Heart and Home

I've been working on a blog post for a month now and trashed it 3 times.

Summer is *ahem* busy. Not like going places and doing things busy. Just juggling daily life busy. And in the busyness, my heart is stirring. Attacks on Israel. Revival in the church. Prayer for our nation. Burdens for our community. My heart is stirred. I've got an adventure itch and a heaven craving.

But meanwhile in mommyland....................

I wake up every day to kids banging on doors, yelling, crying, laughing or needing to pee. I jump up looking like I've got the virus from World War Z and try to focus my eyes while I pour 4 cereal bowls with one hand, drink coffee with the other and listen to Ashley and Emily simultaneously talking to me. And I must comprehend what they're saying because there will in fact be a quiz at the end. Or at least a, "so can I?" to which I'll need to have an answer.

Then I start the laundry, unload the dishwasher, clean up breakfast, wash 4 faces, break up any fights, and tell Micah for the 3rd time, "no more buddy, breakfast is over."

And like every other day except Sunday, I sweep 15 times, clean the counters 46 times, remind the kids to close the back door 87 times, pick up a toy and toss it into the playroom 329 times and tell some one to "get down" 751 times.

At naptime it just means more of the same thing except its a little quieter and fewer kids are walking behind me spreading around cracker crumbs, grass, and Legos.

Around 4 or 5 I get the "on my way" text from Jake. This is when I realize I haven't changed clothes or looked in a mirror all day, so I run upstairs to clean myself up with a praying-the-kids-don't-burn-the-house-down speed.

Once Jake gets home and we talk about his day (because mine are all the same) while I cook dinner.

Then we eat dinner... well, everyone else does. I hold Kate down in her chair with my right leg while cutting up someone else's food. If I stop to eat dinner myself, I might fall asleep.

After that I clean up dinner and do the dishes. 

By then it's the little kids' assembly-line-bath-time and then bedtime. Bedtime is sort of like the new Planet of the Apes movie when they're still in the big cage together and run in circles around that tree swinging their arms and making whooping noises. Only picture me and Jake in the midst of it, trying to catch/tackle one and wrestle them into pajamas.

Once the apes little ones, fall asleep the big girls want to negotiate bedtime, argue over my iPad, ask if they can have dessert, tell me why they need new clothes or want to switch bedrooms. Eventually they fall asleep. Still talking. And probably dream of more talking.

And then with what little energy I have left, I might take a shower. Or eat ice cream. Whichever seams more important.

And yet.

My heart is stirring.

Better yet, my spirit is willing but my flesh is weak. Its not easy to keep up with whats happening in global news from deep in the trenches of motherhood.

As moms, we have to bounce back and forth from: crying out to the Fathers heart for eternal matters... to solving why one of the kids has reverted to pooping in her bathing suit at the pool. Just keeping it real, people.

Sometimes that back and forth is so intense it makes my head spin.

But I must. I don't have a choice. I have to hold perspective in both worlds. The middle east and mommyland. The White House and the Spencer House. World news and the school newsletter.

If you're reading this and your heart is heavy for a touch from God on our nation... or desperate for a move from Him in your life, house, community and church...

but your house is sprinkled with naked Barbies, plastic food and lego pieces, and your laundry is full of Buzz Lightyear underwear and disney princess nightgowns... If your car looks like this:

You're not alone. I know the juggle well.

But lets rise to the occasion. Lets never forsake pressing in to the Father for our burdens. Lets make sure that the exhaustion of motherhood doesn't cause us to fall into a spiritual slumber. 

Lets run the race, train our children, love our husbands and be strong women who are ready for anything.