Exactly What I Needed

Since becoming a blogger (albeit a half-hearted and infrequent one lately), I've also become a follower of blogs. Reading other blogs has opened up a new world to me. There are so many mothers out in this virtual world that I share many things in common with and ones that have gone ahead of me in pursuing very purposeful parenting and homeschooling. Not that such amazing women do not exist in my immediate physical world, but the Internet supplies a vast supply of Godly women who are writing about their journeys and often providing the encouragement I need in a given situation.

Today I read THIS blog and it was exactly what I needed today! (Honestly, I probably need this post a few times a week.) It is so easy to get sucked into the stresses of life and annoyances of my little ones. It takes so much effort to be thankful and purposeful. I have been tired and emotional; financial and other stresses have been nagging at me constantly. I have felt completely incompetent in providing decent structure, love, patience, and guidance to my little ones throughout recent days. I am grateful for Jessica Bowman's post today and the reminder I needed. This morning L and L were having a squabble and the littler L started crying from the other room like something really horrible had happened to her. I rush in there, expecting that bigger L had perpetrated something terrible. It took littler L quite some time to say what had happened because she was crying so hard she could barely get the words out. Finally, she gets it all out, "he called me a LITTLE GIRL." She was so hurt and angry and all I could do was laugh. I needed the comic relief and I was so thankful he hadn't done anything terrible. I love how when I'm discouraged and stressed and only focused on problems, they bring me laughter and God tries to remind me that they are what's important and should be my focus; let the other things be the annoyances that I try to ignore and those things will be ok. My kids need to be the focus, ignored like annoyances (although they can annoy), they will not be ok. Ultimately, they bring joy and fullness to life that I cannot even imagine without them.