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After church Sunday, we drove down to Orlando for a little getaway vacation. We've been planning this for a few months now, and were really looking forward to the time away just to rest. And thanks to some great friends, we saved a ton of money on a Disney resort and got a free pass to a theme park of our choice!

We woke up bright and early this morning and headed to Disney's Animal Kingdom. We decided on this park for two reasons - 1) Micah absolutely LOVES animals and 2) There is lots to do for small children and pregnant women. Magic Kingdom is great and we look forward to taking Micah there one day - but honestly, at this age he knows more about animals than Mickey Mouse! We will come back one day when he's older and can remember it (and bring his little sister too!)

It was such a fun day! The Festival of the Lion King show was probably my favorite! I just enjoyed watching Micah captivated by all the singers and dancers. He enjoyed it so much, he fell asleep! Haha! That's when you know it's good - he almost always falls asleep to good music. ;)

Vacations are different as a parent. Especially going to theme parks. There are naps that need to be taken, another mouth to feed, rides that need to be avoided, not to mention a bulky stroller to push around. The list goes on. And you would think that the extra responsibility or hindrance, in some cases, would be a cause of discontentment. But in fact, it's the opposite - I couldn't be more excited about having our little boy with us!

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There is just something about seeing the magic through a child's eyes. I think Josh and I stared at Micah more than we did anything else! The exciting thing is that he is still young and it will only get better as he gets older and understands more of what is going on around him. Every day is like a new adventure waiting to be explored.

When I think about it, I have a lot to learn from him.

I have life experiences, expectations and stereotypes in front of me every day. My discontentment a lot of times is relative to one of these three things. Either it was better in the past, I expected it to be more or it's known to be bad anyway. 

But Micah has none of that. He just sees. He takes every moment in and enjoys what is in front of him.

How different would my life be if I lived this way? And more importantly, if I loved people this way?

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I want to be more like my son, Micah. One of the cutest things he does right now is wave at anyone who comes within five feet of him. And I mean, anyone. Sometimes they don't see his little hand sticking out and don't wave back. But he's not phased. He goes right on looking for someone else to wave to! I'll be sad to see the day he first experiences rejection. I wish he never would.

Going to Disney today with my child for the first time, was probably one of the most content days I've spent at a theme park ever. Why? Because he was content. And living vicariously through him meant we had no other choice but to be content too.

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This post is part of a series I’m writing for the month of October entitled “31 Days of Being Content.”  See all other posts in this series by clicking here. Or enter your email address in the sidebar on the right to subscribe to this blog and receive posts straight to your inbox!

I made a commitment to blog for 31 days and I will stick to it. But, I want to go ahead and give you guys a heads up about this weekend. Our student ministry has a huge event every year called Decrease. If you know anything about student ministry, it's basically a modern Disciple Now weekend where students break up into small groups and stay at host homes and then meet together every night for worship. Also, there's a mega relay involved where kids get coated with flour and water (but, shhh... we don't tell them that beforehand). I'll be leading worship with the band for the next three days and hanging out with the students the rest of the time. This year we have about 300 students signed up to attend! So you can bet it will be a jam packed weekend, with lots of relationship building and spiritual growth. I. CAN'T. WAIT.

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So... what am I discontent about today? The fact that I don't have enough time in a day to do everything that needs to get done.

And can I admit something real quick? Since I'm a "stay-at-home" mom, sometimes I feel like I don't have the right to say that.

Like saying, "I'm busy" to a mom who works 40 hours a week, seems insulting almost. But at the same time... I desperately mean it.

Take today, for instance. Here was my schedule:

7:30am - Wake up (Micah let me sleep in an extra 30 minutes!)8:00am - Eat breakfast8:30am - Turn on "The Cat in the Hat" for Micah, while I sit on the couch and read my devotional for the day.9:00am - Play on the floor with Micah/wear him out good for his nap/wait for signs of tiredness9:30am - Put Micah down for a nap10:00am - Clean up the kitchen/living room (unless I woke up before 6:30am that morning, then I'm totally taking a nap!) Today, I cleaned. We have a guest staying with us tonight, so I crammed in some extra chores on top of my daily routine. 11:00am - Get showered/dressed for the day11:30am - Micah wakes up (sometimes he wakes up before I have a chance to get ready, which in turn means sometimes I miss my shower) Because of the extra time spent cleaning, today he woke up before I showered, but I HAD to get one - so he spent time in his pack 'n play aka "baby jail."12:00pm - Lunch (sometimes Josh comes home, sometimes we go out, sometimes I have lunch with a friend) Today, Josh came home. :) **This is where the schedule changes daily. But most days, besides Mondays and Fridays, are jam-packed just like this.** 1:00pm - Drove Josh back up to the church. We basically share one car, unless it's for short trips. Josh has a jeep wrangler that needs a new top. Today he needed the car to drive an hour to the Orlando airport at 3:00pm and I needed to teach guitar lessons up at the church at 3:30pm, so me and Micah had to go ahead up there early. 1:30-3:30pm - Spent time in the office helping prepare for Decrease and letting Micah play a little while in the 1 year old room (see picture above!)3:30pm - 5:00pm - Guitar lessons (During this time, Micah was being watched by one of Josh's interns and took about a 30 minute nap)5:00pm - Got a ride home from one of our friends/neighbors, who also works at the church. 5:30pm - Realized I didn't have a key to my house and spent a few minutes calling around and then got the bright idea to call my landlord and find out what the garage code was!5:45pm - Prepare/eat dinner with Micah6:30pm - Finished getting a few things ready around the house for our guest, while Micah played in the living room. 7:00pm - Gave Micah a bath7:30pm - Put Micah to bed8:00pm - Whew! I finally get a chance to sit down and breathe, oh let me let our dog Heidi out real quick... (insert some-what-contained-because-baby-is-sleeping high pitched scream) A FROG!!! Spend the next 20 minutes chasing a frog around the house with a cup trying to capture the wicked thing. Finally trap it. Refuse to pick it up myself and leave it there until Josh gets home. 9:00pm - Welcome home, Josh (and friend!) Spend time eating cheesecake and chatting with them until... well, 30 minutes ago. 

