As much as I like to portray an idyllic life through my photos and posts, we live real life over here. Often it’s a happy chaos but not always. And yesterday was one of those exceptions.

This is my first week back to a normal routine postpartum. It’s not the newborn who makes life challenging (other than giving me late nights and early mornings); it’s everyone else! There are messes to clean up; meals to make; squabbles to resolve; laundry, laundry, and more laundry; and appointments to navigate. Everything went haywire yesterday (and all before lunchtime) and it was rough. I wish I could say I grinned and bore it gracefully but I can’t. In fact, I was at my whit’s end when I called my husband and asked him to come home if he possibly could.

Bedtime is usually the perfect time to reflect on and bring resolution to the day. As I was tucking in our oldest, with utmost sincerity he asked me to forgive him for his part in making the day stressful. I asked for his forgiveness also and told him that I would be repenting to Jesus for the things I had done wrong during the day. He reflected on that and said, “if we didn’t have Jesus, we would be pretty bad.”

I concluded my day with peace in my heart. That bedside chat was a calming reminder that daily living is a blending of highs and lows, ups and downs, smiles and tears. There is no question that my children know I’m flawed; they also know I cherish them and will keep trying to do better every single day. Perfection doesn’t provide peace; forgiveness does.