Here I go again, committing to another round of 31 Days... posts in October. Last year I spent every day of the month sharing my thoughts on (and images from) Living in Transition. It was a stretching month, attempting to intentionally embrace and thrive amidst the daily chaos of life, family and ministry transitions.

Ironically enough, we're still transitioning, though it appears we're finally transitioning out of one phase and into the next... but more on that later!

This month I'm pulling back the curtain a bit, so to speak. I've been wanting to write for awhile on how we parent and lead the wee three. I've already shared a bit on Equally Shared Parenting, our Family Purpose Statement, and our nighttime rituals, but I've felt the need to go more in depth about what happens when we get things right, what happens when we get things oh so wrong, and how the apartment looks in between cooking meals and breaking up fights.

I vascillated between a couple of titles. 31 Days of Lazy Parenting was catchy, but my friend Tom assured me it wasn't laziness I was going for. 31 Day of Laissez-Faire Parenting sounds worldly and romantic, but it was hard to fit on a blog button. So what kind of parent am I?

I'm a messy one.

The thing is, and if you read my blog regularly, you already know this: I'm a mess. My writing, my cleaning, my organization and - yes, even my parenting - is messy. I'm a screw up with near perfectionist tendencies, meaning I try very hard to get things not quite right most of the time.

So, with the hopes of being brave, sharing our stories and the sometimes beautiful mess that follows us wherever we go, I hope you'll join me in 31 Days of Messy Parenting. And I hope you'll share your messy stories with me, too.