IF someone had only told me!

I have heard so much lately about parenting..  and how hard it is...   AND if only someone had told me what to expect with marriage and parenting...   WELL, I am pretty sure we were all told..  and I am sure we ALL saw the signs...  BUT we chose to not accept the truth at the time..     I can laugh now because I HAVE SEEN IT...   

People say marriage is so wonderful...  amazing....  joyful.....  BUT they forget to explain that it is really hard to live with someone else that doesn't exactly think like you do.  I am sure that there are couples out there that never argue and always get along perfectly..  BUT we are not one..  lol    I love JOHN..  Don't get me wrong...   Can't imagine ever being without him...   BUT really HE is a MAN....   He needs me for everything....   For example......   "Honey, I will make supper for you!"..    Then as the process starts to unfold I see it coming early on.....   "HONEY, where is the skillet??"...   "Honey, I don't see it!"...  "Honey, where is the meat?"  as if it would be any where other than in the fridge or freezer....    THEN the big one..  "HONEY, what do you use to cook this??  Salt?  OH and where is the salt??  Pepper?   OH where is the pepper....  "  As if people don't keep them together...  SALT/PEPPER....   and as if I had moved it in the 13 years we have been married....   SO, if I am going to guide his every move I just as well do it myself...  THUS, he looks great for offering and I actually cook the meal....    Another example....   "OH let me fold the laundry for you while you go take a bath!"     Reluctantly I head for the bathroom and within a few minutes.....  YEP, here it comes  "HONEY, how do you fold the towels?"  "Who's underwear are these?"  I would have given him that one but HE plastered there initials in the back of each kids undies....    THEN as I begin to run the water I hear the kids FIGHTING, screaming, hollaring....    I WAIT....  Listen....   Peak out the door and lo and behold my husband has fallen asleep....   KIDS are crazy...  Needless to say IT isn't WHAT PEOPLE TOLD ME...  

THEN having children changes your whole life...   AND I MEAN THAT in a GREAT WAY..  It is just an adjustment to see it....   The first child was awesome.  I had time to just enjoy him and do daily tasks...   THEN 2, 3 ...  then the twins....   LIFE was instantly crazier with each child.   There is NO SLEEP when you have small children..  Because even if you do get them to actually ALL sleep at the same time....  YOU WON'T sleep at all because you are too worried about everything you DIDN'T get done.....    SO being completely exhausted you toot along with your day....   PRAYING that night would come...  SOON..  VERY SOON....  Screaming kids, fighting kids, crying kids, bleeding kids, runaway kids (we live in a rural FLAT area so it isn't like they are ever out of site)..  BUT we let them think they are actually running away..Makes them appreciate home a lot more..lol   Diapers...  UGHHH    I am so ruined on diapers...   I don't understand why they can't just come potty trained.  I mean GOD knows we are overwhelmed without that too.. haha    OH and then the sickness start.  ONE catches it and then EVERYONE has it over a two week span.  AND being a mom you don't get to call in sick....   AND when dad catches it the world has ended for him...   It takes more time

to take care of him than the whole crew...  haha    THEN in the instance we had to go to town.   WOW, it would take 2 days just planning it out.  THEN once we got there the whole plan would fold...   Country kids are not good GO TO TOWNERS...  Just sayn'....   There was not enough cheerios and sippy cups full of juice in all of NM to get us home from town without screaming kids...   


Then the kids start growing.  Becoming more independent...   Homeschooling has begun....   At least 1 kids will start the day whining about how mean of a teacher I am and WHY do they even need school anyways as they will never need it...   THEN it spreads like a virus...   ALL the kids fall under the spell of WHO NEEDS SCHOOL...    We kick on through school and slowly move on to daily tasks and chores...   Mind you we have a small farm...   and half of the animals have been purchased by the kids and are their responsibility....     Supper time and after dishes I AM DONE...  JUST DONE...   

NOW with all that being said I WOULD NEVER change my life.  I love my husband and EVERY CHILD more than I ever thought I could love anything ever...  and even if someone had told me i wouldn't have believed it..    I mean, who wants to believe that life is NOT THE fairy tale they have dreamed of for all of your life...     MY fairy tale is perfectly made by GOD...  He has blessed me with a completely chaos life...   From minute to minute one never knows when the next mishap will happen...  SO, my advice is ENJOY the moments..  EVEN as few as they are some days...    I look back now on my life just 9 years ago where I thought for sure I wouldn't make it another day...    AND I LAUGH...   How silly was I.....  I am only stronger now...  and also I think GOD is training me to be a great mother in law to my boys future wives... and an AWESOME GRAMMY to my future grand kids....         AT THE END OF THE DAY..  COUNT IT ALL JOY!!!!    I AM BLESSED...   

The Quilt

I LOVE to sew...   LOVE to make quilts....  No, I am not trained to sew....   NO, I don't follow instructions well...   My quilts look like NON OTHER for sure..  AND I don't mean that in a good way....   I always take the easiest road....  of course I don't want to make something difficult...   THEN I would just fail horribly...   So, I go about cutting the quilt squares out..   Getting them all organized the way I want to sew them...   then commence to sewing....   Over the next day or two I enjoy the progress I am making ...    Then I get it the top done and start to quilt all 3 pieces together...   I don't have a quilting frame so I do everything on the floor....  My back starts to ache...   as I get closer and closer to being done...   THEN the finished project...   something I have made from scraps with no instructions has become A QUILT...   AN item to keep someone warm...   A USEFUL ITEM..

Now let's take what I have just said about the quilt and use this information for child training...   I LOVE my children..  and I really do mean LOVE!!!!   My children are like non other for sure...  lol  AND I mean that in the best way...   They are rowdy, ornery, tough, sensitive, funny.........   I could go on for hours about them...  BUT I bet your children are the same as mine so you get the picture..   Now when they were babies and toddlers I took the best care of them..  Making sure the nails were trimmed, hair combed, fed...  made sure I sang to them and prayed over them always...  Then they became  young CHILDREN...   One's that wouldn't sit still to get a bath, combed hair...OK wouldn't sit still for anything even in there sleep...   I started at this point to start cutting them out into quilt squares, so to speak...   And organizing them in such a way that would protect them but yet still give them freedom to change....    Now that they are older 9-12 years of age, I am re organizing them constantly...   I am almost afraid to sew it all together just yet.... This is where my back starts hurting so to speak....   struggles, trials, stress occurs...  Once I do sew it all together, quilt it, it seems so permanent..  Which to me seems that would be the age where they leave home.   You hope and pray that you have raised them right to go into the world and be productive, respectable adults..   (THE FINISHED QUILT)....   My oldest son who is 22 years old is an amazing man...   He is the perfect BEAUTIFUL quilt...   So, I suppose my quilting theory works just fine in raising kids..  

My tip to mothers out there is to STOP and STEP BACK and look at the QUILT often...   Modify it every day if need be...  God intends for families to grow together and to bond....   Take each moment as it comes and be a blessing to your children through love, kindness and laughter ALWAYS...Don't fret over if your house is dirty or if laundry is piling up... You only get one opportunity to raise your children...  This day will pass and you will never get it back again.   Enjoy your QUILTING....  

GOD BLESS