a sweet day

Yesterday I realized that I work myself to death, all in the name of being such a great mom. But what am I showing my children when I work so hard that I'm grouchy, complaining and unable to spend quality time with them? What am I showing them about a God who says His "yoke is easy and burden is light?" We've been reading through Experiencing God in our small group and Nathan asked us all to close our eyes and listen to the words of that particular Scripture passage. Such conviction fell upon my heart. Last week the Lord gave me the verse in Isaiah 30:21 which says something to the effect that whether we go to the left or to the right, it is the LORD standing behind us saying This is the way...walk in it.

So that's what I did today. I woke up and asked the Lord what He wanted me to do. I already had plans, but with each turn in my day, I asked Him what He wanted it to look like. Today we had peace. This is how I want every single day to look at my house.

I showered (woohoo!) before 4pm...imagine that.

Breakfast
Circle time (prayer time together)
Going to Lindsay's for homeschool play time
Came home and kids played outside while I prepared lunch
We ate together
Read books together
Rested together
Snacked together
Maddie practiced her letters
Went to the park and played with friends
Came home and ate dinner together
the kids helped clean up and prepare for the next day and didn't complain about it!(they are actually smiling in these pictures!)




























Bathed the kids and brushed their teeth
Read to them
Tucked them in
**Didn't stress out - enjoyed every moment!!

I know this is not realistic for every day, well, maybe it is. I'm not going to give up hope. I'm going to practice listening to the Lord more than to my to-do list and all my "have-to's" that are really rooted in my own perfectionism and have nothing to do with being there for my kids.