Sparkly Green Earrings

I finished Sparkly Green Earrings written by Melanie Shankle, aka, Big Mama. This book was hilarious, I laughed out loud constantly. Melanie is a natural born story teller and her stories are unpredicatble yet totally relateable. She jokes about motherhood yet ties every chapter back to God's word. I loved it so much I rationed myself on what I could read daily, I wanted to savor it over several days. I had to share this little section:

I think I'd been living under this illusion that I could give Caroline a perfect childhood. But perfect doesn't exsist in our world. I can give her love, I can give her laughter, I can instill values and morals in her, I can teach her about Jesus and how he loves her more than she knows, an I can hopefully give her more good memories than bad. And I can pick the nits out of her hair, one little larva at a time. But I can't give her perfection, because I'm fresh out. That's where the grace of God enters, and I exit quietly thorugh tthe back door, allowing Him to fill the gaps.

I know as a new mom I was/am filled with ambitions and hopes and plans to do everything for Knox, Justin and I want him to have the world. But,we are still human and we struggle and fail and fall- sometimes several times in a day. (Staring with the incredible baby book I WAS going to make.) It seems there is this current push to be this excellent awesome mom and do all of these things for your babies to perfection. These ideals come with guilt if you can't (and you can not) do it all. Sparkly Green Earrings is a gentle reminder, I can do my very best, but I can not do everything. I can love my God and my family and the Lord sees our hearts and fills in the spaces. Afterall, He is the perfect parent. For lots of laughs and lots of truth, check this book out.