The Magic List

Summer is almost over and I just wanted to share that this summer I discovered the magic of lists.

  Not the kind of lists you make to remind yourselves of things (although I use the notes on my iPhone PLENTY for that).  I have lists titled : To Do at Work: To Do at Home, People to call, Ideas, Agendas, VBS, just about anything you can imagine I have listed.

I also don't mean the kind of list that keeps track of the books you have or want to read.
 I LOVE Goodreads app for that  . . . .  I am embarrassed to tell you the number of times I've brought a book home from the library, gotten a chapter in and realized I've read it already, grrrr.


No I am talking about the kind of list that makes a mothers heart happy  . . . . .
 the "Complete While I am at Work"list.

This is the first summer the girls have spent any time at home alone while I was at work *GASP* yes I left them home! Not everyday but two or three days a week. Kid  #1 is now officially old enough to babysit and I arrange my schedule to be home in time for the pool!

 Anyway . . . .

I have taken to leaving a note on the table when I head to work first thing in the morning.
 It looks something like . . .

It is lovely to come home and have these things done without arguement, without eye rolling, without huffing and puffing.

Now you will notice I have become specific.
 I must tell them to eat breakfast or when I get home at noon, they are STARVING.

 I learned that saying "unload the dishes" did not automatically lead to them load the dishwasher with the dirty dishes overflowing from the sink.

 I had to add that.

But hey .  . . it's a learning process right?

Ahh summer note how I will miss you when the bus comes to pick up my sweet girls in only seven short days. . . . . .

Life is messy

So in case you haven't figured it out yet...life is messy.
Kids are messy; both in the lollipop stuck in the hair and the 'how could you do that you are the most embarassing mom ever' kinda way.

Actually, I'd love to say the white sticky glob I just cut out of my youngest daughter's hair 

was from a lollipop. 

Truth is ....I have absolutely NO IDEA what it was.

I'd also like to say I have never heard those angry words from my oldest daughter.

Truth is ..... I heard them at least twice this week-

 followed by feet stamping and doors slamming.

Relationships are messy; friends, parents, in-laws, spouses when our lives intersect we all create our own unique .....messes.

We like to pretend that things aren't messy. We shove our dirty laundry into the closet, dust around the knickknacks, make sure our words are chosen perfectly.  We do our best to show the world we are polished, put together and .. well...perfect.

But the reality is.....it is more like a set for live theater. The outside, the front that the audience sees, is a beautiful picture. It shows the audience what we want them to see (or really what we think they want to see).  But behind the scenes is a mess. 

Often they are covered in layers of paint.  One backdrop painted over the other ......

You see The Lion King, while the other side is painted for Cabaret.  

 Nails poke out from their thin 2x2 boards with nothing substantial to grab onto.

 One push in the wrong place and the whole thing may tumble down. 

Pretty and polished 

Behind the scenes....

Our pastor once said, "Everyone appears normal until you get to know them'". So.True.

Normal? Perfect? That ship set sail when Eve had a snack with a snake.... 

What we can aim for is honest, authentic.  

Healthy vs Dysfunctional

I'm working on my crap vs My crap don't stink

Truth covered in love. 

No longer hiding our messes but sharing them, wading through them together . Inviting others to share theirs with us....and loving them for it.