Life Is Beautiful

Being a SAHM and a home daycare provider, I don't often get a "day off."  I don't really need one like other people do - I stay home and sort of give each day as much effort as I have.  It's nice.  I work from home, so if I'm sick or tired or whatever - we just do less.   But being a Mom is hard and sometimes a girl really does  need a break.  I am so very fortunate to have a husband that is very intuitive to my needs.  I'm also lucky that his job offers vacation time that he can take on short notice!                                                                                                                                              I wish I could say that I slept super well and lazed in bed til late while David shuttled young 'uns to school...but I did hang out drink coffee while he did that.  I went on a nice 5 mile run a bit to late.  I left about 9:30 and by 10 the sun was pounding down and I was sweating really good.                  

I'm so upset that my arms are numb.  I had a panic attack in the dairy aisle of the grocery store.  Really not sure I've been this stressed out for a while. After a non-stop cry fest from a fussy daycare baby, my tweeny-bopper rushed in the house and up to her room before I could even say hello.  The baby had finally succumbed to napping just before she arrived. She emerged from the staircase sobbing and hysterical.  She had left her gerbil in his ball all day.  He chewed his way out and was loose in her room.  Somewhere. My husband went up with a net as I tried to fix dinner.  David emerged with blood dripping all over the place to report that "Peanut" was back in his cage.  Just then, one of my clients arrived to pick up his child.  Nothing says "Love and Safety" like blood all over the place.  Pretty sure hubs should have had a stitch where that rat bit him. During all of this, our teen was texting form school to say that his trainer wouldn't

Sometimes, when we get older, time seems to fly by.  The seasons go and go, you can't keep up with how fast the kids grow.  You just bought groceries, shoes, a carburetor, but it's out. In some ways, time slows down.  Was 1992 REALLY TWENTY YEARS AGO!?!  I don't think so...but it was.  I have such vivid memories of our 14 year old son being born, his first words, his first steps.  It seems like just yesterday that David assured me that an 8-year-old could walk to the end of the block to be picked up by the school bus.  Wasn't it just last week that he asked to wear contact lenses?? Liam and Sara.  Love that girl - Chucks with her dress, yes Ma'am!! Our boy went to Homecoming with his girl, Sara, tonight.  I'm proud of them both.  They are Bible believing young people that live to honor God.  Both are Honors Students and I hate to say it...but Miss Sara might be just a little bit smarter than the boy.  He, he...   Oh, time...slow down, please!?

You would not believe the day that I had. Remember the stolen bike? In case you missed it - our Freshman son, Liam, had his bike stolen on Tuesday.  He had saved up and paid for half of this really nice bike in the spring.  He proceeded to ride it to the lake every week to fish, rode it at 5am to catch the detassling bus and took himself to a part time job at the game shop to earn money for a new game system.  He rode to the church for Bible study and to help the men of the church to work on the grounds on a Saturday mornings.   He's not satisfied with recreation.  The boy has purpose.  Having his bike stolen crushed him.  That bike was everything.  His independence.   Yesterday, some friends of ours replaced that bicycle.  My sweet friend told me that she and her husband heard of the theft and both said that they needed to buy that boy a bicycle.  I was flabbergasted by such a generous offer and asked if we shouldn't wait a week or so to see if the other one t

I nearly can't deal with this picture: This is our oldest son, Liam.  Well, and me, of course.  We had a wonderful visit from Uncle Jack and Aunt Pam from Indiana, who brought the beloved Uncle Deryle and Aunt Nadine.  Liam happened to be at football practice, so Aunt Pam requested a photo with the boy and how much he's grown.   Here it is. I just can't express how amazing it is to know that I held him in my two hands, once.  How I watched him learn to walk, helped him put together words, then phrases, then arguments to my own assertions.  Oh, I look around me and I see that years have passed - but it seems like just a blink.  No matter how hard it is to foster, feed and fraternize with these - it is a great and mighty reward, for sure.

I received a package today from Amazon.com. Wow - what a wonderful country we live in! Me, a home schooling, babysitting, mother of 4 can shop and have the things I need delivered to my door. I can even get it at a bargain basement price! My ball glove came, hooray! Our 12yo son is playing his first year of little league and I've been trying to play catch with him to help his ball handling skills. We only had one glove, so I ordered one that has some pink laces in it. He, he... I'm not real swift at it, but I'm sure I'll get better! Hanging out at the ball field sure has a way of making you love this country. Just having the freedom to sit out in the open air and relax for a couple of hours in the evening is a blessing! Seeing the Mommas and the Daddies clapping for sons in matching pants and shirts, listening closely to Coach, hustling for the ball and sometimes hitting a double - WOW! As I looked around the ball park, it really struck me how fortunate we are.

