The Little Things

This morning as I was driving my children to school, it hit me how incredibly blessed I am.  I am in my early-mid thirties and living my dream.  The dream I have had since I was a little girl.  The dream of my knight in shining armor, my dream home, and my children.  So, my knight in shining armor is a draftsman by day, a soundman by evening and Sundays, and a bible college student by night.  He is a hunter when time allows, and provides meat for our family.  My dream home, well we aren't quite there yet.  We live in a very nice home in a wonderful neighborhood, but not quite the dream home yet.  A nice thing about being married to a draftsman, is I can tell him what I want in your dream home and he can draw it for me.  My children, oh what amazing blessings they are.  What intricate, individual people they are.  Sometimes, I look at them and am in awe that they each came from the exact same parents and gene pool and yet they are so different.  We have one that is very confident, kind, and a go-getter.  We have one that is not as confident and a free spirit.  And we have one that is a confident, bold, non-conformist.  It is amazing trying to individually parent each child while having a common goal for them as a whole.  I am so blessed that my children are individuals and don't just go with the flow.  They are definitely leaders in their own right.

I remember this time of year about seven years ago, I was working at a job I hated. My boss didn't support the fact that I was a mother and had a small child in day care. I would drop my oldest off at daycare and drive to work everyday in tears and crying.  I would pray that I would be able to be a stay at home mom by the end of the year.  I quit January 2, after a Christmas vacation from my job.  That was the easiest and best choice I have ever made.  At first, it was hard going from a dual income home to a single income home.  Our income was cut by more than half when I quit.  We had years of hard financial times.  I went from literally buying a new wardrobe every weekend for each of us, having a lot of extra amenities, and eating out daily to not being able to afford new underwear, no cable or internet, and eating packaged food at home.  Oh, it was difficult financially.  But, through the seven years we have learned a lot of lessons.  We are now living comfortably within our means.  We have added two children and a cat to our family. We are so blessed.

I am blessed to be a stay at home mom.  During trainings at my old job, one question often asked was "what is your dream job", my response would always be "a stay at home mom."  The other employees would often laugh at me or ridicule my answer.  I stuck to my guns and look at me now!  I am blessed that I can do what I want to do without asking for leave or worrying too much about schedules.  Just this morning I was able to have coffee with a sweet friend, visit another friend, and bring my husband and the secretary in the office coffee.  I also had a parent/teacher conference with one of my children's teacher. I am so blessed to be able to spend my days cleaning my home or hanging out with my friends.  I can be at all of my children's school activities and be an active room mom and PTA Board member.

I wish I could bottle up this blessed feeling I have today and just give it to each person.  Today I have a smile on my face.  I have a pep in my step.  I am blessed, and it is not because of just one big thing, but lots of little things.

Don't Be An Unknown

There is that moment in your life when you realize you don't know someone and someone doesn't know you, even though you should know each other well.  This week someone I grew up with moved away, and I realized today that this person doesn't really know me.  Doesn't know my children.  It made me sad.  It made me sad really for my children, because they are amazing people.  It made me sad because this person knows about me basically through social media, even though they lived in the same city as me.  At first I got angry, and then I reminded myself I cannot fix what is done, I cannot create relationships where there are none.  

I don't want that to happen with anyone else whom I grew up with, or who I would like to be a part of my children's life. I texted the closest person to a sister to me, my husband's sister.  We call each other sister, introduce each other as sister, neither of us had a birth sister so we know the longing for that relationship, and even though we don't see each other often I know she is there.  I texted her and basically said that I wanted to get our families together more often, I want my children to know their aunt and uncle and grow up being friends with their cousins.  We agreed that we need to do that, and we agreed also that our schedules are extremely busy.

I spent a lot of time today analyzing those relationships closest to me, all of which are friends that have become family.  My unbiological sisters.  How, in this fast paced world can we have significant relationships with those?  How can our children have significant friendships with their peers? 

I have coffee with my friends frequently, generally one on one, but sometimes in a group.  That is one way to foster a good relationship.  My oldest child started having and attending sleepovers this year, his birthday is just a few days away, one of his closest buddies (they have been friends since day care) will spend the majority of the weekend with us.  His other close buddy will meet us on his actual birthday for some fun we have planned.  Birthdays are a great way to build those lasting relationships.

As I sit here, blogging on my computer, snapchatting on my phone, and listening to the TV, I long for a tech free me for a bit.  I know that is a rather impractical longing, seeing as technology is only becoming more and more necessary.  I want to see my friends more than I see their facebook likes.  I want to sit down and make eye contact with those I love more than on snapchat.  I want my children to have meaningful childhood relationships that hopefully go on into adulthood.  I am grateful that so many of my girlfriends have stepped in and become "aunts" to my children, even if my friends don't have children my children's age, there is a meaningful relationship there.  My children have had friends that their mom and I were pregnant at the same time and I see those friendships lasting through childhood.  I can't help but hope that these relationships will get more face to face time than facetime.

Do any other moms desire the same type of people interaction and relationships I desire?  Let me know how you foster these relationships!