We love you, mommy / Lacey! You are the best mommy in the world. Thank you for all the sacrifices you make for the sake of the family.
Grace says: You are awesome with the food. You read us the Bible very good.
Caleb says: mbtxcyhguyrczqtnugf6jiyhgb (my favorite letters).
Ava says: I love you. I want to give you a treat.
Jaden says: the same as Caleb, and that he loves you.
I was really encouraged the first time I read Being a Great Mom, Raising Great Kids by Sharon Jaynes. That was a while ago (2-3 years?), and I picked it up tonight to read again.
This poem was near the beginning, and it made me want to weep…
My hands were busy through the day.
I didn’t have much time to play
The little games you asked me to,
I didn’t have much time for you.I’d wash your clothes,
I’d sew and cook,
But when you’d bring your picture book,
And asked me please to share your fun,
I’d say, “A little later, son.”I’d tuck you in all safe at night
And hear your prayers, turn out the light,
Then tiptoe softly to the door…
I wish I’d stayed a minute more.For life is short, the years rush past.
A little boy grows up so fast.
No longer is he at your side,
His precious secrets to confide.The picture books are put away.
There are no longer games to play.
No good-night kisses, no prayers to hear.
That all belongs to yesteryear.My hands, once busy, now are still.
The days are long and hard to fill.
I wish I could go back and do
The little things you asked me to.from
Being a Great Mom, Raising Great Kids by Sharon Jaynes (pg. 27)
Look back at my last post and see how much time I spent playing with my beautiful children. I’ll save you the time – it was right around 0.00 minutes.
When it comes to spending too much time doing dishes and laundry and not enough time playing with the kids, I am the worst offender. The thing is, I don’t even like doing dishes and laundry. But they have to be done at some time or another, and it seems to be my job to do them.
So, how do I juggle it all?
I want to have a clean house and clean clothes to wear and yummy food to serve my family. But most of all I want to have children who know beyond a shadow of a doubt that their mommy loves them and loves spending time with them. I don’t want them to grow up and remember me as the housekeeper. I want them to grow up and remember me giving my energies to them.
And I fear I’m failing miserably.
If nothing else, this poem is a grand reminder to me. Maybe tomorrow I’ll remember to put down the dishrag and wrestle around with Caleb, make Ava giggle, read a book with Gracie, and crawl around with Jaden.
I just don’t want to miss it.
We are so proud of our Gracie-girl, who finished her entire Sparks book last week at AWANA.
(If that sentence sounds foreign to you, I’m sorry! AWANA is a program for children that our church participates in every Wednesday. It focuses on Scripture memorization, and each student gets a book with verses to memorize. A book should typically take approximately one school year to complete.)
I obviously knew she was going to complete the book, since we work together on the memorization. But what I was most excited about was the review. I was expecting her to take the rest of the year to go back through the book and review the verses. Uhm, nope. She did ALL of the review verses the same night she finished the book!
That means she has really committed the verses to long-term memory. How exciting!
Confession time…(It sounds like a rabbit trail, but stick with me here.)
In elementary school, I was a chubby kid who wasn’t good at sports or anything in particular. I didn’t think all that much of myself, and I certainly didn’t have a healthy view of myself as a child of God. So, I thrived on accomplishments.
The one thing I did have going for me was that I was a good student.
As I grew older, I strove for good grades and was probably considered a “teacher’s pet.” (Okay, okay, I was actually voted “Teacher’s Pet” in our senior class mock elections.) I ended up being the valedictorian of my small public school class. You can imagine what wonders that did for my self-esteem.
But you can also imagine what happened to my rickety self-image when I got to college and wasn’t the smartest girl in the hall, and I couldn’t always get an A+ on every assignment. If I couldn’t even achieve perfect student status, what was I worth?
Obviously, I had to somehow form a healthy view of myself through Biblical truth – that I am fearfully and wonderfully made, made in the image of God, and I am His precious child (no matter how much I achieve, or don’t achieve). I truly can’t remember how that happened. It definitely wasn’t a one-time change, but a change of heart occurring over time. I’m pretty sure motherhood helped shape me tremendously.
Okay, now I am on a rabbit trail.
Anywho, here is my concern. Grace is so much like me. She is a great student. She gets SO excited when she does well in school.
And I’m sure all of that is pretty “normal.”
But how do I help shape her view of herself in a healthy, Biblical way? How do I help her know that her value is in her status as a daughter of God, not in her grades? What can I do to help her know that truth from a young age?
Anyone willing to weigh in here?
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