I don't know why it's so hard to get along with my 12yo son, sometimes. Right now he's on a Leopard Gecko trip and it's driving me nuts. I'm not being callous - it's just that in the last 3 months he has been obsessively doing research on things that he wants to buy. How does he earn money? Babysitting for us. So who actually funds all of this? Us. First it was the Chameleon. He found out that he needed nearly $400 dollars for a suitable living space, nutrients and the animal itself. He even bought a custom made cage from Craigslist .com for $100! Well, he moved on from that when he discovered (or maybe started listening to his Dad & Mom) that the animal might be to fragile to keep in a basement in Nebraska. On to the guitar... This he saved for (I re-sold the cage on Craigslist .com) and a friend of ours took interest in his learning to play and chipped in a generous amount. To his credit, the kid IS practicing every day and interest seems to rema

I'm finding it very difficult to raise young people. Small children are relatively easy. Change a diaper, teach sharing, redirect undesirable behavior. They need a lot of your attention, but all you have to do is roll the ball, rock the chair, or find the blankie and you are the hero. Fast forward several years to the pre-teen age. I'm so damn confused most of the time you'd think I'M the one going through puberty!! I think I'm making a well loved meal only to have it sniffed at and snubbed. I try to remind about personal hygiene and get the stink eye for it. If I comply with the "leave me alone" request, I am told I never pay attention. Why did God make us this way at this point in our lives? I told our son when he asked me this, that it's a way for us to learn to lean on God. In childhood we lean on our parents. They can do anything, Dad is Superman and Mom is Wonder Woman! As we grow, our troubles come and even Superman and Wonder Woman c

I don't lead an especially exciting life. There's not a whole lot of drama going on, I guess. I have a friend that is my "everything happens to her" friend. Murphy's Law has got nothing on this lady, serious. There have been times when, if I didn't know her character so well, I would have thought she was pulling my leg. So back to my non-drama life. I do have an affinity for change, which might look like drama to the naked eye, but really it's just shaking things up a bit. I don't usually freak to badly over huge changes - I don't normally have a problem sleeping or eating when it comes to things like, oh...changing jobs, moving, getting married, having a baby, buying a car, you know - little things. I guess my life up until 5 years ago was such a freak show 24/7 nothing bothers me now. I know that God is in control and that's cool with me. Enter "The Little Stuff". Tomorrow we have a meeting with the grade school to discuss m

My son brought home an ideal today that he brought to me, not because he didn't understand it, but because he didn't understand why the teacher said it. My 10 year old son fully understood what had been told to him and his fellow classmates, but knew that it wasn't quite right. Again, it's the gifted coordinator (let's call her Mrs. H) that this is coming from. I have had some interesting exchanges with her, and it looks like things are going to heat up. Liam said "Mom, Mrs. H told us something today that I don't understand. She told us that we need to keep learning and learning until we are so smart that our parents and teachers are worthless and we can just teach ourselves". As my internal organs became lava like and threatened to come blasting out the top of my head, God's divine intervention took over and prevented me from hollering "What?!!" Okay, must use patience, must ask more questions... I asked Liam what part of what Mrs. H tol

I really feel like walking the short distance up to the grade school and going toe to toe with the Differentiated Educator up there. This woman has just sort of lifted the skin on my body once before, but today she got right underneath it. So far this year I have been to the school twice with "issues". Inappropriate material has being given to my 5th grader. Once it was a book he checked out from the library that detailed medieval torture techniques (complete with color illustrations). The next time was an exercise on paradoxes entitled "The Unfortunate Hanging" which chronicled the sentencing and execution of a murderer who the judge deemed had committed crimes which were so heinous that he warranted a fate worse than death. That last assignment was given to him by the Diff Ed teacher. She called me with a rather terse apology and promptly hung up. Recently our 5th grader was tested for Highly Giftedness. This Diff Ed teacher perpetuated all of this and really want

I went home after work yesterday and simply attacked my son's room. He has a room in our finished attic. He actually has two beds up there and more space that any kid needs. Consequently, it gets cluttered. Little boys bring home all sorts of sticks, rocks and broken items that sit as revered treasure for a time and then fall off the dresser and litter the floor. More than that is the issue of one terribly ignored parakeet whose cage has been in desperate need of cleaning – causing feathers and seeds to be strewn about. Those little feathers just stick to everything! I take full responsibility for this. I have not shown him how to clean the cage, each time it has been done because it had gone to long and I have just done it myself. I started with the clothes on the floor. Liam did a good job of getting rid of things that he didn't love of play with anymore. I am a FlyLady lover and use her approach to my cleaning. Although, if I had used her system all along with his