My Purse: A Symbol of Me?

This is my purse. This is what it looks like all the time. The good thing is that I have everything you could ever need in that thing. The problem is that it may take me years to find it. I don't think it symbolizes who I am as a person...you know, put together on the outside and a complete mess on the inside. I think it is more of a result of being a mom to 3 kids who hand me things all day long. Since, I need my hands free at all times, to carry a kid or collect another kid item, I naturally throw whatever they give me into my purse and before you know it, I am getting a call from the show Hoarders telling me my husband called them about my purse. I really don't see any way around this problem though. I mean, between the stuff I need in my purse for me and all of the kid's snacks, and their trash, and sippy cups, and treasures, and socks, and toys etc., it is impossible to have a clean purse. Can I get an "Amen?!"...No? Okay then, let's play a game. See if you can locate the following items!

Medical receipts that should have been mailed in weeks ago

A check book that has no more checks in it

2 of Maia's hair bows in case we ever need to spruce up her look

A baby spork

2 pens

A Sharpie

Paper clip

Lots of pennies

A variety of healthy snacks: plantain chips, cashews, gluten free kid cereal

2 viles of lip gloss

A piece of a candy cane

Maia's sunglasses

Broken pieces of spearmint gum

Empty gum wrappers and package

An iPad Stylus

And Purell to clean my hands with after searching around in my purse for anything.

The Parenting Strategy of the Season

I have learned after 4 years of parenting that I will never get the hang of this parenting thing. Right when I think I've got a handle on things, my kids begin a new phase or take on a new personality. Now, instead of getting disappointed and surprised by the curve balls they throw me, I am always on my toes, reading parenting books, and changing up my strategies. I'm always ready to reach in my back pocket and pull out a whole new play book. The season I currently find myself in consists of weekly doctor visits, 2 preschoolers who feel the need to fight constantly, and a baby who is always moving. The strategy of this season is "Diversion and Task Assignment."

Exhibit A:
At our weekly trip to Kaiser, I am on my own with my three tornadoes, waiting for the second time in the World's slowest moving line to pick up Malakai's prescription. The pharmacy is packed with people, my purse has been emptied of its snacks, my voice is nearly gone from all the reprimanding, I am sweating from trying to hold my extremely squirmy baby, and my full-of-energy preschoolers are being extra loud and are on the verge of breaking into a full blown fist fight. I am all out of bribe material and am doing a great job of avoiding eye contact with all the patrons for fear of the murderous looks I might catch. Here is where my "Diversion and Task Assignment" strategy comes in handy. I call the two older children over and miraculously they obey. I have them stand on either side of me so that they will not touch each other and I assign them 10 jumping jacks each. They begin to jump while I count. As they jump, they giggle hysterically and forget about the fight they were about to start. Malakai stays still for the first time in the whole day as he is thoroughly entertained by their uncoordinated jumping jacks. We are quite the spectacle but I have successfully avoided fist fights and melt downs and we have made it to the front of the line without the entire pharmacy being demolished by my tornadoes. The strategy of the season has worked.

Now it's back to the drawing board for a new play book!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

We are Super Heros

See, I am not one of those feminist, women empowerment, alpha female type girls. I actually get a little annoyed with those "women-rule-the-world" songs on the radio. And, if you've ever read my blog, you know that I am very self-deprecating and that I know that I am far from perfect. But, I'd like to take a step away from the norm and use this post to give props to all the working moms of multiple children who take their multiple roles in life very seriously and strive to do the best that they can in every one of those roles.

When I sit and reflect on all the hats I wear, I get overwhelmed (which is why I don't do this often). I compared myself to a super hero and realized that super heros really do not live up to the term "super hero." I mean seriously, they have super human powers with which to defeat a bad guy. Anybody could do that.

Here is what my version of a super hero looks like: a working mom in a cute super hero costume, holding her cell phone to her ear with her shoulder on a business call, while changing her baby's poopy diaper, using one of her legs to separate her two pre-schoolers from fighting, while flirtatiously smiling at her husband across the room. In the background is a calendar with all the million ministry events, birthday parties, showers, school performances, doctor's appointments etc. all occurring on the same day. Does this picture, give you anxiety? If it does, then you are probably a man. If you are a working mommy, you are probably high-fiving the computer screen, because this is totally you!

You realize that at this stage in your life, you are never NOT multi-tasking. At every moment of every day, you are doing multiple things at same time. So, let's raise our mugs of extra-caffeintated coffee and say to each other GOOD JOB SUPER WOMEN! You're holding up the fort and doing a great job! Call on God daily to give you that super human strength to love Him, love your husband, love your children, love His people, and to do your job with excellence. Let's not be so overwhelmed that we miss the precious moments and forget to be present in the "now."

To the true super heros out there: YOU ROCK!

Sometimes You Just Have to Laugh

The past two days I have found myself laughing at inappropriate times. Because I am brutally honest, I am just going to come out and say that raising 3 children this close together in age means that I experience daily moments of torture. You know, moments of two kids yelling at the top of their lungs at each other in the backseat of my car while the baby cries out of fear that he may inadvertently get a blow to the face that is actually meant for a pre-schooler? Or, the moments when all I want to do is get the dishwasher loaded, but instead I have to run to the rescue of the baby who has finagled his way onto his knees in the highchair and is about to tip over while a preschooler is yelling from the toilet, "MOOOOOOOM, I'M ALL DONE!," and the other preschooler is simultaneously whining about a toy that he can't find and he is sure that he needs it right this second or the world will end. Those are daily occurrences in my household and I am almost positive that I will NOT miss those moments all though women older than I, swear that I will.

