...That time of night...

This time of night, precisely 8pm, is the hardest time of the day for me. All the kids need to be put to bed and prayers said with them - why is that so hard for me? Why don't I enjoy it more? It seems like I am.so.tired by the end of the day and it is such a daunting task to get them all dressed, teeth brushed, in bed, and STAY there, and then to make my rounds praying with each one. They always have questions about things, and one of my children in particular can ALWAYS be counted on to say, "....Mom?" right after I say "Amen" to ask some question he's been mulling over. LOL.

Then once they're all tucked in, I am faced with kitchen cleanup, rooms cleanup, to make it semi-decent so I can wake up to a clean house in the morning. Otherwise I get so overwhelmed!

Oh, wait. I AM overwhelmed. Right now. Ha ha I am just laughing at myself as I type this - I think every mom can relate to the fact that sometimes in life, maybe ALL the time while your kids are growing up, you are constantly in that "overwhelmed" state.

So tonight, DH is away at fundraising and I have a pretty good sized head cold. My nose feels like someone is trying to blow up a balloon inside, and at the same time, turning on the faucet ever 2 seconds - usually right after I have just blown my nose for like, the 20th time in the last 5 minutes. That same balloon seems to be AROUND my head too.

DD10 usually does the dishes for me. Usually without complaint, and usually does a pretty good job, although I always come up after her and check things/make them "mom ready" if you know what I mean.

Tonight she is gone with a friend - she was in the middle of doing the dishes and got invited to go to the swimming center. How could I say no? So....now I get to finish them.

And I'm tired.

And half the kids are not put to bed, they're jumping on the trampolean right now, actually. And I promised three of them that I'd jump on the trampolean with them, 10 minutes each - which is FINE because I do need to get in my 30 minutes of cardio for today. Works like a charm cuz they keep bugging me so I can't put it off.

BUT - I rented a movie, "Lovely Bones" to watch tonight. WITH DD10, but now she's gone so...I'll watch it by myself. After I jump with the kids. After I put them all to bed. After I clean up the kitchen. After I clean up the other rooms.

Looks like the floor is in bad need of a vacuuming too. Hmmmm.

Today I had a dentist appointment in Eugene, which takes about 70 minutes one way. It was a consultation so no dentist work was done, but you know how it is when half your day gets taken away and you arrive home to a mess. And hungry kids.

But want to know the good news? I was listening to a CD on the way there & back - that was sooooooo nice. Anyway, it was from a conference from our church, and Bro. Kare was talking about how God knows those who are his. And He has surrounded us with chariots of fire that are ready to immediately go to battle for our sakes as soon as we ask, the INSTANT we ask. They are there! To help us fight against our enemies.

I was really encouraged and given a vision for my work here at home, that I belong to Him and my enemy right here, right now, tonight, is to get irritated that I have so. much. to. do and it seems like it's not fair. Like when I'm sick, I should just be able to crawl into bed and watch a good movie like DH gets to when he is sick.

See?

That enemy is not going to have power over me. Instead I am going to go to the throne of grace to ask for His help in my time of need - and I know He will go to battle for me, and pour out His grace and help me to be so thankful that I have this wonderful home, and my children, and like I said before:

SO THANKFUL that the only thing about my children that has me in a tizzy right now is that I have to do work and I don't want to. THE ONLY THING! It could be oh, so much worse.

So off I go, and when my house is all clean and I have candles burning (got inspired by your before/after pictures the other day, RA!) I will remember this post and with a smile, start watching my movie - content in the fact that I have given of myself and not complained, but happily done the works that God has prepared for me.

I just kind of hammered this post out as it came to me, as fast as I could, since I really DO have to go work. LOL. So hopefully there aren't too many misspelled words and random open-ended paragraphs.....!

I am thankful

I've been thinking alot about thankfulness this week. On Sunday while I was taking a 30 minute walk I was thinking about complaining and how it is such a cancer that eats away your happiness. I had had a few bouts of unthankfulness the previous week, especially when I felt the pressures of life, the crushing that has to happen in order for us to really lean on Him.

But even things like trying to do my workout, and not understanding a certain exercise and not being able to find it online, all the while trembling and about to DIE because of the hard workout I was in the middle of - my fingers would barely type because I'd been pushing myself to the max.

I was pretty frustrated and mad that the program wasn't complete and forgot to list that certain exercise. And of course, where does that spill over into?

My life. My kids. Everything about me, really, and around me.

So it has been really a blessing this week to concentrate on that one thing: thankfulness.

When my 2 year old spilled his cereal all over our carpeted dining room floor. I'm so thankful for you! So thankful that you are alive and well, and that my ONE worry about you right now, is that you have caused me to do a little more work in my day.

What a spirit of overcoming that is, what a death blow to the complaining and unthankful, ungrateful, demanding that I should not have to go through this - spirit that wants to come. And just think - what a spirit to have in my home!

I'm encouraged by this week, and am encouraged to continue on this path, so that someday, my first reaction is to quickly and swiftly put to death those thoughts that come (and they do, oh, they do!!) and be transformed into a happy (truly) Mother and Wife. The children, they see that, and it becomes the normal for them.

Of course, that goes hand in hand with not coming out of rest in any situation, right? Oh yes, I do have my work cut out for me - but it is a happy, simple work. Not complicated - and I am grateful for this life I have been given.

New Day Tomorrow

I've gone a bit astray from my schedule, lazying around way too much!!! So I thought to write out my schedule again for this week and really work my hardest to stick to it. My DS2 has been sick with a fever and thus needed holding ALOT the past 2 days, but now he's better AND my dentist appointment on Thursday (ugh, I dread those; they interrupt the entire day!!) got rescheduled; hurray! So I am bound and determined to take my job as a mother and wife seriously for the rest of this week - the way my house looks now is the result of a LAZY PERSON and I don't ever want to be that!!!! I hate it!

6:40 wake up, dressed to shoes + do hair, wash face, etc
6:45 pray for the day, read something in God's word
6:55 clean bathrooms (toilets, mirrors, sinks - 1 thing each day in both bathrooms)
7:15 make school lunches
7:30 wake up DD5 (always a grouch and needs a little more time than the others to wake up) and lay out all the clothes for the day
7:45 get all kids up, dressed, changed
8:05 leave for breakfast at school for DD5 and DS7
8:15 return home, get cereal for DS2 and DD4, start load of laundry
8:35 leave for school to bring DS9
8:45 return home, DD9m goes down for nap
8:50 dress for workout, start 2nd load of laundry + dryer
9:00 juice veggies + check email while drinking it, then wash juicer
9:15 start warming up, then do workout
10:15 take a shower + restart dryer
10:30 make/eat breakfast + surf net/check emails
11:00 get DD9m up and feed her bananas, restart dryer
11:15 leave to get DD5 at school
11:35 return home, get lunch for kids
12:00 DS2 and DD9m down for naps, restart dryer
I CLEAN!! As much as I can, as fast as I can.
1:15 Stop cleaning and quiet computer time, restart dryer
2:20 take a nap with DD4, switch laundry to dryer
2:55 wake up, get kids up, and out the door to school
3:15 arrive home, make dinner, and follow Motivated Moms schedule for cleaning

Whew! That's it - the afternoon/evening is too variable for me to plan out, so I don't even try; too stressful. I do have an additional workout to do in the evenings but that can be done after the kids go to bed when DH is here. Or I might jump on the trampolean with them too, that's lots of fun and they think I'm play *hee hee*. Little do they know Mama is just trying to get in 30 minutes of cardio, lol!

Well, here's to a successful rest of the week!