I remember, as a kid, that Summer break seemed to stretch on forever. I would spend most of my days riding bikes with the neighborhood kids and hanging out at our local swimming pool. The only camps I had were Vacation Bible School and Cheerleading Camp; and Summer break was 3 months long. Life was good.

I am now older, married, and have two very active boys. Their Summer break is 10 weeks and jammed packed with camps, sports, family reunions,graduations, and cookouts. This Summer we had an added bonus of reorganizing and preparing the school library for the upcoming school year.

I don’t want to come across as complaining. I know that I am incredibly blessed to have children; children who want to be involved in their community, church, and athletics. I just find my self asking:

Is this worth it? Are we filling our Summer break to the brim because it’s what our kids want and just a season of life? OR  Are we doing these things because ‘it’s what everyone else does’?

Our school year is starting in 3 weeks, and I have been reflecting on our Summer. We, as a family, only had 2 weeks out of the 10 where we had nothing going on…..2 weeks.

Baseball was in full swing at the start of our Summer. Noah had his first year in Minor League and Nathan had started t-ball. It was a long season for Noah. He did not enjoy it, and even got to the point where he would be in tears before games because he didn’t want to go. We have a rule in this family “Once you start something, you finish it.” Needless to say, Noah has decided to give up baseball next year.

We then went right into Vacation Bible School and basketball camp….each lasting a week. Then came a children’s cooking class, and Noah had to do it because he wants to be a chef when he gets older.

Noah then went off to church camp for 4 days and then when he came home we had an annual benefit and a family reunion.

Now, next week starts Football Camp followed by practice and school…..

I tell myself that we are making memories for our children. They are learning discipline, endurance, being a team mate. They have grown in their relationships with the Lord and able to visit with family that they may only see once a year. All of these things are great, but there is also a downside.

We have hardly had any family meals together, financial strain with all these camp fees, irritability because we have to go go go, so we aren’t late!!

Where is the rest? Where is the quality family time where we are not distracted? Do I even know if my kids have enjoyed their Summer?

I know some of you reading this think “Welcome to adulthood!” “Welcome to parenting!”; and in part, I absolutely agree with you. I know this is a season of life. I just want to make sure that we are doing things for the right reason, double check our priorities, and putting the Lord and family first.

Noah and Nathan will only have one childhood…I want them to enjoy it.

By His grace,

Misty

My goal, when starting this blog, was to post twice a week. This past week, however, no words came to my mind. I was on empty. I was depleted emotionally, mentally, and physically. I felt like I was drowning and no matter what I did…I just couldn’t get above water.

You would think, given what this blog is about, and with the online Bible study I lead, that I would turn to Jesus during this difficult time. I did not. I have a pretty good habit of turning away and going into my own bubble. A bubble where I do nothing. There were some days where I hardly ate, sleep was sporadic, and showering just took too much energy. I knew I had responsibilities that needed done, children and a husband to take care of, but I just couldn’t, and the guilt of that only added to the inner battle.

My husband, Jason, was concerned. He has been through this with me before, and not too many people know how bad my depression can be, or that I am even being treated for depression. He knows that the financial struggle we are going through is affecting me. It has never been a secret that I need to feel safe and secure. Friday, he started messaging me with scripture. I will admit, I was annoyed by it. I wanted nothing to do with it because I just didn’t see how that was going to help. I woke up this morning and re-read what he had sent……and it was like the fog had lifted.

These are the 2 scriptures he sent me:

Psalm 16:8   “I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”

Matthew 17:20  “He replied, Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

I decided to open up my study journal…that I had gotten behind on this week. One of the reflection questions asked:

“There is no doubt that our lives are filled with visible and invisible battles. Looking at Ephesians 6:10-13, how are we to prepare for these battles?”

The passage is titled “The Armor of God”, and what spoke to me more was actually verses 14-15

“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with our feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”

Although my current battle is difficult and will take patience and perseverance; the one thing I am reminded of, thanks to my husband and to God’s Word, is that the very thing I need to do is cling to Jesus and His Word. Put on the Armor of God, open my Bible, mediate on scripture until it is written on my heart. Pray fervently…this storm will pass and God is using it to change me for the better.

By His grace,

Misty

**The current study I am doing is through http://www.lovegodgreatly.com, and is titled “David, His Story is Our Story”

Do you ever have those kind of days when you wish you could just do it over? Yes? Well yesterday was one of those days…it was just terrible.

It started about 4:30 a.m. when my youngest crawled into bed with me. I proceeded to be kicked for the next 2 hours until we finally fell back asleep; such a deep sleep, in fact, that the boys and I didn’t wake up until 10. Now, for some of you parents out there, you may think that’s fantastic! You might say “I can’t remember the last time I slept until 10 with kids!!” Well…stay tuned….

I started breakfast, fixing one of the boy’s favorites, waffles. That’s when the complaining started, “I don’t want waffles, I want pancakes!”, “Mom, my waffles are cold!”….insert deep calming breath (the first of many and one of the few successful ones).  Over the next several hours, as I was trying to get my daily household responsibilities completed, I was also being a referee. My boys just would not get along. My 5 year old knows exactly what to do to push my 9 year olds buttons, and he does it quite well. My oldest, try as I might to guide him, ALWAYS retaliates, which usually ends up making his little brother cry…and this cycle repeats over and over and over.

Next comes the continue struggle of potty training, yes my 5 year old, still CHOOSES not to do #2 on the potty. Trust me, we have tried every method under the sun…it comes down to having a very strong willed son. He chose to use that strong will the entire day; he had no issue telling me ‘no’, running from me when he knew he was in trouble, and refused to clean up by having a full fledged kicking and yelling outburst. Yes, I immediately corrected him each time; and as this behavior continued throughout the day, I admit that my patience was starting to run very thin.

We finally head to my oldest son’s championship baseball game; after 10 mins of yelling: “Get your cleats on!”, “Unlock this bathroom door right now!”, “We’re going to be late if you two don’t hurry up!”. My son had an undefeated regular season, but unfortunately lost his championship game. He was bummed, but was happy his season was over. He has voiced over the last few weeks that he doesn’t want to play baseball anymore..will save that for another blog post. You would think it would be a quiet night, considering the day we had and the let down of the game, but no. I fixed dinner and within an hour of that I had lost it…I was done. Crazy mommy totally came out… and the boys were sent to bed a couple hours earlier than usual.

I sat on the couch for a while, checking my various social media accounts repeatedly, and then the guilt set in on what my part was in the day.

You see, I was so caught up in what I needed to get done around the house, was so irritated when I would be interrupted in checking my phone; that I missed that maybe my children’s consistent arguing was because they simply wanted my attention….and I gave them some…my anger.

I am reminded that life is fleeting; and there will come a time when they will be too busy doing their own thing, and I will miss these Summer days when I was home with them. I don’t want to waist this time and leave memories that ‘mommy was too busy on her phone and cleaning the house to play with us’…

Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a real blessing. – Psalms 127:3

I woke up extra early today, no reason, I just had this feeling that it’s time to get up. I headed downstairs, made my husband his lunch and a cup of coffee, and kissed him goodbye as he headed to work. I then fixed myself a cup of coffee and sat down, opened my Bible, and spent some time with the Lord. My youngest woke up first, was so happy to see me and give me a morning hug. I spent the morning just talking to him. Our county fair is in town and he is very excited. Shortly after, my oldest woke up, and curled up on my lap. We sat there awhile, just snuggling. I fixed their breakfast….

Today….is a new day.

By His grace,

Misty