Will All of the Real Moms Please Stand Up?
ByWhy? Why do we do it to ourselves?
We’re all just moms.
Why do we think (even though we know better) that all the other moms have everything under control…all of the time? Why do we see messes in our own homes and feel badly because the other moms surely never have messes like the ones we have? Or at least not as often as we do? Why do we sometimes feel like a failure when our kids don’t obey…again?
Why do we sometimes feel like we aren’t doing a good enough job? Why do we think that our kids are the only ones who throw fits?
Why does it seem like my children are the only ones who haven’t learned to put their games away before they get out another toy to play with?
Haven’t I trained them well enough? Haven’t I told them the same things over and over again?
Do any of these thoughts go through your head when you and your kids are having a bad day? Do you tend to assume that your kids are the only ones that (fill in the blank)?
I’m here to tell you that there are many times that:
- My kids don’t obey me the first time.
- My floor has toys all over the place (mixed in with dirt and dust bunnies).
- My kids have boogers on the end their fingers and they just don’t seem to know what to do with them.
- Nobody can find matching and/or clean socks.
- My kids would rather not change their clothes.
- My kids want to argue with me.
- My kids fight with each other.
- No one (but me) can see the junk under the dresser that needs to be picked up.
- My bathrooms smell like pee. (C’mon boys…learn to aim already.)
When those things happen…I can second guess myself and the fact that I really am doing a good job with this mothering/homemaking thing God has called me to do.
I can feel like I’m failing at the most important job I’ve been given, second to being my husband’s help meet…but of course sometimes I’m really struggling with that one too.
And I feel like everyone else must be doing a much better job than I am.
And that surely none of the other Christian wives and mothers out there feel this way. Because the other Christian wives and mothers surely never get frustrated or behind on their work or overwhelmed. Because the other Christian wives and mothers are all more organized than I am and probably pray more than I do and train their kids better than I do and have a meek and quiet spirit and always have a gentle answer for their precious little ones.
Yeah…it’s all a lie.
A big fat juicy lie (with a booger on top).
We are not alone.
Our job is a work in progress. Continually. All the time. Forever and ever amen.
The training and the loving and the nurturing and the cleaning and the crying and the praying…it’s continual.
We train and we work and we pray and we just keep doing it. Day after day.
Guess what Moms? That’s what ALL of us are doing. Day after day.
Training children to be like Jesus is the hardest job on this earth. Training them to be like Jesus in the middle of trying to grow to be like Jesus ourselves….
Yeah, Satan doesn’t like that very much.
That’s why he makes it so hard. He doesn’t want to us to succeed.
And he really wants you to think that you are the only one who is struggling.
So, if you are a real mom….the kind that has imperfect children and an imperfect home? The kind that is working really, really hard to train your children to be like Jesus. The kind that has a hard time keeping up with every single thing that needs to be done every single day. The kind that is plugging away and striving to be Godly….but not quite reaching perfection.
The kind of mom that relies continually on the grace of God and on His loving mercy.
Won’t you please join me in acknowledging this battle we’re in together?
I’d love it if all us real moms would please leave a comment here on this post. Even if all you do is sign your name. Or simply say, “Yes, I’m a real mom.”
Or, if you’re really feeling brave…go ahead and tell us about your latest parenting/homemaking struggle. Because we’ve all been there done that (or if we haven’t yet…we probably will tomorrow).
And then the next time any real mom out there is having a bad day or needs a little reassurance…
She can come here to this post and be reminded by the list of all of us other real moms…
That she is a part of a community of other women doing many of the same things she is doing everyday…
And struggling with many of the same things she is struggling with day after day….
And we’ll all know that we are not alone.
From one real mom to another…Thank You.
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This post is linked to Works for me Wednesday.
real mom here. A book that has helped me is called, “Your vocation of love” by Agnes Penny.
I just feel like the little engine that could, “I think I can, I think I can.”
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Amen! I’m right there with you!
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This post was so encouraging! Sometimes I find that moms in the blogosphere world(and just moms in general) try to give the impression that they have it all together. Then, people(like me) who read those blogs think that they are failing in every area because our life doesn’t line up in the same way. I believe it is so important for us to be authentic so we can be an encouragement to each other. Thanks so much Laura (and all the other women commenting) for being authentic and real! Of course, I think it is important for us to strive for excellence and learn how to be good mommies. I think we just need to do it in a way that pleases God.
