A little bragging

I know there are some fantastic husbands out there. I have one myself. These fantastic husbands are fantastic in many different ways. I'll explain. Some shower their wife with gifts, some allow their wife to shop all she wants, some take trips and some know just what to do in the moment to make their wife smile. My husbands happens to have the gift of cleaning. Now, this gift I speak of is almost rare in the male species. But my man likes a clean house and he knows I can't do it all with 4 kids.


A couple of Wednesday nights ago I took the kids to church. I have Bible study and the kids have their activities but Aaron has been on second shift so long that he wanted to stay and enjoy the quiet of the house for a little bit. Anyway, the kids and I went and left daddy at home. I had a great study and the kids were behaved for the most part. I knew something was up when I walked into the house. I smelled cleaner. Both bathrooms and the kitchen had been scrubbed. Even the toilets! This is not a rare things at our house. I can't really remember the last time I deep cleaned the bathroom. Aaron always does it. Why? Because he knows I don't like to.

My guy is good at gift giving but it doesn't happen that often. He has all these great ideas of things he wants to do for me but life happens and, well, he's a guy. So when he cleans the house while I'm away that makes me smile. When was the last time you did a little bragging on your man?

Expectations

I always knew that I wanted to be a mom. Always. I even have a recording somewhere of me saying I wanted 6 kids. I need to add that on that same tape I said my brother, Matt, was going to have 12. Things don't always happen the way one thinks. I did a LOT of babysitting while I was growing up so I thought I was as preparred for motherhood as one could be having not been there yet. Even when I found out I was pregnant just one short year into our marriage I didn't freak out. I knew I was made to be a mom. Ethan made his arrival and I was still so very happy. Along came Levi just 17 months later. Still happy, just a little more tired. Katie came along when Levi was almost 2 years old.

As I grew into being an adult my thoughts changed a little. I no longer wanted 6 kids. My number moved to 4. Four seemed like a good number to me. I am one of 4 siblings. It seemed kind of natural. But, I could not make this decision on my own. Aaron had a say in it, as well. When Katie was 19 months old we decided, together, that we were done having kids. I felt good about where we were and was ready to move on to the next chapter in our lives. I gave away ALL baby related items. Two weeks later I found out that we were expecting our fourth baby.

In September of 2009 Evan joined the world. I love him and am so glad that God is bigger than we are. He knew that I needed another baby and that I am ment to be the mother of four. Now, way back when I was just a babysitter, I never EXPECTED parenting to be like this. It's hard, people. Real hard! But in the end all I can do is lean on God and do my best. It's a struggle every day and it's something I'm working on. I believe the Lord has great plans for me in this journey called motherhood. And I can't wait to see what they are. My EXPECTATIONS now are only to survive this thing called parenting and enjoy it all I can.

Hello, world! It's me, Amy.

So, after ONE friend trying to talk me into blogging so she can keep up with my family...I finally gave in. My goal for this blog is to help myself, really. You can see by the picture I used in the header that I live with some very 'artistic' children. I struggle (almost every day) to find the beauty behind things like this. I want to see it for what it REALLY is. ART! I have kids that like to be creative and I need to embrace that. Sure, they sometimes destroy my house but they're KIDS. My kids, and I love them.