My Beautiful Mess

I’m a mom and I am reading anything related to the education department at NGCSU. Emails, syllabus info, class rosters…you name it. I have also made time to read anything related to transportation. Ella and I are learning lots about cars, planes, and construction vehicles. Who would have thought I would ever need to know what an excavator was? Having a boy (who loves wheels) is allowing me to learn all kinds of new things. Zulily has a great selection of transportation books on sale for the next few days. Check them out here.

Matthew read a great book to Ella last night. I listened and thought all the ways teachers could use this.

Adri’s parents share wisdom that they have learned through the years. The words are simple and comforting to the son who is about to journey through the adventure of life. The illustrations are amazing and the words are things most parents would probably want their children to learn in life. The fish like objects reminded me of rocks. I think this would be great to have a classroom paint their one and only. Great classroom community builder on-”unique-ness”, accepting others learning styles, we are all process things differently, appreciate the differences in our classroom, and value each other and their “unique-ness”. I am thinking either rocks or family step stones with our only one you fish painting.

I spent time with my kids doing

My mom, Ella, and Jad went to Louisville last week to see my sister Natalie. We had a great time hanging out, eating, playing phase ten, eating more, shopping, playing at splash playground, and visiting the Louisville Science Museum. (first science museum experience for my littles) This museum didn’t disappoint either. 3 floors to explore and boy did we!

I learnedthat sometimes you have to parent differently when you are traveling and without the other parent. There were many times I wanted to ask my children-Who are you? I was reminded pretty early in the trip that I needed to show more grace because sleep patterns were different, routines were off, we were in different environments etc. Part of me thought, Shouldn’t they just adjust? Not sure of the answer. I do feel like I chose to embrace the behaviors. I dealt with them but felt like it was a week where I showed more grace. Don’t we all need those weeks or days? I know I always appreciate when Matthew shows me more grace then I deserve.

I also learned that I need to be thinking about how I can continue to show who Jesus is according to the Bible. Our society/world and even church continue to water down the truth. It was great to have a back to school dinner and choose our verse for the year. 1 John 4:19 We love because He first loved us. Ella has 8 verses we are working on each night. Some have been easier because we know the songs. Check out Seeds family worship. This is one we added to our index card list. Taps on the walls is a book I want to read about a POW survived 6 years and 8 months by tapping on the wall (morse code) with other vietnam prisoners. He would tap poems and try to keep everyones spirits alive. This book that is on my list to read reminds me how important scripture memory is. My great-grandmother would recite scripture in her nursing home bed. I knew she would do this because, when we would visit she was often saying them aloud. She couldn’t see to read and was almost blind but she had her mind. She had the word of God on her heart.

I failed at being on time for the first day of Pre-K. We left at 7:20 so we would have plenty of time. It is a 30 minute drive. Of course, there was a wreck getting off the interstate. We sat for 20 minutes. Ella made it to her classroom at 8:16. That was not an ideal first day for either of us but we recovered. This face melts my heart. She can hardly contain her excitement.

God taught me this about mothering-Be still and know that I am God! That slapped me in the face this morning. So encouraging to know that I can’t do this on my own. Nothing. I need him for everything!

Oh yea…….If you think your child won’t ever take a sippy cup I have a 16 month old that finally did!

This is India. My niece lives in India. We have never met but I was able to see her face last week. My sister called and gave us the news, that they got the referral. Seeing her face made it even more real for me. It made it real for Ella and Matthew as well. (Jad just smiled when he saw the picture) We pray for her every night. Ella is the reminder of that each night. Whether the prayer is coming from her lips or she is asking us to pray for her as we put her to bed. It is an every night occurrence. Ready to meet her! You can read about my sister’s adoption here.

Relationships and People have always interested me. I love hearing people’s family stories and how they were parented or how they parent. One goal Matthew and I want for our family is that, our children will always want to spend time together when they are older. We want to build a family that loves each other and loves to be together. I am so thankful that I am a part of families that enjoy just that. If you weren’t part of a family that had that goal, I believe that you can break the cycle.

We are trying to teach kindness, love, and patience right now. I feel like those 3 words are said over and over. “Are you showing your brother patience?” “Are you showing love and kindness to Jad?” “How could you be patient with your brother right now?” Jad, We love ella, we don’t hit her.” I could go on and on. We typically take pictures of the ones above. Right? I didn’t rush to find my phone yesterday when Jad hit Ella with a large block or snap a picture when Ella was holding him by the leg and not letting go because she didn’t want him having her toy. Ha! Those moments happen though right? They are going to continue to happen as well. If you are a mom to older kids, you can laugh at my scenarios and think about all the other ones that are yet to come.

Here is what I know, we are doing something right because ella has started repeating these phrases to herself and others. They are in her brain. Yay! Not sure if she believes them in her heart yet? I have also seen her show compassion to others outside the walls of our home. She is not only showing patience at home, but also with others. I am seeing the fruits of all our effort. Here is what we do on a daily basis.

We affirm for making the right choice. There were toddler days that were hard to find even one affirmation

At night we talk about ways we noticed her self control or making great choices during the day.

We address at night also failures that happened in the day and how we can learn from those failures. There are times that we can’t hear things in the moment. Sometimes we are too mad or emotional to see the big picture right? I have this problem as an adult. It is much easier if Matthew doesn’t blow up at me in the moment of one of my failures. I think we all prefer for our spouse to say it at a different time when we can actually hear it. This has worked really well with Ella. We discipline her in the moment but there are many times we wait and talk or address the choice she made at a different time.

We are modeling forgiveness every day. I don’t usually say-Say your sorry. That means nothing to a child that only does it because a parent told them to do so. I usually say-How can we show them we are sorry. Sorry might be a hug. Sorry might be an I’m sorry. Sorry might be helping that friend, Sorry might mean an encouraging word. Ella has started asking for forgiveness more. Yesterday, she looked at me and said, “Mom, can you forgive me for slamming the door.” I love the word forgiveness so much because it has so much meaning in my life as a Christian.

I have so much to learn in this journey of parenting. I’m glad to know I don’t have to have it all figured out.

It is giveaway time. I made this choose joy canvas for one reader. Will it be you? If you want to win enter below. There are a few ways to enter the giveaway. Do 1, 2, or all. How bad do you want it? I will choose the winner Friday at Midnight.

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If you don’t follow Ann Voskamp on Twitter, instagram or in blog world you should. Her book added much value to my life.

Let’s face it….Motherhood is hard. I have a box by my bed that has verses that I try to read during the day that speak truth in my life as a mom. I found this and thought I needed to put it somewhere visible for me to see.

Click here for the printable of 10 + real helps for really busy moms and 10 Grace prayers for Joyful Parenting.

If you are like me and the first thing you do is get on instagram when you wake up then you might want to hang this up as a reminder also.

Pick one before you click online printable

One of these days I am going participate in the joy dare challenge. You can too. Click here to print a full year of the challenge.