Seasons of Puke and the Supermom Myth

The last twelve days in our home have been filled with 4 of my five children and my husband sick with a virus that they passed around.  My five year old son had it the worst throwing up 12 times in a 48 hour period; of those 12 times not one surge of queaziness made it in the toilet leaving a perpetual and nasty mess to continually clean up.  Even after symptoms of the virus had left our home, it left everyone feeling sluggish and drained of energy; myself included.  Good times.

Anyhow, whilst all of this was taking place everything in the home got further and further behind.  I tried to stay on top of it all but there was just SO MUCH.  Laundry (washing, drying, folding, ironing, and putting clothes away) for seven piles up fast; especially when you add towels and sheets to the loads too.  Combined with the cumulating daily dishes, preparing meals, house chores, caring for the pets, oh! and lest we not forget the hubby going out of town for work on the tail end of all this awesomeness when my exhaustion is at its height.  The mounds of stuff and the to-do lists piled higher and faster than my determination to conquer them could keep up.  I began to feel defeated among it all.  .....We survived.  And on the last night of the last sick kiddo to have symptoms, my 9 year old son came up to me and hugged me as I was getting them all ready for bed.  And as he did he said, "What would we do without you?  Thank you for all you do for us, Mom."

This struck me.  I have heard many women refer to me as "an amazing woman," and "Supermom."  I have had people tell me, "My!  You must have your hands full," or "How do you do it all?"  and, "I admire you but you are crazy! How do you keep up with laundry, food, home schooling, boundaries, sanity, camping, kids, husband, and the list continues.....??"  But I will tell you, in the moment my son said those breathtakingly sweet words that any mom would swoon upon hearing, I was struck by a revelation of what I have always been aware of intellectually but had never had it impact me in such a tangible way as in had during our season of puke; and that is: what would I do without my family?!  My amazingly wonderful hard working children!  They do SO MUCH of the brunt work around here.  THEY keep this house running!  They do the wash and drying of the laundry, they do the dishes, and the cleaning of the home, they mow the yard, they take out the trash, they help with meals, and they virtually school themselves.  They are a huge help me!  And then there is my husband, I am amazed everyday how he can leave the stresses and worries of work or ministry at our door step and the moment he enters through our front door he lovingly serves.  He helps with dinner, dishes, bathing the kids, leading the Bible reading and books with the kids and even most days spends some "couch time" with me to catch up on each other. Truth is, I don't do a lot.  I couldn't.  This "Supermom" personae that I have been labeled with by some have not been here to see the inner workings of my home to know how vastly incorrect that title is.  The saying, 'behind every great man is a great woman' could not be further from the truth.  For behind every great woman is her family and leading that family is the Lord God doing His work in their lives!  We are a team, we are a unit, we all work together because we are all a family!  And we all do our part, each individual being responsible for themselves as well as "being their brothers keeper," "loving other more than themselves" because we desire to bring glory to our heavenly Father. So when my son spoke those sweet tender words of thankfulness to me, I ended the evening thanking my boys for ALL that THEY do!  I told them how I could not run this house without their help.  I explained that I could if all of them went to school everyday but because we homeschool and they are home 24/7 it just wouldn't happen without their help!  My children laid their heads on their pillows that evening and we all thanked God, together, for giving us each other- our family!