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5 years ago, David bought me a mother's ring for our 10 year anniversary. At the time we didn't think we would have any more children. Well of course, God laughed and blessed us one more time...and now we have 5. :-)
Theresa was born just 6 days before Gabriel turned 4, so I looked at my mother's ring and thought, "How are we going to do this?" I didn't want to put 2 amethysts right next to each other, but I wanted to keep the stones in birth order. Seems like a minor issue, but I guess the postpartum phase is not the best time to figure out how to redo a ring.
Of course, I didn't get my ring redone right away. We were too busy, didn't have the money, etc. But, the jewelry store we patronize sent me a voucher for $100 to use towards a new purchase. So...I sold them back my old ring, picked out a new setting with slightly smaller stones, and this is what I ended up with.
I am really happy with my new ring, with 5 birthstones, one for each of my blessings. :-) My best friend from high school who is visiting me this week took the third picture...hilarious! Thanks Stacy!
I shouldn't have, but I looked ahead at my google calendar for the next 2 weeks.
Afterwards, I wanted to hide somewhere and have a good cry. 'Cause I'm frankly afraid of sinking.
It never fails me. I start off the summer thinking I'll have plenty of time to relax, tackle some long-term projects, cook some amazing meals, and work on my tan.
Okay, skip the tan. I don't even have to try...spending 5-6 hours at the swim meets every Saturday is giving me quite the glow. ;-)
Joking aside, I am overwhelmed. Every time I turn around, something else gets added to the calendar. Here's what happening over the next 2 weeks:
Swim Meet and Divisionals (next 2 weekends)
Natural Family Planning Class (at our house)
Cleaning the house
Pick up used curriculum at used bookstore
Fr. Martial is coming over for dinner!
Boy Scout meeting
Allergist appointment for Christina
Haircut for me
David goes to Seattle for 4 days
Uniform fitting for Regina Caeli for 3 kids
My best friend from high school comes for a 3 day visit!
Train the neighbor's girl down the street to pet-sit Marty for a week
Drop off Joshua's pack for his Boy Scout camp out
Drop off Joshua for Boy Scout Camp. Pick him up a week later in Dallas
Bible Study at my house--make dessert to serve the ladies
Vacation Bible School for 5 days
Night out with my Catholic Chicks (thank goodness!)
Joshua's birthday
Our 14 anniversary
Pack for trip to Dallas for the kids
Pack for our trip to Salt Lake (just David and I)
Drive to Dallas and drop off kids at Grandma's
Fly to Salt Lake
If I missed anything...I surely don't know where it will fit in after all that!
I know I can't focus on the whole picture. I really just need to take things one day at a time. But I'm a planner...so that's a real challenge for me sometimes. I want to finish one thing before moving on to the next. But you can't do that when there's so much packed into a relatively short amount of time. So I find myself frustrated because I want to tie up all the lose ends, and be done with it. It just doesn't compute, does it?
Throw in 5 kids at home for the summer, a load or two of laundry every day due to swim team practices, 2 power outages in 5 days from severe thunderstorms, my determination to lose 10 pounds (and therefore, no chocolate or wine to soothe my nerves), and a sweet baby girl who insists on me reading her books umpteen time a days...sigh.
Physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually...I am just beat y'all.
I know...it could be worse. And if I can't take care of it, God will. There's really nothing He can't do, and He doesn't expect me to do it all. I go through stages where my life is super busy, and I sail through just fine. Other times (like now), it's like a raging storm that keeps going and going and going...with no signs of stopping. I'm neither swimming nor drowning, but I can only tread water so long!
Sigh...anyone want to jump ship with me? Or join my crazy crew? ;-) Warning...the next 2 weeks could be the ride of your life!
Last night, a huge storm blew through our side of town. It started out as a well-behaved rain, and quickly became a complete deluge. At one point, it was raining so hard, we literally couldn't see anything outside, just sheets and sheets of water. Later on, we checked the rain gauge...we got 3 inches of unruly precipitation in one hour. Wow.
About halfway through the storm, the power went out. Luckily, I'd gotten pretty much everything I needed out of the fridge for dinner. I'd already had plans to make a nice healthy salmon dish (I'm making a real effort to lose weight right now, and was not about to let a little thing like a power outage thwart me!). So I made dinner, and heated up leftovers for the kids--luckily I have a gas range, so it was just a matter of heating things up in a dry skillet. And...they don't appreciate a lovely salmon fillet like David and I do.
