Agent Mom

With Mother’s Day this weekend, it sometimes feels like red carpet award season for moms. Everyone relives the greatest moments of the year and nominates their favorite in the category “World’s Greatest Mom.” This year I’d love to just place. Honorable mention would be fine. Really ANY mention would be fine.

About a year ago I decided to go back to work full-time which has made this year extremely rewarding, totally challenging and definitely exhausting. We’ve had a lot to learn about juggling schedules and making time to spend together as a family.

Along the way, we’ve had highs and lows. So to celebrate Mother’s Day, I thought I’d share some of the highlights -

* We decided to spend some great quality time together and took an 11-day (yes, that’s 11!) trip to Disney World. Ever heard the phrase “too much of a good thing?”

* There was the day I forgot pajama day at my 2-year-old’s day school. It wouldn’t be so bad (honestly, she couldn’t care less) except the teacher announced in front of all the other mommies at pick-up that poor Macy was the ONLY one who didn’t have her pajamas on. Yes, everyone, I am a total LOSER mom!

* One night I was getting extremely frustrated at my husband for taking SO long to put our 5-year-old to bed. After asking him to hurry several times, I finally yelled, “She HAS to go to bed.” He yelled back to me, “Would you give us a minute?? SHE’S ASKING HOW TO HAVE JESUS IN HER HEART!!!” Yep…just how we imagined that special moment for our daughter.

* I walked into the bathroom one day to see the 2-year-old scrubbing inside the toilet with her toothbrush. I was horrified and yelled “NO!” She took one look at me and quickly stuck it right back in her mouth.

* And just tonight I decided to save a bit of time and money and cut my daughter’s hair myself. She is now all business in the front, party in the back.

So we’ve made it through another year full of first days of kindergarten and potty training. I really treasure these mishaps as much as the perfect family moments. We love to laugh at ourselves which is how I know that we’ll make it through next year and the next.

Lord, thanks for trusting me with two precious lives. Please help me keep my sense of humor.

Anyone else care to share a parent “moment”?

Happy Valentine’s Day! After 12 years of marriage, I can say with great certainty that I love and respect my husband Joel even more today than when I married him at the juvenile age of 20.

Here are a few reasons I love my husband:

1. Have you seen him? I mean, come on. I certainly don’t want to put too much emphasis on appearance, but in his mid-30’s, he still gets glances from teenage girls when he walks by. Yes, I notice. And no, I can’t blame them.

2. HE never notices when the girls look his way. Humility has never been one of my strongest attributes. I am constantly amazed at his ability to downplay a success or pass credit to someone else. I have so much to learn!

3. We’ve grown up together, in so many ways. I can remember our first date when I casually quipped, “I know your type!” I have probably never been more wrong in all my life. I was basing my judgment on his confidence. Little did I know that he was nothing like the cocky guy I expected.

4. Romance My husband sent me flowers every week (yes, literally EVERY week) during our 8-month engagement. The ladies at my work would tell me “Enjoy it while it lasts.” 12 years later, I’m happy to say that it lasted. I don’t get flowers every week (one look at his credit card statements once we were married but an end to that) but he still surprises me with flowers, gifts, notes and weekend getaways (note the picture above from a trip to NYC in the fall).

5. The “Metro” factor My husband is a perfect balance between metro and macho. At any given moment, he would have a difficult time deciding between a trip to the spa and a trip to watch a UFC fight.

6. The “Daddy” factor No matter how good-looking or romantic a man is, I know many women will agree with me that nothing is as attractive as a man that loves his children. I hear him talking to our baby as he rocks her at night and know that my girls will grow up knowing exactly what kind of man they should marry.

7. Spiritual leadership OK – maybe just one thing is more attractive than loving his children, and that is loving the Lord. I watch my husband take late night calls from college students in his college ministry or those in his small group. I see him reading, studying and seeking wisdom. I know he loves God way more than he loves me, and I couldn’t be happier!

8. Priorities Never in a million years would we have guessed 12 years ago that we’d be living where we live or doing what we do, but our priorities have always remained the same. We’ve been through some really tough things but keeping focus on what is important has been and will always be our anchor.