Sunday, June 14, 2009

Parenting-The "moments" theory


First a big hug to all of you for pretending you would be heartbroken if I were to sign off forever! Boy you guys are good! I think I might have to many soap boxes to leave for good, but I always think I will quit because I am a technology "hater". I totally should have been born in the Little House in the Prairie time period (exceptions-washing machines, electric light and air conditioning...wait there really are a lot), but I really hate cell phones, computers and don't even get me started on my feelings about texting....I digress...
Today is Sunday (translated the day you should feel close to God, but the day that at our house is a fight from morning to end). For some reason Satan seems to come to stay for all day so that we can't possibly feel the spirit and I told husband that I thought maybe I had decided the best way for me to go was to drive off a cliff...to which he replied, "take me with you my love." I really would like to be fired from this gig today, but let's face it there is no one willing to replace me and though I don't feel so thrilled with my kids right now the bottom line in they are mine and so I have to forgive them for their wickedly bad choices of today.
An apostle (don't remember which one) and an author have a theory about parenting that I really liked. Warning I am not quoting them, but instead putting my twist on it. If you want the spiritual or well written read them, not me. The theory goes something like this, "parenting is made up of moments that make it all worth it in a sea of things that make you wish that you couldn't give birth or adopt children..." Ohhhh baby does that ring true. In my world there is no such thing as a good day, and very rarely is there a bad day. One minute you are driving home and your sweet two year old is yelling "mom" and you say "What?" and he yells "chicken, bock, bock!" and you laugh and all the other boys laugh and he thinks he is so funny that he belly laughs and does it all of the way home...."Ah", you think, "this is what life is all about". The next morning you wake up to little people screaming, "I hate you", "If you cook it I would rather die than eat it." Then you think to yourself, "I surrender, I give up" and you reach for a cookie. Then it occurs to you that this isn't a job at the local gas station. You can't quit, that's called child abandonment. So you send your son to bed at 6 because you have run out of creative punishemnts and he has way over stepped the bounds this time (again) and you pace around wondering if the Lord knew what he was doing when he sent you five babies that need to be turned into men of God and mostly by you....
So, here's to the moments...they are going to be few and far between sometimes, but I am almost sure that those will be the things your kids remember if you are really trying to be the mommy the Lord sent you here to be...Here are just a couple of mine.
  • Getting ready for church today I see Isaac grinning with a thumbs up and he says, "mom sometimes you are so beautiful I can't stand it."
  • Grayson napping in my arms through church
  • Kyle setting a goal not to lose his temper or be grumpy for a month because, "he doesn't want to let me or the Lord down anymore."
  • Driving home from science camp with Kyle and my mom laughing hysterically and thinking over and over, "he is so amazing, how did I get so blessed?
I hate that quote that says "life isn't measured by the amount of breaths you take, but the moment's that take your breath away." When you are the mother of five kids there are lots of moments that don't take your breath away (well, unless you count the ones that make you feel like you have been kicked in the stomach...) If that's the case, then life isn't much! So much of what you do is so not like that. But, those few moments thrown in mixed with daily TLC, forgiveness on both sides for messing it up, and renewing your committment to the little monsters (sometimes hundreds of times a day), to me that is parenting...that is why I am here and so though I don't "quit", for now it's only because faulted though I may be these blessing are all mine! Heavenly Father help me today to endure my blessings!

6 comments:

Perla said...

one of my favorite posts ever.

EE said...

Here! Here!

Anonymous said...

I totally live by the moments. Here's to recognizing them more often!

Tevita and Jodi said...

Just what I needed to start off my vacation...a morning of tears because I read my friend's blog:)Thanks for the reminder and I loved this post!

Piper said...

I want to quote you sometime, you put it so well, "Heavenly Father, help me to endure my blessings." So eloquent.

Lisa said...

I so needed that, thank you! It's such a relief hearing that I'm not the only one dealing with little monster moments. Summer vacation has been a challenge so far - lots of fighting and me feeling like running away. Gosh, I sure live for the cute moments! Love you!