I have three sick children at home today. High fevers, lots of coughing, a dash of vomit and a sprig of multiple trips to the potty. My kids are somewhat past the age of "not making it" to the bathroom. Praise be to God! But, I certainly can recall the sleepless nights due to healthy kids and then the horrific sleepless nights due to UNhealthy kids. For me, the moments of having to step away from a "mess" to avoid vomiting, are mostly over. Again, praise be to God! Good times....Good times!! Now that I have your stomach turning.....(sorry. It is important to conger up feelings with graphic words)...I want to encourage all mom's who walk through days in a zombie-like-state. My youngest child is only 6 and my oldest child is 10. It TRULY seems like forever ago when my life was a blur. Not the morning after a really fun party blur but the I have young children and will never sleep again blur. I DO recall though....the time of the crying babies, the awake at 2 am toddlers, the carpet cleaning at 3am. It really seems like such a long time has passed since those days. In reality, those days and nights were NOT THAT long ago. Now that I have gone through it and can say I survived, I am feeling the need to encourage all mom's out there. I feel for you, I am sending supportive hugs from a far and I am here to tell you... this too shall pass. Do what you can to just get through the "not so fun" moments of parenting. As my children were all home sick, I felt a twinge of panic. I had sooo much to DO! Errands to run, mommy chores to do...I had a schedule to keep!!! Well, reality is, all that had to be put on hold. Nothing terrible would happen if I did not get the dry cleaning dropped off. If the house got a bit dirtier, the world would continue. If I had nothing prepared for dinner, no one was going to starve or think me less of a mom or wife. All those expectations have been placed on me....BY ME!! I took this opportunity to do a little laundry (which is what I find myself doing EVERY DAY OF MY LIFE anyway) and spend the day with my children. We took naps. Pretty much most of the day, we took naps. Once the Motrin was on board, they all felt better for a few hours so we watched some movies. How much longer in the whole scheme of things, will I be able to watch Barbie and the Diamond Castle with my children? I am going to steal these moments while I can. I had a wonderful mentor in my life that gave me permission to do just that. Since her soul saving advice, my life as a mom has gone much better. I am a more joyful mom. I can only do so much and once I stopped putting so many expectations onto myself, life went on with much less stress and MUCH less yelling.
Now, this blog has a Christian base to it so how does all I just wrote tie into scripture? I have come to understand that EVERYTHING in life....EVERYTHING...is addressed in some way or another in scripture. That seems too amazing to be true but so far, it has been true. In the book of Titus... a small book in the New Testament, Paul writes to his pastor friend. Oddly enough, this pastor's name is....Titus. (now you will be prepared when you finally get on Jeopardy!) Any who, Paul talks about how the older women are to encourage the younger women. Those that are more experienced are to "come along side" the ones that are less experienced. God is asking us to be like this. We are His ambassadors. I don't think this passage has as much to do with age as it does with life experience. I am so thankful that I had/have Godly women in my life. So often, I find that I really need someone to lean on. God was/is soooo involved in my life in this way. He brought such wonderful, caring, knowledgeable women to my path. Now, sometimes it might be a woman who is older, but sometimes it might be a woman who has older children. She can give her thoughts on child issues simply because she experienced something I am currently going through. Sometimes the support is coming from a woman who is further along in her Christian walk. I think the passage in Titus speaks to all this. What a glorious God I serve. He has reached out to touch me at each bend in the road. He has encouraged me, through scripture and through other Godly women, that this too shall pass.
