This Mama Runs on Coffee & Prayer

“How do you do it?!” one woman asked me outside school pick up one day.  She said, “I only have two! I can’t even imagine how you manage with FIVE kids!”  

“Are they all yours?!” is also a common comment I hear from passers by at the grocery store or mall.  

I never really knew how to answer, so I used to just shrug & laugh.  No matter how long the conversation went, it almost always ended with, “You’re one brave woman!”

Hi, that’s me, the brave woman over there in the corner of the library waiting patiently for my daughters’ class to end.  Yes, that’s spaghetti sauce dotted across the front of my Love Like Jesus hoodie and a splash of juice that coordinates nicely on my sleeve.  I didn’t have time to change before we left because we were already running late and, of course, dinner was not on the table when I intended it to be! I had already played taxi driver to my oldest while my husband was hustling my son out the door to practice. I’ve hardly had a chance to catch my breath since school pick up.

That’s Mom Life, or at least my Mom Life.  Yup, I’m exhausted, worn out, a little frayed around the edges (and definitely out of dinner ideas…especially the “fun” ones), but I’m so thankful.  God blessed me with five healthy children.  While I might feel like I’m on empty some days, He knows I’m not.  He chose me to be their mom.  He specifically picked me for each and every one of them.  I try to remind myself of that every day (and at least a few times on those tough ones). Some days I feel like the only thing that gets me through is the continual conversation of prayer I have with Jesus. All. Day. Long.

And coffee…LOTS of coffee!  

One of our younger kids has decided that our bed is much nicer to sleep in.  I love the extra snuggles, but why do the littles always feel the need to sleep perpendicular to you at some point through the night?! The heel digs, kidney shots and occasional eye gouge (that one was saved for Daddy) are a challenge to wake up from with a sparkly personality. 

Enter coffee.  Good, strong, coffee.

Now, maybe it’s not coffee for you.  Maybe you enjoy a cup of Orange Pekoe or green tea.  Maybe you go straight to the fridge for an energy drink or a Coke.   For me, it’s coffee. But before the coffee, before the bowls of cereal (and the spilled milk), before the rapid fire of lunches being loaded into bags and last minute forgotten homework being scribbled down in haste, before the noise and the chaos and the very messy dance we call our morning routine, there’s prayer. Just me and Jesus. 

About a year or so ago I bumped into a mom while out shopping with my gang and had a similar exchange to the ones above.  She only had one little one and looked completely terrified at the thought of expanding her plus one to plus five! I finally realized I’ve had the perfect reply all along…

“A lot of prayer,” I said as we carried on along the aisle.  She just smiled.  

“And coffee,” I said as I turned back to her, “A lot of prayer and a lot of coffee!”

And that’s how the design came to be! An intentional answer in a little conversation that hopefully had a much bigger effect than my usual shrug and chuckle.  

Now, no one even has to ask me.  All they need to do is just read my shirt.