How Do You Recharge Your Batteries?

How do you recharge your batteries?

I would love to know. You see, I have a job that doesn't have a start time, an end time, and regular 2 days off for the weekend. There is no set vacation time. However, its the best job in the world. Its a blessing...a true gift that not everyone can have, even if they desperately want it. I am a stay-at-home mom.

I have so many things to figure out in my job. Nursing skills, teaching skills, discipline strategies, financial strategies...the list goes on. Often there is no one to teach me, the skills are things I often have to figure out on my own. Its a task I usually greet with enthusiasm. I want to be good at my job.

When I think back to when I had my firstborn, Brady...I was full of energy, excitement, enthusiasm. Even when he was crying in the middle of the night, it didn't frazzle me. It was my pleasure to rock him until he settled down. It didn't matter how tired I was...somehow I had emotional energy that surpassed my physical energy. Remember how that felt? Do you remember when changing a diaper was even enjoyable simply because of the affirmation you felt when you could change that little cry into a smile? Life was simpler then, and the newness of it all was sweet.

Sometimes now, 5 1/2 years later, I grumble a bit a changing a diaper. At breaking up a fight. At giving an instruction for the hundredth time and hoping for obedience. Its all lost its newness. However, it is all still a blessing...a gift.

Hmmmm. So I've been reading in the Old Testament about the Israelites wandering in the desert with no food. God provided manna for them. It was new, it was a gift, it was sweet! The Israelites accepted it with enthusiasm, excitement even! And after awhile, the manna became...well, ordinary. The sameness of their everyday life became bothersome...even irritating. They became unsatisfied with the gift, and they started begging for something else, complaining in their boredom.

This is striking a little too close to home for me! The sameness of my everyday life has been getting to me. The precious gift I've been given has lost its newness, its excitement. So it seems that this is human nature. It happened to the Israelites...its happening to me! Well, lets look a bit further in the story. Did God say, "Well, okay. I'll give you something else. I'm so sorry you are bored with manna. Don't worry about it." Yeah right. In fact, God took their complaints so seriously that the Israelites paid dearly for their ungrateful, complaining attitudes. He gave them what they wanted...a change...meat! He gave them so much meat they got sick on it...and then He killed the complainers while the meat was still between their teeth. Yikes.

So what do we do? The feelings are real. Somehow, I need to recharge my batteries in the midst of my job. I don't have the luxury of a weekend away very often. I often have help, but its not that. I need to recharge my batteries daily...in ways that I can do without needing a babysitter, or an expensive night out, or a weekend away.

The Israelites prepared the manna in different ways. It lists a few right there in the Bible. We have chicken several times a week...but I prepare it differently so we don't get bored with it. Okay, so I've got to put that same effort into my every day life. I need to think of new ways to resolve arguments, new ways to motivate the kids to obedience, new twists on the same tasks that will be there today and tomorrow. Sigh. If you are like me, you might be thinking "Great. So I've got to figure all this out with energy I just don't have right now." Well, maybe we can help each other. If you have ideas, things that you are doing...please share! I would love to hear them. How do you order your day? How do you take care of laundry, cleaning, cooking, etc. What do you do that recharges your batteries? Post on my blog or facebook!

Moonlight Ski and Trying to Get Back in the Game...

The "ski squat" ...He has his flashlight and is ready to go down the hill!

Little boys, fire, sharp sticks, sticky marshmallows, snow and ice...not exactly a mother's dream...but they had lots of fun!

Adults enjoying the full moon...boys enjoying the sugar.

Baby girl was kicking and sweet talking the whole time.

I would have a picture of Brady skiing...but he was too fast.

These are pics from our full moon ski. The kids did great...thanks to Papa for bringing a small flashlight for Luke. Sometimes thats all it takes to keep him going! We skiied for about an hour, then stopped at the campfire before completing the last 10 minutes or so of the event. It was beautiful out...although I had a head cold and was fairly weak...and pulled Luke about half of the way. It was still really fun to all be out there together.

So lets get down to the ugly truth. I've been out of sorts lately. Tired. Sick. Irritated. Restless. Weary. Impatient. Bothered.

So I started trying to analyze this. Yeah, I've been living with myself for 32 years. I should know a bit about why this happens and how I can better deal with it. So as I took a step back and looked at myself, I realized that when I was younger, single, responsible for only myself...I would "hide out" until I got through it. Those days would usually entail a good book, pjs, and staying in bed all day if I could. When I was in middle school I even made a little hideout in the back of my closet. I had a reading lamp, pillows, blankets...a cozy dark little spot where I could rest, relax, not be bothered. And most of all...not have to explain why I was feeling the way I was feeling. Sometimes I just don't know! Anyway, I was able to have time to myself and then get back in the game. Even as a young wife I was able to take my "hide out" time and get back in it. However, for the past 5 1/2 years of being a mom, I have not been able to deal with myself in the same way. I'm constantly needed, wanted, loved on, missed, etc. etc. And don't get me wrong...this is the job I dreamed of, longed for, desired from the depths of my heart, and still do. But I am struggling to find a way to save myself in the midst of it. I don't have a solution yet...but I feel better at least identifying the issue! So I'm sorry if you were looking for a big light bulb moment here...but I want to challenge you moms out there to look back on yourself. Are you who you want to be most of the time? If you are, thats awesome. Share some tips with me! If you aren't, keep at it. I am. But hopefully from now on I'll be looking a little harder at what I need to do, rather than just treading water with what I have to do.

Which brings me to my next point. I HATE starting a project that I don't know I can finish. I'd rather not start it at all. Well, with 3 kids, I have also learned that I don't get the pleasure of sitting down and doing something uninterrupted from start to finish. Oh I hate that! I've been that way since I was little. When I was homeschooled, I worked and worked on my schoolwork and got it done by lunchtime so I could play soccer with my dad when he came home for lunch. I wouldn't fully enjoy that unless I finished what I had to do. Fast forward 20 some years and here I am as a mom. Everything I do gets interrupted by sweet little cries for mom. Someone is hungry. Someone needs a diaper change. Someone....I'll spare you. I'm sure you all know what I am talking about. I think this is why I haven't drawn a picture in years. I think this is also why I feel like I'm drowning in unfinished projects around the house. Do I ever sit down and watch a show start to finish? No. I'm up and down, picking up this, washing that, starting baths, picking up clothes, starting laundry, etc. I'm a master at multi-tasking! I believe every mom is! You have to be. Can you imagine if God didn't make women multi-taskers? What if He switched it...your hubby (who works hard outside the home and does a wonderful job) is the multi-tasker and you (stay-at-home super mom) can only do one thing at a time. Picture what that would do to your mom jobs! Its hard enough to catch up when you have 20 things going at the same time! Well, I am thankful for the ability to multi-task. But I would love, for maybe an hour, to only have one thing on my mind, one thing on my list. Sometimes I think I'm just going to have to hide out for awhile, so that I can jump back in the game...and love it.