It's All About Artitude

It has been an exhausting week here in the Woods household. Of course that is beginning to be the norm around here. Is it that I am getting older or that I have more to do? I wonder if my parents felt like this at the end of the day?

Staying at home is so not what I ever thought it would be. It's worse and better all in one. Sure there are days when I want to escape, where my thoughts take me far away. And I am the first to admit that I would never win the "Mother of The Year" award. June Cleaver I am not. My house is never perfectly straight or clean. My meals are usually not well balanced (unless you consider hot dogs, french fries and canned peaches, well balanced).

There was a time long ago, when I first started staying at home, that I was under the disillusionment that I might be able to sit down every day and watch the Oprah show. Or give myself a pedicure. Or sew my children's clothes (yes I attempted that once). Well, for those of you who think that we stay at home moms do just that, you are so wrong. I haven't watched the Oprah show in years. I am lucky to catch 30 minutes of television late at night before my head hits the pillow. The only pedicure I get is the rush job when I put on sandals the first time each spring. And well, my children wear clothes bought from the store. Not that they would even consider wearing anything homemade. But it did sound good.

But for all the craziness that children bring, I wouldn't trade it for the world. They bring tremendous joy to me each and every day. Sometimes, it's hard to find that joy especially when you are cleaning marker off the freshly painted wall. Or picking up muddy shoes off the floor that has just been mopped for the first time in a month. But it's all worth it when they look at you and tell you how much they love you. Or make you laugh with one of their silly jokes. Or when they bring you a picture they painted with a huge heart and you are in the middle of it (and you are really skinny).

Children are our greatest treasures. And at the end of every day I thank God the he entrusted me to guard these treasures. To nurture and watch them grow. To experience the joy that only a child could bring. To feel a love so big that sometimes it feels as if my heart will explode. And I hope that one day my children will feel the same.