Confessions of a Stay-at-Home-Mommy

So much is going on in my mind and heart, while my days are filled with instructing, holding, feeding, cleaning, loving, playing with and nurturing my two sweet babies. 
All the while, I think back to a time not too long ago when all I dreamed of were days like today. I yearned for mornings that did not include the word "hurry," and I dreamed of what it would be like to not have to get my baby out in the freezing cold and not have to drop her off at "school" for ten hours a day. (And I'm sending extra hugs and prayers to all of those Mommies that had to do just that this morning.)
And here we are, ten months into this new adventure, and I'm already berating myself for not getting enough done during the day. 
This sounds familiar to me--yet so different. 
I had an immaculately clean desk. I had a color-coded desk calendar and post-its galore. I had my own space, and I had daily and weekly to-do lists that I ever-so-happily used my pretty pens to mark off tasks each afternoon. 
Now I have mental to-do lists, and if I ever get one down on paper, I'm lucky if it hasn't been chewed, torn to smithereens or misplaced. Furthermore, if I ever get anything marked off of it, I generally end up using a crayon to do so. 
In six hours, it will be exactly ten months since my roles changed. To say that there was a bit of an adjustment in my life is an understatement (or a litotes, for my former students). I didn't give myself nearly as much grace in the beginning as God gives me. It never occurred to me that it was okay for things to be messy at first or at all. 
In just a few short hours, I went from spending my days teaching rhetorical analysis to spending every minute talking about oxygen levels and touch times. Eight days later, every minute of my time was consumed with making sure I spent enough time with both of my girls and drank enough coffee to stay on my feet. :)
I'm still processing all of that, and I probably will be for quite some time, but I have had a few thoughts today. 
As I was working on a Doc McStuffins puzzle with my four-year-old while my almost ten-month old (gasp!) slept this afternoon, my mind wandered…
Will my cheeks really be flushed by the work I'm doing for the Kingdom, as I stand before Jesus? It's hard to pursue people when someone is always sick, and we can barely leave the house.
And then I was gently reminded that even on the messiest of days (and today was messy), parenting is Kingdom work. 
I might not have crossed anything off of my to-do list today, and let's be honest--I can't even find it, but I was productive in loving my children, and my baby learned to clap today, and this won't last forever.  I'll take my messy, crayon-covered, nothing-is-my-own kind of life, and I'll forever be thankful for being able to spend my days with my most precious gifts. 
"Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." -1Thessalonians 5:18