Ok so I'm not crying yet but there has been a bit of an adjustment this morning. We got home wedesday night from Maryland and Chris had taken the rest of the week off foreseeing that we'd need some time to get caught up on life again. He was right and it has been a wonderful couple of days having him home (really a full two weeks of being with him) For one we have seen a lot of fruit in Trevor. Their have been fewer tantrums this week and he has been quicker to respond to instruction. He has also learned his first scripture verse, Eph 6:1 and has come to love a book that is not about trains! God's Big Picture Bible! He brought it to me last night and said "Mommy read Jesus please?" Chris has also been busy fixing things up around the house. Ask him about the new shower head... it's amazing and he'd love to tell you about it :-)
All that to say, today was his first "real" day back to work. And it didn't start out slow either. He had a 7am morning meeting so I began real life early. After a couple hours of tantrums, wiping a constant runny nose (taylor has a cold) and cleaning up spit up pile after spit up pile, I was left wondering how on earth I've done it without Chris before today! So in desparation I grabbed some scriptures and mothering quotes that have encouraged me in the past. I pray that God would give me strength and endurance to manage my home today with grace. Here are a few reminders of the high call of mothering, just in case some moms out there need them too:
"No job on earth takes more physical, mental, social, emotional and spiritual strenth than being a good wife and mother. If a gal's looking for the easy life, she might try teaching tennis, cutting diamonds or joining a roller derby team. There is nothing easy about good mothereing. It can be backbreaking, heart wrenching and anxiety producing and that's just the morning." Stephen Bly, How to Be a Good Mom
"Being a mom is more than being cook, chauffeur, maid, counselor, doctor, referee, disciplinarian, etc. (just to name a few). It's about modling character, building confidence, nurturing, training, and guiding. There is nothing like the influence that a mother has on her child. A mother's influence ahs enormous potential to shape ther person a child becomes, for good or ill." Ginger Plowman, Don't Make Me Count To Three
I seldom feel like much of an adventurer- standing in this kitchen, pouring ceral into bowls, refilling them, handing out paper towels when the inevitable cry comes: "Uh Oh. I spilled." But sometimes at night the thought will strike me: There are three small people here, breathing sweetly in their beds, whose lives are for the moment in our hands. I might as well be at the controls of a moon shot, the mission is so grace and vast. Joyce Maynard, Domestic Affairs
2 Cor. 12:9 "My Grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness"
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4 comments:
i want to encourage you with this...kids are supposed to throw tantrums. before the age of 4 you will see a lot of this; mostly due to cognitive development and inability to process feelings. you don't need to feel like a bad mom because of this or that you need to "train" them. other moms go through this on a day to day basis. i hate to say this but until your child is 3 they aren't going to understand a lot of the instruction you give them. 2 good books:
Touchpoints: Three to Six: Your child's Emotional & Behavorial Development..by T Berry Brazelton, Sparrow, etc
Ages & Stages: A Parent's Guide to Normal Childhood Development..Charles E Schaefer, Teresa Joy DiGeronimo.
You will find most of what is written starts around age 3...
Enjoy!
Oh Tara! I'm WITH you!!! Those quotes were GREAT, and very encouraging!!! Thanks for sharing the fruit you saw in Trevor!!! That's HUGE, and I know SO encouraging!!! We just got back from celebrating our 4th anniversary, and our adjustment back has been a bit hard as well! Moreso b/c our kids were with others...and, well, there's some "retraining" that has to take place when that happens! I have to say I disagree with anonymous...my 2 1/2 yr old knows exactly what I expect of her, and she makes very thought through decisions about if she is going to obey mommy this time or not! Kids are OH so much smarter than we give them credit for : )
Thanks for the reminder about the God's Big Picture Bible you guys got Ethan. We started reading it last night and he couldn't get enough. He kept looking up at me to watch my face as I read about the seriousness of God's wrath, and every time I tried to close it, he said "More?" What a blessing this book is!
That's great Brandy!! What makes me more excited is to think of YOU reading God's big picture bible to ethan... it's been so awesome to see God transform your life!
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