This is my Life: Comparison NOise
It has been almost a month since I've written...ehh. I wish I had more time for it because I love it. This morning, my middle son woke up with his "barky" cough and looking pale, so we took a break from Church (husband still went) this morning allowing us a little extra home time (which consisted of decluttering EVERYTHING and cleaning sheets).
While staying home doesn't seem strenuous on the boys, they actually nap better not going anywhere, so I'm given a little time to write. :) woohoo.
Joy! It's something every mother should notice she is blessed with but with social media and what are known at the "mommy wars", it's soooo hard being confident in the mother you are. Comparing yourself to other moms, or even other women, steals YOUR joy. Which in turn, takes away from the joy of your motherhood.
We compare everything. We compare strollers, attire, houses, husbands, children, parenting styles, discipline, food, faith...just about everything. I have caught myself doing it. Wishing my house could be as clean as a friends, being home without having to work, vacations, prayer time and more! But, that's not who I am and in those moments, I had to quickly turn away and thank Him. Thank Him for my season. Thank Him for knowing the desire of my heart was to stay home and raise my children and He found a way for me to do so. I thank Him for always being there despite the moments when I feel like I am not . After Nathan was born, I found it soooo hard to find devotion time. I prayed and had my small group pray and again....
When we compare ourselves and lives, what does it do? Tears us down. Depletes our confidence and our sense of "self". Allows our relationships to struggle. It also is not setting a good example for my children. When we pray, I tell them to make sure they thank Jesus.
I noticed, for when I had moments of self doubt, I found myself plugging into my husband for everything. To show me my value and boost my confidence. It was putting a great deal of pressure on him, when in fact, he can not fill that longing for me. It wasn't fair to him or our marriage.
Our husbands are the ones we see most, who know us best and expect from. Unfortunately, for me, I was struggling with my value and my "self". As a stay at home mom, you don't get work reviews, bonuses, advancements, raises, etc, to be told you are doing things great!! Instead, we stress about how we are raising our kids. For me I was relying on my husband to acknowledge my home accomplishments (cleaning, food, laundry) and when he didn't, I'd feel discouraged. Who was this helping? No body. It was also stealing my husbands joy. Instead, I started to pray and focus on the One who can show me my worth with the wonderful direction of our Pastor and his wife!
When I wake up in the morning (this is, if my children aren't pulling me away from my bed right away) I ask God, How does he see me? I sit in this silence, this beautiful silence until I hear Him. I posted this picture above this morning and I love it. I keep looking at it because it's a wonderful reminder. The season that I'm in right now, I'm a Mom. This is my main focus and what I do. I nurture, teach, clean, feed, and on some days, I feel like a failure, but then I remember, the most important thing I'm doing is pointing them to Jesus and doing all I do for Him. When I hear them pray over our meals or close our days at night with their bedtime prayers and their growth over time... When we come down for breakfast, Jamison asks in the morning to read our Jesus Calling. Last night, Connor prayed and by himself, he says "and we lift up Mr. Delangie and ask that you heal him". This moment brought more joy than I can even describe in words. At the end of my days, after the daily battles, exhaustion's, behavior corrections, it's sometimes hard to see what you are doing right. But, in that moment, I felt it and He showed me my value and that I am in fact getting it :)
My family is not perfect, I am not perfect, but we are perfect for each other. That's all that matters. So, when social media, television, etc show you all the moments that can pull you away from your joy, remember, you are YOU! You are unique as are your children. Don't compare your children. They are also unique. They are not the same as other children and other techniques or approaches may work well for another family, but YOU know what is best for your children. Be confident in YOU and you will feel free and happy. You will then be able to experience all the true joys of life and motherhood.
As my husband likes to say "Happy Wife, Happy Life". We do set the tone for our homes, so let's set it on "joyful". <3
This is my Life: Intimacy
"A Happy Marriage makes for a Happy Home" 1 Peter 4:8
So, I feel like I haven't written in a while and I've been eager to write about intimacy, it's just soooo important that it's difficult to write about. Instead of tackling it as a whole, I'm going to hit on points that have changed my life for the best :)
I've been married for close to seven years now. A short time as a whole, but a long time to learn how important being intimate with your spouse effects your marriage. We know it's important right? Of course! But, there are many layers to this statement. Today I'm going to hit on the spiritual aspect of it. The communicating with each other and praying.
Anthony and I were married in a small chapel (beautiful by the way) by a family friend who was a justice of the peace. Shortly after we were married, we were blessed with our first son. We did attend church while dating and during our start marriage, but after Connor was born, we felt the longing for our family to be with a church family. We started attending our current church, Shiloh. Our lives together were forever changed.
We renewed our vows for our two year anniversary. We were renewed in our church by our Pastor that we adore. Our church family has become so much more than we could have ever dreamed of and our marriage is on a rock that does not move.
Intimacy with your husband is not only about the physical (YES! very important and we will get to that) but also about having a real solid connection with your spouse emotionally and spiritually. We love Jesus first. We realize that without Him, we can not be the best version of us, together. Hope that makes sense. We are better for each other, better parents for our sons.
