Choices

I have long been a fan of Julie de Azevedo. Her soulful music inspires me. In fact, one of my first acts as a Mission President's wife was to introduce our missionaries to her song "Masterpiece." I played it for them at a zone conference and gave them a laminated copy of the words. That song never fails to inspire me to be a better person.

I recently discovered that she has a new CD out with some of my favorites of her songs, as well as some new ones which are quickly becoming favorites.

She is now not only a musician, but is also a licensed therapist and business owner.

She recently wrote a post on her blog entitled: "Confessions of a Multi-tasking Mama"

It fascinated me to compare and contrast her life with mine.

Here are some of the things Julie DOESN"T do and in bold under are my thoughts.

I don’t cook (unless you count heating up a Dream Dinner cooking). I value family dinner time but I don’t cook from scratch. I’d like to, but not enough to actually take the time to do it.

I'm with Julie on this one. I don't enjoy cooking. Now that I just feed My Dear Husband and sometimes Michael, it's a little easier. Less opinions.

I am not the room mother. I am the assistant room mother.

I don't think I was ever the room mother. My contribution was one holiday party per class, per kid each year. I am now practically giddy that all my children are out of the public school system.

I don’t attend every soccer, baseball, lacrosse, or basketball game, recital or school program. I attend “more often than not”.

I know I wasn't perfect at attending all of my children's event (don't even talk to Jenny about how I missed the 5th grade maturation program) but I'm sure I could say, with Julie, that I was there "more often than not."

I don’t make my kids breakfast before school. They have cold cereal or cinnamon toast every morning (unless its Sat. and my hubby makes waffles with ice cream).

Again, I'm with Julie on this one. The word "breakfast" was synonymous with "cereal" at our house. Food is definitely not my strong suit, but everybody always has clean clothes :)

I don’t have a clean, organized home. I generally know where to find most things, but home organization is not my strong suit. I don’t deep clean my home. I hire a cleaning crew twice a month.

I do have a clean and organized home. Although I still think it could be better, while having guilt for often placing more importance on the home than the people living in it. I am kind of proud of the fact that I still iron all my husband's clothes.

I don’t feel guilty having other people help take care of our kids. I have a part-time “home assistant” who keeps things moving when my husband and I are not home, and we have an amazingly supportive family.

I feel unbelievably grateful that I was able to be a stay-at-home mom to our six children. I did venture out and do a few part-time money makers once in a while. But even then I realized that I was happy just being at home with my kids.

Even though I take a detailed list of birthday gifts my children receive every year, it is the exception that we actually send out “thank you” notes.

I have always valued thank you notes. My parents taught me well. I think it's important to write and mail thank you notes.

I don’t work in the yard on a regular basis, much to my husband’s chagrin.

I do love to work in the yard. I don't think I always have, but now that I have a little more time I really love "playing in my dirt" and improving my little piece of God's green earth. It feels like a stewardship to me.

I don’t sacrifice sleep. I get at least 7 hours of sleep nightly and a 3-4 hour nap on Sundays.

When the kids were young I regularly stayed up until the wee hours to finish a project or just have alone time. Since serving our mission and being on the missionary 8 hours of sleep schedule, I have come to value sleep more. I don't do it often, but there is nothing more delicious than lovely nap.

I don’t separate my life into categories of mother/wife/work/music. It’s all one big amazing mess called “my life” and that big category encompasses all of the people and causes and activities I’m passionate about. My life is NOT perfect, but its pretty darn good. There are many sacrifices for trying to pull off as much as I do: my house and yard aren’t spotless, I’m often tired, and sometimes feel like I’m not doing well at anything. But for me it’s worth it to have a life overflowing with wonderful opportunities to love and help others during whatever time I have on the planet. I don’t want to do it all. I just want a lot of the things I care about.

No, a girl can’t have it all but she can have A LOT.

I agree with Julie; I have had A LOT, and I'm grateful.

Unlike Julie, I have never written a song ~ let alone albums of songs that she has written and performed that have inspired and enriched my life. I have, however, sung Primary songs as lullabyes to my children and grandchildren and loved every minute of it.

I don't have an advanced degree or own a business, but I have gone visiting teaching every month and I put my heart and soul into every church calling I have.

When I was under 40 I always planned and thought that I would have a career of some kind when all my kiddies were in school Maybe make some money doing the things I do well: organizing, designing or decorating homes. Maybe write a book or speak at BYU Education Week or Women's Conference. But, alas, none of that has happened. And I'm okay with that. There came a time when I consciously gave up on a career because I realized I was happier not being pulled in so many directions. Home, family and church were enough for me; and I've been richly blessed with a husband that provides so well for our family that I haven't needed to contribute in that way.

In the end, I think we all choose to spend our time and ourselves on the things we value most. And isn't it wonderful that we're all different?

It's all good!