Author: Our Crazy RV

Does anyone else out there get completely overwhelmed with the expectations that are placed on you?  Lately I have been feeling like every area of life is bombarding me to be at the top of my game.  Eat healthy – don”t eat processed food, only homemade and organic food! Be the best parent – have disciplined and obedient kids!  Be a great wife – be everything they need you to be! Be a great friend –  be there always!  Be a godly woman – read my bible everyday, pray and put God first always! Be fit – workout everyday!  Be organized and clean –  keep the house clean, change the sheets every week, never have laundry sitting around, and never have dishes sitting in the sink for more than an hour!  AHHHHHHHHHHH!  I think I might just be making you all overwhelmed just by reading the last few sentences!  But seriously, at times in my life I look at these several areas and think, how can I do it?  How can I be a godly wife, parent and friend? And keep up with all things!  Reality is that we can”t right?  So what do we choose to put first?  For me it changes.  

Sometimes during the year I feel like I can have time to focus a little more on health and fitness.  That time is not now (especially not near Christmas!) I still try to make sure we eat some fruit and veggies eat day, but sorry, no homemade bread here in the last few weeks.  Is it really a big deal if I make a store bought lasagna versus a homemade one?  Not really.  This season of life is not really allowing for much time for workouts or intense walks to burn off calories.  My husband and I have good intentions of doing some type of routine workout after the kids go to bed, but always end up chilling on the couch or catching up about our days.  This is the season to focus on raising my kids.  We are still figuring out how to discipline and what parenting is beyond those baby years!  This is the season to be a great wife…actually its always that season!  And of course its always the season to put Christ first too.  Sometimes, though, to be honest, that doesn”t happens.  But as I write this I am reminded that if I always make Jesus “the season”, those other areas will happen as they should.  So, Tis the Season to put Jesus first.

Carma

I remember being so excited to set up the Christmas tree when I was a kid.  And much to my dismay we were probably the last people to get around to buying a tree and setting it up!  Often we just had to wait until my Dad was home from being on the road to get the tree inside and into the flimsy stand.  Then it was agony waiting for it to thaw enough to start decorating!!  I remember digging through the box of old Christmas decorations we hadn’t seen in a whole year!  Some were homemade; (they seem to have disappeared from my Moms collection now??)  some were those balls with the miles of thread wrapped around and if it snagged it didn’t look so pretty anymore and then the fewer nicer ornaments that were probably gifts.   But I remember that feeling of maybe what some may call, the Christmas spirit.  As time went on and I grew older this feeling faded.  Even my first Christmas married I was so excited that I could decide when to put up our tree…I think it when up not too long after Halloween!  But Christmas wasn’t the same – there is something about kids and Christmas.

Richard and I began to see that in Brooklynn this year.  When we pulled out the tree and all the decorations she was so taken back by the beauty.  And believe me our tree is not much to look at!  But she was just in awe of the beauty of all the cheap ornaments, garland and dollar store decorations.  She has redecorated the bottom half of our tree many times in the last 2 weeks because it so fun for her.  Every where we go she is amazed by the lights, Santa and reindeer decorations, the Nativity scenes, candy canes and any thing Christmas.  Brooklynn tells me every few days, “Mommy its going to be Christmas soon.”  We have even been practicing singing Happy Birthday to Jesus about 5 times a day. (I light candles to blow out for an after potty reward and before they can be blown out I must sing along!) Thanks to all the commercials on a new kids channel (treehouse doesn”t have too many commercials) she is learning to tell us what she wants for Christmas.  When we made a list for Grandma she knew exactly what to put on it, anything princess!  So we now have our work cut out to make sure in Christmas to come to be teaching our kids the true meaning and reason to Celebrate!  Its hard to compete with the worldly reasons of course, which of course are not all bad.  But we want to instill in our kids how to give generously to others and be thankful to God for sending his son as a baby.  All this said it warms my heart to see my daughter laugh and smile at every thing Christmas; from lights, to candy canes; from Santa and his reindeer to her asking to sing Happy Birthday to baby Jesus just one more time.

Carma

Have any of you Moms or Dads out there experienced the blessing of your child praying for you?  I did for the first time the other day.  Brooklynn (2.5) has been learning about prayer since we brought her home from the hospital.  In our house we pray before meals and we pray before bed, but we also pray about things during the day.  We pray and thank God for the sun, or we pray and ask God to send the sun on a cold and cloudy day.  We pray sometimes when we get mad at each other.  We pray if we have lost something and need to find it.  We pray for animals or sometimes I have been asked to even pray for a stuffed animal.  

