Will life ever get easier? Hope for the weary mom

Will life ever get easier???

Those were words that sat at the back of my mind over the last 6 years.  For those that do not know our story let me share a bit.  My husband and I had 4 children within the first 6 years of marriage.  The Lord was gracious and as I had gotten saved, during my 4th pregnancy, he did not allow us any children for 5 years.  (we did suffer a miscarriage and our baby, Jordan is in heaven waiting to greet us).  That was a good time to grow and learn about Him.  Then the Lord said, “Okay you have been praying about children let me give them to you”…and give them to us He did:).  We had 6 more babies over the course of 7 years.

My life was a daily cycle of wake up, change diapers, nurse babies, feed toddlers, clean up, change diapers, nurse babies, feed toddlers, clean up, etc, etc.  There was NO time for anything extra.  Zero mommy time.  It was a time for me to have my babies.  It was an enjoyable time.  I loved being pregnant, loved having babies, loved everything about it, but I was tired.  My husband was working a lot at this time and he was not able to relieve me of my duties very often.  It was good for me, good to learn how to handle all of these little ones.  But it was hard.  Only by the grace of God did I get through it.

God is able to do so much more than we can ask or think.  I remember on more than one occasion wondering if it would ever get any better???

Do you know what?? It does.  It does get better.  A whole lot better.  We push through the storms of life and when we finally reach the other side, we made it.  Sometimes we are a little wet or weather beaten, but we get there.  All the sacrifice and time spent pouring into my children is paying off.

I remember the days of shopping for our large family and having to come home and put everything away, it was overwhelming. Do you know that I now have a teenager who loves to organize my pantry?  She takes over as soon as we bring the groceries home.  It is her domain and I am thankful to relinquish that duty to her.

Putting laundry away is a HUGE chore in our household.

I for the most part have never folded a sock, pair of underwear, or pair of leggings.  Who has time to do that when you have 5 baskets of clothing to put away? The above picture is how I just throw all the items into the drawer.

But  I am happy to say that my 8 year old, loves to fold and organize the laundry every night while she is watching a video before bedtime.  What a blessing it is.

Here are my drawers now:)  She loves to even roll the underwear:)

Meal time in our home used to be serve the children and by the time  you were done serving, getting drinks, and feeding some children seconds, most were done.  You had to wipe faces, hands, start wiping up their messes,  there was no time to sit down and eat together.  It was a rush, rush situation.  It was very loud, and something we got through quickly.  But again I am happy to announce that just recently our meal time has become much more quieter, calmer, and easier going.  The baby  who is now 1, will sit and keep himself occupied while others are eating.  The 2 and 3 year old, are learning to feed themselves without much spilling.  Our 5,6, and 8 year old are quite the conversation starters in our home.  It is nice to be able to sit and have conversations around the table.  We use our conversation table starters to begin our dinner meals.

I now can wash diapers every 3 days instead of every day.  I only have the baby to change during the day.  There was a time I had 3 babies in diapers.  Talk about overwhelming.

Laundry in our home can be overwhelming in our home of 12 people!  I am happy to say that I have trained my oldest 4 to do their own laundry.  I now just take care of my husbands and mine and the 6 little ones.  Talk about a WAY easier job.  (some of you might be laughing, well from 12 people to 8 people’s laundry is still less.)

The internet was something foreign to me up until about August of this year.  Now I am able to do my blog while everyone sleeps for the night.  And yes, my children FINALLY for the most part sleep through the night.  There was a time I had a infant nursing, a 1 year old up 2-3 times per night and a 2 year old waking me up.  I think I had just given up on a full nights sleep.  I took what I could get during that time.

I even remember in the summer time, not even going outside by myself because I had so many little ones and they would all scatter to different parts of the yard and it was hard to keep them together.  We pretty much stayed indoors until Dad came home and took us to the beach.  They would at least all stay by the edge of the water.  But nowadays I can even send the little ones outside and I can watch from a large picture window.  They know where they can play at and they stay in that area.  Amazing how much just a little time will do for you.

I share all of this to let you know, Yes, you will return to normal again, you will sleep more than you currently do, and you will have time for yourself, eventually.  Keep staying the course, enjoy those moments with your babies as they will go by so quickly, and you won’t ever get them back.