Btw, I’m a real mom. I woke up to a kitchen full of dirty dishes, laundry in my hallway and a kitchen table full of yesterday crafts (I even let my toddlers watch tv while I cleaned it up). So, there is my confession ;)
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I am a mother of 2 daugthers and a wife to a wonderful man for 20 years. My daughters are 18 and 16, I had my first when I was 17 (husband 22) and my second when I was 19 (husband 24). When my oldest was only 5 mo. old we found out that she was totally blind and when my youngest was 3 weeks old we found out that she had hydrocephalus(water on the brain)which caused cerebal palsy, my daughters are the first on both sides of the family to have any handicaps, at 17 then at 19 not sure if you can or that you are ready to be a mom much less a wife, I and my husband was faced with two daughters that will always depend on us. Yes we are both REAL PARENTS, teaching the youngest to walk was a real task but when she took her first steps at 4 yrs old both of us were just thrilled, again we weren’t sure that it would ever happen. Then trying to potty train a child that the doctors told us probably could not feel the left side of her body and that she probably could not feel when she needed to pee; when she came out of diapers totally at 5 yrs old we were thrilled again. I tell you all of this to say that who says what is right and wrong with parenting, I have asked God (along with screaming at him)why me. When I was 17 I thought God was punishing me, but then I realized that he would not punish her. My daughters needed two parents who loved God and each other and would love them and take care of them. God knew what he was doing whe he gave us this two children. It has been a long and uphill climb and still is that, but my girls are well on their way to be as independant as they will ever be and they both love God. I am a REAL MOM and he is a REAL DAD. Our house is full of love and is a mess everyday, when you come over and you see the mess just step over it if is bothers you then oh well. I am not perfect can’t see me being that way ever, and my husband and girls and especially God loves me that way. Just enjoy your ride. Sorry for the long one
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Hi Laura! I want to thank you for this post and send my love to all of the mothers who have commented so far. My husband and I are expecting our first child any day now (second, really- the due date was six days ago!)I have already struggled with doubt in my abilities as a wife, and I am already daunted by the awesome responsibilities of being a mother. How can I train a child to be Christlike when I myself am nowhere close. The only way I know how to get by is to take a deep breath, trust fully in the power and providence of God, and to share my struggle with my husband and other mothers. I think too many mothers are afraid to share their struggles, out of fear of seeming less than perfect. This is a shame, and something I need to work on myself. We need to lean on each other as fellow daughters in Christ!
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Thank you!
I have sometimes thought that perhaps Martha Stewart is an instrument of Satan. Just kidding, really. But I have bought the line of “perfect” home, marriage, children, body, hair for far too long. It is a big fat lie, just to make us spend more and waste time on things that truly pass away (like my highlights)
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I have spent the last 8 years trying to figure out why I can’t do it ‘right’, I love reading posts like this that let me know, my best is right enough. (BTW I can barely find my keyboard on my messy desk, and even though my Mother in Law will be here in 4 hours, my stove is still covered with last nights taco mess, oh and my oldest is walking across my couch. which I have no intention of yelling at him for, I have bigger fish to fry!)
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“Yes!!!! I’m a real mom!” Thank you SO MUCH for sharing your heart in this post.
How’s this for a ‘real mom’ moment–last week my 3 boys were painting (insert grimace of pain here). They were supposed to be painting a night sky so we could glue on the silhouettes of baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph. In the middle of the project my very free-spirited/messy painter splattered paint on everything around him but his paper and I snapped at him. WHAT? Getting upset at my child while painting a nativity scene. Really????!!! Just a reminder of my own sinful, impatient heart and how much I desperately need the savior we were ‘crafting’ about!!
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While the post was certainly a blessing, the comments were even more so!
Today started out with little man being diaperless for just a moment while I got a fresh one. He had a very loose bowel movement then walked through it then sat and left a poopy little bum print on my carpet.
Praise the Lord that my husband had bought me a rug cleaner a few months back and this was easily fixed. DH bought me a cleaner after discovering what I spend renting one on a regualar basis.
