I have decided that being a Mom is all about celebrating the small victories.  So often our world looks to the big events and big accomplishments.  I think that in the world of parenting it is the small victories that mean the most.  To be honest, sure I might feel this way, because some days the big accomplishments seem eons away and so very few and far between.  I do realize that I may just be searching for something to feel good about and hang my hat on 🙂  Well, so be it!   So many things in parenting make us feel inadequate.   We go about each day feeling like we are just getting by, trying disparately to not screw up those precious people who have been entrusted to us for such a short time.  So many of the decisions we have to make are gray, not clear-cut at all.  (I never thought I would crave an issue that is black and white — a no brainer in the parenting book, in the place of the issues that I have no idea how to handle and am faced with on a daily basis).  To make it even more difficult, at least one of the sweet children, is always not happy with our rulings, so there is no relief when the gavel finally falls either.    So……I utter my prayer of desperation for God to “take this mess that I making and do something great with it.” and I try to remember to celebrate!  Along with the legions of other struggling parents, I celebrate the “thank you” from our teenagers or even the briefest of smiles that flit across their cynical faces.  I celebrate the times when I over hear the sisters confiding in each other or when I see one of the girls being kind to her little brother (if only for a moment:)  I celebrate the rare family dinners when laughter rings out instead of bickering.  I celebrate the surprise half hour alone with my husband (on a Friday night in between runs to pick up kids).  I celebrate the rare moments when a child says, “What can I do to help?”.    I celebrate even more when they then do the job I ask them to do without groaning.  I celebrate the hugs, the smiles, the brief moments of conversation with the normally silent and elusive teen.  I celebrate the small victories and the glimpses that God gives us that things really will be all right.  Yes, being a parent is definitely about the small victories.  I believe that it is in these brief moments that we truly see the real people our children are very slowly, but surely becoming.  I realize that these small moments might not be social media worthy, but join me in noticing and celebrating them in our lives today.