Time to get real

A good friend of mine has challenged us all to get real. You can read about it at her blog http://thevoiceofadventure.blogspot.com/

I grew up in a middle-class suburban family. Dad went to work every day in a suit and a tie, Mom cleaned and ironed and fed us jello salads from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. My parents never yelled. I never saw them fight (although I do remember one incident where mom didn't talk to dad for about 3 days....hee!) When we were little we wore matching outfits my mother lovingly sewed for us (although my sister HATED this, I loved it!) She even made matching outfits for our baby dolls. If it had been any more picture perfect bluebirds would have circled my head.

Fast forward to my home. Chris leaves the house at 4:30 am every day and arrives back home around 6:30 pm. I head out around 6:30 am and walk back thru the door around 5 pm usually. Dinner is not a planned event and with everyone's schedules we rarely sit down at the same time. There are sticky spots on my tile floor, the carpet has been cleaned twice this year and already is heading back to disgusting, there are sticky fingerprints everywhere. Last night I noticed there is a big cheese smear on the TV screen. The only reason I noticed is it interfered with the picture in a way that annoyed me! The kids broke the gate across the foyer, the brand new gate intended to keep Baby Holly (who Nanny also watches) from scaling the stairs. I picked up 7 (count them 7!) half empty cans of soda (we don't usually have soda around but it's leftover from the party....) Katie decided to do laundry at some point but left a load in the washer for who knows how long. Ashley let Levi put make-up on her. The deer ate all my strawberries, watermelon and cantaloupe plants and the tomatoes got forgotten a couple of days and shrivelled up in the heat. Someone spilled sweet tea inside the refrigerator and left it.

But, there is no yelling in our house (except mostly happy, fun loud noises) The kids are all doing great. The house is still standing. No one has drawn blood for a long time. We even have bluebirds, but they stay in the bluebird house in the back yard and don't seem inclined to swirl around my head.

I am full of self-doubt most days. I am also exhausted, grumpy, impatient, disorganized and generally in scramble mode. I am also very blessed, happy, proud and loving it all. All I can say is I keep trying every day to be better, to do better and to align my life with what the bible has taught us.

So welcome to my imperfect life!