I read a saying the other day about having the courage to be who you really are! I want to be a Real Mom!
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I’m so late in standing up here. I was so busy being a real mom that I haven’t checked your blog! I am a real mom of only 2, a 14yo daughter and 12yo son. I think I’m so underblessed because my house is always a mess, there’s always dishes, why don’t my kids SEE what needs to be done without me telling them, how do some moms do it with 6 or 8 kids. I was 35 and my husband 40 when our first was born, so we were pretty together as adults already (right!) But one thing I never did when they were younger, was try to find “Me time”. I just thought it was so selfish. (My husband, tho, was good about taking over when he got home. We were a team.) Now that I can leave kids home alone I realize how quickly they grow. They used to fight and argue, and now I hear them talking and laughing together. To you moms with youngers, cherish these moments. The seasons of life come and go quickly. In my Christmas letter I sent, I described myself as Wonder Woman (wondering what to have for dinner, wondering what happened to childhood, wondering how my husband and kids put up with my shortcomings, etc.) I love being Wonder Woman. Christ died for such as I!
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I feel the same way Brie does. You read all these blogs of ’supermoms’ and start comparing yourself to them. In reality we are all ‘real moms’ whether we want to admit it or not.
I fail miserably everyday in my quest to be a godly mom. I’m a sinner. I have a choice and sometimes my flesh wins over my spirit. I hate when that happens! Especially when my youngest who I am homeschooling in the second grade looks at me with tears in his eyes. He doesn’t learn like my other two (who are in college now)and I am impatient with him. It tears my heart out yet I repeat it too often. But God knows what I’m trying to accomplish and He’s honoring it.
So thanks for this. It really is encouraging to have someone be ‘real’ for us.
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This is beautiful…and oh so true! A great reminder as we start the New Year that while this work may be full of all those second guesses and dirty realities, its the blessing that we have been given that’s worth the effort, that our Lord has chosen us to care for these children of His and that for such a time as this, we are the women He has deemed more than worthy, no matter how hard the climb. AWESOME!
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LOVE this post and I am most certainly a REAL MOM!
I am new to your blog and am subscribing now! I came from a retweet of this post by Sarah Mae ;-)
Carisa
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Yes, I am absolutely a real mom! This is my 1st visit to your blog (I think) and this is certainly a great post to pop in on! Even though I “know” that I’m not the only mom that struggles, it is really easy to believe I’m the only one when I’m right in the middle of those moments when my newly adopted teen daughter is griping about homeschooling, or my younger daughter is backtalking, or when I realized how much we should’ve done differently with our college age son. Thank God for His grace to cover all of that! And thank you for sharing your heart in this post. :)
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Awesome post! I’m definitely a real mom. Dc are 12,8,6,3 and we homeschool too. Just found your site and will return! God bless!
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I’m here. Standing up. Crying. I have 5 kids – 8 yo boy, 6 yo boy, 4 yo girl, 2 yo boy, and 2 month old boy. I feel like a failure constantly. And wonder if other mothers do too. I thought just the other day, that maybe, just maybe instead of constantly striving to be better, that maybe I would strive to get rid of the guilt for not being better.
Thank you SO much for this post – I’ll be spreading the word.
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Real mom here. I even showed my husband your “list” and said “See? We’re not the only ones!”
I have five children, ages 16 to 17 months. I also work two nights a week outside the home as a nurse to help make ends meet. I homeschool, because I strongly believe it’s best for *our* family. There’s no way that I can do everything that I do every single thing that I *want* to do. Something has be let go. I’d rather spend more time with the children reading, teaching, and having fun things than trying to control the dust bunnies or keep the toys organized. So I have a bare-bones list of household chores that have to be completed to keep peace and order, and everything else can wait. I’ve seen how the 16 years with my oldest child have flown by, and I want to enjoy these years with my children still in the house as much as possible.
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Thanks for all the sharing. I struggle with feeling like every moment of my day has to be “productive” although I forget that down time is productive, too. When my husband asks me what I did during the day, he’s just trying to take an interest in my life and I feel like I have to give a whole list of things to show how much I accomplished!
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Just found your blog via a retweet on Twitter..
