Always a Celebration {Mindful Mothering Mondays}

In just this past month or so, we have had:

*a first baseball game
*a half birthday
*a first Fall dance class
*5 first days of school
*a first unsteady crawl across the living room floor
*a first play date at a friend's house

And that is just what I can think of off of the top of my head! One thing I love about having such a big family is that it seems like we are always celebrating something! There are so many milestones and new things spread between us all. That's not to say that there is not more room for heartache with this many family members. We've also had:

*a first fall off a zip line
*a first grounding from the X-box for a whole weekend
*a first missed ball game (by me, because of work)
*a first runny nose

And many others, I'm sure. But we try to focus on the good and celebrate together with each new journey. It's nice to know that no mater what, we have each other to go through all this with. It's my job to make each one of those sweet babies know how precious and special each and every new thing they go through is and that I'm there to enjoy the journey with them.


Head over to Small Town Simplicity for more encouragement!

A Titus 2 Mom {Mindful Mothering Mondays}

I get this a lot, more times than I can count really:

               "How DO you do it?"
               "I only have 1 (or 2 or 4...) and I can barely keep it together. How do you?"

Truth is, I do it just like everyone else does. One foot in front of the other, taking things on as they come. A mountain of laundry? 6 hungry kids waiting for dinner? Balancing working as a nurse with my responsibilities at home? I just do what needs to be done. Is it always pretty? Is it always right? Do I always do it with a happy face? Of course not, but what in life is perefect. There are too many nights to list where all  I want is to climb into a hot bath, read a book, and pretend like the chaos is not going on right outside the bathroom door. But that is not the life I have and it is not what God has picked for me. He, for reasons I don't always understand, picked this life for me. Picked these kids for me, this house for me, this husband for me, these responsibilities for me.



"...urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind..." Titus 2: 4-5

This has always been a favorite verse of mine. Since the time I was a 19 year old newlywed I have craved this kind of woman in my life. A woman who has been there and done that and can say to me, "See? You can do this." A woman to say, "See? I have 6 kids. You can do it!"or "See? I'm a nurse. You can do it!"or "See? I got married when I was 19. You can do this!" But that woman has never been there. What I've come to realize recently is that maybe, just maybe, I am that woman to someone else. Maybe I'm her to the woman who wonders how in the world I keep my head above water with 6 kids or puts in my night shifts as a nurse with a smile on my face. Maybe someone sees me and thinks that if I can do it and survive then surely they can.

I never want to give off the impression that I have it all together or that my life is great all the time. It most definitely is not, but a positive attitude can go a long way. I can only continue to do my best and hope that someone somewhere is being encouraged by me.


Stop by Small Town Simplicity for more encouragement