Yesterday was quite the eventful day. After my post, I was feeling all good and motherly. I decided to take the kids to Tai Pan and then to McDonald's for lunch. While we were in Tai Pan, we kept running into this woman in the aisles and every time Hayden was singing and dancing to a different song. She was cracking up! Then, we ended up in the same check out line, and guess what--He was STILL singing!! She was laughing so hard. She looked at me and said, "Oh, bless you, MOM! Here's $10, take that kid to McDonald's!" What? Are you kidding me? I felt like I couldn't accept it, but she insisted. I have not run into many people that kind. I thought about her all day long and how good she had made me feel with that kind act.

On quite the opposite end of the spectrum, that night I went to Walmart to grab some food for camping. It was going to be a 15 minute trip, literally, and it was both my kid's bed time. Hayden was still running around and singing (really, it never stops! If you only knew!!) and Maya was very tired and just wanted to go to bed. I was trying to keep Maya sitting still, and keep Hayden out of people's way, when a woman suddenly yelled at me, "HEY WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING!!" I said, "Me?" and she yelled, "YES, YOU! CAN'T YOU KEEP CONTROL OF YOUR CHILDREN?" I had no idea what I had done to get this kind of reaction for someone. I started sobbing right then and there. I felt so ridiculous. She patted me on the back and said, "sorry", but the damage had been done. I was crying the whole rest of my shopping trip and pretty much the rest of the night.

Last night, I kept thinking how most people are really only concerned with themselves when it comes down to it. The first kind act of the woman who gave me $10, was so shocking to me because how often do strangers do that kind of thing? NEVER! I can't help but think how the kind act lightened my load, and the rude one made me feel that I was carrying more than I could handle. I wish I could thank the Tai Pan lady again and let her know that there needs to be more people in the world like her!

Being A Mom is not so bad!

I have read a couple of things lately that have made me feel that maybe having 2 children isn't as hard as I thought. I get overwhelmed quite frequently, and many times I feel that I have not accomplished much in the day even though I have worked myself ragged.

Currently, I am reading "The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands" by Dr. Laura. The book is really putting things in perspective for me. It is very true that if Mom isn't happy, nobody's happy. It's our responsibility to make sure that we are being as pleasant as we can around our husbands and family. If it means taking a nap, or asking for someone to watch the kids for an hour so you can have alone time, so be it. We determine the atmosphere in our own homes. I do not know where this quote came from, but it enters my mind daily. It says something to the effect of "Care and love your family in this life so that they will WANT to spend Eternity with you."

There is a story about a woman named Cornelia Africana who is considered the perfect example of a virtuous woman. When women questioned Cornelia about her mode of dress and personal adornment, which was far more simple and understated than was usual for a wealthy Roman woman of her rank and station, Cornelia indicated her children and said, "These are my jewels."

As I am sitting here with my son asking me to try his pretend pizza he made in his pretend stove, and Maya trying to climb up my legs to sit on my lap, I am reminded, "These are my jewels." They are what life is made of, and they bring me joy.

And before I end my post, here is a little fact to make you glad you have 1, 2, 3, or 6 kids and not as many as this woman had. We really don't have it so bad!
The highest officially recorded number of children born to one mother is 69, to the first wife of Feodor Vassilyev (1707-1782) of Shuya, Russia. Between 1725 and 1765, in a total of 27 confinements, she gave birth to 16 pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets, and four sets of quadruplets. 67 of them survived infancy.