you've come a long way baby...

I'm sitting here in a quiet room with the sun wonderfully pouring into the windows. 

Pinch me. I must be dreaming. I'm alone.And all I hear are birds chirpping.

Take a gal that likes quiet moments over noise, order over disorder, and give her 8 kids (thank God not all at once!) and ... well ... you either run away or roll up your sleeves and dig in.

My 3 children are at "Friday School", which is a program for homeschoolers in the area. It was established by my church around 1985 or so. Here the kids have P.E., Apologetics, Music/Choir, and Art. We've put on full musicals such as Fiddler on the Roof and Seussical. I taught art classes to the K-6th graders for 10 years. I kinda retired last year because of a new season I found myself in.

A door was wonderfully opened for me to take an online Writing for Children class a year ago and now I find myself working at writing 2 children's books and one adult. I've connected/networked with a few authors and groups, along with doing my "homework" in learning as much as I can along the way. Thing is, I wasn't looking for time for myself, nor was I looking for something new to do. It just happened. The Lord knew what was in there. I didn't. Or at least I forgot how much I liked to write back in the day. He remembered.

Which brings me to my point. I had my first child almost 30 years ago. I've been a mom for a long time; longer than I've been alive now! (although, I've always "mothered" the kids on my block growing up, along with my brother, and anyone else's kids that came along ; ) And I am one of those moms who love being a mom. (You may love your kids but not exactly love being a mom most days. I get that. But that's for another post).

Whether you absolutely love being a mom or not, you will eventually find yourself where I am today. I have served my family all these years and did not have any outside "hobbies" so to speak. It was a full-time job, along with living on a dairy farm (until 1993), a small family operated maple syrup business, and helping with several areas in my church. Life had my undivided attention.

There will be a time when you find you are reaching the end of full-time mothering and managing a home. It will never completely end since new situations happen with adult children getting married, going to college, and working. But the demands of doing all the little children stuff comes to an end. 

Some days, I find myself taking a deep breath (in a good way). Kinda like when you've finished a huge project at the end of the day.

There is something more in store for you at the end of the road. It's okay if you're looking for it. I wasn't, but that doesn't mean anything. Just be encouraged today to keep on keepin' on. They are growing and you are growing, too! And soon you will look back a few times throughout the years and see how far you've come.


You're doing good. Even if you yelled at the kids today.