To The Mom Who's Falling Behind

I see you, mama. With your uncombed hair, eyes tired from a night of broken sleep. Maybe you've got that first trimester fatigue that won't go away, or the beginnings of a cold that you know is coming on because you just can't get enough rest at night to stay healthy.

Your laundry pile keeps multiplying and it's never going to get folded and put away because the moment you *do* fold it, somebody's going to come along and dump it before it makes it to the dresser.

Your dishes stack up in the sink and you wash them but then the darned water backs up again and there's no money for the plumber and you can't get the dishes cleaned in a sink full of dirty water.

You've finally cleaned up from breakfast and it's time for lunch. Those kids just keep needing to eat!

And did the baby seriously poop again?

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to make it to daily Mass? Or have a little quiet time for prayer? But you try waking up before the kids and they just wake up earlier. That treasured quiet time is now full of noise and demands because they need breakfast now. And that daily Mass always seems like such a good idea until you're dragging your screaming children out of the church one by one, walking the walk of shame to retrieve your purse and the one child who can stay quiet in the pew.

Other moms can do it all - why not you?

Well, aside from the fact that most other moms *aren't* doing it all... This might just not be a season in life where you can get all those things you so desperately crave - the clean house, well-behaved children, perfectly attentive Mass, uninterrupted prayer time.

And that's okay.

Take comfort from the Saints - they know how it is. Frances of Rome is a particular favorite of mine:

So make that laundry, those dishes, that vacuuming into a prayer - you may not be kneeling in your favorite adoration chapel, but you're serving Him in your way. And He's right there with you.