Just Picture Dirty Underwear

After posting my fun Pinteresty project this week I realized what it might look like.
What misconceptions may follow.
The appearances of a life you wish you had (Don't be jealous of the always-begging-for-food-six-year-old or the 3-year-old-who-thought-he-ruled-the-house, or the ever present six-year-old-girl-drama.  I KNOW you just want to dive into my shoes reading this, ha!).

Because I KNOW that appearances (especially on the internet, because the internet lacks context much of the time) can be a beast.

You typically see a clean home around here.  I am a perfectionist to a fault and am working very hard on loosening up the reigns in this area for the sake of the entire Colony.

And I do cook every night (not necessarily because I'm super mom, but would YOU want to be at a restaurant with this crazy Colony on an evening when you are getting away from YOUR crazy Colony to enjoy a quiet dinner?  I think not!  Don't you remember how they acted at the wedding?!)

Anyway, I realized that posting fun projects could make others feel inferior, or give a sense of not-good-enough, or make you envy my life because I had the time, money/resources to do said project, or simply compared to me you are a failure as a mom or wife.  And these thoughts all stemmed from one project that I began and actually completed, and then shared (with the intent on inspiring you to see that you can make something beautiful all by yourself, with much of what you already have around your home).

Those are just a few things that, hypothetically of course, have passed through my mind after seeing a friend unfold a beautiful creation (like reupholstered chairs) or completed an amazing feat (like a triathlon).  The feelings of inadequacy can rise so quickly that it can become very difficult to bring them back into submission.

SO...FOR THE RECORD...

I thought I'd share what the rest of my life was like while I admittedly got carried away into the land of happy pinteresting.

My house was left with much to be desired.  I didn't clean an inch of my house all week.

We had piles of toys stacked up in every room of the house that I neglected to find homes for each night because I was too tired to do clean-up time with the kids.

The stack of mail and bills grew overwhelmingly high on top of my desk.

The chicken coop cleanup was WAY overdue (as I'm sure Ed and Lois, our neighbors, could tell you as they sat on their porch, downwind).

The garden took a seat on the back burner and my cucumber plants even died out.  (that was a sad day:(

The laundry took 2 entire days to catch up on and the kids were left to rummage through clean laundry piles to find an outfit for the next day. We had dirty underwear piled up in the boys room for days!  Actually, this one isn't that unfamiliar, ha!

Jude memorized the entire first season of Daniel Tiger. *gasp*

And the cooking.  Well if it had more than 3 ingredients and took more than 15-20 minutes prep, it was not made this particular week!

I really could go on about the embarrassing state of the Colony household and food intake that week. And maybe the lack of parenting that occurred in my distracted state.  But honestly, it is all part of the fun, right?!  We let everything go to dive headfirst into something, hanging on for dear life until it is complete.  And then pick back up where we left off as we resume our normal schedules and routines (which may take a while depending on how long the project lasted).

All this to say, I don't know too many people who can do it all!
We don't have the capacity to do it all.
Because then we wouldn't have any reason to rely on God and his power and grace to get us through.
(and I'm not just talking about completing Pinterest projects here!)

So, next time you see someone with the "perfect" ANYthing on the internet, remember that you don't have the full context of their beautiful life and that they are in need of the Savior and his grace, just as much as you are.  (And it doesn't hurt to mentally picture their seemingly perfect lives with dirty underwear piled up in the corner just to help solidify this reality:)