May
19
2014
My kids wake up and beg for “Songs.” YouTube Videos of their favorites like Phil Wickam’s “This is Amazing Grace” or Matt Redman’s “Your Grace Finds Me.”
This morning Bronwyn asked for her new favorite “You make Beautiful Things” by Gungor. Maybe you’ll be encouraged by the song too?
May
05
2014This kid. From the top of his blond head to the bottom of his dirty cast-ed left foot is quite possibly the cutest kid I’ve ever met. He loves his “blank”(et) and his “Baabaa” and he wants the individual attention of bedtime to last for at least half an hour. “Sing my Jesus song, mama.” “Sing great grace.” “Guggle me.”
I pulled out the camera to capture this little one in his dark room so I don’t ever forget and hopped in a few pictures with him as well. The photos are super grainy and slightly out of focus because of the darkness, but to me these are the same qualities that memories have.
Apr
28
2014
So Aeralind caught a lizard: a baby 5 lined skink to be precise. This is the process of two science nerds raising 3 new science nerds. Capturing animals, growing a garden, answering endless questions, and letting them get dirty. Education at it’s finest, eh?
Apr
21
2014
See that proud little guy in the upper right hand corner? See the top of that bucket in the bottom left? That 5 gallon bucket…. that was once full of bird seed.
That proud little guy met the bucket… and his sisters “helped” clean up the mess. You can see how helpful they were by the little girl swimming in the stuff gleefully, right?
So I had bird seed spread over all 200 square feet of my carpeted living room. And we were expecting guests… who walked in while I was taking this self portrait.
Please tell me other ladies have this sort of morning? At least every once in awhile…. right?
Apr
16
2014As my tired foot caught the rock and I realized I was going to fall, I thought I was having the hardest day of my life.
My 60+ pound pack slammed into my back as I hit the ground. It was day 3 of a two week backpacking trip. As I rolled out from under the pack like a strangely de-shelled turtle, my classmates lifted me up and put my pack back on. I was not the first to fall that day.
For those first 3 days we’d walked silently with a few conversations breaking our labored breathing. But as we started to trek on, the spunky girl in pink belted out:
“We’re leaving on a jet plane, don’t know when we’ll be back again.” From that moment on we sang all the time. Country, Hymns, Pop, Folk, and even our own homespun Rap.
The constant refrain was our way of encouraging one another, but it made a difference for everyone we encountered. Other hikers heard us before they saw us, they’d come around the corner smiling and some even sang along.
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What should Be our Mom Refrain?
How can we speak words that encourage? What would they sound like?
That third day of the backpacking trip, it wasn’t my hardest day. The backpacking trip was not the hardest two weeks of my life. Motherhood so far has been that hard season and had the hardest days.
What if you and I rallied around each other to help us each finish this motherhood journey?
What if we said things like:
“I’ve been there?”
“Can I help you?”
“It’s worth it, keep at it.”
“My kids did that too.”
“You’re a great mom.”
“If you’re wondering if you’re a bad mom, then you’re probably a great mom.”
“It’s okay that your house is messy, so is mine.”
“Don’t compare your worst day to someone else’s highlight reel.”
“It’s going to be okay.”
“Parenting is hard work.”
A little challenge for you: Try to randomly encourage one mom each day.
Say to the lady in the grocery store: “My kid used to throw fits in the store too. It’s okay.”
Call your own mom and say “Thank you.”
Text your friend a picture of something that’s not on your highlight reel. Better yet, put it on Facebook to encourage a whole pile of moms.
Invite a friend who is having a rough day over for dinner spontaneously and don’t clean up the house beforehand. In fact, serve grilled cheese for dinner.
Together we can create a culture of encouragement rather than comparison. We can build one another up with just a few words.
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