I have been trying to get Brooklynn to pray, but she has never wanted.  She just you, “No you pray Mommy.”  I have explained that God likes to hear from her, and its just like talking to Mommy.  Just say what you want.  So finally the other day, I was having a lot of pain in my neck and had mentioned it a few times that I was hurting.  Brooklynn wanted to kiss it better, but I told her I needed more than that.  “We could pray”  I told her.  “Do you want to pray?”  “No you, Mommy.”  She said.  I told her she could try if she wanted too.  I paused.  Then came the sweetest prayer (at least to my ears, and I am sure it made God smile too to hear from this little child!)  “God make Mommy betterd” (betterd, that how she says better :)) It was the best feeling ever, to have my child step out and bring my hurt and ask God to make it better.  She soon wanted to run down the hall with me, an activity I had been reluctant to do before because my neck hurt so bad, but unfortunately God didn’t heal me instantly.  Although what testimony if he had.  

Nonetheless it was an amazing experience and I only pray that Brooklynn’s faith will grow and grow and grow, and I look forward to many more chances to hear her prayers and see her growth in my Savior.  And my biggest prayer is to see Brooklynn and my son, Braeden come to a knowledge and belief in the saving grace of Jesus Christ.  But for now I will rejoice in their innocence as small children and know that my God cares for them, and if I and my husband are faithful in raising them right in the Lord’s eyes that he be gracious to us.  It reminds me of the song,  “He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it, he who started the work will be faithful to complete it in you!”, Have any of you Moms or Dads out there experienced the blessing of your child praying for you?

Carma

How many times did I change my socks today?  Okay only three times, and one of those was putting socks on when I got dressed this morning.  But I think normal people only go through an average of one pair a day!  But today Richard decided to clean down the hall.  We work and live at a Bible Camp and actually reside in one of the camp buildings.  We call it home, its nice and cozy and during non busy season its quiet and just feels like a normal place to live.  Anyways, Richard decided to clean outside of our apartment down to the other end of the hall and his office…so he was vacuuming and then mopping.  Brooklynn decided she needed to be trooping around on the freshly mopped floor, so I put her slippers on.  (Which are a garage sale find – huge Clifford dogs, which look hilarious when she has only a t-shirt and underwear on!) Her feet were staying dry and my were okay until she insisted on trying to mop her self.  I showed her how to use the mop pail but my socks had no hope!

The next pair had to be changed around bath time…does anyone else have this problem when their kids bath.  There is just about as much water on the floor as in the bath tub?  Oh my word, both my kids splash like there is no tomorrow!   Braeden, he is only 6.5 months, so his splashing is expected.  He loves the bath and vibrates every time I take him near the tub and turn on the water.  Brooklynn, her splashing is more to do with her wild imagination.  She is usually pretending to be swimming in a large pool, hopping like a frog, diving like a mermaid (by the way, thanks Little Bear for teaching my child about weird mermaids, and not to mention goblins!) or she just gets carried away playing with her horses and ponies.   Tonight I actually remembered to lay down a few more towels on the floor than usual, which saved the floor, but not my socks!

Socks are a small price to pay to enjoy watching my kids having fun in the tub or learning to mop a floor.  (I don”t think Brooklynn thinks that mopping is a chore, she was having so much fun!  She may think otherwise when she is 15 and its been on her list of chores for the past 4 years!) Today I was in awe of how God has blessed my family…wet socks were probably the worst thing about today.  Nothing to complain about at all.  Thank you Lord for health, safety and your loving hand on us.  God is so good, so good, He”s so good to me.

Carma

Well here is my attempt at blogging.  I am not sure what I am doing, who I am writing to, what I will be exactly talking about and if this will turn into something I will enjoy doing for any amount of time. But here it goes…Hi my name is Carma Bankert.   If you were to have asked me about 7 years ago what I would be doing in 7 years I would never have guessed I would be married by 20, have my first child by 23 and the second at 25 and to top it off never would have thought I would love and know know that this is what God has desired for my life.  I always thought I would be a missionary of some kind.  Never did I think that I would be a missionary in Canada at a little, but special place called Dauphin Bible Camp (more on DBC and life as a directors wife in a later post), and never did I think my own personal mission field would be my own home.  Let me tell you…being a missionary in your own home is so hard!  You never get a break – their are eyes on you all the time!  Watching your every move and critiquing your every word.  Even if your words are still said in simple language.  (My kids are only 2 1/2 and 7 months…so they don”t critique me too much YET, only if snacks are not provided when promised.)  So that’s just a little about me and what God has called me to for now.  I love my Savior, I love my husband, I love my kids.  My hope is that I can use this blog to get out my thoughts from day to day to share what my life is like…not because I feel everyone will gush and goo over how cute and funny my kids are, but I hope to encourage other moms, dads or others with my life lessons from parenting, wifehood (is that not a word) or my personal walk with Jesus.  Until next time…

Carma