My Priorities

   These past few years have been really busy for me with three little ones.  I’m not sure if you are able to access my profile on my blog or not.  Just for clarification, my children are fifteen, thirteen and a half, five, two and a half, and six months old.  In these last three or so years I have been in a pregnancy/baby fog.  My pregnancies are fraught with fatigue and depression (I’ll save the depression issues for another post).

    It has become more apparent to me that things just aren’t running smoothly around these parts.  At the end of the day I’m not sure what actually has been accomplished and what has been left undone.  Due to my prior experience as a wife and mother I realize that some days are just like that.  This is something more.  I am in desperate need of a plan.  I have decided that I need to take another look at my priorities. 

    My list of priorities are as follows: 

                 1. My God

                2. My Husband

               3. My Children

               4. My Home

   First and foremost is my relationship with my Heavenly Father.  In Him is where my first priority should always be.  He truly is my strength and comforter. 

In everything you do, put God first, and he will direct you and crown your efforts with success. ~ Proverbs 3:6

  Without my God everything I do is in vain.  I need him to direct me each and every day. 

   Second is my husband.  After my God, he is my support.  He is the man my God chose for me to look to for guidance and love.  

For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.  Ephesians 5:23

    I want nothing more than to be a pleasing wife to my husband and make sure that he knows how very important he is to me.

    Thirdly come my children.  My children are the fruit of the love in my marriage.  They are our gifts of joy from our God.  

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. 

Psalm 127: 3

  As a parent of five covenant children,  I have a huge responsibility to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

   Lastly is the care and keeping of my home.  Our home is where we spend most of our time.  I am determined to make it the place where we would rather be.  A place where our friends and family are always welcomed and made to feel comfortable. 

She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.  Proverbs 31:27

   These priorities need to be my daily goal.  The ways in which I meet these priorities each day may be different but I seek to honor the Lord in each of them. 

Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. 

 Proverbs 31:25

Interesting Reading…

    I don’t have very much time to write today but I came across this article that I thought was very well written.  It isn’t from a Christian source but it sure speaks to the goal of contentment we Christians’ should desire.  It really hit home to me.  Enjoy!

 http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53028

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Losing the Baby Weight

     Pregnancy is such an awesome experience.  Nothing can replace the sheer joy that overcomes an expecting mommy when she first feels her little one move in her womb.  No matter how many times a woman has been pregnant that first movement is like experiencing it for the first time.  The love you feel when you have that first ultrasound where you can actually see your precious baby’s heartbeat is so exciting and miraculous.  To be used by the Lord as a vessel in this way is such an honor.

     Getting back to the title of this post… As you know from the title of my blog I have had the privilege of five pregnancies.  Now some women gain the “normal” pregnancy weight and lose it in a acceptable amount of time.  Then there are those who gain a little too much weight and struggle to lose it.  I fall under the latter and take it to the extreme.  I gain an obscene amount of weight and usually take a year or two to lose it.  I find myself in that situation now.  After my third child it took about a year to lose the weight.  I was able to maintain that weight for about nine months before the Lord blessed us with another pregnancy.  This pregnancy was a very undisciplined one where I gained more weight than I ever had.  Needless to say,  I had only lost half of the weight before yet again the Lord blessed us with another pregnancy. 

   Micah, our only son, was born on May 20th.  To date I have only lost about one eighth of the weight I need to lose to get back to my pre-fourth child weight.  I hope I am not boring you all too terribly with all of this weight talk but I thought you all could help me.  Please email me with any of your weightloss stories for encouragement and check-in with me once in awhile to make sure that I’m keeping up with my goals.  Speaking of goals, my goal is to lose all the weight by mid summer.  My plan is to exercise at least four days a week for one hour and drink a gallon of water per day.  I also plan to stay away from sugar and fatty foods.  I know that sounds ambitious with five children but I have lost weight this way in the past and it seems to be the only way that works for me.  It’s all or nothing with me! 

