Mother's Heart : Thursday's Post on Motherhood

A lot of people say to me, "I don't know how you do it!" Currently, that is the most popular thing for people who know me and don't know me to say to me. Years ago I used to get the comment, "Your hands are full," almost daily and I had just three children. Sometimes this would bother me so much that I would not leave the house just because I didn't want to hear about my full hands. The comment "your hands are full," has mostly been stated in a derogatory tone. This hurt my feelings because being a mother was exactly what I always wanted to be. In fact, being a mother of many has been my dream since I was a little girl. I still have a few pictures that I drew of my future family. I never had fewer than 10 children in those pictures. Getting married and having children has truly been my dream come true and my happily ever after.

I have many days that I look at my sweet children and think how very blessed I have been to have each precious child. I love to watch my children interact together and learn and discover their world. I love the cute little things my toddlers say. I love helping my older children with their homework. I love reading to my kids and taking them to the park and the museum. I love talking to my older daughters about their friends and their crushes and their little heart aches. Being a wife and a mother is truly a great life-- it is truly a great gift from God.

So how do I do it? Well, just like everyone else-- one day at a time. Some days, yesterday in fact, are really hard and really difficult days. I feel like I am being tested with my patience about every 2 minutes. Some of those days, I tolerate the stress very well and feel quite happy with myself at the end of the day. Some of those days, I lose it and yell at my kids and send them all to bed early and unhappy. But most days are pretty good and quite happy days. I like my kids, my kids still like me. My husband and I are good friends and enjoy being around each other and our kids. Most days we work together pretty well as a family.

Another way I "do it," is this is ALL I do. I do not have a job of any sort right now. We chose to be poor to make things easier for me and easier for our children. And poor we are. We can't afford the latest and greatest in cars, bikes, video games, televisions, clothing etc. My kids do not do a lot of music and sports lessons. We do some, but not  more than one thing per child and usually less than that. We don't have the biggest home and all sorts of  organic or frozen foods around. I bake a lot and make 90% of our meals form scratch. We go to the library every week for our books. I buy family passes to local places instead of spending a lot of money on big vacations. When we do vacation, we sleep in a tent in a modern campground. Still, I think we have been very blessed with a nice home that fits our family's needs. We have enough bedroom space, a nice large family room and kitchen where we can spend time together. We are not hungry and we have decent clothing. Mainly we have faith in God. We trust that He gave us these children and that He will help us take care of their needs. This trust has gotten us through some difficult times. God has NEVER failed us. I have always been able to be there to clean my house and to take care of the needs of all of my children. I suspect this will continue to be the case as we continue to take care of our many, precious gifts from God.