Confessions of a Messy Mom

It's official. This writing thing is starting to pay off.

Anyone who writes does it because they love it, not for making money. I could make more money at Burger King per hour, so clearly that's not the reason. But bartering? That's another story. Let me explain...I have a relationship with professional organizers. Two of them. Who are helping me in my house. For FREE. That's right, let the jealous moans begin. FREE organizers, in my house, helping me. I don't know who's happier, my overladen desk or my husband. You can follow my journey with Olivia and Patty of A Sorted Affair over at RichmondMom.com, or read on for my first installment in the process:

A few weeks ago, I stared wistfully at the woman ahead of me in the preschool drop-off line. She had on tailored jeans, high heeled boots and a lovely top. Her hair was combed and she had tastefully applied makeup. She had on earrings. And a belt. She was a put-together mom.

If she had glanced behind her, it would have been like staring in a fun-house mirror that reflects the opposite image. I arrived in the clothes I slept in. Though I had been working for hours, it appeared as though I may have just woken up (darn that no makeup), and that I might be headed home for a long winter’s nap. Staring at her, I reached nirvana-like clarity: I am a messy mom.
On my work, church or outing days, I can look like I’ve got it together. I’ve been known to rock a boot with a dress and throw some dangly earrings into the mix. But my all-mom days reveal who I really am.

I admit that I don’t prioritize put-togetherness, but my messy-mom mojo is beginning to effect my happiness.

I lose my car keys multiple times a day, every day. Locating a matching sippy cup and top in my kitchen drawers requires the tenacity of a paleontologist. My office is a disaster, with bills, preschool papers, and my writing and business work intertwined like rhythmless line dancers. At any time, you can find enough shoes by my door to outfit an entire kindergarten, as long as the shoes don’t need to match.

It is time for an intervention.

I rolled a Matchbox car away from my keyboard and quickly found my help: A Sorted Affair, a professional organizing business started by two local moms. I read the company tagline: “We offer both knowledge and hands-on assistance. Combined, they give you unique, intuitive solutions for your organizing dilemmas.” Ah, I thought, but can you clean up this messy mom?? I contacted A Sorted Affair and made them a deal: rehabilitate me, and I’ll let the richmondmom.com readers follow along, in the hopes that others can share in my joy (and pain) of home organizing.


I made a conscious effort on the day I would meet Olivia Acree, co-owner of A Sorted Affair. I resisted the urge to put on my put-together look. When Olivia and Patty Hoyt, another organizer, arrived, I was sans makeup and in full workout attire. My preschooler sashayed behind me, clad only in a t-shirt and pull-up diaper. As you would expect, Patty and Olivia looked like professional organizers. They were calm, professional, and able to find everything they needed in their bags. I envied it. I wanted it.

After a minor potty training emergency from the tot, we sat down together to discuss what help they could provide. Olivia Acree began A Sorted Affair with partner Caitlin Shear in 2005. Like many other intelligent women in the business world, Caitlin and Olivia joined forces when they began raising their children. Olivia reflected on the synergy between them: “it all just came together. The people and opportunities came to us!”

A Sorted Affair changed households in Richmond, one preschool morning at a time. As their children grew, so did the business, expanding to Northern Virginia with partner Caitlin’s move, and adding staff members along the way.

“A good organizer wants to hear your story,” Olivia explained. “Lots of organizers bring a system and try to fit you to it. We always fit the system with the person.” I arched my eyebrow, wondering if a system could fit this person. “Take for instance, paperwork. If you aren’t a detailed person, you will never file bills alphabetically and by month. But we can get you a file folder to toss everything in, and at least if you need something, you’ll have a place.” I nodded in agreement, and the first flicker of hope sparked. Maybe I could be different!

“Learning our client’s story is what sets us apart,” said Olivia again as she began to take stock of my office situation. I was already feeling like they knew me too well, particularly when we started emptying baskets on the floor. “What’s this for? And this? What do you use this space for?” I found myself mumbling incoherently when Olivia asked me questions, but she had the grace to save me from myself. “That’s why we are here. Let’s figure out how to make this space work.”

