Real Mommies Do Exist

Even though motherhood is like a wonderful box of chocolates packaged in a nice little bow, it can also be a mess.  Of course there are days when my little posse and I hit the town in matching outfits and have a fun little lunch date at our favorite Chinese restaurant.  These days create those perfect memories of motherhood.  But then there are those days when one child vomits all over the place, the other child wets the bed, and the Mommy has a complete meltdown because she's only had 2 hours of sleep.  This is the picture of motherhood that so many of us moms try to hide.  Surely you've seen these blog pages where women only post the beautiful pics of their home and children.  Trust me, they're hiding the truth--those "other" days are not making it into their blogs.

I think it's good when Moms are willing to share their real life experiences.  Unfortunately, too often we're only willing to share the stories that give us the image of the "perfect mother."  But let's be clear, there is no such thing as the perfect mother.  And other people do benefit when they hear that we struggle just as much as they do. 

For that very reason, I have to thank Susanna Foth Aughtmon for writing All I Need is Jesus & A Good Pair of Jeans: The Tired Supergirl's Search for Grace.  I must admit that I thought the title of this book was kind of sacrilegious and I almost didn't read it. But I'm actually glad I did.  In her book, Mrs. Aughtmon shares real life stories of her spiritual and physical struggles as a woman trying to live her life to the glory of God.  In each chapter she shares a vividly funny story about a struggle in her life, and then she proceeds to share a passage in Scripture that directly addresses her issues.  As a not-so-perfect mother myself, I appreciated her honesty in the book, but I also appreciated her discussion of each convicting Bible passage that is absolutely relevant to my life as well.  Forget the Chicken Soup--this book is like Red Bull for the Mommy's Soul.  Thanks Mommy Aughtmon! For more information on her books, you can visit her blog at http://tiredsupergirl.blogspot.com/ or click on the link under the blogs that I follow.

So whatever you're doing today, take heart in knowing that there are other moms out there who are dealing with snot and sniffles, crazy work schedules, cleaning up after puppies, explaining to their children that they will NOT be resuming their work-out routines until March (my son is ticked that I haven't been working out lately), and baking frozen pizza for dinner.  Yes, real moms exist--and we're not all baking elegant Valentine's Day cookies on a sunny day in February.  Instead, we're doing our best to fulfill our Mommy duties as we walk in the grace of our Lord and Savior.