Friday Funnies:

In no particular order: Top things NOT to say to me in the checkout lane.

1. Boy you have your hands full. UM DUH!
2. Boy you must be busy. Again UM DUH!
3. You are almost like the Duggars. Except that I have five kids and they have 19. Um no thanks I can barely handle my own.
4. Are they all twins? If they were all twins they would all be the same age, no?
5. Are the identical. Usually referring to the two that are twins. Do boys and girls have identical parts?
6. You poor thing. Having kids is a blessing not a curse.

No Naps results

So as much as I hate to admit the no naps went well in that instead of an hour trying to get the twins to go to bed it only took fifteen minutes. The hating to admit part comes from that now I have no break during my day and I am quite sad and overwhelmed by that. I know God will help me through and when Mother's day out starts again I will have some time but for the next 4 weeks it will be mentally challenging.

I am an introvert and I need space. Having five kids has opened my eyes to a lot.One being that my introverted personality even gets exhausted by being around my kids. For that reason it is EXTREMELY important I get at least one hour a day alone. Yes I am blessed to have a large family. Hopefully I can embrace whatever characteristics I have that God gave me and do right by these children because sometimes I just want to hide under the covers and never come out.

Naps

Yesterday was very stressful. I do not believe I have any brain cells left for a blog post yet here I am. Lately Micah and Kerith have been asserting their opinion that it is time to give up naps and sleep all together. So basically two hours of my day is spent either putting them back in their room or listening to them scream. One hour for naps and one hour for bedtime. We have done everything from Supernanny techniques to letting them sleep together. Nothing. NOTHING has worked and we have been at this for a while now. Today is an experimental day. I am not giving them a nap in hopes that bedtime will be easier. Less stress for me in that I don't have to spend an hour making them get back in their room or listen to them throw fits and can actually give some time to Titus. Poor boy always gets Mom when she is tired and in meltdown mode. No doubt I will survive this period in my life. Having five children six and under is no joke, thank God he is there, where would I be without him?

Backyard Missionary

There is a baby crying upstairs. Two two year olds battling over a toy. Dishes in the sink. A mountain of laundry to be done, and I do mean MOUNTAIN. Newly painted walls with a purple marker. Cracker crumbs by the front door feeding the ant problem. It is my day. My life. It is less than amazing. There is no WOW factor unless you hear the noise level right now. No pat on the back thanking me for a job well done. No appreciation for the million dirty diapers changed. It is your mission field. What did you say? It is your mission field!

My mission field. You can't be serious Lord. Nope it isn't Africa, South America, Europe or Asia. It is right here. My backyard. I bet if you asked a missionary who does serve in those countries what life is like they will tell you it isn't glamorous. Being raised by Missionaries myself I have a little bit of inkling of what Missionaries go through and the sacrifice that it takes. Remind you of something?

Motherhood, raising children to love Christ and each other. If you ask me sometimes the loving each other part is a little more challenging. It is my mission field but I don't see it that way. Usually my thoughts run in the direction of "another day, another diaper". I scamper through these days like they are just any ole day. I want to work on that. I want to start seeing my life and all that surrounds it as my mission field. Because there is no greater need for missionaries than MY own backyard! Think about it.

Luke 10:2

He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.

Let us not forget the harvest that are our Children! The Harvest that surrounds us each day whether it be the checkout lady at the grocery store, our next door neighbor, our mail person EVERYONE we come in contact with.

"Lord I confess I don't view my life through your eyes. Oh Lord give me your vision, your love, your grace so I can be a better Mother, friend and raise these children that you have entrusted to me to love you and love others" Amen!

lets face it guys

I have had a lot of people refer to me as supermom lately. I really don't know why. I am NOT supermom. I have five darling children who every day teach me some spiritual lesson. The usual form is through some form of frustration, whining or crying but a lesson none the less. I love how God whispers to my spirit or holds up a small mirror and convicts me of an attitude. Lately those convictions have come from dealing with my challenge of a daughter who is 2 going on 25.  I am still learning and praise Jesus his work isn't done yet. Other areas of my failings come in the form of house. My house is a wreck 99.9% of the time, I am lucky to get dishes done and I have a working dishwasher, my laundry pile is the size of our Geo but thankfully it has gotten smaller. All thanks to my Pastor's wife who so graciously offered to help. Some days Motherhood is overwhelming, so overwhelming. Some days I find myself envying my husband who gets to go away to work for 8 hours, like when I have changed the 6th poopy diaper in the last thirty minutes. Contrary to popular belief I do lose my patience with my kids, and I even yell at them at times. *SHOCK* I am just a Mom with five kids and like every mom whether they have one or ten kids we all have our struggles. I am no different. All of the stress and chaos in my life and yet I wouldn't trade it for the world. Sure I have had more frustrations and attitude adjustments in the last 5 years to deal with but I also have had the most laughter, the most fun, and an excuse to shake my booty to music :D So nope you won't find supermom here. You'll have to go some place else to find her. Try June Cleaver's house done the road.