Come Prepared

Is anyone out there who did not get a shower until the evening because life happened? I know I'm guilty of that. To be the mom God wants us to be we have to be prepared. What happens when we don't come prepared for our day? No shower until 4? The day might look like this:: breakfast is served whenever you want it because mom is still in bed dreading to get up because she hears the spill of the cereal all over the floor and yelling amongst the children as to who's fault it was. She also knows that clean up will be her first task of the day because she hasn't trained them to clean up after themselves. Then wild play may begin because they have just finished their favorite TV show and now have "become" that character they just watched. Mom starts laundry and cleans up the dishes from breakfast and dinner last night as they play. She realizes she has to start thinking about lunch and dinner but have the boys brushed their teeth, changed their clothes and made their beds. She has to ask them to do that because they surely can't remember on their own. Finally, after lunch she has them go to their rooms for quiet time and she cleans up lunch and maybe takes a shower, but if she showers she won't have time to talk on the phone or play on the internet. After quiet time the video games may come on or the children go out to play, soon Daddy will be home so they rush around trying to pick up a little and she realizes at that moment another day went by and nothing of real importance was accomplished.


Oh, how the day can become total chaos and slip right by when we aren't prepared. It has happened a many of times in my house. Proverbs 29:17 says, "a child left to himself disgraces his mother". Honestly it's not the child's fault he is whinny and irritable it is ours for not taking the time to prepare to teach and guide that child throughout the day. We cannot expect our children to wake up and know what is expected of them if we do not teach them. Without guidance and training our homes will be total chaos. I have found that boys need routine and they need to know what is going to happen next. We as mom's, for our children's sake, need to come to our day prepared. Is our own planning good enough? I know that mine usually falls apart or I get frustrated because it's not going the way I planned. So start your day off right and meet with the One who cares about what you do with your day and your children. Seek the Lord's guidance as to how your day should go. What a better day it will be when you come prepared.

Cheri

In a Mother's Arms

As a mom I find that my heart can hurt in many different ways, just as it can love in so many ways. This evening I felt a deep hurt when my older boys figured out that Daddy was leaving very soon and will be gone for 6 weeks. Now that they are older and can understand how long that will be, it is harder on them. They began to cry and when they buried their heads in my lap and cried my heart ached for them so deeply, but I was thankful to be their mom and to know that I can bring them comfort. But I realized that I cannot bring them peace, only our Lord can do that. As a mom, when my heart hurts the way theirs did tonight, what do I do for comfort and peace, where do I run and bury my head? We can do a lot of things to comfort ourselves but to have peace in our hearts we have to go to the Father. Sometimes it will be the last thing that I do, it shouldn't be but honestly it is. Instead I will go and eat something or call someone and as hard as that friend tries to comfort me she cannot give me that peace that I long for. I can remember on quite a few occasions when my heart was hurting and I immediately picked up the phone, but every person I tried to call did not answer. I knew that the Lord was wanting me to come to Him and cry and talk it out with Him. When our hearts hurt for whatever reason, whether your child has broke your heart or someone has hurt you. Remember to go first to our Lord Jesus Christ and bury your head in his arms. Only then will you have the peace that surpasses all understanding .

Cheri

New Year's Eve 2009

This New Years we have decided to resume an old tradition, the Jalvarez New Year's Party. So far nothing has been broken but a lot of tears have been shed, feelings hurt and lots of video games played and it's only 5:30pm. We've been to busy to feed our starving children because we have been working on getting this blog up......that's why there is so much chaos. But at the moment it is silent because we have turned on The Game Plan. Stay tuned for more updates on the evening.


As many of you know we have been working on a book about raising boys. This blog is the next step for us to reach our goal. We have several reasons for creating this blog:

• To help other moms deal with everyday life with boys
• To provide a place for moms to ask questions about raising boys
• To share stories that only other moms with boys will appreciate
• A place to organize our thoughts for our book

9:00 pm Gone through 3 x-large pizzas, sausage wantons, 5 2-liters, 28 plastic cups, 1 fruit tray, A LOT of doughnuts, lemon pound cake, cheese dip and a bag or tortillas, oreos cookies.......and the night is still young. They have settled into their xbox rhythm and the fighting has subsided.

Marc just beat us in Blurt because he has the loudest mouth and biggest bark!

Chris is heading to Starbucks for some coffee.

11:42 pm All the sweets are gone, boys begging for hot chocolate with candy canes but complaining that their stomachs hurt. XBox still going strong but boys are getting very tired and of course we've been ready for bed for about 3 hours......

13 minutes until we bang our pots and pans outside!!!! This will be a new thing for the Jackson boys!!

Good night and Have a Happy New Year!!!!

Cheri & Rachel