This week has zipped by as we have been balancing helping my mom (praise the Lord she’s feeling better by the day!), homeschooling, extra curricular activities, sharing life with church family, and having people over for dinner. Once Friday comes, we are exhausted, and Saturdays are typically our rest day. It is tiring being so busy, but a blessing that our days are full of learning how to love and serve our family and others better.

Enjoy your weekend friends! I hope you get lots of rest in preparation for a new week.

Last Monday was a tough day and I just about had it with all things mothering, so I said, “I quit.” I wasn’t joking. I walked off the job. I went on strike. I declared that if they weren’t going to listen, then I was done, so I was done.

They would call, “Mommy! Mommy!”

“Um, don’t call me mommy. You can call me Ruby.”

That was my response. For real.

When Ben came home, and in exhaustion said, “I’m done.” I told him I’m going to work or he needs to stay home. I’m not opposed to flip flopping the current situation. The next day, my strike continued. I didn’t make breakfast, didn’t make lunch (thankfully the older girls do that already), we didn’t do school (I saw True trying to teach her sisters), and didn’t clean up one bit (oh you see a bit of the chaos above, and yes, I took pictures of the mess). I did get caught up on email though, so that’s one plus. HA! Ben came home and the house was upside down. I helped the girls with one thing, but that’s only because they started crying. *raising my hand* Totally failure of a mom right here.

Yep, my heart was so hard. My mom called and I told her how I quit, and she said, “Okay, come home now.” I talked to my MIL and I told her the situation, and I could hear her during Spanish lessons telling the girls they need to do a better job of listening to me. When Ben came home, he said, “So what do you want to do for real?”

Through the course of the day, I remember thinking that my heart isn’t being quick to repent and this is so scary. My sin had such a strong grip on me and it didn’t want to let go. In fact, it felt like my heart was holding on to this frustration, selfishness, pride, and rebellion a lot tighter and tighter as the day wore on.

I could tell Ben wanted to get mad at me and tell me to snap out of it, but he didn’t know how to. He wanted to be sensitive to my feelings, but also knew that I was being ridiculously selfish. I left Ben and the girls alone to eat dinner and I was chilling by myself. I knew that my heart couldn’t continue this way, nor do I really want it to. Sure, it felt good for a little while, but in the end, it will lead to destruction. I didn’t want to follow Anakin Skywalker’s path.

Eventually (and pretty much right before bed), I opened my Bible to read a little bit (with much hesitation, but I knew it was necessary). Then, I read this article, “When Your Life Feels Like a Waiting Room,” and boy did I need to read that. Throughout the day I could see my selfishness in wanting my way, pride in thinking I was deserving of things going my way, and rebellion in not wanting to do the job I have. After I sobered up, and was rebuked with God’s word, I was ready to repent. First to God, then Ben, and then the girls. I told them all about how I failed and asked them to forgive me. Of course, I got to use it as a teaching moment to remind them that we all fail, and that’s precisely why we need Jesus, me especially. I’m broken and only He can do the fixing. Not even Olivia Pope is good enough to fix me. Only Jesus. I lead the charge when it comes falling short as a mother. I admit, while I do adore my children, I have plenty bad and hard days. And while it does take me awhile to repent, I’m thankful that God’s word transforms my selfish heart and gives me a new one. #ineedgrace #andtheyneedgracetoo

Hello! It’s True and I wanted to share with you about our Picasso inspired project and his Rose Period. Picasso studied African masks and those things influenced his creation of cubism, so we wanted to make our own African Mask.  We also learned about his Rose Period, so it was fun to mix the two ideas together.

Brave’s was the one that looked most like an African mask, and mine was wearing bows. The Rose Period sort of reminds me of Valentine’s Day! I had so much fun making it! It is so fun to do art and I love it because we get to play with colors. I love art so much that I want to be an artist!

The weekend is upon us and that means Ben and I will be treated to another (a lot) of episodes of Cutthroat Kitchen featuring Chef Dietitian, Chef Hello Kitty, and Chef Pi. Since we first got introduced to that show back in July, all of our family movie nights have alternated between watching Cutthroat Kitchen and Star Wars. The girls have taken it and really run with it. They wanted us to film their “episodes” one afternoon, and they really set the timer to 30 minutes to allow the chefs to “cook.” Ben was running out of space on his phone and was trying to get them to condense their episode, but they wouldn’t budge.

It’s pretty cute to see their chef space set-up, the pantry, their suitcase of money, and them get all crazy about the sabotages. In one episode, Glow ended up having to use gummy bears to make pancake syrup! HA!

Pretty much the only reason we keep going to the fair is to use the photo booth and take this picture. We don’t really care much for the food, and while the girls love the rides, the photo booth is our most favorite part of the fair. Here are some things I noticed about this newest picture versus the rest…

Soul is wearing the same dress she wore in 2013.

Brave still wears her faux glasses.

Ben’s wearing his signature shorts 3 years in a row (he has 3 pairs of these shorts). He’s such a simple dude.

My hair color is the same this year as it was last year, but just longer.

For the first time, Ben and I aren’t carrying any of the kids.

The girls are standing in the same order (from left to right, Soul, True, Brave, Glow).

I’m always standing to the left of Ben.

Read last year’s comparisons here.

Summer’s been great and I don’t want it to end, but I am looking forward to a routine again. We have lots of playing, crafting, and relaxing going on here. There are some unknowns and new adventures up ahead, but lots of prayers for all of it. Most of the curriculum has been ordered, and this year I will have third, fourth, kinder, and pre-k (so nervous about all of this!) in my home. We will see how this multi-age classroom goes, but if you have any tips, I’m all ears. But until school officially kicks off on August 25th, we will keep soaking in these last bits of summer.