Just Be...

So I’d love to admit that I enjoy every moment with my children, that it brings me pure joy to hang out with them and to teach and train them.

If I wrote or said the above, I would be lying to you.

It’s not that I don’t enjoy it, I just get side-tracked and immersed in other 'things'.

I’m a planner, organizer with a strong dose of tenacity in me. I never stop until I get a project finished (ask my friends about when I move and how long it takes me to unpack boxes and get things on the walls) or a task completed. It’s obsessive.

So in an effort to sit with my children and play, I’ve had to plan (of course) and be intentional. This travels all the way down to meals.

Today? Success!

I waited to turn on the TV and turned it off well before I normally do, to read and to give them a chance to learn to play with each other (that lasted 15 minutes before they started fighting over a toy).

I planned lunch (Asian turkey lettuce wraps – DELICIOUS – I’ll post recipe later). Um…and no, my kids did not eat this. But I did, so a well fed mama is a happy mama.

We walked to the park and played on the toys just long enough for Eloise to fall off the slide and yell out that she had to poop.

Then I made Tortilla Cigars out of the Deceptively Delicious cookbook (this is one of my favorites) with black beans and rice and had it all on the table at the same time with no one crying or yelling. (remember – I do dinner solo, so this is a tough task some nights. They did watch a video while preparation was taking place). Then we ate Pumpkin Pudding and “special treats” (chocolate chips).

Topped it all off with lots of play outside, dirty faces, wet fannies, and a bath and bedtime.

I saved all the crazy work for after bedtime and I felt so much more refreshed.

The Lord has been nudging me for a while to not get through this stage but to live in this stage. My children have been entrusted to my care and I want to do whatever it takes for them to remember a mom who listened to them and was available for them. I don’t want to focus on meaningless tasks that amount to little. My goal is to make a series of choices throughout the day to be with my kids.