Ant Farm Day

So, I was working on my sharing time for Sunday and the topic was Being Thankful for being a Child of God and the Talents he had Given us. When you work on these sharing times (or I guess any lesson or talk for church) you don't realize what you yourself learn as you prepare it. Being a stay at home mom, I sometimes forget that my talents extend beyond changing diapers and getting food in my kids' bellies. I'm sure there are many of you out there that have the same issue with remembering your self worth while swimming in toys, errands, groceries, schoolwork and kids! Today was one of those days...
We have been having a bit of a problem with ants in the house. First, they were just in my bedroom, just a couple here and there. I did a thorough vacuuming of the whole house. I didn't see many until a couple of days ago, and when I went to the bathroom to do Gracie's hair, they were all over the sink and vanity! Where the heck did they come from! I sucked them up again, followed by baby powder (the talc is supposed to be bad for them) to keep them from crawling back out. I noticed they were coming from under the rug. I pulled it up and underneath they were crawling! I sucked up what I could see and left it and no more came back. I poured baby powder there and replaced the rug. I then again, thoroughly vacuumed the entire house and sprinkled baking soda with cinnamon and peppermint around. ( Again, the ants are not supposed to like the scent) I really don't like using poison in the house with the kids, who knows what it might do, right? Well, that seemed to work. I was quite pleased with myself. Then this morning, I went into my closet to get the dirty clothes and there, along the wall, was some more! I was so mad! I grabbed the vacuum and sucked the little suckers up AGAIN! This time I pulled up the side of the carpet in the closet revealing a huge crack in the floor, dirt and hundreds of ants! GROSS! I took everything out of the closet, pulled up the entire carpet and padding (Ya, lots of fun right?) and vacuumed them up. Then I took the big can of bug spray and soaked the crack with it. Who cares about health at this point. Well, I think I got 'em! I've left the rug up all afternoon and the few that I have seen have crawled up and died. (Take that!) Needless to say, between that, my poor baby who was tired and screamed the entire time, the kids demolishing the living room, and trying to get my sharing time done and keep my sanity, it wasn't turning out to be a great day...
So, after reading over the points and notes that I made, I realized that there is a reason for all of our talents. We do have many talents and they may be hard to see all the time, but we have them and use them everyday. I know that my Heavenly Father has blessed me with many things, including many that help me be a mother everyday. Things like patience (I do laugh at this one, because some days this one is hard to find, but I am "developing" it more and more!) or a sense of humour (it is a little funny that I had to rage war on the little critters), knowledge of many things to teach my children (like how to get rid of things you don't like while controlling the rest of your life at the same time!) and persistence (some may call it stubbornness, but this sounds nicer doesn't it) and many more which I will get into another time. I am so thankful for being a mom, even on these days. Thankful that I get the opportunity to be with my kids and share with them my knowledge however little it might feel like. One day I hope I can impress upon them that they are Special too, with many talents and gifts from their Father in Heaven, even if they are having an Ant Farm Day and its hard to see it!