DISTRACTION: This Mama's Biggest Enemy

Am I the only one who is failing at being a homemaker/wife/mother/friend/daughter/sister due to distraction?!?! Namely internet distraction. Anyone else? Or is it just me?

I feel like it comes at me from Every. Single. Angle. 

Now please understand, I try very hard to fight against it, but *it* (distraction) always seems to win. It's almost like a medical condition or something. 

I get determined. 
I won't be distracted. 
I'll stay on track. 

Then, out of nowhere, like the dog in the Disney movie UP, my heads turns & I'm all like: "SQUIRREL!". Oh, MAN! I'm sucked in to something completely unimportant again.

Even as I am typing this (and I only have a few paragraphs so far), I find myself switching back and forth from other tabs, checking different feeds...WHY?!? I don't really want to, but *it* calls to me. I hate it!

I totally feel Paul when he says:

"I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate." -Romans 7:15

Now I know we are not supposed to condemn ourselves, but let me tell you that what I am feeling here is not condemnation, but real unquestionable conviction. 

"So, then, be careful how you live. 

Do not be unwise but wise, making the best use of your time because the times are evil." - Ephesians 5:15-16

I feel as though I am letting the enemy completely distract me from the most important things in my life. Things that I know God has called me to. Things that I truly want to be top priority, but they just get pushed down the list by stupid, pointless nonsense. 

The funny thing is that often times *it* presents itself as innocent or even good, like a wolf in sheep's clothing. Maybe it's searching a recipe on Pinterest (cooking is good right? I need to provide yummy meals for my family, right?) Or reading adoption blogs. Or reading boring home school blogs. Or my personal downfall, posting photos of my kids (it's like a virtual scrapbook, I need to preserve the memories, right?).

Let's discuss the team leader of internet distraction: Social Media. Social media has made me LESS social. In the beginning, I refused to have a FB account. You see, I don't like jumping on trendy bandwagons. But in late 2010, I caved. Since then I now have lots more interaction with *friends*, even *friends* that Like me! But seeing a feed of what people are doing and Liking doesn't really add up to social interaction.

Now I am not saying social media is bad for everyone or even that it is bad for me, I just realize that I have lost deeper connections because of it. Before FaceGram I used to daily text my mother and grandmother photos of my kids, I would have long phone conversations or even have a friend over to actually hang-out, I even would send cards to people just for funzies, like real mail! I long for deeper more meaningful interactions with my extended family and close friends. Social media is a cheap imposter pretending to fill the need of friendship that we have all been given by God.

"And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near."  -Hebrews 10:25

I know for some social media has been great and they really benefit from it, but for me...well it's a distraction. A distraction from what is really important in my life. Now I am not saying that I am deleting my FB and taking a vow of social media abstinence. That is so not realistic, we are talking about a girl who deletes her Instagram app at least twice a week in order to rid herself of the distraction. Do the math, I delete it twice....I'm re-downloading it people, GAH! I'm like a junkie.

I love this quote I came across on distraction:

• Don’t let the noise of the world keep you from hearing the voice of the Lord.  (unknown)

I sometime seriously wish an EMP would knock out the grid, causing us to lay down our electronics and spend quality time with each other.

Please understand, I love my life and I do feel as though I am embracing this time and enjoying my children. I major in fun. We do a lot in the spending time with each other category. I am just convicted by how easily my phone, this little piece of metal/rubber/plastic whatever its made of can so easily distract me from this beautiful life I've been given. It dings and beeps at me, pulling me away from reality to tempt me with time-wasting, covetousness, dis-contentment, escapism, pure distraction. Maybe I'm focusing on the wrong problem, maybe I just lack self-control....that's a whole other post.

My challenge to myself (& you, if you find yourself in my same situation) is to give technology it's proper place. Turn off the dings, beeps and notifications and just live. Live life. A life free of emails that tell you that you need this or that product, free of FB posts that tell you which candidate stinks and why, free of artsy/hipster photos of people who you don't even really know, free of crafts or recipes that make you feel like a not-so-great mom/wife, a life free of technology distraction.

Sure I'll log on to FB and see what's happening in the political/recipe/mommying world, sure I'll post a photo (or 2 or 3) on Instagram, but when I'm done, I'll leave it. I want to focus on this path God has me on and focus on loving the people that God has put on this path.

This verse in 1 Corinthians has been speaking volumes to me lately:

"I am saying this for your benefit, not to place restrictions on you. I want you to do whatever will help you serve the Lord best, with as few distractions as possible." -1 Corinthians 7:35

This is my prayer. Lord, help me!

❤rebecca

things that ERK me.

First off, I must warn you; the things that ERK me are quite petty...

With 5 young boys, 1 baby girl, 3 cats and a husband part of my daily life; I can handle crazy. I can handle messy. I can handle loud. I can handle midnight trips to the ER. I can handle pretty much any and all chaos.

But do you want to know what drives me CRAZY; like raging lunatic, bat-crazy?  Well then...LET. ME. TELL. YOU. 

The things that drive me mad are stupid things, like the seriously petty "issues" that life throws at us. Want an example? We'll call it the Case of the Missing Flip-Flop.

This story has a back story that actually explains away a little of my insanity, so we will start there. 

*                 *                *

Two weeks ago I bought Wilson (age 3) a new pair of flip flops [because he lost his]. After about a week or so, the new ones went missing [ends up they were left at my brother's house, 3 hours away].

