That little foyer is now organization central. He is ready, I am ready, yet I can guarantee you, I’ll will not be this on top of things and organized for the poor guy again until this time next year. By Tuesday, I’ll be scrambling his lunch at the last minute, yelling at him to look AGAIN next to his bed for his shoes, and wondering where I put that thing I was supposed to sign.

But for now, tonight, I’m feeling like a great mom, who’s got an unbelievably great boy (yes, I know: and a girl and another boy, but we’re not talking about them right now. They don’t get the sap treatment until they go away for nearly eight hours a day!).

Happy First Day of School!

Unlike what every jewelry store, specialty kitchen store, and department says, in a taped bit on Moody radio, Virelle Kidder nailed it: Moms need rest and affirmation. Yes and yes.

I hope all you moms get this gift (at least this year. Next year, I’ll hope you all get the gift of my book! Just kidding…sort of). And I hope you get this gift (the rest, not my book) on more days that just this coming Sunday.

Happy Mother’s Day!

• Find a better outlet for my stress (Read: stop yelling at my family because I’ve got too much on my plate. Not their fault I like to bite off more than I can chew!).
• Find a better way to deal with anger. Without thinking too hard, I can rattle off five things in the past year that really p****ed me off and that I ended up acting out  in ways I shouldn’t have. While anger can be a good thing, I don’t always harness it well.
• Be more patient with my kids. I love them like crazy, but having three little kids vying for my attention during the 15 hours a day at least one of them is awake can make me insane. I have plenty of good, patient days so I know I can do this. But it’s hard.
• Be more positive. Negativity and pessimism are in my genes, and it’s hard for me to fight against. But it’s a LOUSY way to live! Maybe I need to read some Joel Osteen. (Yeah right! At least I’m positive that won’t happen!)
• Be kinder, more appreciative, and more loving to my husband. If you hadn’t noticed, the above list of things I need to work on wouldn’t always make me the easiest woman to be married to! But he loves me anyway, and I can do better as a wife.
• Stop feeding the dog so much. So now I’m getting silly, but our once-sleek Rottie just walked by giving me that “feed me” look and he’s really getting fat, fat, fat!
• Walk the dog more. This would help with all of the above.

Happy New Year, everybody! I’d love to hear your resolutions.

—Luke 2: 34-35

Last night these verses were part of my very random devotional reading. While I’ve probably read those words—spoken by the “righteous and devout” Simeon to Mary when she and Joseph presented their new baby, Jesus, in the temple—a hundred times, before I became a mom, I must confess, I never really thought much about them. Yada yada.  Just another prophesy, is pretty much how I saw them. Sorry, but it’s true.

Then, I had kids. Now,  Simeon’s haunting words chill me each time I read them. (Can you imagine bringing your new baby to church and having someone turn to you and say your beautiful baby will pierce your soul?!) Becoming a mother opened my eyes to what was being said to Mary. As a fellow mom, I felt the anxiety and deflating pain she must’ve felt as she heard these words. I think feeling this deepened my understanding of the entire story of God’s redeeming love for us.  From what it really meant and entailed for God to send his son to save us (sorry for you non-Christian readers—I know I’m getting really jargony here. Bear with me!) to what it meant for Mary to bear and raise her boy, the Messiah, to what it means for me as mother to raise my own boys and girl to grow to love and know that same Messiah.

While perhaps I was just dense in my reading of this passage before (and surely you don’t have to be a mom to catch the significance), this isn’t the only passage or instance I’ve noticed that my being a mom heightens my understanding of Scripture along with my understanding of (and questions for!) God.

While I expected motherhood to change me in many ways, getting to know God better by being a mom surprised me. I’ve got to be careful here, I know, because I’m treading dangerously close to the teachings many women have heard (particularly from churches) that they need to be moms to be complete—I don’t mean that at all! God can use all our experiences in life to draw us to him.

But this reread has put me on the look out for other ways motherhood has helped me get to know who God is. And it’s gotten me curious about the ways others have gotten to know God better by being moms. I’d love to hear your stories. 

A couple days ago, in the midst of the zillions things going on, I panicked:

Oh, no! Christmas cards! 

I totally forgot. So I figured I had two choices:

1. Stop everything and bring all kinds of stress and Christmas chaos into my house just so I could get cards printed, labeled, and out the door on time. 2. Wave the white flag and admit that this year, the Christmas cards are just not going to happen—at least in their usual way.

In the interest of keeping the peace in my home—and saving some trees, money, and my sanity—I went with number 2. So this year, we decided to send our warmest wishes electronically. This is a bigger deal for me than you might think. In doing this, I’m giving up, admitting that I can’t do it all. I can’t keep up. But that’s okay, refreshing even. So, if you didn’t get the e-card, here’s what we wrote: 

It’s been an interesting year—one filled with joy, sadness, stress, fun, work, play, reading, writing, thinking, planning, school, and adventure.

Over the course of 2007, Rafi’s been “rebranding” his business, Caryn’s been working on her first book, Henrik started kindergarten, Greta started preschool, and Fredrik started, well, everything.
 
But it’s been a terrific year—full of opportunities to use our gifts, to grow as people (and watch people grow!), and to experience God’s grace, love, and faithfulness.

This Christmas—and beyond—we hope you experience our Savior’s abounding love, amazing grace, and great faithfulness.  

Merry Christmas!

The Rivadeneiras