Run. Run. Run...
Run. Run. Run… I have literally and figuratively been running like a mad woman lately trying to keep up with training for a half marathon and chasing after my kids while they chase after their own big goals.
When your kids are little you are stressed about the lack of sleep, the sniffles and sneezes, if they are getting too much screen time and eating enough vegetables. Don’t get me wrong, every stage of parenting is stressful, but once you get through those tough phases, you enter another one. Parenting is a continuous cycle of feeling like you know nothing, then figuring it out only to find out that you start the cycle over again.
We are in the phase now of our older kids being in sports, clubs and activities and when you have a big crew it seems like some days I am meeting myself coming and going. There are days Bill and I barely see each other (I personally think he is avoiding me because I’m making him run with me lol!) but somehow we manage to have someone at every single event our children are at. There have been times we have had to utilize grandma and grandpa to help transport and support, but there will always be someone in the stands when my kids look up.
It’s all about prioritizing our time, for Bill and I the one thing we always tend to give up is sleep. We don’t require a lot so we tend to get up early in order to get stuff done. It’s not uncommon to see Bill get up at 2:30 am to get the cows fed in order to make it to one of his kids’ sporting events, I will get up at 4:30 am just to get a workout done before my kids have to spend the day in the gym. Saturday night we will make a quick trip to Iowa after spending the day in the gym and at the track to watch our youngest nephew make his first communion and then drive back that night to spend another day in the gym on Sunday and then I will run Micah back to Sioux Falls to present her state FCCLA project. We pray for good weather and good calving to keep things running smoothly.
Whichever phase you are in (or maybe you haven’t hit the parenting stage yet) try to enjoy the moments you’re living in. I long for movie nights, morning snuggles, Sunday afternoons spent together after church (the last few weeks we haven’t even been to church as a family since some of us go Saturday night and the rest Sunday morning). I miss so many things about the baby/toddler stage it literally makes me want to cry that it went by so fast and I feel the stressors don’t let us enjoy the moments like we should. As I tell my kids, we cannot change the things that happen or that we have going on, but we can change our attitudes and how we react to things. So today take a moment to breathe and enjoy all the little moments God has given you, I know I am thankful today for all my little blessings because added all up they are the biggest blessing of all… This thing called life.
-Darci-