SLEEP DEPERVATION….IT’S A MOMMY THING!

Sleep…I LOVE SLEEP!!!!  I am not a middle of the night kind of person.  I am not someone who can get up and then quickly fall back asleep.  I, as a matter of fact, like to sleep, a lot.  I relish being able to snuggle down into the covers, roll up in a tight little ball, lay on my side against my body pillow and drift off into a sleep induced oblivion. I LOVE sleep!  What a gift it is as a mother to leave the days cares aside and drift off into dreamland…sweet dreams, good night, leave the world behind…pure bliss….That didn’t happen last night!

First of all we have a new puppy.  Yes, this anti-animal person is now raising children and all the various pets that come with them!  (For those who don’t know we have horses, a Zebu calf, a pen full of hogs that just had little piglets, and now 2 dogs! UGH!)  Well last night after a day filled with playing with the kids, the puppy curled up in his bed and promptly fell asleep at 8:00!  Perfect timing that is the boy’s bedtime!  However, at midnight there was the most incessant whining and whimpering.  Being the good Mommy that I am, (and knowing that I didn’t have to nurse or change this baby!), I promptly woke up Daddy and told him to take the puppy out….which he did with no complaints! (WOW!)  However, after a four hour nap, the puppy decided that he was up, so we needed to be too!  Needless to say we didn’t get back to bed until around 3:00 this morning!  MAN….did I mention that I need sleep?

Enter problem number two!  Thirty mere minutes after snuggling back under the covers the bedroom door slams shut and little man with freezing toes crawls into bed.  “What’s wrong?” his dutiful parents promptly ask.  “Mommy & Daddy, can I sweep wif you?  I had a bad dream!”  Of course the answer was a resounding YES and our sleep was destroyed for the rest of the night while our little one was snoring comfortable, safe, secure and warm in his Daddy’s arms, all within five short minutes of interrupting us and crawling into our bed!

That is the scene that I was looking at as I was contemplating my life.  How often am I interrupted by bad dreams, a dead battery in the car, someone was rude in the store, I was cut off on the road?  Bad dreams happen a lot in this world.  We call it a bad day and determine that there is nothing that we can do about it.  We have to suffer through life’s injustices alone, painfully alone.  Right?  WRONG!!!  This scene playing out in my sleepless night reminded me of Matthew 7”7-11:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or is he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”  (NKJV)

WOW!  All we need to do is run into the open arms of our heavenly Father, even in the middle of our bad dreams, and He will give us perfect rest!  What a picture of love, peace, and comfort a small frightened child can be!  Thank you Lord for my interrupted sleep!  Thank you Lord for my children, animals and all!  Thank you Lord for Your open arms, perfect rest, and for giving me sweet dreams!

Who needs sleep?  I have too much learning and growing to do, waiting with open arms for my children to crawl into them!  Right now, I think I am going to go crawl up into God’s lap with His Book and snuggle down!  Last night I had a bad dream, today I a have perfect comfort!  Oh Father, to be a parent like you!!!!

Sleep?  Who needs sleep?  Not me!  Sleep is overrated when Christ is waiting on me anyway!  

LAUNDRY!!!!!

Laundry……is there any other word in the English language that can instill more dread in the heart of a mother than laundry?  (OK…I will admit there are a few, like stomach virus, surgery, accident, BUT as far as housework, I think that laundry is it!)  Take our home.  There are 5 of us; Daddy, Mommy, Daughter, Son 1 and Son 2.  We are not a typical 1.5 child American family; there are 5 of us after all not 3.5!   So Laundry is a BAD WORD.

I will readily admit that I do not mind washing clothes, I have a washing machine that does that!  I even don’t mind drying them, after all we have a drier and a clothes line (which I do use every time I wash thank you very much!)  I don’t mind folding the clothes….What I hate is putting them away!  Is there any more tedious or mundane chore than putting clothes away?  After all we are going to drag them out and wear them again!  What’s the point?   Yet my family revolts at the idea of living out of clothes baskets so….

Laundry is the thorn in my daily side.  Take last night for example; we were outside playing together as a family, something we purpose to do often.  I have boys.  One son wants to be a bull rider, the other wants to ride tractors.  They are as different as night and day.  Yet, they both have a mutual attraction to one thing: DIRT!  Boy were they black when they came in.  Oh no, they can’t play in nice white playground sand, but they can go and roll, (yes I said ROLL) in the black dirt by the barn!  There was dirt in every crevice on their body and in their clothes!  We had to set the hose nozzle to stun just to get them brushed off to come into the house…..which brings me to laundry!