I am a REAL mom as well!! My struggle is that Im young (mid 20’s), have a 1.5yo girl, and building an at home business! DH is gracious and very supportive but the nagging about laundry and toys everywhere are a bit much! I often feel guilty about not getting everything set before he gets home, I mean come on Im still very young and should have enough energy for all this, right?! Let’s not forget that baby weight that just doesnt seem to disappear on its own!!
Real mom, real sturggles, but trusting a real GOD!! thanks for your blog.. I’ll be subscribing!
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amen! I’m typing with one hand while the other is holding possibly the whiniest child…and he’s mine and i love him and his brother but sometimes…they annoy me and frustrate me and i yell. my house hasn’t seen a vacuum cleaner in…awhile (or a duster). And sometimes our dishes are piled like our laundry. :) but I try and God loves me for it. :)
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“Yes, I’m a real mom.”
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“Yes, I’m a real Mom,” too.
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I’m a real mom too! I loved the story of yelling at her child while “painting”. It made me laugh and think of all the times that I too, did the same thing. And the yelling while thinking “STOP YELLING AT HER!!!” and you just can’t. And I wonder if sometimes it is important to lose control and not be perfect. What horrible little girls (and boys) we would raise if they expected themselves to run a perfect house and be a perfect mom. They would go crazy. Honestly, all a child needs is to feel that they are adored. The rest is up to their own personality, cuz you know you can’t change that anyway!!
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Real mom here. But, I just don’t like taking pictures of the real mess for my blog. I prefer nice and tidy ones. Maybe some day I will crack and post them anyways.
Dirty dishes were stinking in the sink this morning. The couch cushions were forts and the toddler was eating bread slices and icy pops while watching cartoons before I even got up out of bed.
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Yay! I’m not the only one whose bathroom smells like pee! And i’m sure there are several other ‘dirty little secrets’ other mom’s have too. Great post. One of the reasons I love the blog world… to see real moms being real, and realize I’m not alone! :)
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I’m a real mom as well! I have a little funny story about my lack of ability to get my children to help me in the house. (Might as well smile about it!) My first child was (is) disabled, so as my other two children grew older, I was so used to doing everything for my first child (who wasn’t physically capable of doing much) that I did everything for the other two as well. My twin sister has children a few years younger than mine, and her children are really great helpers at her house because she started teaching them to help at a young age–something I didn’t do. My youngest daughter (age 7), was at my sister’s house the other day and was required to help her cousin (also age 7) do some of her jobs around the house. My daughter cheerfully helped, and must have done a pretty good job because her cousin looked at her happily and said, “Wow, Mary Grace! You’re not as spoiled as I thought you were!” :)
Wendy
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I’m a real mom too! This was a breath of fresh air. I have 3 kids: 4.5 yo girl, 3 yo boy, and 22 mth old girl. Plus, I babysit my neighbor’s 14 mth old girl. Life is always crazy around here. I feel like I am always cleaning and never spending enough time with my kids or husband. I try to do fun activities with them, but they never seem to work out the way I invisioned them. I recently read an article about making wonderful Christmas memories with/for your children…
So, I am trying to make some Christmas memories for my kids. Last year we made gingerbread houses out of graham crackers and then decorated them. This year I decided to skip buying the premade kits at the store and make homemade gingerbread and cut out the house pieces myself.
So, our memory goes something like this (me talking):
“This is going to be so much fun making the gingerbread. You kids ready? Come on and help me do this. First, we mix the ingredients together. Evan pour this into the bowl. Sara now it’s your turn. Okay, stir. Good. Put that down. Don’t move that. Wait, where’s my spoon. Give that back. Your dripping all over the counter. If you don’t stop touching things you’re going to have to get down. Put that back. No, you can’t see- I moved the bowl over here because you keep touching things. I know, but you already promised that you wouldn’t touch, but you keep touching. You have to keep your promises or no one will believe you when you grow up. Yes, I heard you say you promise you won’t touch, but why should I believe you now??? (I knew as it came out of my mouth that it was the wrong thing to say, but couldn’t stop it in time). Just get down and go outside. Stop that. Evan, don’t throw the dough on the floor; I need that to finish making the house pieces. If you keep throwing it on the floor then I won’t have enough and Jenna and Sara will get a gingerbread house, but you won’t. Do you think the way you are acting is making me WANT to make you a house?? Get down NOW and go play somewhere else! Stop touching that! Yes, I am yelling now because you aren’t listening to me. GO!!! Get off the chair and GO…. Finally, Evan you can come back and cut out some gingerbread men. Sara, now you can come and use the cookie cutters. Just cut out 3 and then we are done.”
