Expectations

Now that we are moved to Texas, and living in our own place for the next few months, I have all these great expectations about what's going to happen, what our family life will be like, etc. I feel like our family has been thrown all out of whack as we've been living with others for all of our time back. And as great as it has been to be with family, it's just hard to be constantly living in another's house, and with their ways of doing things.

The kids and chores have gone out the window, routines have been totally screwed up, etc. Now that we have our own place and just our family I have gobs of things I want to do. Like: get back to chores like setting and clearing the table at mealtimes and helping dishes, keeping beds made, etc. I want to get back in to having a daily devotion with the kids at bedtime (different from the school one we have each morning). I want to get back in to cooking (I have barely done any since we've gotten back, what with eating out at restaurants and other people's homes) and teach the kids some about housecleaning and laundry and such. And little things like trying to be sure the kids floss their teeth every day.

So now we'll see if I can keep up with everything I want to do each day with the kids. I feel like life will be a bit slower now, so maybe these goals will be more realistic. So many times I have all these great aspirations, but then reality sets in, or laziness, and many of them get left behind. I want to be a good mother and raise responsible, hard working, healthy kids. But I can't expect that to happen if I'm too lazy to teach them.

Which leads me to the next point of my great goals! Teaching. So far, all my focus has been on Nathan's Kindergarten and Kaitlyn's second grade stuff. Justin usually joins in for tiny bits (devotions, history, science) but then is just off playing on the floor nearby while we do school. I really want to work with him on letters and numbers and colors and shapes and such. So it's my goal these next few months to really devote time to teaching Justin as well. It's just that some days it feels like I'm running a race as I explain something to Nathan, rush over to the other room to answer a question from Kaitlyn, rush back to Nathan to see how he's doing, rush back to Kaitlyn to explain something new, while dealing with Justin and nursing Julianne! So trying to juggle one more thing sometimes doesn't sound all that inviting. I guess it's just a matter of deciding what is important, and then making the time for it.

Finally, I have great expectations when it comes to raising my kids to know and love God. I feel like so many days, when it comes to bedtime and I want to do devotions with the kids, I'm just exhausted. So I bellow at the kids in impatience, and rush thru the bedtime routines, just trying to get them quiet and out of my hair as quickly as possible. What kind of a message does that send my kids? "Ok, kiddos, lets talk about how God loves you and you should love others, but hurry up and shut up and get in bed, and I better not hear another noise out of you or else!" I want to work on finding balance in getting everything done during the day that needs to be done, but not be so exhausted and impatient at the end that I can't show God's love to my kids.

So, we'll see how my expectations hold up over these next few months!