A Day in the Life

"So, what did you do today?” my husband asks over a thrown-together dinner of turkey burgers and leftover peas pulao. “Not much,” I shrug, surprised by the flash of jealousy I feel as he tells me about his business lunch at Red Lobster, the exciting negotiations meeting with a prospective client. I’m angry at myself as I try to squelch the feeling – I love my role as a stay-at-home mom; this is the job I want, the job I relish (most days!)… so why do I struggle to find an answer for how I spend my days? Why do I equate them with “not much”? Why do I feel that my husband’s days are somehow more important or more exciting?... And not just because of the Cheddar Bay biscuits at Red Lobster!

I don’t want to look back on a day, a week, a month, a year, a lifetime and feel like I have spent my time doing “not much.” I’ve started noting and recording the gifts in my life recently (one thousand gifts); the seemingly small things that make life extraordinary. My eyes are open and attuned to these moments, but there is still the ordinary, the everyday, which make up a life. The things that I shrug off so easily. This is not a life half-lived, unfulfilled or unimportant… rather a life of MUCH. Much love, much peace, much laughter, much inspiration and creativity... there might be hardship, but there is also much overcoming. It's a life spent in creating a legacy for my children… a life of ordinary (and extraordinary) moments, lived full of grace, and joy, and gentleness and wisdom (and that’s a prophecy over myself!). Taking each ordinary moment as a gift from the Lord, a blessing from His hand. 

So in order to have a better answer for my husband's “what did you do today” question, I kept a running list yesterday of some of the things that made up my very full day. Many of these things might seem ordinary or mundane, but all total they make up a very extraordinary life!

Here's a snippet of my day...

• diapers changed = 5
• quinoa peanut butter balls
• avocado wiped from face and hands and hair
• collecting rocks
• extracting rocks from little mouth
• clean sheets on the bed
• visit to playgroup
• conversation about chickens with other mom
• prying clingy toddler from legs
• number of answers to “waa dat?” = 100+ (at least!)
• storytime
• singing “wake up little bunnies” and other little ditties
• arranging bright orange daisies in a vase
• scrubbing spaghetti stains out of placemats
• playdoh
• emptying the dishwasher
• wrapping birthday gift and making birthday card
•  a cup of tea and “Revenge”
• a hurried shower, no time to dry hair
• building fort with couch cushions
• kissing bump on the head after fort collapses
• chasing Wesley around the yard in our bare feet
• feet sorting through boxes of clothes for shorts that fit
• running with the wind in my hair and music pumping
• dancing around the living room to giggles and squeals
• chasing the grumpies away
• a deliciously long nap (although not for me)
• pulling puzzle pieces and dustballs out from under the couch
• filling the cupboards with beautiful new dishes
• packing away the old
• firing up the BBQ