Bread of Life...Eat Your Brussel Sprouts.

I never have to tell my oldest son to eat his brussel sprouts. Given the opportunity, he will pick them over any vegetable in the entire store. It's been one of my giddy gleeful moments as a mom to see him proudly plop a bag of brussel sprouts on the rolling check-out belt... and then see the cashier lift an eyebrow. It never fails to raise eyebrows. The eyebrow is usually directly connected to the beaming look on my boy's face. "Are you excited to eat these?" (confusion and awe) is the question usually to follow. One cashier went so far as to ask me how much sugar I put on them to get that response from my kiddo. None. Granted, I do call them "monkey brains"...instead of sprouts. They know it's a vegetable though. I'm not corrupting them...entirely. But we will talk about that later.

This is the Bread of Life section...the spiritual side of Chef Tess. Feel free to read other stuff. I just like to share this side of me at least once a week as a solid post. So why bring up the green things on Sunday. Why? Well...to remind myself that the joy of motherhood isn't measured in a constant flow of glory, praise and adoration from my kids...but the small things from day to day that add up. I'm also going to remind myself to bask in the glorious glow of joy on brussel sprout days. We might not always have them.

It's the "thank you for the brussel sprouts" moments that keep me going. Things like a hug I got tonight and the words "thanks for being the mom...you're good at it" that feed my mothering soul. Isn't life really about the moments where I see that they are "getting" it. It's soooo epic. Even if he has green globs in his teeth from horkin' down brussel sprouts--it's nice to hear. The "someday you'll be glad I was such a mean mom" moments. Teaching them that sometimes it is an acquired taste...and to learn to get excited about things I know are good for them. Like where I taught them to eat the healthy stuff and be excited, or read the scriptures and be excited. Most importantly teaching them to pray... and be excited. We call that "putting on your helmet". Getting ready for the day's spiritual battles and getting your thoughts in the right place. They love it.

My final quote: "... recognize that the joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction." From: Ensign » 2008 » May ,Daughters of God by Elder M. Russell Ballard Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles