Life Is Beautiful

So far, 2013 has been a year of discovery already.  I have been fortunate to experience the pain of growing into a few important principles.  I'm sure there's more to come - but here's what I've learned in the first two months of this year. 1.  That people WANT to help. I can't even list the many people in the last couple of months that have rushed to my aide.  Most of them don't really want to be recognized, anyhow.  Such humility is rare.  I've learned to practice a little humility myself.  Sometimes accepting  help is a hard thing to do.  From anonymous packages, to gift cards, to loaner vehicles and quite literally the kitchen sink...all things that have been needed have been supplied.  I always freak out a little and doubt, but I forget how big my God is AND how loving His people are. 2.  That I don't have to do it ALL. Sending the kids to public school and ending home schooling was such a hard thing to do.  I fel...

Just another day in Paradise. The Teen started Lincoln High today.  The girls and I dug in to a brand new school year with 5th grade, Kindergarten, and a dose of pre-school on the side.  We made maps of the little ones rooms and a 4 block radius of our neighborhood for the older one.  We talked about the disobedience of the people who built the tower of Babel and how God will accomplish his purposes with our without our cooperation. The kids all had good naps - thank you Lord - and I made a beautiful Chicken Tortilla Soup for dinner.  That recipe is a keeper, a hit, loved by one and all.  Today.  Next time I make it - probably not. I managed to turn my legs in to jello at the Y and wash it all down with a short swim.  We stopped at CVS afterward for the mid-week milk run and picked up a little snacky food for a treat.  The kids didn't get to bed on time, but who cares. On a scale of one to ten, I would rate this day an 8.5...just short of ...

Every. Day. Of. My. Life. Feeling completely unimportant yet utterly overwhelmed.  Like I have to do everything, but nothing that I do matters. You ever get like that?  Of course.  I'm sure, everyone does! I have a home daycare that I will be way over capacity in for a short time...and school is starting the same week as the new kids.  As a home school Mom, I have a little different perspective on back to school.  I'm tellin' ya - if I see one more FaceBook or Blog post about how stressful it is for parents to send their children back to school, I'm going to slap someone. I have one child starting public High School...stress.  One little baby beginning Kindergarten...stress.  No big deal - I'm just solely responsible for her ability to read.  No pressure. Same story as everyone else.  Life's challenges wax and wane.  We all have seasons of relative tranquility and then some marked by a solid, relentless up hill climb. Wha...

Hubby and I had a fab bike ride last night! We left our 13 year old in charge of a sleeping 2 & 4 year old and a plugged in to the computer 9 year old and set out for about 7 miles down the road to Cold Stone Creamery. I have to say - I wish we had more time to do nachos or cheese sticks...I ate Raisin Bran when we got home! It was nice to get out and be myself for once. :) Hubby is so cool to hang out with. And, he got to see that my bike light is actually NOT functioning properly and it is NOT due to my crazy head. Not that he truly doubts me - but he gets that cute curl to the corner of his smile that tells me he doubts... My stooopid leg really hurt this morning. Hamstring crap-ola. I read on Competitor.com that my ice and stretch routine was NOT in any way the better thing for this injury. Heat needs to be applied to get blood flowing to this under fed group of muscles, and I need to "back off and let it heal." Enter: Aggressive Taper Week I will not...

I ran eleven miles today. It took over 2 hours - but I did it. I can't tell you that I loved it - maybe at mile 7 or 8 I would have - but it's done. My knees are a mess, the muscles, ligaments and connective tissue are sore, swollen, and tired. My back is a bit sore as well - but all in all - nothing a little Ibuprofen and a good nights sleep won't help. I'm officially ready for the Half Marathon on May 1st. I am done with my training and can now enjoy what is referred to as a "taper" until then. Since I missed 3 weeks out of the 12 weeks of training, my taper is a little short. Not perfect, but I will run, nonetheless. Yay! To bad we didn't get that solid night's sleep we were hoping for last night. I'm not sure what was up with our 23mo old, but once he's awake and screaming - it's on. He cried, almost solid, from 1:30am to 3am. David and I both made a few trips to give a drink/cover up/give kissandhug/check diaper and then jus...

My kid nearly was truly abused today. You know how young people like to think that they have it so rough at home...well, I 'bout made it all come true for them today. I knew at 8:30 this morning that our 8yo daughter was making the choice to have a crummy day. she was resistant to getting dressed and stomped up the steps. I largely ignore stuff like this, because it's done to "get my goat." Then she began to bang on the air registers and pretend to cry...that was enough. At math time she looked at me and said "No" when I told her to do her work. I let her have a couple of minutes to change her mind, and then she ended up in her room until she got it done. After lunch, we got together and she got better. Her brother on the other hand... MOUTHY. He's fast approaching the big 1-3 and it shows. I get really incensed when he mocks or rolls his eyes at me. I don't ever demand respect from our children, but I feel that through my love and care for ...

It's 8pm and I'm ready to pack it in for the day! Today was one of the more exhausting and aggravating Mondays in a while. Thankfully, as I was heaving the 3rd load of laundry up the steps, I was reminded that at least my back didn't hurt really bad today! Silver lining and all. I had dreaded this day. While finishing up lesson plans last night, I could see the handwriting on the wall. Alahnnah hasn't had a full day of school in almost 2 weeks - it was going to be hard to keep her on task. I picked the wrong kid! Liam was the one that was the issue. He couldn't stay on task, kept bugging his sister, getting out of his seat and talking back to me. He didn't show his work in Math and tried to get away with incomplete sentences in English. At 2pm he put an whole frozen banana in my blender and I snapped. He ended up finishing his work in his room. I haven't graded his Math OR English yet. *fume* On the upside, I did get most of my Monday work done....