Confessions of a Crazy Busy Mom

Today's prayer is for girls- don't worry, tomorrow will be our prayer for boys. I'm a mother of two girls, 12 and 9. And let me tell you, as time goes on, it does not get easier. I look at my 12 old and I see the world she is entering, and it scares me. Honestly speaking, it is also an opportunity to increase my prayers for her, but also more opportunities to lead her in a way that will encourage her to lead a life pleasing to Christ. Not just my 12 year old, my 9 year old as well. So today, my prayers are focused on them.  Dear Lord, thank you for my two beautiful daughters. I thank you for the bond that I have with each of them, and I ask that you increase that bind daily. Being a mother to a daughter is such an enormous responsibility. I need to teach them about becoming young women with a heart that is focused on you. I need to lead by example to them. Help my girls to build open and honest relationships with me. The world for them has the potential to be a tempting and...

I know I skipped a few days, I'm sorry. With the Thanksgiving holiday, I found myself quite busy. I actually did think of a daily prayer I wanted to post, but then I was worried that the words wouldn't be quite right. So today, my prayer for our children is two fold. First is to be Thankful. Second, it is to see the bigger world around them and how they can make a difference.  If your friends with me on Facebook, you see that I often times post or share photos from the Jessie Rees Foundation. Which was started by a 12 year old girl who was dying from cancer. Her mission? Spread joy and encourage others to Never Ever Give Up. Creating the term NEGU. I encourage you to take a look at this foundation as for some reason, it really reached out and touched my heart like nothing else. The 'home office' is called the Joy Factory and volunteers can come near he help stuff Joy Jars, which are then sent to kids everywhere battling cancer. It's quite amazing. The Joy F...

Today's prayer comes from the deepest part of my heart at the moment. My husband has been out of town the past few days, and my children have been challenging to to say the least. The theme for the past few days has been to get along with each other, to respect each other and love each other. With 4 extremely different personalities this has posed quite the challenge. Today, however, I came home from grocery shopping to experience the sweet sound of all 4 of them playing together in their moving box fort. For this morning, great success. I realize this does not mean they will get along forever, or even for the next hour, but at least for the moment. Which is why is will continue to be part of my prayers for them.  Dear Heavenly Father,  Thank you for each of my children and their very different personalities. Each one offers something very special to our family. I pray Lord that you instill in each of their hearts a deep love and respect for their brothers and sisters. That th...

I work, a lot. It's no surprise. Today I left my house at 4:55. My Littles were all asleep, snuggled in their warm beds dreaming of who knows what, while I stumbled out to to my car to scrape the ice off of the windows. I won't be with them all day today as it looks to be a 14+ hour day. So today, my prayer is for them to be good while I'm away. For them to be safe and for me not to miss them too much. They will be just fine, and they are with my sister so I at least know that the house won't burn down. :) Good Luck Patience.  Dear Lord,  Thank you for my job, and the fact that I enjoy it. I pray that my children understand the long hours I need to work to provide for our family. I pray that today they they behave, and that they do what they need to do, I pray that they also have a nice day enjoying time with each other, their aunt and cousin Baby B. Keep them safe while I am not there with them. Help them to know that I love them, even though I am not there with them. ...

Today, in our home, we have lots that we each need to accomplish. Chores, cleaning, laundry. You name it, it's happening in our home. Sometimes when we have a lot to do, the ugliness comes out in our personalities. Ok, I admit it, MY personality, and then I set the tone for the day. Not only do we have a lot to accomplish, we also have lots of football we want to watch and also church in the evening. So today, my prayer is for busy days, and for our personalities to all mesh and to work towards a common goal. <3  Thank you Lord for Sundays, a wonderful beautiful opportunity to celebrate you. Thank you for creating little helpers in our children, each of our Littles can be helpers in different ways. I pray that you help our personalities work smoothly together as we have much to accomplish today. I pray that you enable me with words of encouragement for my guys instead of harsh angry words of frustration. I pray we will work well and work for the good of our family and each pitch...

