something by simply saying “This” as if it included words like “must read” and “exactly how I feel?”  When I see the words “This. Just this” it says to me that it hit the person sharing it right in the heart and I may want to read it too.

After spending 31 days attempting to become an organized mom, I am reflecting on the “this” moments along my journey.  Like what when I started because I needed to tell my family they were important enough to me to do the hard work of making our home beautiful and peaceful.  Or when I realized that I needed to have the right mindset. A “this” moment also came when I read about how organizing might just be organized hoarding and I almost wanted to throw away everything I have.

{click the picture to download a “this” print to use as a reminder for yourself}

Becoming an organized mom reminds me that my family is my “this.”  I want to savor the moments I have with them.  I want to be present and not always feeling stressed and overwhelmed.  I want “this” to punctuate moments of chatting long, about princesses over tea with my 4 year old, or the cutest boy in school, with my almost teen twins.  I want to remember “this” when there is extra time in my day to go for a walk or play a game or plan a special date night with my husband.

I’m praying that my life becomes full of “this” moments where I just breathe it in and think “this is what it’s all about.”  I encourage you to find the moments in your life when the only thing that describes them is “this.”

Here’s to many “this” moments as you become a better organized mom! This has been fun and I look forward to even more organizing ideas to come.

 

Filed Under: Inspiration, Organization
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