The Monotony of a SAHM

Wake up. Get dressed. Usually digging in some laundry baskets of unfolded clothes because I haven't gotten to folding Mr.Barefoot and my clothes yet... just the kids.

Get upstairs. Get the screaming kids up (lately it's been Little Love). Listen 6 trillion times about how the kids are "sooooooo hungry, Mom" while I remind them that I am working on getting breakfast ready.

Send Mr. Barefoot off to work. Breakfast. Clean the kids up. Clean the dishes. Clean the floor (usually this happens on Monday as I take a break from daily cleaning over the weekend. During the week I try to clean up every night so we have a clean house in the morning.)

Kids play while I finish cleaning. 

Do school.

Prep dinner (if I'm on top of things).

Start a new load of laundry and finish drying the last.

Snap at the kids as my patience wanes, say sorry. Hugs. Cuddles. Tickles. Laughter. Everything is better. Mommy is a sinner too and needs forgiveness.

Get lunch ready.

Help the kids deal with big emotions (aka hitting, biting, screaming, the works.)

Feed them lunch. Wipe up. Girls to bed. Dishes. Clean up.

Laundry, again. Try not to get too overwhelmed by the giant pile I still have and the growing pile in the laundry chute. Ignore the baskets of unfolded clothes.

Try to sit and drink my tea.

Do a workout.

Wake the kids up from nap, or let them out of their "jail" if they never fell asleep. 

Spend some time outside.

Finish dinner. How many minutes until bed again?

Dad comes home. Kids tell him all about their day.

Eat dinner in 0.2 seconds before everyone gets up. Clean up. 

Do the dishes while Little Love plops down at my feet since I can't hold her. She just wants to be close to me.

My feet hurt. 

Kids get ready for bed. Brush Teeth. Floss. Wash face. Jammies. Goodnight Dad. Books. Bed.

FInish up whatever dishes/sweeping/cleaning I didn't get to before. 

Remind the boys its bedtime, not laugh-shout-play-in-bed time.

"No, you don't need your sippy cup filled up, it's still full."

"How many times have you gone to the bathroom now? Do you really need to poop that much?"

Deep breath.

"Ok, really, goodnight. See you in the morning. I love you."

Have big plans of folding laundry, sorting and prepping homeschool, being produtive... but after a shower, all I want to do is NOTHING. N-O-T-H-I-N-G. With a capital N. Turn my brain off. 

Fold a load of laundry while watching some funny show or documentary about scuba diving or surviving in the wild. 

Head to bed, knowing tomorrow I will do it all over again.

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Sometimes the doubts creep in. At least for me.

Is anything that I'm doing changing the world? What' my BIG accomplishment? 

Maybe I hold the world record for wiping poop off a butt? 

Or the speed at which I can utilize the Nose Frida and suck boogars out of my kids' noses? 

The number of dishes I wash in one day? 

The number of messes I clean up?

Is there really anything GREAT about being a Mom? Wouldn't it be better if I could work outside of the home, designing some fabulous plan to save the world?

Does anyone even notice or care what I do day in and day out as a Mom?

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Yes.

YES, my fellow Mom Warrior. 

You matter.

People care and you are needed and you are making a difference, one poopy butt and one snotty nose at a time. 

And your kids see you. They notice.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Mathew 19:14)

I am raising children whom Jesus loves, whom Jesus invited to come to Him, and then rebuked the adults around him who said children aren't worth spending time with.

I have been given these beautiful blessings and with them, a responsibility. 

To nurture, to love, to discipline and train them up in a way that honors the Lord. That's a high calling, and if I may be so bold, one of the most important and forgotten mission fields on this earth. 

Our babies are born into a sinful world and without the influence of spiritual leaders the Lord places in their life, they will not grow up to be salt and light for this dark world. As my children's Mom, I am one of the main spiritual influences the Lord had planned to have input in their life. 

Me. Just a Mom. 

Wow. 

Let that sink in a bit. You're not JUST a Mom.

I can hear you saying, "But, Islands Girl.... now I feel guilty about not making them memorize the whole Bible, about not reading them 10 Bible stories a day, about not praying with them every night before bed... I'm not doing EVERYTHING I should be doing as the BEST spiritual leader God wants me to be!"

Stop feeling guilty.

You know what your kids see?

They see a Mama who loves them, who cleans their dishes so they can eat dinner which she makes every day no matter what else is going on.

They see a Mommy who loves them and washes their clothes, even if they do a wardrobe change 5 times because they are playing in the mud. 

They see a Mum who doesn't wince at the nastiest diarhea, who sucks snot out of their noses like a champion and a Wakatik who kisses bloody owies without batting an eye. 

Jesus also said, “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities." (Luke 16:10)

When I'm doing dishes for the 8th time that day, I'm being faithful in the little. When I'm washing the 5th load of laundry and still have 5 more to go to "catch up," I'm being faithful in the little. When I make my family dinner every day, I'm being faithful in the little.

I often think of standing before the Lord, on judgement day, and wondering if all I can present before Him is being a Mom. What if I never do anything "big?" 

What if I don't start some great non-profit to save the orphans of the world? What if I don't somehow end world hunger? What if I don't translate the Bible into every unreached people group's heart language? 

Will my Jesus still say "Well Done, my good and faithful servant?" 

Is what I'm doing right now enough?

I don't know. But, I like to think yes. Raising my children means being an example. 

They are watching me and everything I do:

My attitude as I go through the monotony of every day.

My time spent in Scripture.

My time asking for their forgiveness because I've hurt them or others.

My disciplining of them because I love them.

My caring of their BIG problems, like how their toast isn't cut right and that Orangutan feels mad because Twinkles said he would share the hammock in 88 minutes. 

Do you know how I know they notice? Because I get pictures like these, precisely made and given to me. 

Jesus said, "'For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’" (Mathew 24:35-36, 40)

My kids have been hungry. Not starving hungry for REAL, but they get hungry and their little tummies scream FEED ME, and I've fed them.

My kids have been thirsty, and begged for me to fill up their sippy cups, and I have.

I wash their clothes, buy them new ones (from the thrift store), and fold them. 

When they get sick, I help them get better. I clean up their puke, their poop, rock them late into the night and let them know I'm not going anywhere. 

Thankfully none of my children have gone to prison, and I pray they never, will but if they do, I would go visit them.

Jesus says if I've done these things for the least of the brothers (and sisters) I've done it for Him.