Yellow Balloons

"When I grow up, I want to be a mother, 

And have a family! One little, two little, three little babies of my own. 

And I will love them all day long! 

And give them cookies and milk and yellow balloons! 

And cuddle them when things go wrong! 

And read them stories and sing them pretty tunes!

Of all the jobs, for me, there is no other. 

I'll have a family.

Four little, five little, six little babies I can love."

I learned this song as a young girl and used to listen to it all the time and dream, wish and hope about being a mother.

It was about 3 years ago that I thought, while listening to this same song with my children, "What a bunch of lies! Lies, I tell you!"

Having a family is HARD! Is this really the PLAN?

I have been so blessed since then to have been and continue to be taught, mentored and guided by wonderful woman who were not any smarter or braver than I was, but had more KNOWLEDGE than I did at the time. More knowledge about finding JOY in motherhood.

I have learned that a typical day will include, but not be limited to at least 5-10 spills, 1 toilet overflow, 2-4 living room vacuums, 1-2 scrapped knee, lots of dirty laundry, preparing of 3 meals (some, not so balanced) fits, fights, name calling, teasing, lying, tattling, tangled hair, over flowing trash cans, broken toys, overgrown grass, weed-filled gardens, hurt feelings, bad days at school...

...the list goes on and on....and on...

A dear friend reminded my today that we must be diligent and very careful to remember the little tender mercies- or little nuggets that are hidden in each day. Some days they are more hidden than others =)

I am so relieved and comforted with the knowledge now that it doesn't have to be one or the other! Isn't that exciting!! It doesn't have to be all good or all bad.

The cookies may be slightly burnt and the milk might end up being water because you couldn't make it out of your PJ's that day, let alone to the store. The cuddling might be with a sleep deprived mommy and the tunes slightly off key, but they must happen! There has to be balloons-especially yellow ones!

It doesn't matter if you have ONE little or SIX little children of your own..Just remember that your day WILL NOT go smoothly and your laundry pile will never be empty. We can not let those things blind us from seeing the nuggets, the JOY!