This Monday’s kitchen was extra messy. The reason being that Elvin and the children did most of the cleanup Yesterday, Mother’s Day.

 As I worked in my quiet kitchen, I marveled at how quickly we went from Daddy and 2-3 young children bringing me a bouquet of flowers and breakfast in bed to a Mother’s Day production that spans multiple generations and feeds more than a dozen people.

 I remember the in between years where there was no break for Mother’s Day because we had a few children that we fondly called ‘two parent children.’  They always needed two parents; one fully engaged and one ‘on deck.’  There was no rest for either parent for what seemed like half a decade or more.

  These children, the feral ones, made violet sun tea in my kitchen while I rested on the patio this weekend. They promised that there would be no mess at all!

 They proudly brought me their creation, ‘sugar water with a hint of violet’ poured over ice, a slice of orange balancing on the edge of a fancy goblet. We sat and enjoyed the tea, and I went on my way, puttering around the yard as the sun went down. An hour or so later I entered the kitchen, ready for a shower and bed when I stepped into something sticky! One step, then two and three, every one of them sticky! I paused, my hand on the countertop to take a deep breath and found that surface sticky too. My eyes scanned the kitchen to find over a dozen sticky dishes, measuring cups and goblets waiting to be washed up. Two and three deep breaths, still frustration welled up within me. Five, six, seven, now I was at the front door ready to call the culprits of the sticky kitchen into repentance.

 The culprits, their moment of domestic or romantic inspiration over, were back to their feral selves racing the motor bike through the far field. Knowing that my whistle, loud and shrill that it is, would not be heard over the motorbike engine, I went to my shower and bedtime routine. This gave me plenty of time to ‘cool my heels’ and by the time the sun set, and the feral ones came indoors I was able to simply be stern and remind them of their promise to clean up after themselves. I told them about sticking to the floor and reminded them  where the mop was.

  At bedtime prayers, they apologized for not cleaning up properly. One saying, “I am sorry if the mess ruined your day mom!”  I reminded them that I had been practicing not letting messes of creative children ruin my days for over 20 years now and if I still was not getting it right every time, then I surely could have grace for my children when they did not clean up perfectly every time too!

I remembered many times when I hadn’t kept my cool over messes, Where I had scolded my children’s childish way of cleaning up, my heart was heavy and I started to condemn my younger self, wishing I could go back and allow my older children to make messes again. But then I remembered my very own words of grace to the ones tucked into bed and remembered that as I love them, my heavenly Father loves me even more, and if I, as a parent am good enough to offer grace then how much more grace does God offer to me?

 And then I tucked the feral ones into bed. Noticing the dirt behind the ears and on the feet and reminding myself that they would need an extra shower before Sunday morning church.

And then for Mother’s Day we made pizza on the patio and over a dozen dishes of topping spread out on the table, I stayed busy rolling out dough and Elvin putting personal pizza’s into and out of the pizza oven and I smiled as big kids and little kids together made a huge mess on the patio. Messes are easy to clean up!

Get the recipes for our patio pizzas here

Happy Mother’s Day, may you practice grace with your self and your feral ones.