I'm an awesome Mom

Posted by Tamie on Friday, May 9, 2008







Something reeked when I walked in from grocery shopping today. I had lingered a little too long at Wal-Mart, being insensitive to Ryan’s working from home. Was the smell a diaper that didn’t get tied off or something Tanner stashed in his secret toy cupboard? I look around at 11:00 am and think—was this house really clean before bed last night? To the right there was, as usual, embarrassing large piles of dirty laundry on the floor and clean, unfolded laundry on the counter. Hyrum’s pants were soaked through because I let him have two bottles of chocolate milk at the grocery store. Tanner and Jordan were whining intensely for their own dose of chocolate milk. I carried all the bags in, got the chocolate milk, changed the baby, put him down for a nap and snuck a chance to check email. My Aunt sent me a tear jerker mother’s day card and I started thinking . . .

I am an AWESOME Mom. I have no idea why because nothing around me seems to validate that statement. Or does it? I’m now looking at the morning in a different light. After my walk and shower, I started my day lying on the bed exhausted (nice start!). Hyrum brought a book of Fairy Tales onto the bed so of course all four boys jumped up, poking and pushing their way as close to me as possible. I loved watching Ty tickle Hyrum, Hyrum trying to say “peck, peck, peck, and a cluck, cluck, cluck.” I LOVE rubbing Tanner’s sweet bare back—he’s always the last one dressed. And I love how Jordan giggles with his whole body and constantly tries asserting his control. We had to end when he refused to let anyone else turn the pages. When we were finally in the car, we cranked up the Michael Bubble song “Save the Last Dance for Me.” I could see my kids grinning and bouncing in the rear view mirror as they watched me sing and dance in the Suburban driver seat. When I finally dropped Ty off to school (late) he looked back THREE times with his sweet grin and wave before going inside. I think Jordan may have already said "look, Mom!" about 200 times today. And each time I reply "cool! Jordan" as if I've never seen something so amazing in all my days.

So I’m going to forget all the nagging guilt today and admit that I’m an awesome Mom. I really, REALLY love my kids and they really do love me. Tanner has been negotiating with me for quite some time now to use the computer to play PBS kids and he’s saying “tickle please, tickle please . . . “ So I better get back to being an awesome Mom. I wish all of you Mom’s, especially mine, a Happy Mothers Day.


Comments (5)

Ah Tamie, that post is so sweet. I loved reading about your day. It is so normal and refreshing. You are a great mom and good for you for taking time to notice that. And thanks for reminding me that I need to do the same.

I hope your Mother's Day is a GREAT one! What cute pics of you with your boys!

Posted May 9, 2008 at 10:42 PM by Blogger Marcy

You're one of the best moms I know! I love that you're finally taking credit for all you do! Thanks for your wonderful example and inspiration to notice the good we do as mothers. Best job in the world!

Posted May 10, 2008 at 2:50 AM by Blogger Mindy

Tamie, I love this post. You are so right! There are a million things we could look at in our day to make us think we are failures. Dishes and laundry alone are virtually impossible to keep up. I love how you boiled it down to loving and enjoying your kids and unabashedly admitted how awesome that makes you. Thanks!

Posted May 16, 2008 at 12:56 PM by Blogger Emily

Hi, Tamie, it's Jeannie (Herrin) Young! I came across your blog. Looks like you and Ryan are doing great! Four boys! That's awesome. We have three! You look like a great mom, I think we all need to give ourselves more credit than we do. So fun to see how you are, tell Ryan I said hi. Check out our blog if you'd like to keep in touch. It's www.forevertheyoungs.blogspot.com

Posted June 16, 2008 at 8:26 PM by Blogger Jeannie Young

You ARE and Awesome Mom!
Tamie- I am SO happy that I found you again. The blog world is such an amazing place. I found you through Bethany's blog and it's so fun to see you and your very handsome 4 boys!!
It so fun to see things that you've been doing over the years. Our blog is only a year old but you can see our 3 cute kids when you have the time. Have a great day!

Posted June 17, 2008 at 5:22 PM by Blogger The Favorite

Suffering

Posted by Tamie on Tuesday, May 6, 2008

I have a hard time accepting my own suffering and the suffering in the world. Suffering feels so forsaken, lonely, abandoned and Godless. The news recently has announced some evil, unbelievable instances of abuse, imprisonment, murder—my heart is heavy. How can I just go about my daily life in light of such happenings? It feels as if I’m mocking their suffering when I allow myself to enjoy my kids or indulge in a good meal or a dose of sunshine.

But it also isn’t right to go about life sorrowful and melancholy and negative. So here is my question: how do I suffer without feeling forsaken and how do I show appropriate compassion for those who suffer?

I continue to seek answers but have had a few insights. First of all, I have to accept suffering as a good thing. I can only experience health and happiness to the extent that I experience suffering. And this takes faith. Our fullness of joy won’t truly come until the eternities.

So, suffering ultimately opens the door to true joy. But suffering also gives us humility (shows us how weak we are), compassion (allows us to help others who suffer), and if we can keep our faith then when we are delivered we are stronger IN THE LORD. I say in the Lord because we probably won’t feel stronger ourselves. We may feel defeated, disoriented, disappointed—anything but strong. But in the right perspective, we are stronger because the Lord now has a more powerful tool, in us. We become a tool, ironically, to help alleviate a bit of suffering.

If we don’t learn how to suffer then it will be difficult to do much alleviating for others. I love to find every way possible out of suffering. I’ve had another horrible case of strep throat this weekend. One night I decided just accept it and stop being so distraught over how much pain I felt. Easy to say? Well, I focused on taking deep breaths to help my body. I’ve been reading about the healing power of touch. We can access pressure points (energy locks—people call them all sorts of things) to help our bodies flush toxins and rebalance.


Sidetrack: This whole world is opening up to me that makes so much sense. Kind of like I’ve always known this stuff but didn’t really know what it meant. When our body suffers, it needs help from our mind and spirit. When our Spirit or mind suffers, it needs help from the body. I’ve often found myself frustrated that I couldn’t “think my way out” of a problem. “Just stop thinking that way” I’d tell myself but it just wouldn’t work. Well, I love exploring this new idea that by touch and breathing and probably all sorts of other physical means we can help it along. There’s a reason why working up a sweat, taking a warm bath or sitting in the sunshine affects our mood. There’s also a reason Satan doesn’t want us to make a connection between our bodies, minds and Spirits. If he can get us to discredit an act as something “purely physical” or "purely mental" then it doesn’t seem like such a sin. We know how crucial the body is to the spirit because of temple work. Okay, I’m meshing too many thoughts together. It just all makes a lot of sense to me and I’m excited about the possibilities.

Anyway, back to the strep night. When I would cough I would imagine the cough as helping to get the sickness out rather than just being annoying. Maybe that’s it—I stopped being annoyed with my body and acknowledged that all the pain probably had a purpose. If I would submit and help then I could get over the sickness better and maybe even faster.

The result? I felt more at peace—at least figuratively “carried in the arms of angels” although it could have been literal and I didn’t see them. I had suffered well, for a few hours at least. I hope to do better next time! And I hope these jumbled thoughts may be of use to someone out there who may also be suffering. I hope to find more ways to help alleviate suffering and would love to hear your ideas.

Comments (1)

hey tami i am sorry to here about the suffering but just remember the test put in front of you are that a test and the lord DOES TRULY KNOW how much you can handle so the suffering is only small piece of work for you too work through, you can do it. hey look at our blog we had Dylan and we need to get together we miss you and the family tell Ryan I (rob ) says Hi!

Posted June 16, 2008 at 9:24 PM by Anonymous Anonymous