Expectations....

Expectations. Unmet, unrealistic and overwhelming expectations. I've made them and I've failed to meet all of them as a wife and a mother. It is so easy, when you're young and not married, to dream of marriage and motherhood and think that you're life will be perfect. You're husband will always bring home flowers, you will have dinner waiting for him every night at 6pm with a cute outfit and your hair and makeup done. You're kids will be bathed everyday, there won't be cheerios on the floor and the dog won't stink. You're kids will always say please and thank you and will be potty trained at a year old....oh my, I could keep going, there are so many more that I've thought! But reality with kids, a husband that works and goes to school, a two year old and a 3 month old is not quite like that. Here's a look inside a day(or just the first few hours) I had last week.

-Oliver (3month old) wakes up crying at 5:30am
-The crying wakes Liam up at 5:30am
-Daddy leaves at 6 for work
-Liam pees in his underwear while I'm trying to get the baby a bottle
-I change the sheets and start a load of laundry with a naked toddler running around telling me he's  hungry
-I grab a waffle for him and some milk and the iPad so I can feed the baby
-Baby decides not to eat so I put him down and grab Liam to take him to the potty (tantrum because I'm taking him away from the iPad) so we sit and talk about why he needs to obey
-I clean the toilet because Liam's aim is a bit off...
- Oliver decides he wants to eat.
-Baby is fed and Liam is fed and now it's potty time again
-I decide to lock myself in the bathroom around 8:30 to pee and brush my teeth finally ewwww
-Liam helps me make a bowl of cereal and coffee for myself and spills the grounds, but he helps sweep them up.

Anyway, I won't keep going, you get the picture. No makeup all day, no shower until after the boys went to bed and I didn't have breakfast until after lunch.  Like Vanessa talked about, it's pretty much chaos constantly. But you know what? I LOVE it. I love the chaos, and I love the way God is working in my heart and life through it. I love that at the end of the day my kids see Jesus in my short comings, and I love that God has given me children to teach and raise up in Him.

When you let go of your expectations and live in Christ and His grace, your marriage, children and life will not be burdened with the failure that comes. You have victory in Christ! I love this verse

"As it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or death"
Philippians 1:20

I pray that this would be my only expectation, that I wouldn't be ashamed and that I would live to honor Christ in everything I do in motherhood and marriage! What encouragement we have in Him!