1440 minutes

There are 1440 minutes in a day,

 about 760 of which my boys are awake for 

and 180 of which Dahlin is home for. 

That leaves 540 minutes in each day that it is just me and my boys. 

Mondays and Wednesdays Syler is at school but other than that there is rarely a break. 

Friends come and go and family come to visit occasionally but there is no farm close by to find respite at,  and no lake to play at during the winter.

So for the most part it is just me. Imperfect, impatient, frustrated, boring me left to spend 540 minutes every day with just them.

Some days I feel like I have a huge weight on my shoulders. The responsibility of teaching them all that they need to know. All the important things that I really do think are important, like that they are children of god, that families are forever, to always have integrity, to be honest and just to be nice. How am I suppose to teach them all of those things? 

It is obviously possible to raise righteous, strong young men but sometimes I wonder how? What is the secret to those who succeed and those who don't? And of course it is times like these that make me miss my mom more than ever. I miss her wisdom, and her willingness to drop anything to help. I miss her affection, and the affection that she gave my children.  No one else will ever love them the way she did and no one else will ever be there for me the way that she was.

So I ask all you mothers, what do you think is the most important thing to do when raising nice, successful, righteous children?