In the beginning...

My husband (handsome hunk and author of Daddy's Disposition) is napping. My daughter (three year old diva with curly brown hair) is napping. My son (two year old sweetheart with big blue eyes) is napping. I (plain old me)...am thinking about what we’re going to have for dinner this week, what is going to happen when my son gets his stitches out tomorrow, does the fish like her new water, how can I get my daughter to eat more vegetables, could I be having a reaction to my new exfoliating cream, how can I lose weight if I keep eating this pudding just because my son can’t have it because he’s allergic to milk and I didn't think about that when I bought it. I wish I was making this up. Unfortunately, I can assure you I’m not.

I...am a mother. My never-ending list of chores, tasks, and worries is reciprocated in wet and messy hugs and kisses from a two and three year old, and sometimes a 28 year old as well. I may not have showered in two days, I may still be wearing my pajamas at 3:00 in the afternoon, I may have a messy floor and dirty dishes in the sink, but I need to get my thoughts out of my head and into this computer. These days, there is SO much pressure put on me as a wife and mother. Not only do I have to do everything that needs to be done, but I have to do it with the pressure of the world on my shoulders.

Every time I see a mother loving on her baby, read a blog about the joyful experiences a mother is having with her children, or see a post on Facebook about how a mother would not rather be anywhere else than with her children, I subconsciously beat myself up. I start to wonder why I am not a perfect mother like every other woman on earth (well, almost every other woman). Why is nothing I do good enough? My question is...who puts this pressure on me? Is it society? Is it the infamous “they” my mother always speaks of? Is it my own husband? Or is it, dare I say it, me?

What I have to continuously tell myself is that God created ME. ME! He decided I was worth creating. I was “good enough” to be here. I was good enough to have an amazing childhood. I was good enough to have amazing friends. I was good enough to meet my best friend and get to call him my husband. I was good enough to be given two AMAZING miracles to call my own. I was good enough. I am good enough. He created me in His image. If I feel that I am not good enough, then I’m saying His creation is not good enough. His image is not good enough. He is not good enough. OUCH!

This is why I have decided to speak up for the imperfect mothers out there, myself being included in that group. If you can label yourself and your life as “a hot mess” then you may be able to relate to me and my story...because that’s exactly how I describe myself and my life. My goal is to be real, be honest, be happy just being me. It’s time that we, as women and as mothers, get real about all the imperfections in our daily lives. It’s time that we laugh at each other’s mistakes as well as share our victories. It’s time that we stop labeling, stop judging, and start building each other up. I am a christian, a woman, a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, a friend, and I am exactly who God made me to be. I am His perfectly imperfect creation, and this is my story.