Life Inside the Soup Pot

Being a Blended Family

by Diane Fenlason - April 18, 2013 - Used by permission

Being a blended family......what does that mean, anyway?   Almost five years into this journey, I have come to realize that a blended family doesn't really "blend".  Not in the way that my smoothies mix together in this wonderful delicious emulsification of yumminess.  Instead, we are more like a big pot of soup.  A stew, whose ingredients are very distinct, but still get put together and give off an aroma throughout the house.    There are definitely sweeter notes, more bitter herbs, bold seasonings, and the vegetables that add body and nourishment to the broth.

My prayer is that our aroma, as we simmer in the soup pot, would be pleasing to God and that it would be pleasant to those who enter our home, or spend time with our family.  

However, what I've come to realize is that a good stew takes time.  We don't want any spoiled ingredients to go into the soup.  No instant mixes used here!  No nasty artificial seasonings go into this cooking vessel.  But I am hungry for what I hope and pray for.  I am anticipating what I know our family can become.   I look at our four children and see so much potential and promise.  Yet, I catch myself doubting if we will get there.

Some things I have learned along the way, so far.

1. God will not fail us.   He hasn't ever failed us, and He is walking through this journey with us.

2. My husband is one of the most wonderful and godly men I have ever known.  He has embraced the leadership of our home in a way that makes me so proud of him and so blessed that *I* get to call him my husband.  I see Christ in Him.  And I feel loved when I am with him.  Every single day I get to wake up with him beside me is a really great day....and not one I take for granted. 

3. Our children have gifts.  They frustrate me sometimes with the idea that they "know everything" and yet....know nothing!  They are the hardest and most rewarding teaching tools that God has put into my life.  They are each very different from the others, and yet, we love them all the same.

4. In our house, there is no "step" this or that, and there is no "half" this or that......we are just Mom, Dad, brothers, sisters.

5. Get ready for this one....it's a doozy.....I. HAVE. SO. MUCH. TO. LEARN.  There, you have it.  The more I learn about how to be a wife and mother in the soup-pot, the more I realize how little I actually know!  (Now, if that idea could just translate down to the kids.....we'd be good).  :)   It has made me more motivated in studying the Word of God, and trying to be the example I need to be to other younger women and to our children.  Striving to be the woman God wants me to be for my husband, and the mother that our children need.   It is a high calling... Skyscraper high!   Pressing forward!

God bless you today, and may you bless others around you! ~Diane

Diane welcomes ladies who are in a blended family to contact her at  busymami@msn.com.