When you soap a mommy's windows...

(with sincere apologies to the author of "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie")
When you soap a mommy's windows, she'll head outside with a squeegee and bucket.
When she heads outside, she'll see that the living room window really can come apart.
When she takes the window apart, she'll see that the window sill is really, really dirty.
When she climbs up on the couch to vacuum the window sill, she'll absentmindedly set the vacuum down on the couch.
When she sets the vacuum on the (new) couch, it will rip/burn a hole in the cushion.

So, don't soap windows.  Who knows what havoc you're wreaking in some poor person's house?  

It's the most wonderful time of the year....

Won't you join me in a refrain of that song?  I love everything about back-to-school.  Honestly, my kids have reached their limit in getting along and playing nicely.  They are ready to be back in their routine and see the friends they haven't seen much over the summer.  School supplies are almost ready to go, schedules have been studied and scrutinized, outfits have been paired and re-paired, and a billion hairstyles have been tried out.  I think they're ready!

I'm ready too.  I'm ready to see my coworkers, to plan my lessons, to pick some songs my choirs will like, to hang posters and cheesy puns.  ("I bought this violin Vivaldi money I made" is my favorite!)  I'm ready to see how much my students have grown over the summer, and ready to tackle my Class of '15's junior year.  Fundraising, concessions, homecoming, prom! 

So why is my underlying anxiety ramping up?  The week before and the first week of school I can be an anxious wreck.  Something about it just makes me squirrelly.  After the first week or so, things level out and I feel so much better.  I have to remember that each day is JUST ONE DAY, and that God will give me the strength for whatever each day brings.  I could ask for Friday's strength today, but if God gave it to me, I'd use it all today and have nothing on Friday when I need it.  Does that make sense?  God in His wisdom gives us what we need only when we need it, not necessarily when we ask for it.

So if you're a student or a teacher or parent this week, and you're dealing with feelings of being overwhelmed, anxious, fearful, I'm totally identifying with you.  And praying for you.  Would you do the same for me?

Let Go of the Lid Already

 It's hard to believe that it's now been almost 13 months since we said goodbye to our wonderful, unique, but Ohsotiny home.  I loved its history and the memories we made but it was time to move on to bigger spaces! 

The process of selling our home and buying a new(er) one proved to be an experiment in "hurry up and wait."  I'm not the best waiter.  I mean, I've never been a waiter or a waitress and I'm sure I wouldn't be good at that either, but that's not what I'm talking about.  We signed on approximately a bajillion dotted lines, and prayed.  I prayed and prayed and prayed some more, but instead of just exercising my faith, I did whatever I could in my own power to move things forward. (Not a good idea, FYI).

I got more and more frustrated at the lack of speed in the whole process, until one day I had the most vivid picture in my mind.  When one of my kids can't open a jar, they twist the lid and grunt and after a few tries, they bring it to me.  They ask me to help, but they still hold on to the lid.  I try to open it for them, but their little fingers are still there, sometimes twisting in the wrong direction completely.  To open their "prize", I have to pry their hands loose first.  Only when their hands are out of the way can I take over and do what they are too weak to do.

That image made me realize exactly what I was doing.  Not only were my own efforts not helping, but they were probably delaying things!  All I really needed to do was step back and take my fingers off the lid.  When my weak and frail efforts were removed, I was finally allowing God to lead us through that transition in His timing and His will.  It's a lot easier to see that in retrospect.  When I'm grappling with something that I really can't change....it's time to let go and hand over what I'm trying to open-to the only One who knows what is best for me.

Mama Duck

 I used to see "those moms" with lots of kids and think I would never be one of "those moms".  They have all the patience and can even do their kids' hair and get them in matching outfits!  Those moms can make meals and crafts and their children *never* fight.

So now for the next 14 days, I'm toting six children around.  I'm pretty sure that qualifies as a lot of kids, no matter who you are.  They don't match, I kind of do their hair, and I have just enough patience to make it to bedtime and start over the next day.  Who would've thought?  Caffeine, chocolate, and the prayers of good friends have made what seemed ridiculous to me, into a reality. 

