Yesterday, I made a discovery about homemaking and motherhood... and maybe just this stage of life in general. In order to accomplish anything, I need to surrender.
Yes, I need to surrender the task to God... but, also, I really need to surrender the state of the house, the timeline for achieving it, and even the animals and baby, to accomplish the project at hand.
Yesterday, in addition to a few others chores, I accomplished three big goals -- Tracey Ann was cared for, my workout was done, and I made applesauce.
Yesterday, I did a nice spot-cleaning of the kitchen, and took the entire day to make applesauce. I was a project that started and stopped throughout the day depending on the needs of Tracey Ann. In the end, I only completed half the applesauce project -- I made the applesauce... I still have to can the applesauce. Also, I had to surrender my kitchen, and my dining room table, to the applesauce project, but applesauce was made.
In the past, when I would make something like applesauce, I would clean the kitchen first, then set up a system for washing, cutting , coring, and cooking the apples. Then, I would keep an on-going pot of apples cooking on the stove for hours until all the apples were cooked, and batch by batch I'd transfer the cooked apples to my applesauce maker. As applesauce was made, I would fill mason jars so that jars were ready to go in the pressure cooker to be canned. As different parts of the project were completed, I would do the dishes and clean the kitchen again. It might take several loads of running the dishwasher, and several sinks full of soapy water, but dishes would all be washed as I was finished with them. The entire project would take several hours, and much of the day, but, at the end of the day, I would have batches of canned applesauce, and a clean kitchen.
With my baby girl, there is a new normal for this kind of big project. Just cutting and coring the apples took several hours, and had to be accomplished in several attempts. Cooking the apples and making applesauce took another few hours and several attempts. Canning has not even begun, and, at the end of the day, I did not have a clean kitchen. Tracey Ann played in her jumper during one time when I was cooking apples and making applesauce. Another time, she was eating her dinner while she was watching me turn the crank on the applesauce. Usually she goes right from her highchair after dinner into a bath tub... but not last night. Last night, I was ALMOST done with the last batch of cooked apples and I just needed to crank it into applesauce, but Tracey Ann was DONE with dinner and wanted to be let down from the highchair. Well, she got a nice little playtime after dinner crawling around on the floor of the dining room, and under our kitchen table with blueberry-stained hands (even though I had washed them off), and remains of her dinner in her hair.
In order to accomplish making applesauce, other things must be surrendered -- the state of the kitchen, the routine of the baby, the previous timeline for making the applesauce, and more.
I surrender... and I made applesauce.
Yes, I need to surrender the task to God... but, also, I really need to surrender the state of the house, the timeline for achieving it, and even the animals and baby, to accomplish the project at hand.
Yesterday, in addition to a few others chores, I accomplished three big goals -- Tracey Ann was cared for, my workout was done, and I made applesauce.
Yesterday, I did a nice spot-cleaning of the kitchen, and took the entire day to make applesauce. I was a project that started and stopped throughout the day depending on the needs of Tracey Ann. In the end, I only completed half the applesauce project -- I made the applesauce... I still have to can the applesauce. Also, I had to surrender my kitchen, and my dining room table, to the applesauce project, but applesauce was made.
In the past, when I would make something like applesauce, I would clean the kitchen first, then set up a system for washing, cutting , coring, and cooking the apples. Then, I would keep an on-going pot of apples cooking on the stove for hours until all the apples were cooked, and batch by batch I'd transfer the cooked apples to my applesauce maker. As applesauce was made, I would fill mason jars so that jars were ready to go in the pressure cooker to be canned. As different parts of the project were completed, I would do the dishes and clean the kitchen again. It might take several loads of running the dishwasher, and several sinks full of soapy water, but dishes would all be washed as I was finished with them. The entire project would take several hours, and much of the day, but, at the end of the day, I would have batches of canned applesauce, and a clean kitchen.
With my baby girl, there is a new normal for this kind of big project. Just cutting and coring the apples took several hours, and had to be accomplished in several attempts. Cooking the apples and making applesauce took another few hours and several attempts. Canning has not even begun, and, at the end of the day, I did not have a clean kitchen. Tracey Ann played in her jumper during one time when I was cooking apples and making applesauce. Another time, she was eating her dinner while she was watching me turn the crank on the applesauce. Usually she goes right from her highchair after dinner into a bath tub... but not last night. Last night, I was ALMOST done with the last batch of cooked apples and I just needed to crank it into applesauce, but Tracey Ann was DONE with dinner and wanted to be let down from the highchair. Well, she got a nice little playtime after dinner crawling around on the floor of the dining room, and under our kitchen table with blueberry-stained hands (even though I had washed them off), and remains of her dinner in her hair.
In order to accomplish making applesauce, other things must be surrendered -- the state of the kitchen, the routine of the baby, the previous timeline for making the applesauce, and more.
I surrender... and I made applesauce.
