Insight From a Mom

This was sent to me earlier this week. I have been reading and rereading it.  Whatever prompted me to ask if this person had felt overwhelmed is beyond me.  Maybe I needed some consolation that I wasn't completely abnormal! 


Dear Allison,

After you asked me this morning if I ever felt overwhelmed, many random thoughts went through my head.

(With humor)

Overwhelmed!?! 

4 babies in 3 years!  5 in 5 years!  3 in 18 mos! 

One delivered 3 weeks after moving to MT, building a house, building a business!

Cancer surgery, chemo and

surprise!  another pregnancy and baby.

a miscarriage.

and another baby 18+ years after the first, with 5 teenagers in the house!

Yes. I have been overwhelmed many times!  Only by the Grace of God have we survived and even thrived.

(A good sense of humor helps too, though there have been many tears as well.)

Few understand what it’s like to be up in the middle of the night with a nursing baby and teenagers.

The feeling of being stretched is an understatement.  The devil makes one feel inadequate because you are physically and emotionally exhausted.

God has a greater plan than mine, so I have to continually trust He will make good out of my mess if I offer it to Him.

I do know that a lot has to give, a lot has to change in order to maintain peace.  Nothing will ever be “forever” because a family isn’t stagnant.

It is always changing and the needs are too.  What the younger ones experience is totally different than the older ones.  And both can be good.

Even our “traditions” have changed and adapted.  Life moves on and the younger ones live life in an older crowd and sometimes in their shadows.  I am constantly learning to let go of my expectations of what my family should look like as a whole or what each should experience.

Father Eric once said (and at the time I didn’t appreciate it)  “Family is messy.”  But messy can be beautiful in the eyes of God, if it brings us closer to Him.

Humility and Charity....we need both to keep us on the path to heaven and kids have a way of bringing out the best and worst in us.

(Husbands too!!)

Then the grandchildren come before the nest is empty.....another season....Forever a mother.

And to think this all began with a hug!

I would do it over in a heartbeat.  So many graces.   I do love being a mother and am so thankful I am and was able to stay home with my kids, even when our finances were tight.