are you a good Mom?!

Today in prayer group, Kim, was telling us how one day a lady told her that she looked like such a good Mom and then said, "but are you a good Mom?" And I got to thinking about that on the way home. There are so many times that I'll do something in front of people that I necessarily wouldn't do at home- whether it's letting my baby cry or rocking her to sleep, giving her a bottle or nursing her, playing with her or just letting her play by herself, but I do things differently just to make myself look better or be seen as a better Mom! I don't necessarily think that I do a lot of stuff intentionally, but I definitely do it. (sometimes I even do it intentionally!!) In fact, it doesn't necessarily have to be just a Mom thing, I do it with myself, too...I clean my house specifically for company (and not so much for Korey!), I wear nicer clothes and work on my makeup more when I'm going to town (rather than just sitting at home with Korey and Hailey), I talk nicer to Korey when we're in the store, I make sure I don't "beat" the dog when we have company- or we're out in public :), I talk about things that would appeal to the people we're around...sometimes I even find myself "changing" the way I think depending on who I'm around! I'd like to think that I don't do it on the important things, but if I do it on the smaller things in life- what's to keep me from doing it with the bigger things?! God says that if you can't be trusted with even the smallest of tasks, how can you be trusted with the bigger tasks?? And, I know that to be true! So, I think that I really need to get my act together and work on being real, in the small and big things in my life! I need to work on being the best Mom that I can be and appreciate the differences in me and other mom's, instead of always comparing and seeing how I rate! My prayer, this morning, and probably forever, is that I would be a Woman After God's Own Heart both in private and public, that I would be the same person, no matter who is around or watching and that I would be worrying about what God thinks of me more than what man thinks of me!
Needless to say I was really convicted about what Kim said this morning and it's something that I think I'm going to be thinking about a lot lately and hopefully I'll be able to answer "yes" to that question- in private and in public!

Here's one of the best "mom" moments! I just love watching Hailey play and smile!! Look at that cute little giggle!!! Isn't it precious?!