Yeah, what a wonderful memory for them and me – so full of warm fuzzies, NOT. Graham crackers would have been so much better. Heck the $30 for the premade kits would be awesome (Kits are $10 – we need 3). But, the next day when they were decorating them it was totally worth the hassle. I am so hoping that they will remember the decorating part and not the crazy mama baking the houses.
I will keep working on making wonderful memories with my kids and keep working on being more Christlike. It helps to know that I am not the only one out there struggling. Thanks for sharing your post.
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After a day of entertaining 3 kids while my husband tried to fix our dead van (our only vehicle) for 10 hours… the house is trashed, there are dishes everywhere, dirty clothes on the floor, dust and dirt on the floors…. and did I mention we’re hosting about 20 people in two days for an open house/brunch?? With no vehicle to finish the shopping! Sigh.
Today, I needed to read that I am a real mom, too! Thanks!
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I am a real mom!!!! This post was refreshing. So many times a day I struggle with the day to day, wondering how other mom’s do it all. I have three blessings, a 9 yo girl, a 4 yo boy and a 2 yo girl and it never seems like there are never enough hours in the day! Thank you all for letting me know that I am not the only one!!!!!
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I’m a real mom! My freeing moment was when my homeschooling/daycare provider mom told me she couldn’t watch my children anymore because she couldn’t get anything done! Confirmation from God that (a) she didn’t have it as together as I thought (b) YES He did entrust me with a couple of very busy time consuming boys whom I love dearly!
I could really relate to:
“My kids would rather not change their clothes.”
and
“My bathrooms smell like pee. (C’mon boys…learn to aim already.)”
God bless all the moms!
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I am a real mom!!! Why is parenting so difficult. And there are definitely days when I dont want my name to be MOMMY! But God is always bigger than my little world and gives me grace and mercy.
God is faithful.
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I am most definetly a real mom! I stuggle with coming home from work and feeling like I have spent all of my energy at work and don’t have enough left over for my boys. My husband is a stay-at-home-dad, so I know my boys aren’s getting jipped. I just wish I could give them more of me.
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This is a great post. I am also a real mom. I came across your blog on technorati.com’s top 100. Excellent blog. I will definitely return.
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Just came across this post on Jan. 2nd. So glad to read this as I plan my new year.
I’ll be postin a link on my site to this post. And I’ll be printing it up for my family to read—daily.
Take care,
Amy
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I’m a real mom! I needed this encouragement so much lately. I’ve even posted it on my Mom Monday post for 1/4. Thank you so much for being real!
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I’m a real mom too. I have 8 kiddos and have plenty of melt-down days. I’ve found that praying and crying-it-out and then standing in a dark room eating chocolate helps tremendously to drive Satan away on those insecure days.
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Needed this today. We homeschool, it snowed, neighbor kids are ALL home and playing, we are still schooling. They played in the snow, while I fixed all 3 meals, picked up, helped them play in the snow, get them things they need, pack a kid to spend the night, and I could go on and on. I just wish I had just a smidge more “me” time. The house is trashed, the girls (4) all argued with each of their sisters, and I’m behind with dinner and laundry. Yes, I rest on God’s wonderful mercy and grace every single day!! God bless you!!
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Every day I try to be a Real Mom, and I focus on one big accomplishment when it happens. This week I have mastered cloth diapering and taught myself how to embroider!! Praise God for the patience I am developing with both.
