Shake It Up

I have to admit that this week is making me want to turn in my mommy card. I'm behind on deadlines. My youngest has turned mouthy and decided she only has to obey when she wants to. My oldest is in the middle of math assessments, which means she's likely to burst into tears at the slightest provocation. I unexpectedly had a child home yesterday, which was the only day this week I had to work on my freelance projects. And, I'm getting a cold.

Sometimes the mommy grind gets old. We lose sight of the fact that these children are precious treasures because all we see are the difficult moments. And it often seems like these moments follow moments where we've been on a mommy high. I know a week ago, I didn't feel this way. All of this has come crashing in in the past two days.

I don't know when I'm going to catch up to my deadlines. I don't know when my youngest is going to decide it's easier to obey than to suffer the consequences. I don't know why testing stresses out my oldest so much. And I really don't know when my head is going to unstuff itself.

I do know that we need to shake things up a bit. We need a moment out of the hustle and bustle and frustration where we can just enjoy each other. Our moment is coming tomorrow. The girls and I and my dad are headed to baseball's opening day (shh, it's a surprise). I'm going to pick my girls up from school early, and we're going to spend the afternoon eating peanuts and Cracker Jacks and not caring if we ever get back.

You know what? The weather forecast looks awful -- 54 and rainy. Our local baseball team isn't very good. But I bet we have fun. I bet we forget about deadlines and crankiness and enjoy the time together. Ten years from now, we're not going to look back on this week and remember the orneriness of my youngest, the tears of my oldest or the looming deadlines. We're going to look at each other and say, "Remember when we went to Royals opening day in the rain?"

God tells us that our children are a blessing. Psalm 127:3-5 says "Children are a heritage from the LORD,
offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them." In the daily grind of parenthood, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that our children are a blessing.

Sometimes we just need to take a moment to remember that they are a blessing. When circumstances conspire to make us want to hand over that parenting card, we need to find a time to remind ourselves of the blessing that they are. Whether it's a snowball fight, an unexpected trip to lunch, a quick game of tag or pizza and a movie at home, create moments in your life that remind you that you are blessed to be the parent of your children.

Because children grow up quickly. The days you think will never end are over far too soon. The moments you spend with your kids knowing you are blessed are the ones that you and they will remember.