Have you ever had to shake out your children’s clothes, prewash, soak, and then wash them just to do it all over again a day or two later?  I do, every time I wash, which is at least three times a week if not more depending on of we are washing bed linens….that’s another story! 

  Yet it struck me today as I was soaking the clothes for the second time this morning, I have the unique privilege of washing my children’s clothes!  How many woman long for the chance to wash one little pair of dirty jeans, and I get to wash THREE!?  How many women would endure anything to have the joy that comes from laughing and watching their child get THAT dirty?  I get to watch them on a daily basis!  One day my children will be gone, one day my house will be clean, one day my laundry will be done!  I don’t want that day to come anytime soon!  Thank you Jesus for my children and laundry!

LAUNDRY….what a beautiful word!

The Great Supper Debate

OK, so if your lives are anything like mine, supper is often thought of all of about 30 minutes a day...the 30minutes before we have to eat, UGH!,  (which is usually around 4:30-4:45 pm daily!  And to clarify things, we eat dinner at noon and supper at night, we are a Southern family!)  I must admit, I am told that I am a good cook, BUT the only reason that I cook is because my family insists on eating!  If I could have someone deliver ready made meals, I would...BUT alas, we experience the nightly Great Supper Debate:  "What do you want for supper tonight!" 

I purpose to cook healthy, we use only ground turkey, venison (we are a Sothern hunting family), and as low fat organic foods as possible.  I keep the kitchen stocked with apples, grapes, cheddar cheese sticks, and funyons. (There are some things that even a Mommy needs after all!)  I have a handful of favorite recipes that I fall back on, often.  Yet, even I the non-cook cook, get tired of the same old thing!  If you have a healthy kid friendly EASY recipe that you would be willing to share, please do so!  Know this, as much as we are Southern, we are also "amateur foodies" and are willing to try almost any flavor combination!!!!

Parenting!

Parenting isn’t for the weak or the faint of heart!  It is an ongoing battle to raise these little people so that they will grow up to have the mind of Christ!  This section of the blog I will post parenting tips, and I ask that you all do the same!  Remember we are in this together, let’s have fun with it!

Tip # 1

Never let children smell your fear!!!!!

True Woman Movement

There is a need in American society today!  It is a dramatic need for woman to take up the role that they were created to be, a wife and a mother that will stand counter-cultural to our society.  We are told that we are goddesses that deserve the happiness of our own making.  (Don’t believe me; think about the Gillette woman’s razor commercials!)  The simple fact of the matter is that we are not in the active roles that we were created to be in if we are acting outside the God ordained role of being a True Woman!

What is a True Woman?  I am so glad that you asked!  Being a True Woman is a concept that has been introduced by Nancy Leigh DeMoss.  I readily suggest that you check out her website: http://www.reviveourhearts.com/.  For me, purposing to be a True Woman is answering YES to the calling that my God has put on my life!  What does that look like you ask?  So happy you did!

The first thing that one needs to realize is that if you are going to answer the calling of Christ on your life, you have to have a relationship with him.  I am not talking about “knowing” who He is; I am talking about KNOWING HIM!  If you haven’t had a personal experience, a meeting of Christ in your heart, soul, and mind, than you will NEVER be able to become a True Woman.  I didn’t say that, Jesus did!  As a woman I KNOW that I was created at this time, for this purpose in my life to show off the glory of Christ.  Do I mess up, EVERY DAY!  Yet, I have chosen to live my life to my best ability (through His strength) to showcase His glory to our world.  That is what being a True Woman is: showcasing the glory of God to a dying world in a way that could not be showcased if I was not a woman!  Seems simple, but it is really powerful stuff!  If you are interested, I invite you to join me on this journey to being a True Woman!

 Together we can change our lives, America, and the world, one True Woman at a time!

Welcome

OK all!  Since life is so super crazy, I figured that it was time to jump on the blogging bandwagon, much to Robert's distaste, we are in the 21st Century!  Since we are all so very busy, very far away, and often so time consumed that we are unable to connect on a daily basis, this is my way of keeping you all abreast of what life is like in our family, the Best family in town!