Comparing Ourselves to Others

What a wonderful weekend it was!  My husband's family decided to just celebrate all the kid birthdays in one day so we sang to eight kids.  Everyone swam and I forgot my camera.  Boo hoo!  It takes a lot to get seven kids ready to go anywhere but is even more work when they are going for a swim.  I asked them if they would want to use their birthday money to each buy a Nintendo DSi XL and they quickly said yes.  I was excited because Mario is my favorite game and I was hoping I could sneak on it every now and then.  Ohhhh, my thumbs are sore right now.  You know, my husband first met me when I was on the floor playing Mario on my Nintendo.  He thought I was 15 but I was actually 18.  Ha ha.

One thing I've been working on is not talking on the phone so much when my husband is home.  I love talking to my friends and family but I can see how it's rude when I am doing it so much when he is home.  I've been around other people when they are constantly on the phone with others rather than telling them they'll talk to them later after they are done visiting.  It can be excessive and kinda rude.  Also, I've been really working on my kids about interrupting when mommy is on the phone unless it's an emergency.  When someone calls me to talk to me, they don't want to hear me constantly responding to the kids about something.  The kids know that mommy isn't happy when she gets off if she kept getting interrupted.  They know they'll get assigned extra chores.  By the way, that has really worked with the kids.  I have extra chores written down on a list for them to pick from if needed.  My kids know that if it's really, really important they can interrupt me, like if a kid is picking on them or someone is hurt.  That's totally different.  However, Caleb is way too little to understand.  He's my little two and a half year old stinker.  In fact, I'm usually following him around because he can cause trouble in 2.5 seconds...on a slow day.

Last nights sermon at church was amazing!  I took notes on my iPad and I'm so glad I did because it is something I'd like to refer to every now and then.  The pastor that spoke talked about comparing ourselves to others.  Just because we are called to do something doesn't mean no one else will do it better than us.  We do it because are called to.  We don't have to always look around us to see who is acting worse than us and pointing fingers.  We are held accountable for ourselves and not according to someone else.  I guess it's easier sometimes to try to make ourselves feel better by pointing out other people's mistakes and sins.  Here is where it hit me personally.  Sometimes I get comments from others that question how I raise my kids or how well I am feeding my kids.  It's not that they spend time in my house or see me when I feed my kids.  They just make assumptions for the little bit of time they are around me.  Constant questioning or finger pointing can make me feel bad like I have no right to be raising these kids.  However, God sees what I do at home with them and in reality, that's what matters.  My husband sees, that's what matters.  I don't have to compare myself to others.  Of course someone might clean better, cook better, blog better, write better, homeschool better, do their hair better.  All that doesn't matter.  The only reason we should look to others is for inspiration.  It was an awesome sermon.  ;)