Steady Mom

anything, not everything

If you've read Mindset for Moms, you know that I believe we can succeed in finding and living a life of purpose with our families. I believe in the abundance to do and have what we need to fulfill our mission in life.

But just because we can have anything, doesn't mean we can have everything. We have to make choices--to have priorities.

I thought about this last night while Steve and I watched the documentary Being Elmo. I love a good story like this about someone going after their passions in life. But I found it sad, too, that in pursuing his own dream to work as a puppeteer, Kevin Clash sacrificed time with his family. (He talked about this regret in the film, so it isn't just me being judgmental.) While he performed for thousands of children, his own daughter missed out.

In a recent interview I completed I was asked this question: "How has homeschooling affected your writing career?"

Here was my answer:

"I need to write each day and this influences our daily schedule. I fit my writing in here, there, and everywhere--in the early mornings, when the kids have an afternoon rest time, or while they watch a video.

I would definitely have more time to write if my children were in a traditional school, but I wouldn't have nearly as much to write about! Our lifestyle of learning together enriches my life and gives me plenty of material to add to my work."

We can have it all, just not all at once.

For more on this topic, I recommend my friend Mandi's book: How to Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too.

 

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5 Cheap or Free Toys Guaranteed to Develop Your Kids' Imaginations

1. Dried Beans

These get used in a variety of imaginative ways at our house - usually involved in cargo for a truck of some sort.

2. Shells

When on vacation in North Carolina last year, we collected a tub of shells, cleaned them, and put them in a large glass jar in the living room. These transform well into houses, paths or roads, or yes, as more cargo for trucks.

3. Rocks

Rocks also reside in a large glass jar and can be stacked as a stone wall or made into a village of some sort.

4. Sticks

My Elijah especially loves sticks and can play with one stick for literally an hour. It becomes a magic wand, a dragon, a fishing pole, etc. We encourage stick play to happen mainly outdoors, but I'm a softie on this and tend to bend the rules now and then.

5. Pinecones and acorns

In the past we have had these items available in jars as well, and they can be good for imaginative play.

I started to find that they didn't hold up as well and the play sometimes became how many pinecones I can break apart and leave for Mom to clean up. So we limit these to outdoors mostly. Nuts in their hardened shells might be a good indoor alternative.

6. Boxes

Boxes aren't a natural item, but definitely reside in the cheap or free category. Pretty much every cardboard box we have in our lives--a delivery from Amazon, a cereal box, a oats container--gets snatched and transformed into some type of creation. Boxes can be stacked, made into sculptures, mailboxes, or just shoved under your bed (as our youngest loves to do.)

Toys don't need to be expensive to be inspiring.

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ask this question and turn your day around

"Am I doing my best?"

Sometimes our best means a sunny smile, ever-flowing patience, and bustling efficiency.

Sometimes our best means a raised voice, a sharp word, tears as we sit in the other room while the kids watch a video. And then another one.

You know what? It doesn't really matter...as long as it's your best.

Other days come, too. You know the ones. We don't even want to do our best. We don't want to try, or do laundry, or want what we have. We want to mope and stay lazy. I found myself in that place yesterday...discouraged, but without bothering to do anything about it. Wallowing.

Yet there is grace even then, always another moment to turn it around and try again.

Amazing grace.

There are plenty of days when your best is not good enough, but that's not your concern. The only question you need to ask is "Am I doing my best?" If not, start. If you are, watch God take your meager offering and make it exactly what your kids need it to be.

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get to work

Sometimes the most fueling thing you can do is to take a nap.

Really.

But sometimes the most fueling thing is to get to work. Tackle the project, change the diaper, clean the house, write the post, start that book, make the hard call that you've been putting off.

There's a lot of talk in moms' circles about self-care, which I adamantly agree with. Moms absolutely have to do all we can to keep ourselves in top form so we can serve and do so with joy. But there's an unspoken myth about self-care as well. It's that if we could, we would just sit around being fueled and filled all day long.

That wouldn't be much of a life, would it? Imagine putting fuel in a car. Overfilling it would result in a big mess at best, an explosion at worst. We put fuel in so that the car can get to work--fulfilling the mission of getting us from one place to another.

This is why we fuel ourselves as well--so we can get to work serving our families and the world.

 
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