So what do you do all day?

Someone actually said that to me the other day. I was a little stunned, and if you can believe it, speechless. What do I do all day? Well, let's see.

I woke up at 6:45 this morning, and stumbled downstairs. I sat in the recliner for 15 minutes, attempting to wake up, snuggling with the kids, and tried to read the newscasters' lips on television. (I have loud children.) Then I got up and put a load of laundry in the wash, and started cooking breakfast while unloading and loading the dishwasher. Then I cleaned the counter and sinks, cabinet fronts and tried to hit the dust boards that were caked with dirt. Yes, I am a great housekeeper, evidently, from all the dirt in my kitchen. So we eat breakfast, and I get to clean the kitchen again. More laundry goes into the wash, and we all head upstairs to get ready. I dress Zane, help Jude find clothes, make beds, and sorta get ready myself. (Getting ready most days is throwing on clothes and brushing my teeth. I actually wore my face washing head band today. All day. *sigh*)

So after 10 frantic phone calls, and a few small disasters, more laundry, and a quick pick up of my room, we head to Target to get a birthday present. This sounds relatively easy, but Zane's sole purpose in life right now is to make every single task as difficult as possible. We managed to make it through the checkout line, and I decided to reward myself with some coffee from Starbucks. I'm not a big coffee drinker, and even less of a Starbucks fan, but I had worked hard already by that point, right? I had talked to Jenn on the way there, and she told me exactly what to order. Well, all that important info got shaken loose as I chased Zane through Target (yes, I took him out of the buggy. He had gotten out of the seat belt and was STANDING UP in the buggy. *sigh*) So I stood at the Starbucks counter and looked up at the big sign. It was all Greek to me. I saw the word "Chocolate" and "Creme" and thought, "Okay, I think I can handle that." I was shocked and disgusted and thoroughly pleased when the girl handed me a giant frozen drink topped with tons of whipped cream and chocolate sauce. I'm totally sure it was at lease 5,000 calories.

Off the go to the car we go, me with my butt extender of a drink, and Jude and Laney with their hot chocolate. I had wrestled Zane back into the buggy, and he was screaming for Jude's hot chocolate. I was pushing the buggy with one hand, and had my "coffee" in the other hand when Jude decided he didn't like his hot chocolate anymore, and in fact it was much too hot to even hold for another millisecond. So now I'm driving the buggy with my "coffee," Jude's hot chocolate and Zane, who can now REACH the so desired hot chocolate. I stop, the total of 5 feet we've managed to make it out of the store, and give him some hot chocolate. It goes all down his face, inside and outside of his outfit and me. I yelled for Jude to hold his own freaking hot chocolate ) a purchase I am SO regreting now) and we make it FINALLY to the van. I load the van, and get the kids strapped in, all to the tune of "MOM CAN WE GO TO CHICK FIL A?????" I was weak. I said yes. Ugh. SO not in the budget this week.

So we go through the Chick, and finally get home. Once home, I decide I can't stand the nastiness of our van anymore, and we all clean out the van. I realize why I can't ever find any sippy cups. There were 7 in our van. Tons of trash. Ugh. So after cleaning it out, I vacuumed it. Okay fine. I pulled it into the garage, opened the doors, and let the dog eat all the food that was on the floor. It was all organic food. She'll be fine. She did a good job too. On second thought, maybe she should sleep in the back yard instead of the garage tonight, just in case...

So once inside, I sent the kids out to play while I finished packing up the Thanksgiving decorations. Our neighbors already have out their Christmas stuff, so I was feeling a little pressure. More laundry too.

Then we do 3 hours of homeschooling. And refereeing. And laundry. Ugh.

After school, the kids went out to play, and I moved the bookcase in our living room. That involved taking everything off of it, moving it and putting everything back. At least I got to talk to Hayes while I was working. There was dog poop on three pairs of shoes, a lost monster truck and several teary "He ____ me."

"Well, she ____ me....." At least the books were all back on the shelf.

We headed upstairs to clean bedrooms to get ready for Bible study. Both of the kids' rooms looked like tornado disaster areas. Got those cleaned up and put the kids in the bath. I showered myself, in the same bathroom for safety, and then put up some clean laundry while they finished playing in the bath. Then I bathed everyone, got everyone out and put pj's on the boys.

We went downstairs where I put on "Finding Nemo," we're studying fish in school (LOL) and started cooking dinner. And do more laundry.

We ate dinner, and I cleaned up the kitchen again. Then it's brush teeth, get into bed, get Zane down and do my Bible study and fold 10 loads of laundry.

Blech. So what do I do every day? That.

I guess if this weren't a normal day, or if I knew tomorrow would be different, it would be better. But it's always the same. I don't even have time to PLAY with my kids. I know things get better when they get bigger, I hope, but I just... I don't' know.

So last night, I studied this verse:

Mark 8:34 (Amplified Bible)

34 And Jesus called [to Him] the throng with His disciples and said to them, If anyone intends to come after Me, let him deny himself [forget, ignore, disown, and lose sight of himself and his own interests] and take up his cross, and joining Me as a disciple and siding with My party] follow with Me [continually, cleaving steadfastly to Me].

Did you see all that? Wow. It's not about me. It's about Him. He knows how busy I am. He knows how tired I am. But all that matters is that I seek Him. Nothing else really matters. He takes care of me, gives me strength, patience, and hope. (!) I want and need to squash that little voice that keeps whining, "What about me?" This is my job. I'm lucky to be able to do this. I have 3 amazing blessings. It's not about what I want out of life right now. It's about being the wife, mother and child of God that He's called me to be. I'm going to do my job well, because that glorifies Him. And I'm not going to whine about it.

So what do I do all day? I steadfastly cleave to Him. That sounds better.