After a couple of hours, the kids started to complain. They'd already become whiny when the power went out, but now...it was a full scale assault of one bitter statement after another. I was fine, the baby was fine, and the dog was fine. The house wasn't hot, since the storm hit in the early evening, and it was actually pleasant outside. But the other kids, deprived of the TV, computer, Nintendo DS...you know, the really important things...were at a total lost, and expected me to solve all their "issues."
Sigh. I calmly told the kids the same things over and over. No...I don't know when the power will come back on. No...we're not going out for dinner. We have plenty of food...I'm sorry you don't care for it. No...Daddy won't be home tonight (he had a meeting up at the church). No...I'm not going to have pizza delivered...I already told you we're having dinner at home. And on and on and on!
I was patient at first. I enjoyed the relative calm after the storm. I was thankful we had a well-stocked pantry, and a whole stack of dry towels, so the kids could still go to swim team practice in the morning. But my chicks kept pecking me...the momma hen...it was relentless! The baby spilled the dog's water bowl...it took 2 of those aforesaid dry towels to clean it all up. I had to then bath the already wet baby and Gabriel and get them into pajamas while it was still light out. I lit candles...the kids said they smelled yucky. Good grief!
I finally got everyone into bed. More complaining ensued...they said they were too hot. Geez! While it really wasn't hot in the house, I knew it was warmer upstairs. Eventually, they all camped out in the game room. When David got home around 9:30, he scrounged around in the attic for our two battery powered camping fans and set them up. At last...peace reigned!
I read for a while by the light of David's camping lantern (also battery operated), and got to sleep around 10:30. When I woke up the next morning, it only took 2 seconds to realize, "Crap, the power's still out!"
I got up, determined to stick to my 2.25-mile-a-day exercise routine. After all, it might be the only time of the day I wouldn't hear any complaints from the kids. When I got back, David was up, and drove just north of our subdivision to see if he could figure out where the power lines were down. He came back with donuts, kolaches, and orange juice for the kids (three cheers for Daddy!), and reported that the electric company had 4 trucks working on a downed power line. But they were waiting for a tree crew to cut away some fallen tree limbs first. Drat.
The maddening thing about our power is this. We're on a separate grid from the rest of the neighborhood. The cul-de-sac just behind our neighbors and our street are on a grid just north of us...in another neighborhood. Three doors down, our neighbors had power...on our side of the street! Isn't that just nuts!? While couldn't blame the kids for being frustrated...I knew all we could do was wait. No amount of gripping, pleading, or x number of phone calls to Centerpoint would make the power come on any faster.
So I took the kids to swim practice and after everyone was showered and dressed, I started making phone calls. The house was starting to get uncomfortably hot. The first 4 people I called were a bust. It was getting close to lunch time, and I knew if I didn't find a place for us to cool off soon, I'd have a real meltdown on my hands. On the fifth call, I reached my friend Gina (one of my "Catholic Chicks"), who promptly told me it was fine to bring the kids over. Praise the Lord!
After a quick stop at Kroger to grab lunchables for all, we got to Gina's. The kids ate, and immediately asked if they could play the Wii. Kids! All they can think about are electronic diversions! I tried calling the house several times to see if the answering machine would pick up. If it did, I'd know the power was back on. At 1:00 o'clock, it clicked on...WE HAD POWER! I packed up the kids and headed home, after grateful thank-you's to Gina. Thanks Gina!
Let's be honest. We depend on electricity for everything. And I know it was hard for the kids to accept. They really were at a loss, and it was all I could do to not yell at them (and yes...I did a few times!). When I told them to offer it up, it just fell on deaf ears. I couldn't understand it. After all, we lost power for 15 days when Hurricane Ike hit. This time it was less than 24 hours...no big deal, right? My kids acted like the world was going to end!
Right now, it's getting dark outside, and there's an occasional sound of thunder. The radar shows another storm cell heading right for us. Say some prayers that we don't lose power again. Meanwhile, I'll going to ask the Lord for patience. And perseverance. And POWER. Not just electric power. But the power to help my kids weather another storm...if necessary.
But hopefully not! ;-)
PS...we lost power again the following week...for about the same amount of time!
