I felt such an outpouring of love and support from your comments on my "overwhelmed" status.
Some of you even emailed and gave me links and talks to reference.
I am surrounded by women of great strength and wisdom. They are right here at my finger tips. A blog post away. What a tremendous blessing. Thank you for your comments, thank you for your help, thanks for being beautiful friends.
I have learned a few things.
The first thing being-I have problems.
I can't handle my house being dirty, my kids being dirty, my laundry piling up, my projects sitting at a half done status. I used to think this was one of my strengths and now I am seeing this so called good trait is driving me batty. I need to loosen my death grip on my household. I need to let life get messy. I am setting a goal starting today to see a dirty kitchen floor and not hyperventilate. It's going to be hard.
When I take time for the Lord I feel fulfilled in being a mother. When I don't-mothering feels wearing, monotonous, and oh so tiring.
I really enjoy sitting and playing with my kids. I love putting together lego cars, cooing at Jay, playing uno and reading stories. Those are the perks of this job. If I am not such a stress case about my house then I will have more time for this stuff and that will really make me happy. Like Jen Reed said-this is the permanent stuff. The stuff that can't be undone. Those words brought me a lot of encouragement.
I need to slow down. I don't need to hang out with girls as much, I don't need to run frantic doing my visiting teaching. . . I need to chill out a little bit and recognize that my life did change with number three. Stop fighting and start enjoying. Prioritize and cut back. Even when I run around trying to make everybody happy it rarely works. If it is not vitally important, I'm not gonna do it.
A few Saturday's back I spent the whole day running frantically from activity to activity. That was dumb. It wasn't fun for me and it wasn't fun or good for my kids. Then there was Christmas. I spent so much darn time in the kitchen. What on earth for? My kids would have rathered Mac N Cheese. When I stand at the pearly gates is Heavenly Father really going to care if I made glazed ham and home made rolls. Don't think so. But he will care if I sat on the floor and told my kids they were great at their new puzzle, good at drawing, and an excellent remote control car driver.
"Strength comes not from frantic activity but from being settled on a firm foundation of truth and light. It comes from paying attention to the divine things that matter most."
Whelp...Amen to that. Here's to things that matter most and last longest.
Some of you even emailed and gave me links and talks to reference.
I am surrounded by women of great strength and wisdom. They are right here at my finger tips. A blog post away. What a tremendous blessing. Thank you for your comments, thank you for your help, thanks for being beautiful friends.
I have learned a few things.
The first thing being-I have problems.
I can't handle my house being dirty, my kids being dirty, my laundry piling up, my projects sitting at a half done status. I used to think this was one of my strengths and now I am seeing this so called good trait is driving me batty. I need to loosen my death grip on my household. I need to let life get messy. I am setting a goal starting today to see a dirty kitchen floor and not hyperventilate. It's going to be hard.
When I take time for the Lord I feel fulfilled in being a mother. When I don't-mothering feels wearing, monotonous, and oh so tiring.
I really enjoy sitting and playing with my kids. I love putting together lego cars, cooing at Jay, playing uno and reading stories. Those are the perks of this job. If I am not such a stress case about my house then I will have more time for this stuff and that will really make me happy. Like Jen Reed said-this is the permanent stuff. The stuff that can't be undone. Those words brought me a lot of encouragement.
I need to slow down. I don't need to hang out with girls as much, I don't need to run frantic doing my visiting teaching. . . I need to chill out a little bit and recognize that my life did change with number three. Stop fighting and start enjoying. Prioritize and cut back. Even when I run around trying to make everybody happy it rarely works. If it is not vitally important, I'm not gonna do it.
A few Saturday's back I spent the whole day running frantically from activity to activity. That was dumb. It wasn't fun for me and it wasn't fun or good for my kids. Then there was Christmas. I spent so much darn time in the kitchen. What on earth for? My kids would have rathered Mac N Cheese. When I stand at the pearly gates is Heavenly Father really going to care if I made glazed ham and home made rolls. Don't think so. But he will care if I sat on the floor and told my kids they were great at their new puzzle, good at drawing, and an excellent remote control car driver.
"Strength comes not from frantic activity but from being settled on a firm foundation of truth and light. It comes from paying attention to the divine things that matter most."
Whelp...Amen to that. Here's to things that matter most and last longest.
13 comments:
Thanks for your post. I to feel like I have the same problem. I have a panic attack if my house is in disary..not really but I hate it. I understand exactly what you are saying. It is a never ending balancing act. Your baby is adorable.
Heather, I missed your earlier post. I'm sorry you've been feeling overwhelmed lately. We had a huge adjustment period when we got up to three kids - Brian and I were outnumbered, and three kids is a lot to handle.
This post is beautiful. It looks like you've got it all figured out. You are so right about spending more time with your kids and not worrying so much about the kitchen floor. You really will look back at these years and smile when you remember playing with your boys.
Sounds like you've got it. Good luck living in a messier 2011! (Deep breath here).
So true...and so hard to do! Good luck over the next year. I hope you had a glorious Christmas! Love you!
You're beautiful, Heather. I loved your post. Just remember that even though you "know" this, you will have to relearn it. :) But it does get easier. Life is all about balance. Trying daily, or even minute by minute, what is most important. Sometimes it is snuggling your five year old. Sometimes it's mopping the floor. Sometimes it's checking your email. Sometimes it's teaching your kids how to fold their own laundry. :)
You're doing wonderfully. Good luck with three kids. It's a steep learning curve, but you'll get it. Probably by the time you're ready for number four. :)
I appreciate you posting this!! Thanks! I really needed to hear it from someone else and realize I'm not the only one like this trying to juggle everything! Ha! I'm the exact same way. I freak out if things aren't perfect and clean. I just need to take a chill pill once in a while! I need to take your advice and enjoy the little moments that won't last forever! Thanks again!!!
-Adrienne
PS I'm not sure if you have or want an invite to our blog. It's private. Let me know if you do!!
could not have said it better myself! Love YOUR perspective!
You are just amazing heather and really just all around incredible. you really couldn't have said it better than you did and I have to agree that I am the same way about my house. I have to have it clean but just this week have started seeing my house get a little dirtier and I thought well why and I realized because I have been spending so much extra time with just my kids that I didn't care about how my house looked. So thank you for making me feel like I wasn't the only one out there to feel like that and thank you for such amazing words of wisdom and for always saying the things I need to hear.
You have a great way with words Heather! I really appreciated this post and your "overwhelmed" post. We all have those days and those moments, and I appreciate you reminding me of what really matters! Thanks!
Thank you for your sweet words Heather!
Love you! You are constantly teaching me! Thanks for being so great!
Just wanted to check up on you - LOVE this post! Way to go, sounds like you've got this particular challenge all figured out. I'm always learning new things about this topic and I learned more just from reading this post - thanks!
So our strengths can become weaknesses, or our weaknesses can become strengths, interesting...I guess there must be balance in all things... ;)
Casey and I love Jen Reed's insight too about permanent stuff.
We realized too about the cooking for Christmas - we ended up having Dutch Babies (aka German Pancakes) for Christmas dinner. I still haven't made my Gma's much-loved homemade rolls, or the yummy pumpkin roll dessert...maybe some day I'll get to it... ;)
P.S. Love your humor on all your posts too! As I know you've discovered, humor always helps too for getting through challenges... ;)
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