So yesterday I bought another pair for him, a nice pair [from Target, not Wal-Mart]. Then today after the boys cleaned straightened their room, it was time to run errands. "Get your flip flops on.", I sweetly asked Wilson. Two minutes later with a poochy lip he informed me that he could only find one.

Queue in ERKed Mama. What followed my initial, over exaggerated response was hours [literally] of a 7 person man hunt for a stupid flip-flop [7 because Rich was smart enough to not join in]. 

At one point Rich even offered me the $20 bill in his wallet so that I could go buy a few pairs for him, saving myself [& the kids] hours of searching and if we had a few pairs we would lessen the chance of this happening again [so he politely argued]. 

I would not have it. It was the principle of the matter I was fighting against now. You see, I knew the flip flop was in the house. It had been here last night and it was still here. But where? 

{ Wilson & the not-missing flip-flop re-enacting his poochy lip *he was trying so hard not to laugh }

I had a sneaky suspicion that it had gotten "put away" when the boys were cleaning straightening their room. This has happened before; keys, other shoes and many other necessary items have gone mysteriously missing after the boys clean their room. So I knew that someone had to have put shoved it somewhere or in some corner.

We searched high & low, under & in, behind & on top. Over and over again, scouring the same places repeatedly. 

A few hours into the search I declared that I would be running errands on my own [because I would not be taking a shoe-less child and by no means would wearing a different pair of shoes be an option]. That declaration was met with many tears, the thought of me leaving the house without my 3 Littles is unbearable. 

As I was preparing to leave I decided to change Lila's diaper before heading out. She was adorably reading books in her brothers' room [after first pulling down a shelf of them]. I leaned down to pick her up and SHRIEKED with excitement [so loud that I scared poor Wilson who was stading near by]. 

There on the shelf, behind where the books had been that Lila had pulled down, was the MISSING FLIP-FLOP! I jumped around like an idiot and did a victory dance. My life could finally go on. I had closure and the best kind at that; it was FOUND! What peace flooded my soul. 

Once I came down from my mountain top experience, I glance over at Jamey (age 4) [who had a curiously huge smile on his face]. "What!? Why are you smiling like that?", I asked. "Oh, I put that there...", he smirked and started to laugh.

{ the missing flip flop is found }

And just like that the whole crazy thing was over. We all laughed and moved on. How RIDICULOUS. I ruined a good portion of a beautiful Saturday dragging my poor boys into my insane search. I knew I was crazy and I should have let it go, I knew that we would have eventually found it; but for whatever reason it is the small petty things that really ERK me and we had to find it.

I need to grow in this area. Pray for me [& my poor kids and husband].   

❤️ rebecca

when ROTAVIRUS hits a large family...

Rotavirus = Horrid stomach pains that cause your children to cry out in pain, followed by gut wrenching vomiting...and just when you think it is over, then comes the explosive watery diarrhea.

(Sipping gatorade & watching Phineas and Ferb with a bucket close by)

In the last 48 hours we have change 4 beds of sheets, used every towel in the house & I have personally been vomited on 4 times (one of which was a 2am vomit shower by our sweet 2 year old who was climbing in our bed to tell me he wasn't feeling well).

(Our sweet little resting Wilson)

The stomach pains caused our littles (who got it first) to fuss & sleep; but the olders thrash about, moaning & groaning, crying out in pain, everything short of cursing the day the Rotavirus was born.

The vomiting is bad, really bad. So bad that we have given it the theme song: Let It Go, Let It Go! But what came next was just outrageously disgusting. Twilight diarrhea episodes by multiple children are what horror movies should be made of. Repeatedly cleaning up someone else's watery poop when all you want to do is sleep is physically & emotionally taxing. Like SERIOUSLY.

Normally I can handle our chaotic life without breaking down, but this sickness plague we have visiting our house right now has me at my breaking point. What is my breaking point? Well, this time it looked like a few tears shed in the shower & me asking Rich how & if I can quit my job. Then he nostalgically reminded me of our honeymoon when I had a similar illness of which HE had to clean up. That was TRUE LOVE. The details of those dreadful 2 days are too heinous to share. 

So what is my takeaway? Well, I'm not sure yet....it's not over. In the few short minutes it has taken to type this we've had 4 more vomiting episodes which dirtied the last of the clean (not soaked in vomit) towels. 

(Eddie has been doing a lot of this lately...)

Rotavirus 2014 Takeaway:

1) I can literally feel discouragement knocking at my mental/emotional door trying to persuade me to be overwhelmed with my life. I do not want to give into this. Last year's holiday season was miserable due to the end of very long/terrible pregnancy & birth of Mary-Lila (a wonderful occasion, but stressful none the less).

2) I am not a comforting person naturally, in fact I have to be intentional about being an empathetic comforting mother. I am more of a: "you are fine, shake it off" kind of mom. But when it comes to vomiting I am TOTALLY empathetic. The sounds, the stomach wrenching, the taste in the mouth...I totally relate (I have spent 4.5 years of my life excessively vomiting: 6 pregnancies X 9 months). And it just so happens that I am coming out of a horrid 3 week illness, so in a strange way God is using this sickness plague to build my comforting instinct.

3) Whenever sickness visits our family I a reminded of how blessed we are with health. I am so thankful for each day I get (however chaotic) with my children & husband. Each breath is a blessing from God.