I say it every time someone comes through my front
door. I mean every. time. It goes something
like this:
"Please don't look at my house! I'm so sorry it's such a mess!" And then I proceed to try to explain how I
really DO clean it, but for some reason it just keeps looking like this. All. The time. And how if they had just come 2 days ago,
they would have seen the living room looking pretty darn clean. Or perhaps the kitchen that day. Not both at once, mind you, but maybe at
least one. I always just feel this need
to apologize….
But I'm done now.
And here's why.
1. I'm tired of saying it. I have considered making it the ring on my
doorbell. Or maybe just installing a
little speaker outside the door that just plays that phrase on repeat. It would save me so much time.
2. People don't care. I mean really. And if they do….well, they might want to
consider not coming over for the next, say, 15 years or so. Not only do they probably not care that it's
a mess, they really don't care about
the reason it's a mess on that particular
day.
And the last, and most important,
reason is something I have, after 8 years of raising children, just realized.
3. There is no reason to apologize. My house just….is right now. It just is the way it is. Being a homeschooling family means there are 5
little people running around this house all day long every day. They play a lot. And by play, I mean make messes. At least that's what it looks like to us
boring adults. There are more tractors on
my floor than there are at a tractor show.
We have enough matchbox cars and Legos to supply an entire city with at
least one of each. My pan cupboards are
always strewn around the kitchen because it entertains my little guy while I
cook. We have books EVERYWHERE. On the floors, in the windowsills, on the
beds, under the beds, in baskets and bookshelves, upstairs and down. Annie reads about 13 chapter books at one
time, all throughout the day, and she leaves oceans of picture books behind her
wherever she goes. There is always about
an acre of dirt, sand, and food on my floors by the end of the day that may or
may not be swept up by tomorrow. This is
my life, folks.
I am so very blessed.
My boys play with trucks together and
come up with the coolest things to do with them (did you know you can do more
with trucks than build a parking lot?) I
love watching Paul's face when he discovers something new as he is toddling
around getting into things, crawling onto things, and splashing into things. One of my favorite things about Annie is her
love for reading. She gets so excited
about books and can't wait to get her hands on them every day. I love it!
My kids love to play outside, and the Lord has blessed us with a big
yard and plenty of things to do in it. I
love seeing them play, laugh, and run together in the sunshine and dirt.
I have the privilege of being my
kids' teacher. I get to teach them to
read, to add and subtract, to write, and most importantly, to teach them about
the Lord and the kind of person He wants them to be - and I get to do it every
single day. I have them at my fingertips
to train and teach and love and disciple.
Wow!! What an awesome blessing
and responsibility!
So, yes. My house is a mess. But it's ok.
Because the Lord didn't give me 5 children so that I could train them
about the importance of having a perfectly clean house at all times. He gave me 5 children to raise for His
glory. And I'll take that over cleaning
toilets any day.
 |
| Picture is of a pan of oatmeal that started IN the pan and ended up with half all over the dining room floor, and the other half mushy in the pan because 3 boys decided to see what would happen if they dumped water in it. **It has been 3 days and I am still finding oatmeal.** |
