Daily Chatter: 1/30/13

I’ve been reading the book Loving the Little Years by Rachel Jankovic and it’s been a big encouragement to me to, well, love the little years. Rachel wrote it when she had five kids five and under and her perspective is very refreshing to me. It has been so good to be encouraged by someone who is still in the trenches of the little years, for whom the constant clamor that comes when you have little kids is very alive and real, not just a distant memory.

I need encouragement from older moms who have been there, done that, and learned the lesson; but occasionally the trite “you’ll miss these days” that older women utter when they see you in the checkout line at the grocery store trying to keep everyone from melting down is a little less than encouraging. I think God is gracious to allow us to forget the struggles and pain of the past. If we didn’t, I’m not sure that anyone would ever give birth more than once! But when we’re a few years removed from having little ones, we blissfully forget just how difficult it is to wake up five times every night and then try to be kind to your children the next day – repeating that cycle for years on end sometimes.

As the author writes, “This is not a tender reminiscence from someone who had children so long ago that she only remembers the sweet parts. At the time of writing this, I have three children in diapers, and I can recognize the sound of hundreds of toothpicks being dumped out in the hall. ”

Anyway, so if you are in need of good encouragement as a mom but often think “but you just don’t know what I’m going through!” when you read some books or hear some speakers, I think this would be a really good book to read. Get both perspectives – from the one who is where you’re at right now, and the one who can look back and tell you that these days will be over before you know it.

So much for “daily chatter” – this was a book review! :)