My oldest daughter was nervous about starting middle school, so we had spent the last few weeks of summer preparing her for this new adventure.  When she got in the car with me at the end of her first day, she was happy and proud and confident.  She did it!  She successfully made it through her first day of middle school.

That evening as I thought back the stories of her day, I realized that I needed to tuck this success away for the next fear.  Someday I will need to remind her that she “made it” before, and she will do it again!  She is proud and confident.  She can do anything.  This was one of those situations where I needed the lesson as much as my daughter did.

I learn so much about life from parenting, and so much about myself.  There have been many situations over the past 11 years of being a mom that I’ve heard myself giving advice or teaching a lesson and realized, This is a lesson for me as well.

We have made it through many difficult stages of parenting: 3 in diapers, 3 in cribs, 3 potty trained, sleepless nights, terrible twos, worse threes, first days of kindergarten, 10-year-olds.  When we were living through these stages (surviving day to day in some cases), it felt as though the end would never come.  Miraculously, it always did.  We always made it through.

The topic this month from Hearts at Home is “Love Your Triumphs”.  When we love our triumphs, and make a note to remember them, we gain momentum to get ourselves up that next hill.  You’ve made it through all that’s come before, you can make it through this next one.  One hill at a time.

You are doing a great job, momma.  Take a breath, look at how far you’ve come, and take the next step up the next hill.