    Getting back to the blessing of pregnancies, I wouldn’t trade being back to my pre-pregnancy weight for any of my beautiful covenant children.  My children are such a blessing to me and my husband that I wouldn’t trade them for anything this world has to offer.  Being with my children each day can at times be really trying and tiring but those moments pale in comparison to their sweet smiles, silly giggles, and bear hugs.  

      

My Favorite Time of the Year

    The holidays are my favorite time of the year.  I know that is a sentiment held by so many but for me it is something that defines me. 

    I have always loved Christmas.  Every year my children are in their words “tortured” by the constant Christmas music.  I don’t start listening to it until about September so I’m not quite sure what all the hullabaloo is about.  My very favorite is Pachelbell Canon.  I have made my children promise that at least one of them will walk down the isle to it. 

     The smells of Christmas are sweet and spicy.  I can’t wait to put out the cinnamon pine cones and light all my yummy smelling candles.  Baking just seems to be all the more homey.  Having the children there stirring, patting, and measuring is the highlight of my day. 

     I am such a sucker for decorating, too.  One year I put up all the decorations in October because we had precious cargo arriving in November that year, my third daughter.  The house just seemed so inviting and warm that year when we came home from the hospital with our little bundle of Thanksgiving joy.

     Our Christmas Eve gathering at my uncle’s house is the highlight of the holiday.  He does the whole santa dress up thing for the kids.  We teach the children that santa isn’t real but it’s still so much fun to see my uncle come walking out in his costume.  He is a funny guy all the year though so this makes for lots of side splitting laughter.  He usually makes a few grown-ups sit on his lap which is just hilarious. 

      I only have a month and a half to post about my favorite time of the year so I figured I’d better get started today.

     Now where did I put those twinkle lights…. 

A Blessed Woman

All days are not equal.  Some days are full of fun and joy.   Others are full of sweat and tears.  I have been pondering which of these days are of more value to me.  The fun days are really a treat.  Where everything seems to go right.  The children all get along and are sweet to one another.  We laugh and enjoy the time we have together without a care in the world.   As a mom I get these kind of days pretty often.  But I think the days of sweat and tears are the ones I treasure the most.  Not a bad sweat and tears but the kind that brings a real sense of accomplishment.  Where at the end of the day you know you have made a difference.  Days where the children are just in a bad mood.  They are short with one another and only concerned with themselves and nobody else.  These are the days where I really get to make a difference in the lives of my children.  It’s easy to go with the flow on the fun and joyful days.  It’s the days of sweat and tears that the Lord does his best work.  On these days the children learn that the Lord’s work isn’t always easy.  Sometimes we need to be uncomfortable to make others comfortable.  Sometimes we need to give rather than to receive.  My prayer is that when these days come, as they often do, I will be a godly example for them.  I will come along side them and show them what a blessing it is to serve our Heavenly Father by serving and loving one another.   

Love is patient, love is kind.   It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 

What a blessed woman I am to be a merry mommy of five! 

What an Honor

I have come to realize in my fifteen years of motherhood that staying home and raising my children is an honor.  These days so many are told that being home and doing the “mundane” work of raising childen, keeping a home, and joyfully supporting a working husband is nothing short of slavery.  Not only that but if choosing this sort of lifestyle is your ultimate goal in life, you certainly must be lazy and unambitious.  These sorts of thoughts are so prevailant in our culture.  During these fifteen years of “slavery,” I have become the woman that I am certain God designed me to be.  The laughter and giggles of my little ones are daily music to my ears.  The look of my two oldest daughters faces when they have learned the knowledge that has been put before them homeschooling, brings such a feeling of accomplishment to my soul.  The excitement every daughter, son, dog, cat, and mommy feel when the sound of daddy’s truck comes up the driveway at the end of the day, is truly the highlight of my day.  This isn’t because I finally get a break but this is the time of day where everyone and everything come together.  Where the laughter of the day is relived.  The saddness of the day is put to rest.  But most of all it is the time for my family to be whole and complete.  While daddy is away all is well but with daddy home all is content.  To all of those who view this lifestyle as ”mundane,” I say with a smile, “What an honor!”