Dirty shirts

Having a 2-month old, along with a 3- and 5-year old means most of the time I know I don't have it all together. But, most days I would like to be somewhat presentable or "cute."

Take yesterday for example.

I was shopping with all of the kids (for the first time since Ryder was born!) when I noticed a stain on my shirt (not a new thing with Ryder) so I just shrugged thinking maybe it was celery or something else green and put the groceries in the car.

Only a couple minutes later when I was changing Ryder did I realize what the green stain was -- right...poop. Awesome. Pretty sure I had that on my shirt for at least 30 minutes in the store.

Being a mom is just plain hard work. If you are a stay at home mom, you miss having a chance to pee by yourself or talk to an adult over coffee while sporting a suit and heels. High heels. Meanwhile, if you are a mom who works outside of the home, you miss your kids terribly during the day and wish you could sit by the pool with other moms and their kids. There's no in-between.

Yeah, that baby nurse who gets you a Starbucks like on the Real Housewives while you are shopping? She's not available. Not sure you would want her anyways.

And it gets harder when you move your little 2 month old to their room for their first night in a crib. Or send a little girl to her first year of preschool or your oldest goes to kindergarten.

We are talking full day kindergarten. Legit school. Gulp.

But wait, those moms in the back are raising their hands saying it's hard when you send your teenager who has been with you for almost 18 years to college. You stuff their car full of graduation presents and kiss them and hope they make good decisions on their own. And the moms who are finished with that amazing job they have done and their kids now have their own families wonder, "What's next?"

That's why for me I just think all moms and women who watch and love our kids deserve our praise. Because you know those dirty shirts, yep. Those shirts are a sign of a job well done. You might not be the most in fashion like you once thought you were with your wedges and pencil skirt, but your shirt tells the story of God's place for you. The shirt is helping you raise generations.

Psalm 79
Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, 
will praise you forever;
from generation to generation we will proclaim your praise


Oswald Chambers

Look at God’s incredible waste of His saints, according to the world’s judgment. God seems to plant His saints in the most useless places. And then we say, “God intends for me to be here because I am so useful to Him.” Yet Jesus never measured His life by how or where He was of the greatest use. God places His saints where they will bring the most glory to Him, and we are totally incapable of judging where that may be.