Communicate. Communicate everything. Be open with your spouse. Give him all of you. He should know you better than anyone. Your best friend. You can't effectively run a home, raise children, unless you understand each other and are attached to one another. Be open with each other, I mean really open. Hold nothing back. What you like, what you don't like, fears, struggles. You are spending the rest of your lives together :) Pray for one another.
That he lives in accordance with God’s plan for his life {Ephesians 4:1-2}
That he would continue to lead and that God would be glorified in our marriage {Ephesians 5:25-29}
That he would trust in God’s plan, not his own { Jeremiah 29:11}
I pray for every aspect for my husband. I pray for his health, commute, his job, to protect against temptations, his heart, for me to be the wife he needs. everything! We need to pray for our husbands. Seeking God first to hold our marriage, creates for a better physical part to our marriage too!
I love this picture. This is one of my stops I love to make on the way to visit my family in NY. It is now one of our stops as a family, that we've taken on together now. :)
Emotionally connecting with your husband leads to better physical intimacy....<3 stay tuned!
This is my Life: Our Family Weekend Away!
Well First things...we decided we can't call it a mini "vacation". As amazing as going away with our family is, it's far from a vacation. Instead of coming home well rested and rejuvenated, we were all exhausted. But, our long weekend was filled with lots of blessed moments!!! The last time we went away as a family overnight was last January! That's far too long!!!!
We headed out Friday at lunch time. Grabbed some subs and drove up to the ice castles at Loon Mt.
These were awesome, but wasn't a lot too see. We were expecting much more, but the most imporant part was the boys LOVED it and had a blast with the tunnels and slide.
It was freezing, so when we left, we stopped at a local bakery for some hot cocoa and treats :)
After our yummy warm treats, we headed to North Conway where we were staying for the night. Unfortunately, we couldn't get into the hotel that had the water park both nights, so we stayed at an Inn down the road. The boys have been begging us since last year to stay in a hotel, and well, this weekend filled all their little hearts desires :)
Definitely recommend this Inn for a place to stay if you just need a place to sleep! We booked it last minute because we weren't sure if we were going to stay over Friday night, but we wanted a fun trip for our family. It doesn't have any extra amenities, but perfect for a nights rest. And well the view....speaks for itself. God is good and takes my breathe away!
This weekend away was Nathan's first time really sleeping away from home and in a Pack N Play. He did ok. One thing traveling with family and staying in one room brings is, everyone goes to bed at the same time. So, we were all in bed with lights out by 7. It took Nathan a little bit, but he finally fell asleep. Everyone slept through the night, but Nathan woke up at 5:30...ehh, makes for a long day. Luckily, a cute breakfast place on the strip in North Conway opened right at 7, so we had a yummy breakfast.
Then after breakfast....guess where we went!!!!
Hotel # 2 for the weekend, Red Jacket Mountain Resort & Water Park. This place was wonderful!
The park way great. Very clean and wonderfully kid friendly. The slides go by height, so Jamison couldn't go on them. But, Anthony did go up with him and they let him go down once with Anthony, so he was happy :) They had a great baby area, hot tub, the main pool, here in the picture, is also the wave pool, basketball, and a climbing water fun place with dumping pail. Was just a lot of fun! Now here for the picture overload!!
The park closes for an hour at 10, so we went to the outlets (still had some birthday gift cards) and got some lunch. I got my Muddy Moose fix! Yum!
So, note: At this point, it's roughly 1130. Nathan fell asleep in the car for about 20 minutes and Jamison has not napped, and we were all up at 530! Exhausted! After lunch, we went back to the water park. Jamison layed down with me for a little while on the lounge chairs, but we had to wait until check in at 3. We checked it, took nice showers and got into comfy warm clothes for dinner.
Some arcade fun and dinner.
Look at the view out the window :) this hotels location is gorgeous.
After dinner snuggles and the Disney channel was having a Movie marathon and we watched Cinderella for a little while before bed. It was nice all laying together, ready for bed watching a movie in bed.
Here's Nathan sound asleep. Now this night went much better. We were all asleep by 730 and Nathan actually slept later than all of us. Even though we all slept through the night and slept until 630, Jamison wasn't well rested. He's definitely a home body, but was the one begging us for awhile to stay over night! Too cute.
Our morning reading with cute wake up faces :)
Another amazing view waiting for breakfast. After breakfast, which was an amazing buffet. Never seen anything like it, we spent the rest of the morning back at the water park until check out :)
It was a wonderful much need getaway for our little family! We are blessed!
All sleeping on the way home! I'd say that's a successful trip. Although Jamison is definitely my son, he isn't feeling well now with the exhaustion and not good sleep. Still happens to me as an adult. When we got home, he had a fever and slept most of the afternoon. Woke up feeling better and all kiddies have been sound a sleep for a couple hours now :) Back to the routine tomorrow!