Here I am and it's almost midnight. I wish that I had more time in the day.

Today is all about recognizing the fact that being a "stay-at-home" mom doesn't make me any less busy. And feeling the need to refrain from sharing with others that... "hey, I'm swamped today!" because of fear that my busy doesn't look the same as someone else's busy, is just plain ridiculous.

But I let it burden me. I answer the question, "Do you just stay at home with Micah?" with a smile and a shy, "Yes." When I just want to scream, "It's more than JUST STAYING HOME!"

And so today, I let go of that. I'm going to proudly wear my "stay-at-home" mom title with joy. And not feel obligated to volunteer for everything, because I must, "have the time." No, sweet friend, I don't have the time today. I'm busy raising a wild, crazy, free-spirited, fun-loving, future-man.

And I am perfectly... content.

This post is part of a series I’m writing for the month of October entitled “31 Days of Being Content.”  See all other posts in this series by clicking here. Or enter your email address in the sidebar on the right to subscribe to this blog and receive posts straight to your inbox!

What do you see when you look at this picture?

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Smiling faces? An adorable little boy? Toys scattered across the floor?

Well, let me tell you what I see... ugly carpet. (And my hair is looking a hot mess too, but that's a whole other blog post). 

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We moved from Alabama to Florida a year and half ago and said goodbye to our cute, bungalow home with nice laminate and tile flooring. I didn't realize how much I took for granted that little house, until I was placed in a much larger one with carpet everywhere. And before you think I'm just some superficial, shabby-chic wannabe that must have the latest and greatest (which, I won't completely deny that I sometimes wish that were the case), have I mentioned we have a 70 lb golden/lab retriever that sheds like cray-cray? And a baby that throws slices of bananas, apples and blueberries all over the floor? You see my problem.

This may sound silly to some of you, but this carpet has been a major source of discontentment in my life. And I'm not even joking.

I stare at it in fury. I sit there and try to imagine ways to make it look cleaner, nicer... and what shade of horrible beige is it anyway? I have honestly gotten to the point in which I am so discontent with my carpet, that when I see a photo of someone else's home... the first thing I notice is their flooring. And is it just me, or does everyone have beautiful, stained hardwood floors these days?

So why don't you do something about it?  You may be wondering to yourself.

Well, the problem is we're renting. And until we sell our home in Dothan, AL (which, p.s. if anyone would like to buy, contact me here) we can't afford to buy another one. We love the location, space and layout of our home, so we don't really want to move either.

Discontent.

And with another baby on the way, the image of baby spit, dog hair and banana slices mixed together in the deep crevices of my carpet makes me want to gag. I vacuum and still feel like it's dirty. We've even rented one of those professional carpet cleaners for special occasions (the picture above was actually taken after one of those, believe it or not) and yet, nothing seems to make it any better.

Discontent.

My husband reminds me of how childish this all sounds. But hey, it's the truth. And I told you it may be a little messy on here this month (not as messy as my carpet though).

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But honestly, he's right. This is childish. The fact that I allow something as trivial as flooring to dictate the state of my heart is a sad, sad thing. And yet, I think we do it all the time. If it's not the color of our carpet, it's the size of our home, or the decor in the living room, or the appliances in the kitchen. And we don't stop there - we want trendier clothes and better hair and anything that makes us appear like we have it all together.

Go back to the first picture - notice the smiles, the clapping. A happy moment had just taken place - Micah stood up on his own at his 1st birthday party for all his guests to see! Instead of seeing the joy in that photo, I was quick to pinpoint the negative.

I was blessed to discover a blogger who is writing on this very same topic for the 31 Day challenge and she made a great point about gratitude: "I want to slay my dissatisfaction and discontent with the sword that is gratitude, so that I can make a way for a heart full of thanksgiving and gratefulness to God for His generosity to me. I don’t know who said it first, but that commonly heard quip that “gratitude turns what we have into enough” is proving to be true in my heart and home." - Sarah Sandel

I want my heart to be so full of gratitude for what I have, that I don't even have time to think about being discontent.

Contentment starts when I begin to see things for what they are worth, instead of what they are lacking. In this case, our house was so packed that some of our guests ended up having to sit on the floor to watch Micah open his gifts. And the very thing I detested, ended up being more comfortable than a hard wood floor would have ever been.

And to end this story with some good news - our landlord actually agreed to replace the entire flooring in the kitchen and living area for us. He came over today to take measurements and let us know that it would be considered an "upkeep" on the house and would not cost us anything.

It's funny, but I'm going to miss that carpet. It's where my baby learned to roll over, crawl and take his first steps, where his daddy wrestles him to the ground and chases him across the living room on hands and knees. Those moments will be different when it's gone. And it's when I begin to see it's worth, that I really find myself... content.

This post is part of a series I’m writing for the month of October entitled “31 Days of Being Content.”  See all other posts in this series by clicking here. Or enter your email address in the sidebar on the right to subscribe to this blog and receive posts straight to your inbox!