Of course, this parenting six children thing is for a very short amount of time.  Pretty sure I really couldn't do it all. the. time.

For the past five days, we've been in transition.  Going from having all independent children, who can buckle their own seat belts and play without constant supervision, back to diapers, sippy cups, and "put that down it's glue not chapstick!" has been a shift, to put it mildly.  There is a reason (at least one!) that babies don't arrive in this world as two-year-olds.

This morning I opened a new gallon of milk and threw the lid right in the trash can.  I barely have enough mental focus to write a shopping list, and I'd really rather not talk about what my house looks like.  I keep coming back to the "hit by a truck" analogy.  But it's not like getting hit and run over...it's more like standing still, and then getting hit and stuck on the grill of the truck and flying down the highway.  It's not that the work is harder, it's just so much more constant.

But the Safe Families journey is one that I'm sure we're supposed to be on.  I didn't know it would be so rewarding along with being so tough.  I think the hardest part will be letting our host kids go when it is time to say goodbye to them.

If you want to know more about the mission of Safe Families, check out www.safe-families.org.

Pro Daddy

My husband is such a pro at this daddy thing, y'all.  He has jumped back into rocking and diaper-changing and cutting up food in tiny pieces like we never left Toddlerville.  I just plain could NOT do this without him!  It's wonderful to see him do what he does so well and remember that this is why we make such a great team.  I feel like I've been run over by a truck, scraped off the pavement, and then run through a food processor, but these 17 days will go by SO fast.  The two little ones that we're taking care of for a while are doing great and being mommied by my girls, too!  I'm thankful that we have the chance to do this.  And even more thankful that my hubby is game for this.  A lot of guys wouldn't want to make room in their homes for extra kids, especially little ones that are more high-maintenance.  :) And I'd write so much more, but I have to go cut up some pancakes and put lots of hair in ponytails!

It's hard to believe it was one year ago today that we started moving into our "new" house.  It was so empty and lonely-looking, with echoing rooms and bare, sightless windows.  Big enough for our family, but not so big as to be ominous or imposing.  Signs of my dad's and my uncle's craftmanship are throughout, but especially in the upstairs.  The chimney comes out of the floor and makes a 45-degree rotation before going into the ceiling.  To deal with this awkward placement, those Livingston brothers did what they knew to do-work with what you have and make it look good.  They built a baseboard frame around the chimney base and put the parquet tile flooring right around it.  Dad couldn't have known that he was building bedrooms and a playroom for his grandchildren.
My littlest must've known that my dad was on my mind today.  This evening out of nowhere she started crying and saying "I miss Grandpa Harry."  She never got to meet him, but I reassured her the best I could and told her he would've loved her very much.  The two of his grandkids that he did get to meet were awfully special to him.
Anyway, back to our house...a year after move-in day, the house is no longer empty-not by a long shot.  Curtains, rugs and furniture have made it look and sound and feel like home.  I don't know if this is the house our grandchildren will come and visit someday, but it will be the setting for our kids' memories for at least a few years to come. 

Starting off a new blog with some of my writing...maybe it's garbage, maybe it's just ok.  This little piece was prompted by my frustration with my kiddos during summer vacation.

Longer days

Sticky evenings

Groggy mornings

Coffee iced instead of hot

Grass tracked all through the house

Sweet corn and watermelon

Sparklers and lightning bugs

Bare feet and popsicles

Swimming and floating and sunning

Tan lines and sun-streaked hair

Long shadows and aimless drives

Popcorn and naps on the couch

Lego castles and box forts

Bubbles and hot sidewalks

Cats sleeping flat as pancakes in the shade

Bike rides and ponytails

Windows rolled down

Ditches full of wildflowers

Endless bowls of ice cream

Freckled noses and sunglasses

Carrying played-out children off to their beds.

Listing out all of these blessings definitely helped adjust my attitude!  Off to have one of those endless bowls of ice cream and visit with my worn-out man.  Good night all!