Truth for the Trenches

I know lots of us our in that similar life stage of being moms with young kids and trying to survive each day feels like enough. When we get to weeks or months of holidays it can feel exhausting or stressful. It is easy to compare celebrations or define the only way to celebrate but there is freedom to define the way our individual families worship and make Jesus the center of our home during the holidays. I want to encourage you to continue or change your celebrations so that they are worshipful, joyful, life-giving and point you to the Savior!!! Every year I hear moms stressed out over how to teach their young children about the Advent season. There are so many blogs with crafts and events to teach kids about Jesus and Christmas that it can get overwhelming. It is hard to find a devotion to read with children and teach them while cuddling up or putting the to bed that connects the Gift of Jesus to their everyday. We have done a few with our kids that we loved but it wasn't much

I think sometimes those parts of our day that trip us up the most are the expected, anticipated, regular ones. The waking up with babies who need you immediately, the toddler who kicks and screams with every diaper change, the grocery store trip (aaahhh!), bedtime or cooking dinner with little kids who really do need to be watched and want your constant attention. For so long cooking dinner was the part of my day I dreaded. I knew I would park my kids infant of the tv for too long so I could unload the dishwasher, start cooking, finish cooking, clean up the pots and pans and place everything on the table before calling them in. With encouragement and vision casting from my husband we started a new habit. As with all new habits it was painful at first, my quiet cooking dinner hour was gone, I had to encourage and teach and multitask when I wanted to run and hide. But, after a few days I began to see the success. Here are my survival-for-cooking-dinner ideas that we used and worked!!