It’s almost Mother’s Day and I’ve been thinking alot about my mom the last few days and how she’s always been there for me, helped me when I needed it, given me guidance, etc, etc, etc….. The point is, she is such a wonderfull mom!

My mom has had the past 2 weeks off of work, and guess what? She’s been to my house twice this week (my parents live a little over an hour away.) to help me get things cleaned up and reorganized. She drove thier truck here and we loaded up a few things that we needed to get out of our house, and took some blankets and clothes home with her to wash them for me!

Our house has been a disaster area lately and I really, really needed this this week! We have a bit more space now and she took away,, and we threw away,, quite a bit of clutter that was caving in on us. You cannot have clutter in an 800 sq. ft. house that only has 2 bedrooms and 3 kids. It just doesn’t work!

I love it that I don’t have to feel like she’s going to judge me or give me a lecture when she sees my house this way. She just gets right to it and starts washing dishes or something, or keeps the kids busy while I get some things done. But seriously, I am so glad she came to help me out this week. I’ve been feeling quite depressed about the state of our home lately, but felt like there wasn’t much I could do about it on my own.Now I have hope that, now that we’ve gotten alot of clutter out, I can actually make more progress. She’s planning on coming up again to help go through the kids room too, so that’ll be awesome.

Then, as if that wasn’t enough. She took our two older boys with her to her house Thursday night, and is keeping them until Saturday morning.

Did I mention how much I LOVE my mom?

She has always been there to talk to, always lent a hand, usually without us even asking. I don’t know when the last time I actually bought diapers was! or baby wipes! She’s always bringing us something that we may need when she visits. And when we go visit them, we usually end up leaving with more than we came with!

One day I want to be able to repay her for all the help she has given us. Yes, I know she doesn’t expect me to repay her(well,maybe  the $500 we borrowed to get the car fixed last year), except maybe just to say “I love you mom”, but one of these days I’d love to take her out to dinner, or buy her a spa day, or something like that!  I want to be able to spoil her one of these days……..

So, here’s to my mom. A wonderfull mother who raised my brother and I with love and patience, and nurturing and Godly values. Yes, my dad is included in that too, but this isn’t Father’s Day yet is it? :) . Who took me to all my horse shows, 4-H meetings, and riding lessons. Who actually watched and listened at my riding lessons so she was able to help me alot at my horse shows! Who encouraged me in my drawing and painting, bought me art supplies.

Mom, who helped organize my wedding and made sure it was absolutely beautifull!

Mom, who’s been there at the birth of all my boys and stayed each time, for a few days to help out. She didn’t make it in time for the actual birth of our 3rd, but she got there shortly after.

Mom, who’s helped us in time of financial need.

Mom, who’s always shown love and compassion!

Love you MOM!

I’d love to hear what you love most about your mom!

Do you ever get an idea to write something, but then hesitate to post it because you got the idea from someone elses blog post? I’m not even talking about posting the exact same thing.You see, I have always had this fear of being a “follower” and people looking at me as such, but at the same time, I have never really tended to be an open “leader” either. I’ve usually just sat on the side lines, afraid to do anything for fear of people looking at me one way or another.

This is how I felt when I read a post by a fellow blogger whom I have been following(oops,hehe) for the past month or so. What she wrote is so true and I can completely identify with her, and I sympathize.  I read her posts and think “now why can’t I write like that?”. It’s one of those things where I used to be able to easily think of things to write like, stories, poems, etc…..back when I was in high school!  But now I sit here and strain to think of something clever, feeling like Pooh Bear when he’s tapping his head saying “Think, think, think”.  And then just before an idea has a chance to pop out, one of my children comes running  in to bug me(this really happened, just now, as I type!), or the baby wakes up, or the hubby wants me to help him with something, or get him something, or the phone rings, or the dog barks, or, or, or…….. Anyway, sorry, got a little carried away!

(again, another interruption!) So anyway, this is not what this post was going to be about. I was going to write about the trials of motherhood. AllisonO is a new mom, and she wrote about her failed accomplishments as of late, and as I said, I can totally and completely identify. I have 3 kids now, ages 6,3, and 7 months, and I think about how if I only had one(sorry, another interruption, but I’m back now!)now, I’d so be able to keep my house nice and clean and keep only fresh food in the fridge, and get dinner on time, and be able to do many of the things I do now, with not so much stress. Of course when we had our first child, that was definately Not the case! lol   It’s tough being a new mom. So many things to adjust to.  You’d think that I’d have some sort of system down by now. I don’t.  I still struggle with keeping it together. I still struggle with everything that AllisonO had on her list.  (Well whad’ya know, Baby is awake now)

The thing is, though, that I refuse to give up trying, even though there are many days when I throw my hands in the air and say” I give up”. The next day, I’m back in the saddle again.

I think if we are honest with ourselves, we will see the things that we need to change in order to have some order in our lives, even with a house full of kids. It can be done. There are moms out there that have proved it can be done!

My problem is priorities, and staying on task.  I really believe that if I were to quit trying on my own and just put God first, He would help me with my chaos!  That means studying every day. That means praying every day and not just at meal times. That means, asking Him to help me when I’m feeling overwhelmed, and truly asking, not just a quick “Lord help me” and not really believing He will.

I also have a problem with having too many things going on at once! For some reason, I feel like I always have to try and Do everything! Let’s see, a husband, 3 kids, a candle business, a blog, 2 other websites that need some more work, and let’s add to that homeschooling too while we’re at it! Yet I can’t seem to part with any of it, so I am on a mission to fit everything in, God, family, and homeschooling being at the top of the list of course, and just do a little at a time with the rest.  A little here and there is better than not doing anything at all, which is usually what ends up happening, at least with the house work anyway.

As the Flylady would say, “set your timer for 15 minutes! Right now”

Well, maybe I’ll just do that! haha