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I prayed to God for a husband and children. He blessed me with both. I love my husband and kids so much, but I’m always tired and stressed. I am by choice a stay-home mom. My boys are 10, 3 and 1. My youngest is whiny and clingy and will get into everything but toys. That makes my days really hard, especially in the winter being in the house all day. I can be short with everyone. I feel like I fail God in this role he put me in. I find myself frustrated and having a pity party all the time. Then I feel guilty for complaining and start imagining something bad might happen to my kids because I’m complaining…like I would deserve it. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere but home with my boys and there are women who want to have what I have and can’t. How dare I whine and complain? By the time all the kids are in bed and I can be off duty, there’s my husband. I feel like I need space, just want to be quiet and still for 5 mn…. and don’t have much left for him. I have the best intentions of being a Godly woman, wife and mother, but you know what they say about good intentions. My husband and kids know how much I love them, but do they see joy from me in my roles as wife and mother?…not often enough…though its in my heart. I know God loves me and forgives me and I keep reminding myself that I am a work in progress.
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I so appreciate this post!! My dh and I are trying to encourage the kids to get along and discourage the fighting. I see that we’re just gonna have to tell them the same things over and over. Not that I like it. DH gets so annoyed with repeating himself. I keep reminding myself (and him) that if kids didn’t need parenting, they’d move out after they weaned. ;)
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Thank you!! Laughing and crying as I read your entry and the comments left. What an encouragement to my soul. I am in the midst of making a decision about homeschooling mine (oldest is six…started K this year at public school). I would love to homeschool my children, but frankly I am afraid of being a bad influence on my own children with all of my inconsistencies and weaknesses. It helps to see that homeschooling moms do not have it all together, are not perfect in their character and consistency. I just want to do what is best for my family! Please continue to share these helpful posts!!
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Laura Reply:
March 2nd, 2010 at 1:05 pm
YOU are the perfect teacher for your child because you’re the one who loves him the most. I have a post coming up today or tomorrow about this…be watching for it!
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I am a real mom of 6 ages 11, 14, 16, 18, 19, 22.
I’ve been the stay at home parent for 18 yrs until this past Nov when my husband was laid off. I now work part time out of the house and I really want to come home! I love taking care of the house, yard, family, paperwork, everthing that makes a home run smoothly. I really do feel like homemaker/parent is my vocation…
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Thank you for this wonderfully encouraging post, and all your comments back, Moms!!! I am a REAL mom, and so many of these posts I can totally relate to. I have three wonderful boys(5 yo, 4 yo, and our baby turns 1 tomorrow!!!!!). I love them all and my husband so very much!! But just like some of these moms who don’t feel like they have it together, I feel this way more times than not. I cry almost every day from feeling like such a loser and a failure to my God who gave me the blessings of my heart!! Everywhere I turn, I see pictures of perfection. I hear the expectancy in my husband’s voice when he asked me what I did that day. I visit my friends houses, and see wonderfully decorated, “with it” houses, and fall into the comparison trap. I am finally starting to get things in some semblance of order, but still feel like I am not giving my boys the attention they want or need. I will be starting to homeschool in the fall, maybe sooner, if I can get our house settled( we are moving cross country the end of this month!!). Thank you dear ladies for being open, honest, and REAL to those of us who have not had anything together ever, and are learning everything the hard way, but also learning that God is very gracious!! And, yes, I can relate to the bathrooms smelling of pee(heck, their room smells of pee, because they still wet the beds…), I can relate to poopy messes, I can relate to the making memories/yelling frustration memories. But I also serve a REAL God who loves me just as I am, not wholly together, usually sad, and or yelling, but me. Broken, and healing. Being remolded into HIS child. Being redirected in my thinking that everything DOES NOT have to be perfect. Sometimes even a snuggle on the couch with my boys while they are watching a movie, when I could be picking up or cleaning something, makes all the difference in my day (and theirs). Again, thank you, for this post, and all your comments ladies! I feel as though I have found some wonderful friends!! And, yes, God will see me through another day… even if it looks like a tornado ripped through my house… or if the floor hasn’t been vacuumed in…??… For us real moms, my grandma once told me, she would rather see happy kids then a perfect house =) Amen to that!! God bless every one of you!!
