A lifestyle thing

Being a mommy is hard. Being a mommy to 2 little ones under 2 is hard. Being a work at home mom is hard. Keeping house, cultivating our business, planning and preparing meals, loving my babies, and being helpmeet, lover, companion and friend to my husband takes a lot of time! Add in there Tuesday morning Bible study every couple weeks, ministry in our church, relationships (both church and extended family) and whatever else comes along, and we are one busy family. Add to that the fact that I don't feel like I was ever really trained in home management etc etc as some of you were so blessed with, therefore making it a very "on the job training" sort of thing that I imagined I'd have all learned up after our first year of marriage. (Boy was that a misconception!)

Something hit me tonight as we were putting away groceries... everything I've already mentioned is enough to overwhelm any tired mommy (oh yeah... I just assume you understand that not getting enough sleep is part of the "2 little ones under 2" thing). It's no wonder I do get overwhelmed sometimes. It is so easy to forget that I need to be clinging even tighter to my Source of Strength for each moment of the day.

This post however is not about all those things... but about the 2 huge additional things we have/are taking on. As I was putting groceries away I was reflecting on the decisions we've been making to move ever closer to a natural diet. We've started grinding our own whole wheat flour and eating steel cut oats instead of quick oats (though I'm enjoying the ease and "normal" texture of the quick oats till they are gone) in the last month. This is in addition to the decision to cut out of our diets anything that includes MSG, partially hydrogenated and hydrogenated oils, and high fructose corn syrup (I don't care what those falsified tv commercials are saying) almost 2 years ago. And today we will bring into our home our first gallon of raw milk. In coming days and weeks we will begin soaking our grains before using them (some more research is still needed, and then I need to finally start doing it). With all these changes comes the nearly obvious fact that we are making nearly everything from scratch. Wonderful for our health and wallet (well... ok, some of the natural foods are more expensive, so maybe it balances out), but not so great for convenience and time constraints.

But that's not all... we've also been feeling God's pull on the way we are raising our children. I've come across the book Raising Godly Tomatoes (found in its entirety on this site), and am convicted by the fundametals it teaches, especially as it relates to Tomato Stacking my kids. This means more time and attention on my part in the raising of our little ones.

I'm hoping to expound some more on these changes we are and have been entegrating in our lives in the coming months. Please be patient with me as, as I mentioned above, it all takes a bit more of my time.

All this to say, it's no wonder I feel overwhelmed sometimes!

Labels: As it happens..., In the Kitchen, Raising Children, Reflections

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 9:38 PM