When Motherhood is Hard (+ some exciting things happening this week!)

Pictures from camping and answering a question [image]( Hi, friend! Mother’s Day isn’t always flowers and chocolate and handmade cards. For many women, it’s a hard reminder of something that isn’t, something that once was, or something that might never be. Maybe you’ve lost a child. Maybe you’re estranged from your mom. Maybe your child has a life-threatening disease. Maybe you’ve lost your mother. Maybe you’re single and longing for marriage and motherhood. Maybe that adoption you thought was going to go through didn’t. Maybe you never really had a mother figure in your life. Maybe you’re desperately longing for a child and struggling with infertility. Maybe you are estranged from your grown child. There are many, many reasons why today might be painful for you. I don’t know your exact circumstances or the burdens you are carrying today. But if Mother’s Day is hard for you, I want you to know this: You are not alone. I can’t be there physically to hug you and pray with you like I wish I could, but I want you to know that I care about you and others in this community here do, too. You are loved. You are not alone. You are not forgotten. [image](=) I recorded [a special Mother’s Day episode of my podcast a few weeks back with Katie Faris, the author of the book God Is Still Good: Gospel Hope and Comfort for the Unexpected Sorrows of Motherhood.]( Katie has walked through really devastating times as a mom: miscarriage and three of her children being diagnosed with a genetic condition that has caused many difficult health struggles and will impact her kids for the rest of their lives. In this episode, she shares more of her story and how she has clung to God and relied upon Him during the hard and dark seasons. I appreciated her honesty and vulnerability, but also her empathy and compassion. If you’re walking through a really difficult season related to motherhood or if Mother’s Day is really hard for you, I think this episode will encourage your heart. [LISTEN TO THE EPISODE HERE.]( [image] Our Camping Trip We went camping as a family two weekends ago. I say "camping" but some would disagree that's what it was since we rented an RV. But with three young children + three teenagers, sleeping in an RV felt like a nice compromise. Plus, we didn't have to worry about waking up those around us with children who were making noise at night or in the morning! We ended up sleeping better in the RV than we usually do at home! I think the kids were so tired that they just didn't have energy to tag team on waking up a few times in the night like they often do. :) [Actually, Micah is finally sleeping SO much better than he did in the early months and is usually only waking up twice a night now to nurse. And David has been sleeping better, too! So for the most part, I'm slowly starting to sleep in larger chunks of time again and my body is so confused!! :)] [image](=) Answering Your Questions Every Saturday, [on Instagram](=), I put up a question box and answer 5-12 questions in my Instagram stories. There are always many more questions than I have space and time to answer, so I thought it'd be fun to answer a few that I didn't get to in my weekly newsletter. Question: My biggest problem is finding a good balance between working out, pursing other hobbies, and taking care of my home and my faith walk. I feel like i’m only ever good at one, while the rest suck. Any advice? Have you read about my 6x2 Priority system where I have six priority areas but I just focus on two per day? It might encourage you! Check out my book, [The Time-Saving Mom](), for more details on it (your library should have it). But in a nutshell: what about just focusing on two per day? So one day, do a quick workout and read your Bible for 5 minutes and then listen to worship music while you work on a hobby and prioritize your home. The next day, do a longer workout and spend more time in God's Word and then skip the hobby and only do a quick maintenance of your home. And then repeat this. [image] I loved this message on I got on Instagram this week (see above)! Such a reminder that the little moments really do add up! It reminds me of how I wrote [The Time-Saving Mom]( -- often in 5 and 15-minute increments -- because that's what I had! Don't discount the power of small minutes! Looking Ahead to This Week We have a Senior Dinner put on by our church on Monday night. We each are supposed to write a letter to our senior to read in front of everyone. It should be a really special evening. Thursday evening we are planning to (finally!) celebrate Silas' birthday as a family. He wanted to go to TopGolf and it was the only night I could come up with that would work for all the schedules to align and no one would need to be studying for exams! Thursday is Kathrynne's very last day of high school -- she just has three exams this week and her last exam is Thursday. There's an awards ceremony on Friday and a special year-end celebration with the school on Friday night and then all the seniors leave for their senior trip. It's a special time for the seniors to each call out the qualities in each other, speak words of life to one another, reconcile any differences they've had during high school, and end the year well. I'm excited for her to get this opportunity -- and then the 27th is her graduation! We have a lot of family coming in town and special things happening for that, but I'll tell you about that in next week's email newsletter! Friday night -- after the year-end celebration -- we're leaving to head to Alabama for Silas' first baseball tournament for travel ball this season. We're so excited for travel ball to be gearing up and it looks like we'll be spending a lot of time in Alabama this summer! Stay tuned for all the details on how our week goes down[by following along on Instagram stories](. I'll be sharing a day in my life on Friday, like usual, so be sure to tune in for that! Have a wonderful week! -Crystal P.S. Last chance to get this hot deal on my book, [The Time-Saving Mom](! Just $12.19 + free shipping! [Get it here!]( [Privacy Policy]( [Unsubscribe]( Money Saving Mom, LLC 2020 Fieldstone Parkway, Ste. 900 #313 Franklin, Tennessee 37069 United States