The one and only trick to find balance in Motherhood!

I was watching Castle last night. My husband and I are addicted to this show! The kids even know not to bug us when Castle is on. LoL. Kate Becket a homicide defective is paired in a investigation with this super cop, or so she thought...... Kate asked her how she did it all without struggling. The other defective replied

"The trick is to not look at it as a struggle but to find balance. The moment you think it is a struggle you fall!"

I have been thinking about this quote and found such a wonderful Aha moment! I am not saying that trials and conflict won't come our way, but that we look at it differently. As Mothers we may feel like we are being pulled in different directions. We would rather beat our heads against a wall than deal with another tantrum or sibling rivalry. We used to he happy right? The demands of Motherhood drain and frustrate us.

If we are driving along and we hit some road construction we cannot fight it right? We have to slow down or we get stuck in traffic. We might feel some urgency to get through it but changing lanes and following the flashing lights is all we can do. Let me repeat....... there is nothing we can do but stay on the path we are on! Sometimes we are offered a detour but we have to decide if we want to take it. It might seem like a good choice but it may take you far away from your course.

Slow down and ignore the pressure and expectations from Pinterest and Facebook and other social media.

Some construction as a Mom are tantrums, stress, bad day, too busy, illness, unruly children, difficulty in finances and the list goes on!

Detours are like a re-evaluating time in our lives. What is our mission and purpose? What is working or not? How did you lead and guide your children today? Resist the urge to multi-task because then you are not giving your full attention to whatever you are doing at the time.
Here are a few questions to get you thinking....

Ask God what you may be doing to make it harder on yourself?
                                 and.......

What makes you a good Mother?

Again the trick is to go with your struggle and don't fight it! Don't see it as a struggle but an opportunity to bring your life back into balance when it is not. To be in balance means you put your family and you first. Do something each week to keep your identity. I am asking you to find peace in taking sometime to yourself. Involve your kids in your passions too. Most of all keep trying to find balance even if it may be a detour from the normal. Most importantly remember how lucky you are and how short of a time you really have with your little ones.

Letters A,B, C and D Review

Sorry it has been a while! I needed to take a little break and do some of my passions! I have still been teaching still.

 I got a hair cut!


I started writing my book and took up painting! Here is what I have done so far!


My preschooler is really starting to pick up letters now! Yay! There is only 5 more months until Kindergarten so I am really focusing on writing and being familiar with letters and numbers!

Devotional: D&C 59:7
 7 Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things.

Letter A
Number:1

Nursery Rhyme: Hey Diddle Diddle

Counting Pennies. Pennies are worth one cent.

Make A with toothpicks.

Letter B
Number:3-A three looks like a B without the line 3

Nursery Rhyme: Pat-a-cake

B is for Baker

Character: Sharing and helping
Story: The little red hen

Math: Which cookies have 3 chocolate chips?


Letter C
Number:2


Letter: D
Number:4
Arrange letters A-D in order
Arrange numbers 1-4 in order
We also enjoyed learning letters with Oobi

I also let the kids practice writing and asked them about their pictures.

What is the weather like today?(Infant and preschool lessons)

Devotional: Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth

Letter: C and W
Number:2

We talked about the weather and the different types. There is rain, cloudy, Sunny, windy, snowing.

Song: This is a great song to explain how little drops of vapor get together to form a cloud. The kids were spinning and dancing around.

Story: Little cloud by Eric Carle

Baby to 5year old
Nursery rhyme: Rain Rain go away
Give the kids cotton balls and let them feel it and pull it apart.(Good for younger babies)
Craft:
Make clouds with cotton balls. We even painted them. This is good for their fine motor skills. Talk about the creation of earth. Day 2-Genesis 1:6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.


Science:
Put a pie pan in freezer.Fill a jar with warm water. Next, put cold pie pan over hot water. Watch a cloud form!

God is like a lighthouse-lessons from the sea

In my last post I mentioned that I have been doing a lot of genealogy on my Mother's side. It has been a lot of fun! My Great Grandpa was a light house keeper and his dad was the captain of the cross rip lightship. I learned how important theses jobs really are. A lightship is like a mobile lighthouse. There job is to light the way and steer the ships away from the sharp rocks.
The biggest trap for me is time goes to fast or it can feel like you do the same thing every day. We need to stop and smell the roses, but at sea, you stop and smell the salt water. Figure out who you are, where you are going and what you like to do. My great Grandpa Howard called his light house "Little Alcatraz". You don't have much to do so he carved wood boats and played the guitar. Each of us need to be forced, in a way to figure out what we want to do. You can feel isolated or at peace on the waters. I think you can feel that way about life. Dark clouds of depression and uncertainty roll in and a violent storm begins. Jesus is not only a light, he is at the helm and he can calm the raging seas. Either way we can be rescued!

My mission in life is to guide my children home and teach them how to sail the seas of life. The thought of me being a light keeps popping into my head. At the top of a lighthouse is where the lantern room surrounded by glass and metal storm panes. The lighthouse keeper cleaned and maintained. To let our light shine we must constantly do maintenance on ourselves. This is hard work! So we just stand there and be a light when the storm is all around us? We have to work on our inner light before we can be a light to others. Only the light within you can become like a radiant sunrise.

I feel lately that I am steering my vessel right into the sharp rocks. I foolishly thought that all the changes I have been making would be making a difference. Well, they are but there have been more bad days than good lately. This has been really hard for me to swallow because I definitely have been needing peace in my home. I feel like each of us with anger and being so frustrated is about to crash into jagged rocks of our trials. Maybe I am trying to guide myself,  and not listening to my guide, Jesus Christ. I hate to see my children struggle. I hate to fight or yell.

Here is our maintenance or cleaning formula for ourselves. 3 Nephi 14:7
 Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

This can take a lifetime! No pressure right? So I have been praying, reading scriptures and inspirational messages. I am seeking advice from other mothers on blogs and neighbors around me. I still feel discouraged. The words that are sticking out to me and ultimately our anchors is LIGHT, CHANGE, KNOWLEDGE, ASK, FAITH and NAVIGATE. To keep the LIGHT burning within, you have to be willing to CHANGE. We need to know for ourselves what is true and to use his atonement when we sin and do wrong. We seek for KNOWLEDGE constantly. Let us make sure we use the best source, the scriptures, and be careful of other sources. ASK in prayer if it is true and for help. With FAITH in God we use all his tools to NAVIGATE through life's trails. All of this is hard and a life long pursuit. We never know when the answers will come but we know if we are guided by his divine light and plan we will be safe.

So I guess for now I keep trying, crying and pleading. Then I  do it again and again and again! I have already embarked on my journey. I need to keep going until my journeys end  and not forget who guides my way and can calm the raging seas. If I am in the darkness all I have to do is look for the light.