Today's prayer for our little one/s Thankfulness.  Today my little nephew Bleier is having his first birthday party, and I am so excited, I can not wait to get there and celebrate. First birthday parties have such a special place in my heart- that's another story for another day. For today thought we are just going to be thankful for our little guys.  Dear Jesus,  Thank you for each one of our children. Each one you knew before even we did, before the world. You knew them and love them. You have entrusted us with each little life and have perfectly matched us up. We will teach them things about them, and they will teach us thing about ourselves. Thank you for each of their little lives. May you cover each child today with your loving hand, and make your presence known to them. <3 Thank you for the special place you have for children, your special love for them. We ask these things in your name- Amen The adorable baby B. Fast asleep and only a few days old. <3 what a...

After some thought and prayer and some more prayer- I felt like I should have a prayer of the day geared towards being a mom, towards parenting, towards children and things of that nature.  I plan to take a portion of my blog in that direction. After all it is titled CrazyBusyMomOf4! I read an amazing blog daily that sends me a prayer about being a wife. So many times they are spot on, and if they aren't, they encourage me to pray for my husband on a daily basis. My goal here is to encourage you. I'm not a perfect parent, I'm scraping by at good. I struggle, a lot, with each of my little guys, but I love them beyond anything words can describe. I want to be the best for them. Each child is different, has different struggles, different needs. What will work for my children may not work for your children, but if you get even an ounce of encouragement from one thing I say, then it is worth it. My goal is simply to offer my prayers to you, to offer encouragement, and love. ...

My Left me introduce you to my little Arcadia. She's 12, independent, pretty, too smart for her own good, determined, absent minded, brilliant, my first born, and perhaps most important, she's in 7th grade. Something happens to kids between 6th and 7th grade that there is almost no explanation for- short of aliens abducting their brains one summer night as they sleep. They turn into these...people with opinions and thoughts and the desire for more and more independence. It's as if they have something to prove to themselves; that they can make decisions on their own! I realized Arcadia's brain had been abducted one summer night recently when I companied her on her first Future Diamondbacks (it's a school club) field trip; a UCLA Going to College Fair and football game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. I experienced my very first shunning from my junior high daughter. Let me set the stage here- I wasn't hovering over her, forcing her to hold my hand ...

Why I hate Run For Her. Run For Her, a 5K that raises awareness and funds for research on ovarian cancer, the most deadly cancers of all genealogical cancers. I hate it. I took part in it, as did my daughter, but I hate it.  I hate it because it even has to exist. Because as I was running, I had to see a sign with a date of August 27, 1982- July 25, 2013. Because she was my age. I was born August 12, 1982- she was almost 31 when she died. Because I saw a sign with a date of 1986-2006- because she was 20! I hate it because I watched over 5000 people raise almost a million dollars for research.  I hate it because I had a bib on my back that said I was participating in honor of my aunt.  I hate it simply because Run For Her has to exist. It exists because ovarian cancer exists, and because of that, I hate it.  I hate it because every step I took, every bib I looked at every sign that was carried, was a representation of another life that was claimed by this awful horrib...

Now, don't get me wrong- at all. I love logging on to Facebook and looking at everyone who is posting all the things they are thankful for- you know, one each day for the entire month of December. However, I can't seem to jump on that bandwagon.  Now hold on, before you call me heartless, ungrateful, insensitive, whatever other clever name pops into your head- give me a minute to explain myself.  Everyday I am thankful, thankful for so many things. Somedays I am thankful for Steve Jobs and my iPod because there is nothing like blasting Mandisa's Overcomer through my speakers on my drive to work, to get my blood pumping for the day. Other days I am thankful for Howard Schluts and his desire to create a brand we all know and love, Starbucks. Other days, I am thankful for my sister Jenna and her ability to let me ramble on to her on the phone, because some days I just need another adult to talk to. On a few days, I am thankful for my task of paying the electric and gas bills? ...