The Heath Project

I have been feeling frustrated with motherhood lately and my inability to do everything for my children that I feel I should do. I then read a book titled One Tough Mother by Julie Barnhill. I really enjoyed her humor and insights. She devotes one chapter to letting our children just be ordinary and not trying to make them something extrodianary.

As mothers we can "stand up...and refocus our time and energy to raising and discovering the wonderfully ordinary children living in our homes.

"I believe we will find it impossible not to see the wonder and glory wrapped up in each of our ordinary lives."

"The sacred resides in the ordinary, in...

a child's laugh,

the pull of a brush through a daughter's hair

a well-hit ball off a T-ball stand,

the aroma of a baby's freshly washed nape,

the sputtering sound of frying bacon,

a wave of the ocean determinedly followed by another and another,

a toddler's squeal of delight,

a daughter dancing on her father's shoes,

the scent of sweaty boys roughhousing in a family room,

languorous conversations with a teenage daughter after curfew has been met,

grandparents bragging on thier grandchild,

grandchildren napping beside thier Papa,

the repeated bedtime story refrain, "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always...,"

blueberry buckle stains on a freshly laundered bib,

a three-year old hiding in a kitchen cabinet,

the slobbery wide-open kiss of a nine-month-old,

the pale sheen of a newborn's fingernails,

a student council campaign speech proudly composed and confidently delivered by a sixth-grade son before a student body,

bathtub rings proving a six-year-old's day spent playing outside,

damp footprints on ancient pine flooring,

hand after hand of Go Fish and Old Maid,

beater blades licked clean of batter,

a nerve-racking first piano recital conquered,

a nursing babe's arms outstretched toward his mother's smiling face,

"big boy" underware,

teenage sons renting their first tuxedos,

teenage daughters applying liquid eyeliner,

husbands making love to their wives,

and One Tough Mother delighting in her gloriously ordinary child.

Julie Barnhill

One Tough Mother

I'll add a few of my favorites to the list -

a stack of freshely laundered white towels in the bathroom,

a well made bed,

laughter around the dinner table,

a childs first prayer,

a family gathered to read from the scriptures,

a sweet bearing of testimony,

hands held tightly,

a quiet moment of peace,

a sleeping child,

a true expression of love.

I love reading the blog entries of family and friends and can see that each of our ordinary lives are not boring, but absolutely wonderful, filled with humor and love. Keep up the day to day good work!