Anyways, back to my point. I have discovered a coping mechanism to help me and my children make it out alive during these torturous moments. That mechanism? LAUGH!

Example #1: I am used to being totally embarrassed at church by little Miss Maia Belle. But, I don't usually laugh when she embarrasses me. Yesterday, I did...and it actually made me feel better. We were at church after making the rounds of picking up all the whiny hungry kids. We were getting ready to take the kids to the car when Maia pulled Noah's hair because he did not do something how she wanted or when she wanted him to do it (this type of abuse is common for Noah from his sister). But, this time, instead of whining about it and telling on her, he decided to take matters into his own hands. He turned and grabbed 2 healthy handfuls of her hair and yanked as hard as he could. I am sure that the passers-by were appalled by my reaction because, I turned around so that my children could not see my face and I burst out laughing...quietly of course. When I gained composure and went to talk to Noah about how his reaction was not acceptable and to Maia about why it was equally unacceptable for her to hurt her brother, Noah's determined, and unapologetic face amused me so much so that it took every ounce of my being to keep a straight face. Sometimes it feels like 70% of my day is spent breaking up fights and correcting my children and apparently I feel the need to laugh in order to not go crazy.

Example #2: After running errands with all three energy-filled children and going out to lunch. Ricky and I were eagerly anticipating getting home and getting the kids to bed. We had broken up countless fights, fed the baby wayyy too many snacks just to keep him quiet, and had used our stern voices so much that our throats hurt. So, once we got the kids in their seats and headed home. We were hoping for them to wind down and maybe even fall asleep in the car. Instead, our preschoolers decided to get in a yelling match in the backseat while Malakai screamed his little head off because the poor thing has to sit right in the middle of the two crazy kids. Ricky and I looked at each other as if to say, "It's your turn to yell at them." As soon as our eyes met, we began to laugh uncontrollably. We laughed and laughed and laughed until I thought my bladder would explode. The best part of the whole episode was that our kids all quieted down because they could not figure out what was so funny.

The moral of the story is...when you feel as though your kids might drive you to jump off a cliff, LAUGH!

Malakai 9 months

This little guy is so much fun! He is 9 months old and has such a fun personality. We think that he is going to be our most adventurous child. He is such a fast army crawler and whenever we turn our heads for just a second, he ends up under a table, behind a chair or in between furniture.

He has had consistent ear infections for about 5 months now and we are in the process of taking him to a specialist to see about taking the next step. He has been on every kind of antibiotic on the market!

He is so happy in spite of the pain in his ears. He says bye bye and waves, he loves to point to the sky and say "bah" for birds. He claps his hands and gives kisses. He prefers table food to baby food and will rarely even open his mouth for baby food! He enjoys his big sister very much as she takes care of him a lot. Almost every morning I find her in his crib with him because "he was crying."

My little Malakai Kade loves his mommy so much and prefers to be held by only her. I love my little guy and am trying to soak up every second with him because this baby stage is gone in the blink of an eye.

You Know You're a Bad Driver When...

Maia: Mommy, are you supposed to park on the lines or in between the lines?

Me: In between the lines.

Maia: How come you always park crooked on the lines? That's not how you are supposed to do it.

Me: Yeah, Mommy is just not a very good driver.

Maia: But, daddy always parks in between the lines. How come you don't?

Me:...

I'd just like to say now, that I was not in the driver's seat today when we acquired the big dent in the front of our truck. A certain someone who "always parks in between the lines" turned into the garage wall instead of into the garage! HA!

2011

2011 was a good year. It was a year full of challenges and wonderful blessings all at the same time. It was also year of growth.

I continued with my Good Morning Girls email group which has kept me accountable to spending time daily with the Lord and has sharpened me continuously as iron sharpens iron.

Early in the year, my honey surprised me with the best birthday present ever: three of my dearest friends taking me out to dinner!

Then in April, our newest addition Malakai Kade made his entrance into the world.

This is where my first big challenge came in the form of intense post-partum depression. God was faithful as He always is and rescued me by way of 2 Samuel 22.

We've formed new friendships this year for which I am ever so grateful. One of the families were gracious enough to invite us with them on vacation this Summer!

Then, our close friends blessed us with a trip to Hawaii where Ricky and I got to spend some much needed quality time together.

God called us out to stop only serving ourselves and to be Kingdom-minded and start serving Him! We began to lead a table at our marriage ministry at church and have been beyond blessed by this opportunity to serve Jesus.

We have also been convicted in the area of serving "the least of these," which we had not been doing prior to this year. We were blessed to serve as a family in Adopt-a-Block and in our food pantry ministry and have committed to being more servant oriented in the new year.

We have had our share of challenges in the parenting department as you may have read about in my blogs. Navigating through those has been quite humbling and educational! I've had my share of ugly mommy moments where all I wanted to do was sell my children to the highest bidder, and eat a hot meal for once, and only worry about getting myself ready in the morning, and sleep in, and go the bathroom in peace! It amazes me how God loves me through those ugly moments.

This year has found me stepping out of my comfort zone in many ways in my job and in using my talents. I have learned that I am called to obedience and that I can do all things through Christ alone.

2012 is going to be exciting, I just know it! It holds some unknowns for my family as far as our living situation goes and I am having to just trust in the Lord. It's a year that also holds potential for big things!

I am making it my goal this year to love like Jesus and to just practice obedience and rid myself of selfishness. It sounds impossible,but it is worth striving for.

My verse for this year is Hebrews 10:24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.

Happy New Year