Mother’s Day Inspiration

 I love being a homemaker because it gives me opportunities to express my creativity in so many ways. I love blessing my family and friends with a clean and decorated home, but I have a confession to make……

First of all, let me begin this blog post off by saying that I cannot believe that Mother’s Day is just right around the corner. Happy Mother’s Day to all the great moms out there who pour every ounce of energy into their families. Okay, no back to business….I have a little confession to tell you. I have finally come over the “hump” of feeling like a failure as a mom. I struggled with feeling like I didn’t measure up to what other women were doing in life.

You see, I began the journey to becoming a better wife and stay at home mother and overall Godly woman. I read the Proverbs 31 chapter every single day in the morning during my quiet time alone with God.  I even got up at 5:00 am to spend time alone with God before my family got up (verse 15) .  It was wonderful at first because I really focussed on home-schooling my daughter, making meals from scratch, sewing clothes for my family, keeping my home tidy, working out and staying fit, reading lots of great Christian books, helping the needy, volunteering at church, helping my husband with his work, making crafts in my spare time and so on. I thought okay verse 18 says that her “lamp does not go out at night”, so exhaustion is okay because this is what I am supposed to do. I mean after all (verse 25) strength and honor are her clothing, right ? I need to be strong for my family.

My Idols

My journey to frustration began when I looked to “idols” other things (blogs and other women) instead of Christ in my search for change. Yes, I read the Bible each day, but I didn’t really listen to God for my homemaking inspiration.  I began to research to see what other Godly women were doing and I tried to be mimic them in every aspect of my life. Please don’t judge me because I see nothing wrong with looking at other women as mentors or for inspiration, but I started to look down on myself and tried to change who I really am to be someone else.  I forgot to look at myself and be who God created me to be. A unique creation that He created to glorify Himself….

The lost art of homemaking!

A website called Pinterest helped me realize that I was not the best homemaker out there. I love this site, but I started to judge myself a lot based on what other mothers were making and doing during the day. There are tons of blogs and sites out there that talk about the lost art of homemaking and how mother’s everywhere are lazy and so on. I think that there are plenty of blogs out there who give great advice on being a better homemaker, but if you are not careful you can quickly judge yourself as one of the “lazy” ones and then just give up or you become someone who you were never created to be….

Yes, I think that it’s wonderful that there are blogs dedicated to how you make your own sour-cream, soaps, and shampoo, and home school your children. I love being a homemaker and decorating my little “nest”.  I was born with a unique gift to decorate and make my home extra special, so my family and guests feel extra special. I know that there are plenty of moms who have no desire to re-decorate their homes every season like I do, and trust me that is OKAY.

It just dawned on me

that there is nothing wrong working towards becoming a Proverbs 31 wife and mother, but I became consumed with all of the little details and forgot one of the most important verses. The verse where it talks about a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. I was so busy trying to “do, do, do, make, make” that I forgot about having a Godly character and fearing the Lord.

It’s like a lightbulb went off in my head today.

God made me to love the things that I love doing. It’s simple! I sure do love rolling on the floor giggling with my kids and playing tea party in their play kitchen, singing songs and dancing with my kids. I used to love ordering pizza once a week, but then my waist size started growing a little too much and my energy went away. I decided to dive into some heavy online research for Real Food blogs and discovered that it’s so EASY to make your own healthy version of pizza in just a few minutes.  Seriously, I thought that you had to buy everything in a box or can, but it’s so easy to make food using fresh ingredients. Who Knew? I also discovered that it’s really easy to make a lot of your own stuff like lemony face scrubs, laundry detergent, wood cleaners and so on. I have found a whole new world online that is teaching me how to be a better mom. I’m taking BABY steps to bettering myself and family overall.  Guess what? We also love simple peanut butter sandwiches and fruit, but I now buy freshly ground organic peanut butter from Harry’s Supermarket. 

A new change

Well, I love prepping my food on Saturday’s with my husband and having meals ready to go at a moments notice during the week, which means very little clean-up for me. It’s a great-time for my husband and I to laugh together in the kitchen as we wash vegetables and just hang out.

It is my hope

It is my hope and desire that you will be all who God designed you to be and remember to get inspired by others, but not judge yourself for not being like them to a tee. You see, God created me to love interior design and decorating. It’s actually a huge stress reliever and a whole lot of fun decorating my home every season. I know many woman who hate it and it’s stressful to them to think about moving any decoration out of its place. Well, it is my hope and desire that you never look down on yourself when you visit my blog. If you see something that you like on my blog, then re-create it to make it all your own or just admire the picture and move on :).

It’s okay

I am still going to visit other homemaking blogs and sites and learn from other wonderful women how to be a better homemaker. I think blogs from other inspirational women can be healthy for us to gather information and  try something new! Let’s get started this year inspiring one another to grow in our area of womanhood, while staying true to who we were designed to be!  I am still working on everyday becoming a Proverbs 31 woman, but it may be different from what you think one should be!

Let me know your thoughts!