in a moment of sincere frustration

Isn't it funny how the past can come creeping back up on us in the best possible sense? This afternoon during the boys mutual nap-time (hallelujah!), I got on Pinterest to see what I've missed in the last week of ignoring the computer. There on the top of my boards was a picture of my Relief Society President from my freshman year in college with a link to her blog, pinned by one of my dear friends, Amelia! I happily clicked the link and dove head first into a sea of optimism and motivation to keep trying! It was nothing short of a metaphorical blanket wrapped around my weary and tired shoulders.

Like all young mothers, I feel the daily tugs from kids, JL, school, church, health, and my own need for five minutes of complete silence. I have moments, sometimes weeks, where I just want to throw my hands up in the air and sit down and sob.

[Today Walter took a red block and pressed it against the hallway wall juuuust hard enough to transfer the paint from one surface to the other. My two-month old coat of paint ruined by red scribbles that won't come off.]

And just like all of those times Mindy randomly stopped by my dorm room, or we ran into each other on campus, she reminded me to keep going. In a post discussing books by the author Linda Eyre, she finished with a quote that I direly needed to hear.

"I'll have to be honest and tell her the whole truth about mothering. When she ask me what to expect, I'll tell her to expect surprises. I'll tell her that mothering is the hardest thing she will ever do, but that it is also much more joyful than even she can fathom.... There is no greater joy in life than that of being a mother. Along with the job description comes not only chauffeur, cook, maid, and drill sergeant, but most importantly, gardener of souls - fertilizer, weeder, waterer, exposer to the light, and then watcher as each seedling grows and becomes it own beautiful self... Truly, motherhood, complete with its valley depths and mountain peaks, is life's most astounding experience!"

I highly recommend any mother of young children to hop on over to Mindy's blog, Busy Bliss. She's got such a contagious enthusiasm for life, and let's be honest, we all need a little boost from time to time. She also has no shame in sharing some of her epic fail moments, i.e. driving over a poopy diaper in the library parking lot.