I have been thinking about doing this series for quite sometime, I got the idea from my friend Simply Rebekah who hosts a similar series in the beginning of the year where you take pictures of your day, hour by hour.
For this series each week of August, I invite you to take a sneak peak into a few moms’ lives and then on August 29th, I hope you’ll join us by linking up “A Day in the Life” of a fill in the blank post about you & your season of life! Today please meet Jenna… aka the Healthy Mom!
Written by Jenna, Contributing Writer
Hi! I’m Jenna. I am 38, wife to Brian and mom to four boys whose ages range from 13 down to 2… Noah, Sam, Ethan and Solomon.
I feel like this season of my life has many angles to it. With the ages of our boys all over the map, some days I’m wiping a little bottom and failing at potty training… other days, I’m dealing with a little teenage moodiness. But I love it all regardless!
This summer has been our ‘chill season’. Last year I purposefully scheduled many outings and we truly enjoyed them all. But this year, I’m chillin’. I didn’t even sign up for the reading program at the library. Yea, I’m that bad! And because the weather has been so hot and humid where we live, we are staying indoors quite a bit and just enjoying being at home.
But through the school year, my days are a tad more rigid. I have more responsibilities and there are five men/boys depending on me to make things run smoothly.
My main priority as a wife and mother is, besides the spiritual growth of raising children and loving on my husband, is feeding my family healthy. It has been a journey because I didn’t start out healthy. Not until my son was sick, did I even think twice about cooking or buying healthy foods.
I feel it is part of my love language to my family.
The food I prepare for my family is an extension of my love for them, in a way. So my day tends to revolve around… FOOD!
After the commotion of getting everyone off to school and work, I like to relax with my 2-year old. We love reading books, cuddling and just talking and laughing with each other. I also use this time to enjoy my coffee and reading the Bible. I’m not perfect. There are days and weeks I skip this time with the Lord, but I’m thankful for God’s grace.
I am blessed God has me at home in this season of my life.
My husband works from home so I am fortunate to see him a few times throughout the day. He is a web and magazine editor for a Christian company and I truly love having him home with us. He is very busy so I don’t see him a lot, but we have made lunchtime our daily date time!
Since my husband works from home, I am blessed to be able to run errands while my toddler is napping. I consider this a huge blessing because it gives me a little time to myself and yet, I can finish things quickly and not be frazzled while trying to keep a toddler entertained. If I don’t have to run errands, I usually blog, get dinner going or clean.
During the school year, I am also involved in a Bible study with some other women. It has been a great time of growth and encouragement for me. I need those gentle nudges from friends that help keep my heart and mind in check with what the Lord would want from me.
I am so thankful for godly friendships.
One thing I try to do before the boys get home from school is have a healthy snack ready for them. They are usually hungry and tired and when they get something right away that I have prepared, there are usually no arguments for other things and everyone is happy.
We usually eat dinner around 6:00 when Dad comes up from work. My husband and I, as parents, have committed to not being over-committed with activities outside the home. Sports and other things are great and our boys are involved in some sports, but our focus while they are young is their hearts.
My husband ends the day with devotions in one of the boys’ bedroom. He generally just reads a short passage in the Bible and we all share what it means in our lives. We do prayer requests and pray. Nothing fancy, but it is a priority and I love to see how our boys are growing in their faith as we are allchallenged by God’s Word through this time.
Our family’s prayer and mission would be…
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love him with all your mind. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. –Matt. 22:36
What does your day look like? Hope you’ll join this month and link up your day on August 29th!
About Rachel
I love you Jenna! You are awesome in most every way. I especially love healthy food = I feel it is part of my love language to my family. You’re living and making a great life!!!
Thanks, Carla… Love you too!!!!
We are taking it easy this summer, too. I kept seeing everybody’s “bucket lists” for the summer and thought about doing one… then I decided I just wanted to relax. That was my bucket list, lol.
That is nice to hear that we weren’t alone, Anne 🙂 I have actually liked being lazy this summer. No regrets here!!