My Real Reel…

How’s this for a highlight reel of motherhood?

The real reel….

There are seasons where you can’t keep up with it all.

This is my kitchen. Every morning when I come home from drop off and believe it or not it was clean last night when I finished dinner. It’s life with 8 kids, one being a newborn. It’s life with a 4 year old that needs you constantly. It’s life with a very helpful hubs and kids who are pretty helpful too. And it’s the life I chose. It’s the life we have been called to…

I love my kids. I love my life…but I don’t always like the mess of the season…

This morning on my drive to and from school I caught myself fighting a spiral. An anxious spiral…It’s this chaos many of us moms don’t share because we feel like we deserve it because we chose it…Isn’t that why the Encanto song hit so many of us hard in the heart?

“But wait I f I could shake the crushing weight of expectations,Would that free some room up for joy Or relaxation, or simple pleasure? Instead we measure this growing pressure Keeps growing, keep going ‘Cause all we know is pressure “

So newsflash my mamma friend.

Don’t hide the hard. Don’t define yourself by the chaos. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Don’t be afraid to leave the dishes for awhile to play puzzles.

Leave the laundry to do a workout. Leave the floor to sweep to read a book with your toddler. Leave the bed unmade to stop and listen to your teen…It will eventually get done.

And please, if you see a mama…don’t ever say “well that’s what you get for having a big family”…because they have probably already said that over and over in their heads. T

his is what you say: I see you, You are a great mama! How can I help? You are doing so well and I know you don’t feel it and it may not look like it…but you are doing amazing and if you ever need to chat or be prayed for reach out…

Praying for the mama who feels embarrassed or ashamed as I wash my dishes and clean my kitchen and put up the rest of Christmas today…You are loved and seen and beautiful and it’s ok…