I’ve always been an idealist. Long before Pinterest, I tore pictures out of magazines for ideas of how I wanted my house to look someday and saved articles on how to raise children. Before we married, I tried to talk my husband into extensive premarital counseling so that we could deal with all of our problems up front.  That way there would never be any fussing or disagreements (Ha!). We would have it all worked out!  I wanted my life to be perfect!

Real Life

After being married a couple of years, I realized that no amount of counseling could have prepared me for the things that come up in a marriage. You have to just work things out as they come along.

Photo Courtesy of Wendy Hardin Photography

And then, along came our first child. What a joy! We were thrilled! I did my best to do EVERYTHING right for him, but being a mom was hard. I sometimes even found it hard to enjoy my little fellow for trying to do everything right! Just going to get groceries with a little one was such a daunting task. Where would I park? How close am I to a buggy (that’s a shopping cart for those of you not from the South =)? Should I take him in his car seat or not? It all seemed so hard!

Photo courtesy of Ashley Cantrell Photography

Suprise x 2!

And then God, with His incredible sense of humor, sent us two more boys, less than 3 years later! Things were busy for the first few months, but I was doing ok- with a little help from the grandmas! And then those little guys became mobile, and it was all over!!! My life felt like a giant game of Whack a Mole! Don’t let this one out the back door, keep that one out of the potty, stop the other one from climbing the stairs……… it was exhausting!!!

After finally getting my footing as a mom of 3 boys (it took several years), God sent us another little blessing, a baby girl. Our life has not slowed down, and she is just as energetic as her older brothers. The nights of trying to cook gourmet dinners has given way to cold cereal for supper. It’s often hard and VERY TIRING, but it is also SO GOOD!

Learning Not to Take Myself So Seriously

From the time that I was told that there were two babies in my belly at the same time, I knew God was sending me a message: “Chill Out Girl!” And now, more that 6 years later, I’m doing my best to do just that!

I still want things to be perfect. I want a perfect house, perfectly behaved children, a perfect marriage, but I don’t want to miss the joy in the everyday by always wishing and trying to orchestrate everything to be perfect.

Join me as I explore ways to live the wonderful, blessed life that we’ve been given. But more simply, so that we can truly enjoy the little things (our biggest blessings) every day!

Thank you for coming by The Sweetest Part!  I hope you will take a minute to introduce yourself below in the comments!

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