Blender

When my husband and I first married I started getting questions like, “what’s it like having a blended family?” at the time I didn’t have a clue how to answer that. At that point in our marriage and family rearing I was simply in survival mode. Now, with some more years under my belt when I am asked that same question I respond with brutal honestly. Here is the honest truth; it is like living life in a blender. I do great with visuals so this is the picture that is in my head when I try to describe what it is like raising a blended family. I have this gorgeous hot pink blender and being thrown into it are six different wills, personalities, wants, needs, desires, passions, you name it it’s all being thrown into this one huge hot pink (it’s my vision right, so hot pink it isJ ), blender.  Here is the tricky part; it’s not just the six of us either. When you and your husband are raising your own children you really only need to consider what you two feel is best for your family. When you’re raising a blended family, if you are trying to do it with as much integrity as you can, you must consider the wants of the children’s other parents as well. Here is the tricky part for me, I DO NOT, and I repeat, DO NOT want to ever have to consider another woman’s wishes or desires EVER when making a decision about my family but here is the thing, above my own wants, I want what God wants and He wants me to consider my step children’s mother as well. So there you have it, as you can imagine, it is like living in a blender at times and hoping that we are not tossing all of this into the blender only to get out a huge sloppy mess. I have learned that if I do it God’s way, even when times are tough, I can go to sleep at night knowing I am doing my very best.

 “And he answering said, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27