Sanity

A couple of weeks ago I tweeted about a song that would forever be my anthem during motherhood.  The song is called, "Mystery," by Charlie Hall.  The first two lines of the song are my favorite:

"Sweet Jesus Christ my sanity

Sweet Jesus Christ my clarity."

It seems lately the lies of the world are infiltrating everything.  We hear so often how we need to live for ourselves, make ourselves happy, buy this thing and your life will be so much easier, buy these clothes and you'll feel better about yourself, have this surgery to make you feel good about yourself, read this book, buy this CD, hear this speaker, and on and on it goes.  I know the word, "lies," sounds a bit hard core but they are lies.  The only satisfaction we can ever have in life will come from Christ.

Throughout my life I have had some awesome opportunities to meet girls in all stages of life.  When we lived in Arkansas I taught a Sunday School class with great girls that I still keep in contact with and see God doing great things in their lives.  After we moved to Texas I worked with a friend of ours doing Disciple Nows for smaller churches.  My friend would organize everything and bring all the help and I always worked with senior high girls.  God really blessed those weekends because these girls didn't know me from Adam yet inevitably every weekend God would put a girl in my life that was sadly believing the lies of the world, or some cases the lies her own family told her, and she would be seeking.  She was seeking for something, anything to fill the loneliness in her heart.  Since moving to College Station I get to walk side-by-side a couple of girls as they search God's will for their lives.  I also have the opportunity to meet other mothers through Bible studies and other events.  These girls and mothers are no different than anyone else.  Christians are not immune to wanting easy answers.  We would all love for God to write the answers to our questions on the wall in black spray paint so there would be no wondering if we were doing the right thing.

However desperate we may be in our lives at all ages we are always seeking.  Like the song above says to me, "Sweet Jesus Christ my sanity."  He is our sanity in this crazy world.  He is the one that will bring true clarity to your life.  Seek His face and you will find His peace, His comfort, and His hope.  I truly believe God wants to see us seek Him because He knows it is where we will find true contentment.

Motherhood

Since I've been a mother all of 7 1/2 months I have learned A LOT! Not just about my son but about other mothers (and women in general).

1. It's hard. People joke around that stay at home moms don't do anything but watch their kids. There are some days I would like to sit in my old office and close the door. That's what I did when I needed a break from my co-workers. Now, I can't really just shut the door. My son is mobile and therefore, nothing is off limits to him...until I snatch it out of his hands.

2. It's wonderful. As hard as it is being my son's mom it is also wonderful. I love for him to wake up from a nap and smile at me through his crib. It is as if he's had the most wonderful dream and can't wait to tell me about it.

3. Women are mean. I was reading this blog about Julia Roberts being a mom and the stuff she liked about her kids. My first reaction when reading it was, "Ahhh, that is so sweet." I scrolled down and read what other people put as comments. Let me just say, they are mean. What ever happened to, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all?" I think that's a pretty good rule to stand by when leaving comments on blogs. Seriously? We have so people people and things trying to bring us down why do we need to do it to each other?

4. We are different. Praise the Lord for that! I hang out with a wonderful set of friends at least once a week and we are all different but we are all excellent mothers to our children and wonderful wives for our husbands. I thank God for this set of ladies in my life. Our children are about the same ages and we just swap stories and compare baby products and just hang out. I love our times together!

I leave you now with two videos Christy Nockels did about motherhood:

Being A Mom {Part 1} from christy nockels on Vimeo.

Being A Mom {Part 2} from christy nockels on Vimeo.

Come on Ladies! YOU CAN DO IT!

Who has the most control of your family’s heart health? Your doctor? Your husband? NOPE. You do! The wife. As the mother and wife you probably buy the groceries and decide what’s for dinner. It’s your job to sneak veggies in. It’s your job to “forget” to buy cookies and buy fruit instead. It’s your job. I know. I know. Who wants that kind of pressure? Psych yourself up! You’re the one! God made women different than men for a reason—you can handle it!

Some tips to make fruits and veggies a hit at your house:
1. Cut them up really, really small and put them in things they already eat like mashed potatoes, chili, spaghetti sauce, etc.
2. Freeze the fruits. A snack I personally LOVE is frozen grapes! They are small and bite size and frozen! What could be better?
3. Experiment. Make the experimenting fun. Buy something new that you’ve never tried before and make it into some exotic meal that makes your family think it’s really fancy. Girl, I mean pull out all the stops: cloth napkins, fancy plates, glass glasses, the works!
4. Let your child pick what fruits and veggies you buy from the grocery store. I witnessed this first hand the other day at HEB. While looking at 40 different varieties of apples I heard this conversation:
Mom: What kind do you want?
Daughter: I want those. (pointing to small gala apples)
Mom: If you pick those you have to eat them.
Daughter: Okay! (very excited to eat her little apples)
Eli doesn’t really get to pick what I buy yet but when he’s old enough I’m going to try it.
5. If all else fails dip them in something! I haven’t done research on it but I think ranch on a carrot is still better for your than a bag of potato chips. There are tons of things to dip stuff in so be creative with it!

Eating heart healthy doesn’t always have to be a drag. What are some of your secrets to help the family eat healthy?