What do you do when you find yourself in the middle of piles of dirty laundry, stacks of dirty dishes, toys all over the house, clean laundry in the basket waiting to be folded, dust billowing off every piece of furniture, sticky kitchen floors, dirty carpets, piles of this and that everywhere and that's only the beginning?!?!
You sit down with a nice cup of hot tea and read a good book. (While my daughter is napping of course!)
Or at least that's what I did/do. It's all too overwhelming and I need to step back and take a break from it all. When this happens, which it does more than I care to admit, I often wonder if I'm the only mom in the world who struggles with the never-ending chores of being a Domestic Engineer. Then I have the express joy of seeing my daughter smile and laugh and say the funniest things, I get to put her down for a nap (which hopefully she will take...), I get to be with her and see all these things that I would miss if I were working outside my home - and I realize that it's all worth it! In the end, the only things that will truly matter are the times I read her a story, kissed an owie, played games and hugged her close - just to name a few.
Then I can live with the mess that surrounds me, knowing that it's not forever. Someday, I will have all day to clean my house and have it be spic 'n span all the time. For now, God has given me these few precious years to raise my daughter and attempt to teach her to love Him with her whole heart.
And that's what I intend to do. With God's help, of course!!
This week Chris & I celebrated our 15th Wedding anniversary! I can't believe it's been that long already. I used to think that people who had been married for more than 10 years were old folks...but at 15 I still don't think we qualify! A lot has happened in 15 years. I wish I had wedding pictures to post, because they would be a hoot! But for now, I'll post one from our anniversary trip to Mexico in January. Chris and I have experienced God's blessings often during the last 15 years, but I think we would both agree that the best one was when Casey was born. When we finally accepted the fact that God had chosen a different path for us other than parenthood, we found out that I was pregnant. Funny how God works that way... 
Casey has changed our lives in ways we never expected. She's the joy of our lives and at 3, the comedy entertainment in our house! Truly. I mean, when she asks me, "Are you a strange animal, mama?" Hmmm... where does that come from? She keeps us on our toes and has made the last 3 years of our marriage wonderful and tough at the same time. My prayer is that the next 15 years will be just as full of love and God's blessings as the last 15 - maybe even more!
Ok, tomorrow - really! - I'm going to start losing weight again. I mean, here we are - 2 months gone from this year and I'm only down 4 pounds! Something is so wrong with that! I'm so disgusted with myself for not trying harder. I need to stop using the cold nasty weather as an excuse, because frankly - it's not a good one. I'll let you know how things go... 'night!
Then I can live with the mess that surrounds me, knowing that it's not forever. Someday, I will have all day to clean my house and have it be spic 'n span all the time. For now, God has given me these few precious years to raise my daughter and attempt to teach her to love Him with her whole heart.
