Sure. She’s cute enough…

This is Selah on drugs no sleep.

This is Selah sleeping. the ONE night she fell asleep without mommy holding her (or screaming/crying herself to sleep) in the last two months.

This is Selah sleeping with her sibs for a sleep over. in her own room. we were hoping the other two wee babs sleeping beside her would minimize the screaming.  it helped a little.

This is Selah sleeping at nap time. this is after she would not stay in her bed and go to sleep. so i put her in the pack-n-play. she screamed for over 30 minutes and finally passed out. she now knows how to climb out of the pack-n-play.  

This is Selah sleeping at bedtime. on the floor. in her room. in the living room. in the hallway. 

anywhere but her bed.

She is a stubborn child. 

A few weeks ago, we had an exceptionally eventful day…  it all went down at nap time. she would not go to sleep. then she and her brother started playing together. i knew she had a stinky diaper and i was getting ready to change it when she took out all of the crayons and started dumping them all. over. the. kitchen. floor. so we mostly mommy began picking them up and in the meantime, she and her brother start play fighting. she is now lying on the floor of the kitchen. and so is her poop.

Before bedtime, I called Grammy (my mom) to chat while the kids were watching a cartoon. don’t worry. i’m not one of “those” moms who let their kids watch t.v. all day long. well, maybe somedays.  as soon as i got on the phone, Selah decided to begin “potty training”. she went into the bathroom, sat on the “big one” and said “pee pee”, got off the toilet, flushed the toilet and washed her hands. she did this four times in a row.  before she could waste water flushing the toilet for a fifth time, i locked the bathroom door to keep her out.  she screamed and cried.

I said, “Hold on, Mom” about 50 times to deal with selah’s potty antics during our conversation. then i had a bright idea. “Selah, do you want to put on underwear?”  She was so excited and ran into the living room to show her sibs her undies.

Sure, there are days when i feel like i’m going to lose my mind… again. there are days i wish P.A. and I didn’t produce such stubborn children who fight sleep and poop on the floor. but we are not poop snobs.

There is peace amidst the poop.

When I am weak ~ like every single day of my life ~ God is strong.

I can’t do this anymore crossed my mind several times that day a few weeks ago, and still crosses my mind when the bedtime battles begin. some might think it’s no big deal, you’re just a mom. can’t you just take a nap the next day? your not the CEO of a large company, the head chef of a posh NYC restaurant or a General fighting in a war.

Nope. I’m not. But I AM the CEO of our household. The head CHEF of our kitchen. And a General in the spiritual war that wages around our family. 

As mom, often I set the spiritual temperature in our home.  Much of the time, the peace in our home depends on me.  I must be connected to the Peace-Giver, or the stress levels at home can sky rocket.

Stress levels and the stress triggers for human beings depends on who you are and your circumstances.  These past few months I have come to the end of myself several times. my “handling things well”. my “having it all together” went out the window.  but that’s okay. Regardless of our circumstances or who we are. Peace is Possible.

My job is to stay close to Him. Matthew 11:28-30.


How is the Spiritual Temperature in your home? What can you do to change it?