Before I Was a Mom

Before I was a mom, I....

• wore dry-clean-only clothes
• put on makeup every day
• went to lunch at restaurants with fancy-sounding names
• ate slowly and savored my food
• could fit everything for a weekend trip into a small corner of the trunk
• did minor amounts of laundry
• could shop all day
• had clean, non-fingerprinted glass doors and windows
• knew all there was to know about parenting
• thought time passed slowly
• prayed repeatedly, asking God to give me a child

Before I was a mom, I never....

• shopped at Gymboree or The Children's Place
• ate at Chuck E. Cheese
• knew the location of every restroom in stores I frequent
• looked for restaurants that offer "Kids Eat Free" night
• tiptoed through the house
• took so many pictures
• realized how much diapers, bicycles and piano lessons cost
• understood the joy that came from a spontaneous kiss and an "I love you" before my child dashed off to play
• feared so many evils in the world
• saw myself, complete with good traits and bad, reflected before my eyes
• felt such a responsibility toward another human being
• knew how grateful I would be for God's precious gift of children

[I will return to my series of open letters next Tuesday.  In the meantime, I am enjoying some "mom moments" with my family, so am sharing this post originally published on August 12, 2009.]

Reading My Way Through May

May brought several good books my way, though none of them were on my reading list for the year.

Put Your Dream to the Test by John Maxwell encourages readers to discover their dream and take the steps needed to be able to live it.  My full review is here.

No More Dreaded Mondays by Dan Miller was another business-related book that I found helpful and inspiring.  You can read my review of the book posted earlier.

I won Reshaping It All by Candace Cameron Bure in a giveaway at My Side of the Story.  In this book, Candace offers motivation for physical and spiritual fitness.  She shares her heart as a wife, mother and proponent of healthy living.  While I may disagree with her in certain areas, the spiritual truths included are beneficial and I enjoyed the book's positive message.

May was my month for winning book giveaways!  At MODSquad, I won Fashioned by Faith by Rachel Lee Carter.  Written by an international model, this book is geared specifically toward Christian teenage girls.  I find her standards of modesty to be a bit different from mine, but I appreciate her inclusion of Scripture passages on modesty and the challenge she offers to women of all ages to evaluate the way they dress and ensure that they are not a stumbling block to men.

I've purchased two books from my reading list - What to Eat by Marion Nestle and The Olive Plants by Warren Henderson - and I hope to get them read in June.

What have you been reading lately?

Saturday Salutes

Jessica at Life as Mom shares how she prepares for the end of the school year by gearing up for summer.

Thanks to Christy's tutorial, the girls and I are going to make our own butter soon!

This week I have followed Stephanie at Keeper of the Home as she traveled to the Philippines, along with other bloggers, to write about Compassion International.  It's been amazing to see how her journey unfolded.  It was difficult to choose which post spoke to me the most, but Of Rubber Boots, Self-Pity and Ladders was certainly near the top of the list.

Enjoy this first weekend of June!

Another One Slipped By

Somewhere between the book reports and spelling tests, 'midst the fine arts concert and teacher appreciation day, another school year has slipped by.

I'm not sure where it went.  Wasn't it just a few weeks ago that they traipsed off to school in tight new tennis shoes wearing book bags filled with supplies? 

Now they've come home with empty pencil boxes, the last few pages of a math workbook and a pink rectangular eraser that has seen better days.  These children are also taller, more confident and hopefully a little smarter.

It's been nine months of teachers investing in our daughters; nine months of playing with friends - new and old - at recess; nine months of waiting in car line, doing homework, packing lunches.

We're all happy this morning as we head to school for the awards ceremony and final farewells to teachers and friends. 

Happy - yet, down deep inside me is what resembles a heavy sigh.  I know time flies....but sometimes I wish it would hover for just a few moments, letting me relish its passing, drinking in the dear faces I know so well, before they mature even more.

But time calls to me, pulling me forward.  In just a few hours, I'll be the mom of a 5th grader and a 3rd grader.  And today I will tell them how well they did this year, how proud I am of them, and let that heavy sigh dissolve into a joy that matches theirs.

Create Your Own Summer Learning Program

Over at Mama Buzz last week, I detailed the steps I follow to create our summer learning program.

Soon, with book bags packed away and homework but a memory, summer will welcome us with its long days and slower pace. While there’s plenty of time for trips to the pool and endless games of hide and seek, I like to use some of the downtime for helping my children explore favorite subjects that they may not have time to learn about during school.

Each year, I create a summer learning program for our two daughters. It involves a bit of planning, but it gives a focus to our days that is both fun and educational. If you’d like to do something similar, here are the steps I follow.

Read this post in its entirety at Mama Buzz.  See which topics we're covering this summer by reviewing our 2011 summer learning program.