thanks mom

When I have a really bad day, I start feeling the mom guilt take over and those common thoughts come to mind. Will my kids remember this day? Am I teaching them to yell and be mean when frustrated? Am I teaching them poor cleaning habits and poor nutrition? I hope they feel loved through all of this.

Then I think back to when I was a kid. When I was around 4, my parents divorced. My mom was a single mom from then on. She worked full time then came home exhausted to raise four kids. The house was always a mess. There were always piles of dishes next to the sink and piles of dirty laundry to be done. We didn't have a dishwasher and the washer and dryer were outside, downstairs in the laundry room in a sketchy Eagle Rock neighborhood. Doing laundry at night wasn't ideal. So she often did 10 loads of laundry on Sundays. I remember my mom being pretty tired most of the time. She was always kind of distracted. Now I know why. She had so much to do and think about. I don't remember her losing her temper every day like I do but I'm sure she did.

But through all of it, not a day went by that I didn't see her on her knees in prayer. She prayed all the time. She prayed to find her keys. She prayed for the people on the side of the road who had just been in a car accident. She prayed for money we didn't have. Every single day she prayed and never showed us any doubt that her Heavenly Father would take care of her and her four kids. Her faith was extraordinary.

I believe she taught all of us the single most important lesson she could have. Life sucks a lot of the time. It's way harder than we think it's going to be. It is pretty much impossible to do it alone. We need Jesus. We need to lean on Him if we want to have that peace that only He can give.

Mom, thanks so much for showing us what it's like to have a relationship with Jesus. I hope you realize that although things weren't perfect growing up, you did good. We learned through your example to lean on Him.

So now, with little ones of my own, things are insane and I fail miserably. A LOT. But through it all I try to teach them that no matter what happens, Jesus loves them and He's always there for them. Leaning on Him is the single most important thing they can do.

Here we are, mom and me.

And here I am with my bros and sis.

And you know these guys.