savouring the chaos

We have three children aged four and under.  We live in a three-bedroom basement suite with a tiny living area.  We regularly host others in our home, including a weekly small group with our church. My husband typically works 10-11 hour days (including his commute which varies 5min-1hr). Our children wake up as early as 5am daily and go to bed at 6:30pm. 

I currently have a messy kitchen.  It's not too bad actually, but still wouldn't qualify as "clean".  We load almost everything in our dishwasher (soooo thankful for a dishwasher), which does result in occasional losses, such as the goblet that just shattered post-wash and is still sitting on the counter because I need to empty the garbage before I can possibly fit a shattered glass inside.  My laundry situation is out-of-control.  Today's goal is to get it back under control, but I know it will take all my effort today.  I'm on my third load of the day, and it's only 10am.  If I get it all washed today, there will be 4-5 more loads.  And then the folding and putting away of all 8 loads, plus the already clean laundry that is sorted into piles but not-yet-folded.  That makes for at least 11 loads that need to be dealt with.  Let's be honest, even if I am Wonder Woman that's not going to happen in one day.

And then there is the floor.  It really needs to be swept and mopped, but even more, the toys need to be picked up.  There is a pile of opposite-matching cards in the middle of the kitchen, duplo and cards and books all over the boys room, and doll clothes covering Halle's floor.  Given the laundry situation, we probably will make very little progress on our floor today.  We also will probably not make any progress in taking down the Christmas decorations, which is a job I half-heartedly started yesterday.

You are probably wondering how my house got so terribly messy.  Unless you also have small children, then you can probably relate.  My house is like this because we have three small children and we live here.  And I'm not perfect.  End of story.
 
But why am I telling you how messy my house is?!  I'm not really sure...haha.  I guess just to say that our life is a little crazy.  Some may say more than a little!

But this crazy life we lead--this tiring, overwhelming, loud, messy life--is our life.  Sure it will be nice when the kids are a little older, and I'm not trying to write an extremely overdue blogpost while telling kids to stop standing on the coffee table and being told to shake the tambourine I was given, just for example.  But I really am thankful for the life, these kids, I've been given.  And I'm learning to enjoy it, savour it, even in the chaos!

My kids just came over to me, shook my hand, and welcomed me to my own house.  My eldest just introduced himself as Frosty the Snowman, and said our baby was a dog named Jack.  The entertainment really doesn't get much better!

Some days my kids misbehave all. day. long.  And then some days they act so wonderfully, and I realize that consistency really does pay off in the long run.  Motherhood--family--is the hardest work of all.  It is a 24/7, never stopping, wake-you-in-the-night-every-day, get-you-up-from-the-table-10x-a-meal kind of work.  But it is also the most rewarding.  I love seeing my kids grow and change; being there for all of their firsts; snuggling them on the couch surrounded with books, and teaching them day-in-and-day-out about God, showing them what it means to live a life of faith in Jesus.

I am so thankful that I have the privilege of staying home with my children full-time.  Sure, I've had days that I've asked my husband to trade me--"just for one day".  But we both know that I would make a terrible carpenter, and I would miss my kids terribly! And I know that a few years from now I will look back on the chaos and miss these days.  I might not miss the chaos, and I'm sure the laundry situation won't have changed much, but I know I will miss the snuggles, the little feet scampering across the floor, watching my baby learn to walk, and the "Good morning, Mommy!" that I get from my sweet two-year-old daughter each morning without fail.  And so on the hard, feels-like-it-will-never-end days, I pray to God for grace and strength and patience and energy, and try to remind myself "this too shall pass", and savour the chaos because it will pass all too soon.