Act One: July 2024

So this week our washer broke down. Complete with the flood and all. Shortly after that, our dryer stopped drying. I mean seriously, what good is a dryer if it doesn’t dry clothes? Anyways! I told our children to place our clothes out on the back porch on the fence to dry. We did this for about a week. Our babysitter came over to watch the children the following week. She asked why we had been placing our clothes outside on the fence. Well of course, my 4 year old pipes up and says “that’s because our dryer stopped working and Mom doesn’t want to spend the money on one yet.” It turns out, our babysitter had a used dryer and washer that she was willing to sell for a small price in her garage! This had to have a been a God thing! Not just a coincidence! We were blessed that day, and our clothes were clean and dry.

Act Two: August 2024

So raising children is hard. As you know, it’s really hard. It’s hard to the point that you do not have time for yourself, or time for your spouse. My husband and I struggled with our marriage in part for quite a while because of all the stress of parenting. We went to marriage counseling. Marriage counseling turned out to be for the birds. Why? Well, because we had been over the argument all ready. I mean truly over it. And then, we went to counseling and talked about it, and all the negative feelings came up again, and well, then we were arguing right after the counseling session. But yes, my husband and I struggled for several years with forgiving each other. Until this one day, when I was in Sunday School class. An interesting thing happened. The leader asked if anyone had any prayer requests. Usually I don’t pipe up, however, this time I had something on my heart. I said that my husband and I needed prayers that we would be able to forgive each other and move forward. I didn’t really expect anything. I mean,I didn’t really expect God to answer our prayer. However, within the next month things started to change. I started to notice the good in our relationship. And in noticing the good, I was able to forgive. This truly had to have been an answered prayer thing. I wasn’t able to forgive on my own.

Act Three: September 2024

Here we are again, it’s the beginning of the school year. Summer flew by. One thing I love that a school district near me recently started was a prayer walk around the school. A group of church members and community members were invited to walk around the school, and through the halls praying for the teachers and students who would soon dwell in the building. I thought this was a neat idea.

On a more personal note, the beginning of the school year is challenging for a number of reasons. I mean when you take 4 kids school shopping, there’s competition. If one kid gets a new bookbag, they all need a new bookbag. It gets to be so expensive. And then there is crying, if a the child doesn’t get the lunch pail of their dreams. Spoiled much? Oh, that’s right. The sinful nature that we have because of the Garden of Eden just keeps getting passed on down through the generations. If you haven’t checked out this story before, check out the story of original sin and Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis.

Act Four: October 2024

Well sometimes, I need a good beat and encouraging words to get me going in the morning? I mean, we weren’t really prepared for this whole parenting thing. Waking up in the morning is crazy difficult after you have been up most of the night dealing with a toddler who is either teething or has a cavity. Recently, we found out my 3 year old has 3 teeth that need to be pulled and 3 other teeth that need to be crowned. We struggled to find a dentist that could get her in soon. So, we prayed about it. I felt bad that she was in pain with her teeth on a daily basis and I knew that God would not want her to be in pain. Well, guess what? God answered the prayer and we were able to find a dentist that could do the dental surgery in the next 3 weeks. 3 weeks was much better than two months! Praise God!

Act 5: November 2024

This is the month of my birthday. It is funny as a parent how your birthday does not seem as important anymore as the birthdays of your children. I save money to buy presents for my children on their birthday, but I do not do this for my own birthday. This reminds of how God takes care of us, as his children. He loves us and wants to give us gifts. James 1:17 says that “Every Good and Perfect Gift is From Above.” This is true! And in the month of Thanksgiving, we should be thankful for our birthdays, our children’s birthdays, and for the God that has given us so much to be thankful for.

Act 6: December 2024

Okay, it is now the month of Christmas. Christmas is great, but when you are juggling work and 5 kids, it can be stressful. Kids want the gifts that they want. Oh, and the whole Santa thing, don’t even get me started. Kids do not understand why Santa does not buy them everything they want. It can be disappointing Christmas morning. And then the whole Elf on the Shelve thing, honestly, I think that is a little bit creepy.

But anyways, this new occurrence touched my heart. My husband was putting up Christmas lights around the gutters. He was standing on the roof to do this. My son who was 4 at the time was very concerned that he was going to fall. So my son said to him, “Be careful Dad, but if the worst happens, at least we know you’re going to heaven.”

Act 7: January 2025

So you know, it’s Monday Morning. It’s time for school. No, don’t hit the snooze button again. It’s time to wake up. There are lunches to pack, and assignment sheets to sign, socks to match, and shoes to be found. Have a headache yet? This is our daily life, and our daily balancing show. My husband and I have five children all under the age of 9 and we both work full-time.

One thing through this whole crazy parenting act that has helped my husband and I is our faith. Yep, I said it. Faith. Faith in money? Faith in our own abilities? No, I’m talking about faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus has and is our rock. When the day gets nuts, and the tantrums come in spirals, go to prayer. The peace we receive from a relationship with Jesus is like nothing else that we can gain from this world.

Act 8: February 2025

So today, so many parent fails. Oh my goodness! It is so difficult to do this alone. I do not know how single parents do it. I of course have been married for ten years, and wow, even with two of us it is so difficult to deal with tantrums, schoolwork, and extracurricular activities. My parent fails of the day…….

1. My 3 year old attempted to give medicine to my 2 year old. What was this medicine you may ask? Well, it was actually bubble solution that my child was putting into a syringe and attempting to give it to her sister. Yikes!
2. So I was taking a shower. I’m allowed to do that, right? I didn’t have to give that up when I became a parent. Well, what was happening while I was in the shower? My 2 year old grabbed the toilet scrubber. It was bad enough that she grabbed it, however, what she did with it still makes me cringe. She took the toilet scrubber and used it as a pretend hair brush on her sister’s hair. Ugh!
3. Okay, last parent fail to mention for now. I heard a scream. I searched the room. And there I found, the unexpected. I found my 3 year old putting our dog’s collar onto the two year old. Double Ugh!

So in the craziest of this all, I would say that there was some good. I remembered my faith. I was able to keep my sanity not because I had another adult home to help, but because I remembered that when I accepted Jesus into my heart I received the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). I relied on the Holy’s Spirit’s peace to get me through.

Act 9: March 2025

Today was interesting. My husband and I were pulled in two different directions. He was taking the kids to skate and I was taking our other three kids to swim lessons. Talk about stressful trying to coordinate everything. Well, unfortunately because, in part, that Michael and I were both tired we ended up yelling at each other. My 7 year old daughter was so bold then to tell me that I had sinned and that I needed to ask Michael for forgiveness so I would not go to hell. I felt angry and upset all at the same time. I explained to her that I needed God to work on my heart a bit first because I was not immediately sorry. I was not ready to ask for forgiveness. I was sorry, however, that my slow request for forgiveness upset our daughter.

Act 10: April 2025

We all need shoes right. Well as a parent, we usually buy items for our children first before buying things for ourselves. Everyone once in a while adults need shoes too! Well, it just so happened that I needed a pair of shoes and didn’t have a lot of change to spare in purchasing them because of the five children we raise. Within a week or so of this need I had, our neighbor knocked at our door. What did she bring? She just happened to have a friend that had four extra pair of shoes. The best part! They were my size! God blessed me with not just one pair of shoes, but with four pairs of shoes. What a blessing!