Olivia’s affection for her clients was evident as she shared stories of clutter busting and system setting. “I love the appreciation in this job. People just love you when you help them. They hug you, they cry—it’s like a mini-extreme home makeover.”

A couple of hours later and we had a plan. The clutter-busters (my pet name for my new best friends) helped me decide that we should tackle the entryway situation immediately. Olivia explained that more than one step is too many for elementary school children, so we decided to create a space with hooks and cubbies where the kids could easily hang backpacks and put away shoes.

My job: find a bench with three cubbies underneath, three sets of double hooks, and a framed bulletin board. Meanwhile, the clutter-busters took pictures, took notes, and stayed ridiculously calm and organized the whole time. When the dynamic duo left, I breathed a sigh of relief. To have two women devoted to helping make my life work better? What a gift!

So until next time, you’ll find me spending time on lost car keys and sippy cup tops, but not for long. I have a feeling that this messy mom will be rehabilitated in the capable hands of A Sorted Affair.

What will happen when Olivia and Patty create a landfill-sized pile of paper in my study? Stay tuned to find out!

Need professional help? Contact Patty at A Sorted Affair or 804-464-9820

Simple Compassion

Most devotionals are focused on the inner action of the heart, a personal experience between God and the reader. Keri Wyatt Kent turns that upside down in her devotional, Simple Compassion. In it, Kent addresses the question of how busy women can turn their love of God into action. How do we understand Jesus’ command to “love our neighbor”, and how do we become changed people in the process?

Keri Wyatt Kent possesses the gift of writing in a way that both encourages and inspires. As a busy mom, I wondered how she could accomplish that through this devotional. Yet she does it masterfully. She invites me to consider how I can make a difference, right where God has placed me. She encourages me to believe that my contribution does count. And she nudges me to action, with practical tools and small group suggestions that help me turn good intentions into simple compassion.

This fifty-one week devotional can be used alone or with a small group. Each week’s topic encouraged me to look out to find God’s work, rather than just focusing in on myself. With such topics as world hunger, fair trade, and homelessness, Kent bites off a lot of information in one book. But her excellent journalistic writing and heart for God makes it work.

This Christmas, do something. Pick up Simple Compassion and commit to one, two, or fifty-one different ways to show that your love for Jesus translates into action. Committing to compassion isn’t just a command in the Bible. It’s an invitation to be changed by stretching ourselves in love for all of God’s children.

Buy Simple Compassion here, or find out more about Keri Wyatt Kent.

When Mary comes for Thanksgiving

Last week I spent some time preparing the last teaching in a series we've done at Thrive this fall called "Woman: Ancient Meets Modern." The last five women we've focused on have been the women in Jesus' lineage found in Matthew 1. Eye-opening is an understatement about what I've learned about my own identity through these women in scripture. I feel like God has peeled my eyelids back, grabbed hold of my head and swung my gaze around to take in all the goodness in the way He loves women through the scripture.

Mary, the teenager chosen to bear Jesus, is no exception.

AS you read about Mary in Luke 1, you may take pause, like I did, when she calls herself blessed. Not just blessed, but blessed for all generations to come.

This got me thinking about blessing, and about how we normally use this word.

But here's the kicker: I didn't even think about Thanksgiving once. Not a one time. Here I am, building a case for blessings, and I forgot that I am skidding into the one holiday of the year that's focused on counting those blessings.

God is funny, that way. We spent last Thursday talking about blessings--spiritual blessings--the kind that can never 'perish, spoil, or fade'.

If you want to read or hear more, click on over to Hope Women and check it out.

Or consider this: What is it about God and his nature, or your relationship with Jesus, that you are thankful for this week? Have you counted your spiritual blessings? If you need a tutorial, catch up with Mary in Luke 1. Her understanding of God's character will inspire you to remember that it's through the work of Jesus that we are truly blessed.

Take Courage

I wanted to pass on a great blog post about fear and courage from over at the True Campaign, a nonprofit organization devoted to helping women get free of body image issues and see themselves in their TRUE beauty. Check out this great post called "The Writing Desk."