Mothering Many

Have I mentioned that it’s been a while since we vacuumed around here? Well, it has. In fact, I think it’s been close to three weeks, because the last time I tried to vacuum, smoke and stench came from the motor and then sparks started flying, so I decided maybe clean floors were not as high on the priority list as I had previously thought they were. So here I sit, looking over my domain, and there are little bits of trash everywhere. In fact, I am sure that I could lose a small furry animal in here with not much effort at all, if I could have animals in the house.

I am so behind in everything, and I have been for weeks. No months. The broken vacuum and dirty carpet are symbolic of my whole life right now. So I stopped right in the middle of this whining post and picked up the living room. It took 10 minutes with the kids picking up their own junk. If it only took 10 minutes to clean, why did it ever get in such a mess to begin with? I’m having to place the blame for this squarely on my own shoulders. And it’s not just the house either, Our relationships within the family are pretty messy, too, with plenty of snapping and sniping and being selfish, not nearly enough laughing and loving and being cooperative.

It doesn’t matter how busy I am, how tired I am, how sick I am, how giving or selfish or greedy or lazy or anything else I am, when the rubber meets the road the children take their cue from me. This is maybe a weird post for blog your blessings, but today, I am grateful that I can affect change in my house and in my children. I’m also praying I can stick with it long enough to make a real difference. See, I know why things are falling apart around me, and it’s my own fault. I must make time to spend time with the Father. I know that when I do, He will be there waiting on me, and that is also a blessing.

As for the Christmas planning part of this post’s title, there hasn’t been any to speak of. I was totally unprepared for the realities of football season, I have at least one more week of cheer season left, and then we’ll see what else is going on. I should also note that my mom has surgery the first week of December. After that, the Holidays will be on top of me, and I better have a clue.