Dust Bunnies

Well, would you look at the thick layer of dust around this place?

I'm not even referring to my house - although it's in pretty dire straits as well. As one Facebook realist commented about their own home, mine currently looks like I'm losing a game of Jumanji. I guess it comes with the post-Christmas, hubby-has-been-off-from-work territory. Ideally, I'd have had it back in order (as orderly as it gets, anyway) by January 1st, but it didn't happen, and I'm not sweating it.

I didn't even make New Year's resolutions this year. Take that, Tradition.

No, the dust bunnies I've just noticed are floating around this poor, pitiful blog, which doesn't seem to have been updated since August 2014. Oh my. That's a little embarrassing.

At one point - as you'll see, if you scroll down a bit - I actually did update rather frequently. And then life happened or something, and I kind of stopped. Let's look back at where left off...

In August of 2014, we had recently re-transitioned into a family of four. Baby Buster (who is rapidly approaching the ripe old age of four these days) had moved in with his forever family, who adopted him just a few months later. Last we saw him, he is doing well and is a happy and well-adjusted little boy.

So we were kind of waiting around for our next placement, and I had no idea when I wrote that last post that it was mere days in the future. You may recall that we were firmly a NO TEENAGERS family, but when DSS called with a 16-year-old girl, just for the weekend, we figured that we could handle anything for a few days. And we did. She was actually pretty great.

So great that she moved in the very next week.

Well, that's a long (LONG) story, but flash forward a year and some odd months, and she's still with us. Don't anticipate her going anywhere anytime soon, and wouldn't really want her to. Most days. (I can say that because, even if she were to stumble across this blog, I'm sure she'd understand. She seems to like us *most days* too.)

And so we are once again a family of five, plus cat, dog, rabbit, frog.

Nothing else has changed drastically - we're still a bunch of homeschooling crazies (except for our oldest, who I realize will need a nickname for blogging purposes. I'm not sure I can rival the genius that was Baby Buster, though.) Here's a laundry list of minor changes that you may have missed:

- got a new car (the old one died. The new one is blue.)
- went to DisneyWorld last year (would live there if I could.)
- took DC by storm this summer (never again in August.)
- got a new job, am now a Disney travel agent (planning a trip? I work for free. No, really. Contact me, I'll help you.)
- did a few more shows, including a musical. ME, in a MUSICAL. I mean, I was Mama Bear in Shrek - not a glamorous or especially melodious role, but I sang and danced and did not die, so that was an accomplishment. We've done a few more shows too, but none as terrifying as Shrek.

Yeah, that's pretty much all I've got.

Anyway, why attempt to clear the dust bunnies now? Well, to be honest, a friend inspired me to do it with her own nifty new blog that she actually manages to update often, despite her having one more child and a home that's at least 93% cleaner than mine. By all means, go check her out at The Taxidermist Wife - she's amazingly crafty (I'm so in love with her kids' bathroom sink) and just rocks the whole country housewife thing. I kind of want to be her when I grow up.

But it was one of her posts in particular that really got me thinking about blogging again, and you can find it here. In it, she mentions the way that we (women, and moms in particular) tend to look at other women/moms and think, "wow, they really have their stuff together." (Kind of like the way that I look at Hayley, because that woman REALLY gives off a got-it-all-together kind of vibe. Until her boys show up, and then all bets are off. AmIright, Hayley?!) Anyway, she wrote that post at the perfect time of year, and I really wish more people had seen it right then, because it was such a good point made when you're in the midst of those funky year-end thoughts about what you need to do so much better next year.

I mean, I'm an okay mom. I haven't homeschooled my children into college by age 12 (well, I still have another month, but I'm pretty sure we're not going to make it), but they know what they should know. My house doesn't look like a page out of a magazine, but no one has contracted the plague from my living room carpet yet. (Yet.) They know that they are loved beyond measure, but that I will cut them if they walk across my freshly mopped floor. You know, they understand boundaries, and that's important.

But I - like most moms - sell myself short a lot. I get caught up in all the things that I'm not doing well enough, as judged by my own ridiculously high standards. I start telling myself that while I may juggle all of the things, I don't do any of them well. Jack of all trades, master of none. And if I'm not doing it good enough, then does it actually matter? If I'm not outstanding, will it make a difference?

Well, the answer is yes. I may be just a housewife, just a stay-at-home mom. I may never achieve greatness in any specific area (and certainly not in housekeeping or blog-updating.) But I have an important job - a job I've always wanted, and a job that I love. Sure, I want to knock little heads together sometimes...but I am blessed with the opportunity to spend this time with my children, to educate them not only in math and grammar but in God's word and ways. What could be more important than that? Like 3 John 1:4 says..."I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth."

So here's my prayer for 2016: Lord, let me be the mother that they need. I don't have to be the mom perched at the top of the corporate ladder, and I don't have to be the mom that posts professional quality photos of my made-from-scratch meals on Pinterest...I recognize and am comfortable with the fact that I'm doing well if they have clean socks on any given day. June Cleaver I am not, and I've known that from the beginning. But please help me to make them feel loved, every second of every day. Help me to help them understand that You love them even more than I do (although as their mom, that's hard to comprehend.) Help me to teach them their multiplication tables without throwing things, but more importantly, help me to teach them about kindness, humility, gentleness, and responsibility. Help me to live a life that points them to You. Let them see Jesus in me.

Happy new year, friends. I will try to update regularly. But I make no promises.

Also, if you were wondering, based on my last post back in 2014? My mom has gotten a LOT better at texting. :)