Being a Mother

Do you ever feel like time just rushes by and it's all you can do just to keep your wits about as you go from one task to the next? My life truly feels like that and today is the first day in awhile I have even felt like I could take a break. Here's a little of what we have been up to....

Homework,school projects and test preparation. It is that time of year.

Planning and then re-planning our summer vacation (thanks to scheduling challenges with our Yellowstone cabin)

Calendaring upcoming activity days and planning our mother/daughter recognition night.

The never ending housework which included lots of laundry. Yes! our wash room tile is done and the walls painted.

Some yard work. I was excited for one of my mother's day gifts which was to have our garden tilled and the Christmas lights taken down (yes, you read that right). Now if it will just warm up enough to plant the garden.

The Young Women must have taken the idea,  find a skill of one of the mother's and have them teach it to heart. They asked me to help them learn how to crochet.   I know how to crochet, thanks to my Grandmother,  but I have never taught any one (well, my husband claims I taught him and he made a washcloth, but I have no recollection of that). Since I got married I have made a few Barbie doll clothes but pretty much this is the only thing I know how to do.

Unfortunately, I pretty much make it up and don't have a consistent way of doing it. Thus, I have spent the last few days coming up with a pattern for this is what they requested I show them how to do.

Jolly J participated in Hope of America.
Last week I popped onto the computer to post some videos.
Tried my usual way.
Wouldn't work.
Tried again later.
No success.
Researched a little.


Decided I just don't have the time right now.
Put that on my list of things to learn-How and what to do to install longer videos.

This will have to suffice. 

We enjoyed watched this living flag sing patriotic songs, 

sign, rock, do the wave and light up the dark. 

I'm now looking forward to the
Fourth of July-It's a big deal around here.

This past weekend I helped my husband get together a mother's day gift to pass out to the sisters of our ward. (In years past I haven't gotten involved but this year was different for a variety of reasons). As part of this I was searching through some quotes so he could pick one to include with some chocolates. I came across these quotes:

"We live in a world that is filled with options. If we are not careful, we will find every minute jammed with social events, classes, exercise time, book clubs, scrapbooking, Church callings, music, sports, the Internet, and our favorite TV shows. One mother told me of a time that her children had 29 scheduled commitments every week: music lessons, scouts, dance, Little League, day camps, soccer, art, and so forth. She felt like a taxi driver. Finally, she called a family meeting and announced, 'Something has to go; we have no time to ourselves and no time for each other.' Families need unstructured time when relationships can deepen and real parenting can take place. Take time to listen, to laugh, and to play together."

M. Russell Ballard, "Daughters of God," Ensign, May 2008, 109-110

"What can . . . young mother[s] [do] . . . to reduce the pressure [of raising young children] and enjoy [their families] more? . . .

"Recognize that the joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction.

"Author Anna Quindlen reminds us not to rush past the fleeting moments. She said: 'The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. . . . I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less' (Loud and Clear [1004], 10-11)."

M. Russell Ballard, "Daughters of God," Ensign, May 2008, 109

 

This pretty much sums up what else has kept me busy and the focus I want to have more in my life. I need to be a mother and not have as much emphasis on completing the never ending tasks.