I had another post planned but then today happened.
A cranky, getting nowhere, losing my cool kind of day. And I wasn’t the only one.
Meals were too hot, too cold or too “yucky” for consumption. School became a battle of the wills and a guilt-trip for mommy that at least two children were having their love of learning forever crushed. There has been a widespread infection of selective hearing and pass-the-blame-itis. A nap was considerably shortened by noisy siblings. Granola was spread like sand over the floor, clean laundry (at least it’s clean) was towering on my bed begging to be folded and there was an explosion of toys, dirty socks and mistreated books everywhere.
While I don’t want this to be a place of complaint, some days require a little extra room for grace, a touch more vulnerability, and the honesty that can be harder the share when things aren’t so great. This is a space where I choose to reflect on and remember the good, the peace, and the grace that is a part of this life that can be chaotic, noisy, messy and exhausting.
There was some of this…
…but more of this – “I am reading!”
A touch of this…
…and lots of these.
A little assistance for Mommy.
A delicious Daddy-made dinner that got left like this.
And a mountain of these.
Now children are sleeping. The house is quiet. My plans have changed and I am happy to be here. Just here. Cherishing a moment for me…
…remembering moments like these.
big hugs to you Rachel, these kind of days are soooo tough!!! yay for finding some peace!!
Oh mama…I have more of these days than I care to mention…You are an amazing person and I am so grateful to have found you here in blog land. I hope you have a joyous day:) I’ll be thinking of you often.
Sending an understanding hug your way…we’ve had a number of days like this lately (currently I have a giant mountain of to be folded clothes facing me as well) I know what you mean about the “crush joy of learning feeling”, I find myself struggling when faced with the “No, I don’t want to”s on what I need to insist gets done and what will “kill the joy”…there is no easy solution, is there? But at least we care about fostering the joy…if they were learning anywhere else, someone else definitely wouldn’t care as much…
In the Gift of Faith book that I’ve been reading, the author talks about how joys are gifts from God but he says that the lack of such joys (our struggles) are even greater gifts because they are opportunities for us to grow in faith and love…
Hope that you have a more peaceful day today!
Oh goodness. We had a great day yesterday, but I cannot even tell you how many days we have that are just like this one! When you said naps interrupted by noise- yep.
One difficult thing about days like this, is how a Mama somehow feels all alone- but you’re not all alone at all!
Hugs to you!
I get it! And I only have two! No matter how much I love it and would never trade it, there are some seriously irritating days.
You have the patience of Job, but even a day like that is trying. Glad you got some quiet time for reflection and rejuvination. Big hugs to both of you. Hope today is definitely better.
you are my hero.you know that.
What’s that song… ‘Mama said there’d be days like this, there’ll be days like this mama said’ 🙂 There’s half eaten dinner on the counter here and a mountain of laundry calling me and like you I’m must soaking in the quiet time that bedtime brings and thinking loving thoughts over the memories of a very loud day *grin*. Here’s to a happier and quieter day tomorrow 🙂 Hugs
It is weird how the day seems so stressful, yet when you look back on it, you feel such gratitude that these little people are in your life. When I get stressed and wish I had more time for myself, I think about a life if I lived alone, and realize how I am so lucky and so blessed to have them here with me. Just this evening after they went to bed, I was sitting here thinking how I could plan tomorrow to be fun and enjoyable for all, and not stressful for me. There must be a way!!
I guess we all have days like this now and then. I have days when I just count the hours until the kids are off to bed so I (hopefully) can have some alone time.
ANd I must say that I really admire you and all of the other moms that homeschool (I’m not even sure if it’s alloved in Norway). I don’t think I would have the patient…
Have a great weekend!
I hear you on “those days”…and I appreciate your honesty. We certainly all have them!