Imperfect. Still blessed.

Six kids doesn’t feel like a lot.

And our home feels empty when anyone is missing, even just for the afternoon.

I’m not a super-mom; it helps tremendously that my oldest two are so responsible and helpful.

I get all sorts of comments – not usually negative ones – from folks who wonder “how do you do it?” and it must just be the grace of God, because although there are certainly challenges, they feel no more challenging than back when I had only Ethan. In fact, mentally and emotionally, I feel/am much more capable than I was when I was 24 years old and the mother of one child.

I certainly don’t want to whitewash anything and make it sound like EVERYTHING is FABULOUS ALL of the time! It’s not, and I cry just like any other mom, over hurts or disappointments.  My bedroom is a wreck, there are mountains of laundry to be done, I made my 8-year-old cry yesterday by confessing that I didn’t get the plans in order for her birthday party and we’d have to delay it for two weeks… In other words, not perfect.  But, overall, I feel very blessed and very thankful that God has appointed me to be the mother of six. Not many have that opportunity (though I probably have a higher-than-average count of friends who are ‘moms of many’).

But I guess what my revelation has been is this: Things don’t have to be PERFECT for me to feel and be BLESSED.

Imperfect. Downright blemished in places. But still, overwhelmingly and beautifully blessed.

From this morning. Wesley was holding baby Jean and said, “Take a picture, Mom!” then Audrey and Fiala appeared to be a part of the picture-taking.