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I so relate to you, Sunshine Mommy. I fearfully clinked on the Real Mommy Link and though Wow!Real People. I am a real Mom of 6 , with one on the way. We are going to try the direct entry midwife/homebirth thing for the first time. I am so full of uncertainty after being brainwashed that a Dr., hospitals and sonagrams are the ONLY way to do it. so, with that on my shoulders, I have 5 fighting children to raise up with manners and good morals, with a love for GOD in their hearts, but, the teacher, me, is sorry lacking. I am frustrated with life which took a change of direction, with bills that incur 30 dollars a month interest, whether they get paid or not. I fussed at my husband about it this morning, only to find out he has a kidney infection and is overwhelmed himself. Our elctric bill is way too high all the time and they keep going up thanks to the electric companies, so, I guess I take all that
frustration and take it out on in life at home. I am not organized, but, I like a clean home. I love my dear family. I love being outsideIF I ever get the chance. I am thankful for daughters that can help me and sons who work hard, as well,even though, my 8 year old is rambunctious and seems to get in more trouble than I can keep up with. I am thankful my children can come say they are sorry for being mad and stomping at me, when I frustrate them. sometimes, they frustrated me so bad, all I can do is say a curse word. I so do not want that and read a verse about purposing my tongue to do no evil, which is my prayer. Pray FOR ME, if you read this,as I learn to serve my family and not myself. It is a very inadequate feeling.Now, that I made everyone feel better about themselves. I better go. shame , on this thing too long already!! On to a better day, with God’s Grace, AMommy Real”est”
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Amanda Reply:
April 20th, 2010 at 8:14 pm
Bless your heart…thanks for being honest and “real”….I only have
one child and yet your day describes how I feel often. Hang in there
Jesus is on our side…we are more than conquerors.
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I wrote this blog post today and was feeling this way when I happened on this post of yours. Thought I would share it. I like your blog (albeit you do overwhelm me with the grinding of your own wheat and such…but I’m taking it one step at at time. :0)
http://www.heart-toward-home.com/2010/04/grocery-stores-whole-grains-and.html
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I am a real mom who really needed to read this today. Thanks. :)
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I am a real Mom. Thank you, Lord. :)
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Yes I am a real Mom. There are days when my children have said Mommy so many times that I don’t hear them anymore or I say she doesn’t live here anymore or I have changed my name (then they bug me and want to know what it is) My house can be really messy some days and I would die of embaressment if any one showed up. I cook a lot and try to play with my children and keep the outside and inside nice. I really don’t see how a women can work outside of the home and still get everything done and still spend time with there family’s. I go crazy some time’s and have to give myself a time out before I can go on with what I was doing. God really looks the other way some days. I am glad he is really forgiving because I have a hard time forgiving myself on days. Love this post and yes my bathroom can also smell like pee when the little guy does not pay attention to what he is doing.
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I am a SAHM of 2 boys (23,20), and 1 girl (14). Yes, I’m home while having college age children. I always have, and still do continue to beat myself up for not being that “perfect” mother. At this point, we are now seeing what our adult children have become. When my 20 year old came home for spring break, he announced that he would not be calling himself a Christian anymore. My heart fell to the floor. This was my son whom I spent everynight praying with, and memorizing verses, and he grew up going to bible camp. He even attended a Christian college. Do I feel like I failed? YEP. My daughter enjoys burping loudly, and saying things to shock me. Was she never taught right? Oh yes. My oldest, so far is a well grounded, Christian man. Was I successful? No, I think of many, many things I coulda,shoulda done different. Am I listening to the enemy? YEP.
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Laura Reply:
August 17th, 2010 at 3:46 pm
Thank you so much for sharing your heart. I just wanted to let you know that I am praying for you. God is more powerful than the enemy and he loves you and your son so much! Keep on being a godly mama…you’re doing great.
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Kayte Reply:
August 17th, 2010 at 9:43 pm
Thank you. Blessings to you.
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I’m a SAHM of 1 teen boy and 2 young girls. I often think I’m not good enough and the house is a mess. (I do work 4 hours/week cleaning other people’s homes and am amazed how quickly I can clean when there’s not stuff laying around).
I’m new to blogland, and just found yours. Thank you for being honest about the realities of homemaking. Thanks for sharing all your tips and stories. Thanks for reminding me that we’re all just regular moms (not perfect ones) trying to do our best to please Jesus. Thanks for reminding me that He’s the one to please and to ignore those nasty whispers from the enemy. I know he’s trying to discourage me and keep me from the task set before me. Thanks again!
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