never ever have i ever...

....thought i'd have someone saying to me "i don't know how you do it"? really? me? i think you must have me confused with my friend, you know the one about to have her 6th child (and she's 2yrs younger than me- WOW), or the several who are teachers WITH children AND taking master's classes? or the one taking care of not only her own children but several others, or the mom friends i have holding down out-of-the-house full time jobs having to wake before the sun and bundle up their little ones to take to daycare along their long commute, or the one who goes in early and stays well past late trying and succeeding at tackling a crazy amount. or my stay-at-home moms that do it so well, running their kids to and from activities and managing their house & cooking for their spouse each night, or the women i've known who've battled scary diseases and still managed to keep their household running AND a smile on their face?!?  now THOSE are deserving of the thought "i don't know how you do it"??!! and there are SOOO many many more women out there, like YOU who i'm sure i'd say the same thing, "i don't know how you do it"?!
see the young woman who innocently said that to me yesterday at church is expecting her first baby in the early fall and knows i am expecting my second this summer. she was watching me gather up Andrew and all his 'must haves' that we took into church with us and just off the cuff made the comment. maybe if she knew me better she would retract that statement, lol. for i am definitely just another woman out there 'trying' to seem to 'have it together'. and as many of my dear friends have told me, and i do realize most of the time, i am so blessed to have drew, he really does make it easy on me, easier than most. of course he has his moments too, causing me to say he's now embracing 3, but for the most part my kid, by NATURE not by me, really is 'easy'. now the next one coming... we'll see, lol.
anyhow i really just said all that to say this... 
today when pondering over the crazy realization that someone else could make a statement like that to me i found myself realizing that it's what we do... by nature in our society we often 'compare' ourselves, our lives, what we do or don't do and how well we do it or don't do it, to the lives of those around. truth be told behind the scenes i believe most of us moms (& women in general) are just trying our best, some days harder than others. that's why i love reading blogs, like this morning when i read one written by my friend, the one about to have her 6th beautiful child, she reminded me that even she too can lead a more 'normal life' than i may think, having those 'normal mom moments'! it's eye opening! =)
see when it comes down to it what we all need to remind ourselves of is the fact that playing the 'compare and contrast' game is a waste of time really! there will always be someone out there better or worse off than us, someone coming from a harder or more cushioned past, someone who has the midas touch and many who don't. unless we are comparing ourselves to the life Jesus himself walked out on earth we will never find that 'perfect person'. and honestly we are not suppose to because they don't actually exist! we aren't called to be 'perfect', we're called to be real, a real reflection of what God can do TRHU us women who allow Him to change, to mold, to make into the strong beautiful UNIQUE woman He designed each of us to be, no two the same. see that's just it, we can hope to inspire others by the life we live & the decisions we make but it's only to serve as just that, a glimpse of inspiration, not to be a sought after reflection of who they need to become. because if we cheat God out on allowing Him to help better us individually by trying to become like someone else, we also cheat ourselves and those around us out on the beautiful life we were Suppose to live, uniquely, individually, and like none other!
so... as most others say, lol, i really blogged this for myself today, because i too can play the game, but i hope along with reminding myself, i reminded you too, that you ARE BEAUTIFUL, UNIQUE, and CALLED to be YOU, not the woman beside you that you're wondering "how does she do it"?!?