I worry sometimes about being a “mommy blogger”. I worry that people will think that I think I know everything there is to know about being a mom, that my house is always perfectly clean, that I never get frustrated with my kids or that I have it all together. That’s a tough image to live up to and not the case at all!
Because really, I started out as a mom, after 10 years of struggling with infertility, and then having 5 kids in 6 years through the help of IVF, to find myself very unhappy. I loved my kids. I loved that I finally got to be a mom. But I really wasn’t happy in the day to day tasks of taking care of little children who needed me constantly. There were some really good times too, but overall, I felt a lot of overwhelm and discouragement.
Somewhere along the way and stretched out over time, I had some great insights given to me. I realized if I treated my work at home more like a job that things could be better. Not in all aspects of course. I mean, it’s not like I could clock out at 5pm! But I started setting goals, working on continually improving myself and improving the way I did things, becoming more efficient, adding my personality to the mix and finding ways to enjoy what I was doing.
As I search for answers to problems, ways to teach my kids or run my household, these wonderful insights have come to me that I know are inspiration and I feel a powerful need to share. I feel like God has blessed me with a love of writing, a desire to create, and so many inspired ideas that He wants me to share with others.
I try to make the best of each circumstance. One of those circumstances that we’ve been given is the need to move every few years for my husband’s job. It’s hard on the kids and it’s hard on me because I grew up surrounded by extended family, cousins and grandparents. I wanted the same thing for my kids. And so I figure a great way to make up for that is by taking advantage of this moving around to go on adventures and see all the great things the world has to offer us in each of the places we move to.
I’m not the perfect mom; I will never claim to be. Every day, it seems my faults are brought clearly before my eyes. But I try, I pray, and I take the inspiration I receive and I try to make my home a sanctuary and a center of gospel learning.
So here I am – doing my best to make the most of this imperfect and sometimes difficult journey. Thanks for joining me here! Because I’m a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, you’ll find lots of stuff that I use to teach gospel lessons to my family. But I truly think moms of all faiths can find a dose of inspiration from most of what I post. I hope you’ll take a look around and find something that will make your journey a little more joyful, too.
