As I’m nearing the end of this challenge, I will be honest, I’m not as chipper as I started in the beginning. Life has been so busy lately. New job, active and high maintenance kids, busy schedule at church, meal planning….blah blah

It’s really easy to snap back into stressed mode. In the midst of all the chaos though, I remind myself of who God has placed in my life to help me cope. It literally seems like a whirlwind around me at times. It’s up to me to stop the outside stressors from taking over on the inside of me. It feels like I am literally breaking through emotional walls to pause, take a deep breath, look over at the person next to me, and appreciate him once again. I tell you, it’s not always easy to surrender on the inside. When MY back is killing me from holding the baby all day while cleaning, or coming home from work to work again….the last thing I want to do is massage HIS back or even give him attention. That’s the thing though, once I break through the prideful thoughts of being all about me and my problems, and focus on be loving towards him, it somehow calms me. All the world stops around me and it becomes just ME AND HIM. That’s a nice feeling.

We had a “family day” today. We took the kids to New Orleans for the day to go to the aquarium and the Riverwalk. We ended up spending the entire day there. It was something that we all needed. We love our kids. We love giving them “their” time too. Of course with 3 little ones, especially on a very hot summer day, you’ll occasionally have one or two tantrums being thrown. This is where our partnership as parents and a couple kicks in. We keep each other calm. If one starts to lose it, the other quickly keeps things in check. I like that about us.

We couldn’t help but to look around us here and there throughout the day and think how weird, yet incredible our life is. Ten years ago, neither one of us would have ever thought our lives would have ended up like this. THREE kids….wow. Three beautiful kids. Sometimes we look at each other and say, “We made these kids. These are our kids”. It’s neat to step back and think about it. We hold such a huge responsibility in raising these kids. We are what they are looking at every day. We are molding how they will live life. So weird and so scary, yet so amazing.

It’s so important to be great role models for your kids. My husband and I look around sometimes and are saddened by how the new generations are growing up and believing…what they are and will be exposed to. We are so determined to keep stability in our kids’ lives. We HAVE to demonstrate to them TRUE love on a daily basis and not just when we feel like it. Love to our God, love to our family and friends, and love to each other as a husband and wife. We tend to forget how much we end up acting like our parents or role models when we grow up, the good and the bad. We have to SHOW our kids HOW to love and be loved. We shouldn’t be weirded out and hold back on displays of affection to our spouse in front of the kids. They need to see that mom and dad love each other. Divorce is so submerged in our culture these days. Life is tough. It’s my job to maintain a stable home. We make life how we want it. God gives us more power than we think. We can’t do it without His help, but He leaves a lot up to us as well. We hold great responsibility, we just have to own up to it. Our kids learn by mimicking. We always have to be aware of our behavior. We are human however, so we are bound to make mistakes. Lately, I’ve been very careful with how I speak to my husband in front of my little girl. If I realize that I’ve been rude or said something to him that she could have misinterpreted, I explain to her that I was wrong and show/tell her the correct way I should’ve addressed him. It’s so important to teach our kids the right way to treat and respect one another. They are way more receptive than you think.

Take control over your life again. God gives you the power to win it…every day.