I Have a Confession

Hello, my name is Jill Lynn Rogers and I DON'T have it all together. My house isn't perfect, my marriage isn't perfect, my kids aren't perfect, my life isn't perfect. I fall short every single day. I struggle with worry, doubt, and anger. And that is why I am thankful for Forgiveness, Grace and Hope and the Knowledge of wonderful and glorious things to come in my eternal future. My God gets me up in the morning and my God gets me through every day. I try my best, but I always know I have room for improvement. I can be an even better wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend, and child of God.

"May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father encourage you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say. God loved us, and through his grace he gave us a good hope and encouragement that continues forever."
~2 Thessalonians 16-17

A Day of Firsts

I sent my children off to school today. It was a day of firsts around here. Alaina's first day of Kindergarten and Brendan's first day of Middle School. I think I was a tad more sad about Brendan than Alaina. Where has the time gone? Seems just like yesterday they were toddlers.

I keep telling them to stop growing.

But they are not listening.

I can't believe Brendan is a tween. Slow down, son. Slow down.

Do Over

I would like to request a do over for summer. One where I'm hardly yelling and the kids are bickering less. Oh, and where I'm doing educational and meaningful activities with my kids EVERY SINGLE DAY. Seriously though, there were some things I wanted to do with them that didn't get done this summer. Like I was going to do "Art Wednesdays". And guess what? There was not a single Wednesday this whole summer where an art project was produced. Okay, maybe I'm being too hard on myself. Our summer was filled with a wonderful trip to Colorado, lots of fun camps for the kids and just plain spending time together. This picture pretty much sums up what we spent the majority of the summer doing.

Part of me is sad to send them off to school in a few days. So, part of me still wants a do over.

Wrapped Around Her Finger

This is what he was doing a year ago with her.

And this is what he does now.

I wonder what they will be doing together a year from now? I envision him chasing after her and her squealing with delight.

The Housewife of Leavenworth County

At 10:00 this morning I was awoken by breakfast in bed. My maid brought me my slippers and I lounged around for a few hours reading my favorite book, while she took care of the laundry and my four children. Of course, they were cordial and didn't bother me once while I was reading. I then munched on my favorite dark chocolate truffles while the said maid swept and mopped my kitchen floor and scrubbed my bathrooms sparkly clean. I then went for a LONG jog and came home to eat a gourmet lunch BY MYSELF. The rest of my afternoon consisted of a long nap and a few hours of painting, again uninterrupted. Dinner was served and the children were put to bed without me lifting a finger. My day of rest was complete.

Sounds wonderful, right?

Okay, so here is what a day looks like in the life of The REAL Housewife of Leavenworth County:

I am awoken early by a baby who wants to nurse. I stumble downstairs and barely get my cup of coffee going, when my kiddos start making requests for breakfast. I get them fed and put in a load of laundry. I DRAG my four children to the track in the heat so I can get my run in. About every few laps I hear, "Are you almost done?" When I finish running (because that makes me a happy mommy), we come home and I scrub the bathroom and put in ANOTHER load of laundry. While keeping the baby out of ALL of the cabinets within her reach, I break up a squabble between the older ones and attempt to whip up some lunch. I clean up from lunch, sweep, and fold laundry and then get everyone settled in their own space for some wonderful, blissful, quiet time. Then I am brutally awakened by ANOTHER squabble. Sigh. I quickly slather all four children with sunscreen and off we go to the pool where I follow my little chubsters around while she explores the waters and the older kids swim. Then home we go where I whip up a NONGOURMET meal. After dinner I wait for my hubby to get home. Then a few hours later while he's collapsed in his recliner from exhaustion, I tuck all four kids into bed. Then I follow suit, collapsing into my recliner where I try to read my favorite book without falling asleep.

Now which housewife would you choose to be if you had the choice? Me? I choose the REAL housewife. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I'll take the kids hanging all over me, in my face, always needing something, over the loneliness of the first housewife. It's much more rewarding and worth every ounce of energy it takes. And when all of my children are gone, I will miss it and want to do it all over again.

Mama Bear

It is so hard as a mother to see your kids picked on and treated wrongly. It makes your blood boil and makes you want to spit fire. Just as an actual mama bear viciously protects her cubs, we automatically want to protect our children from everything. We are their best advocates and defenders. So when does it become innappropriate to intervene on their behalf?

Picture this. The other day I was in the pool relaxing with Natalie when I looked over at Nolan waiting in line to go off the diving board. He was enthusiastically talking to a teenage boy about something. And for those of us who know Nolan, when he is excited, everyone around him knows. He jumped up and down and excitedly brought his hands up to his face in a fist. After a minute of talking, the teenager proceeded to completely mock and imitate Nolan right to his face. My stomach immediately fell, my heart started racing, and I wanted to cry for him. I wanted to march on over there and give that boy a piece of my mind. "He has autism! That's why he's hopping around. Don't make fun of him!", I wanted to shout. But I paused. I watched and waited to see what would transpire. And nothing else did. So I later casually asked Nolan if someone was making fun of him over by the diving boards. And he was oblivious to the whole situation. He was so excited over what he was telling the teenager, that he didn't even notice him mocking him.

Now as I look back, I wish I would have pulled the boy aside, away from Nolan and explained the situation calmly to him. I wish I would have opened his little teenage mind to educate him a little about autism. But at that moment, I was seeing red so there would have been nothing calm about my response. This parenting gig is so hard sometimes! I just want to put my kids in a bubble and protect them from everything and everyone bad in this world. But it doesn't work like that. I just pray that they learn from experiences like these. That they learn to treat others kindly and fairly. And I pray for the wisdom and insight to handle situations like God wants me to. I sure know I can't do it on my own!

One Liners

To Whom He May Have Offended,

I would like to apologize for my son these days. He is in the habit of spouting off one liners. These one liners are mostly from movies that he watches. And his movie of choice these days is one of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies. You see, I've kind of resorted to lazy parenting lately. Him watching this movie over and over again, day after day results in an hour and a half of blissful SILENCE. So he may sound rude and blunt as he recites movie lines, but he means well. That's his way of conversing with people when he doesn't know what to talk about. It's just his way. I'm not making excuses for him. I'm just explaining why he says what he says. So if he says something totally off the wall, which he often does, just smile, nod, and say, "That's nice." It's probably a line out of a movie.

Sincerely,

Nolan's Mom