Joyfully Overloaded

Last night my Strong Man and I made our first decision about our teenager. Even though he’s still 18 months away from officially being one. There is a National Boy Scout event that only happens every four years. The next one is in 2021 and now is the time to apply. The commitment is big. He’ll have basically two troops his local one and then a troop that is formed just for this event. The scouts will have to raise approximately $2,000 each and will have to do some physical training in preparation. Just because he applies it doesn’t mean he’ll be accepted. It’ll happen in West Virginia and will be about two weeks time. Neither Strong Man or myself will be attending. I would love to go as a staff member, but my babe will be four and will be getting ready to go to pre-K. He needs to be with people that have had specilized training to help him learn academically. While we feel strongly about homeschooling the big ones I feel strongly that he needs to be in a school system. The idea...

Sweet Laughter, You're TEN!!  It blows my mind that ten years have past since I first held you close as you purred. Tonight I was looking through old photos of you and these three I think sum up your personality perfectly: Our super hero who is always ready to help.  Over these ten years we have watched you give all of yourself and sometime more to others.  Once you gave away all of your Christmas and birthday money to your friends.  You have physically over exceeded yourself with tasks to make life easier for others, it's not until we get home or much later that we realize just how sore your body is. We are learning that just because you offer doesn't mean you know when it's time to stop and take a breather.  At the same time the perseverance to love others at all cost has been beautiful, like that time we were in Japan and you gave a band aid to the little girl who scrapped her knee.  It's like you were born knowing that Love was a universal lan...

Today my two year old and I were playing trains on the the living room floor when he jumped up and ran into the kitchen. I assumed he was getting a forgotten train or car to add to the mix until I heard the crunch of 10 eggs hitting the floor. My big ones jumped into action by watching over him in the tub while I scrubbed the floors for the second time in a week. At first through barred teeth I sarcastically chanted, “ Praise Jesus... Hallelujah... Life is good...” but as I cleaned I remembered another two year old who once put a mixing bowl on the table and tried to add eggs so he could cook like Momma.  His favorite thing to do has always been to serve people, even back then while eggs dripped from the table to the floor he was trying to love me the way he had seen me love him. 2011 Ah and I realized life really is good. These moments will pass quickly. While I think the motives may have been different I am thankful to be a Momma of this boy. I really can’t im...

You know what my least favorite holiday is?... Halloween... It's because of the candy.  The sugar high.  The constant asking for more junk.  The candy.  If you took the other 364 days and smushed them together my kids still wouldn't have had as much candy as they collect on this day. 2016 With that said there are some things I really do love about his day.  I love watching families come together and PLAY TOGETHER.  I love seeing how creative people are.  I love that my kids get to walk up to strangers and interact in a way that isn't intimidating for anyone.  But this year as we get ready to venture out into the pouring rain my biggest boy isn't coming.  This year he's bowing out.  About a week ago he said, "You know Ma someday I'll be too old for trick-or-treating.  I'm not sure I want to go this year." 2017 Back in the spring when he made my gym shoes his own I started noticing that he walks a little taller, t...

I found this tucked away in my school cabinet:   We didn't end up buying a truck load of food for the orphans that year, instead we brought home and fell in love with our very own orphan.  We got blurry eyed and stopped writing our joys on little notes so we never made it to 208, but we gushed over every sound he made.  We did a little less fishing that year too.   Just got home from the hospital. Five days old. Even though none of our goals were met I still consider it to be one of the best years of our lives.   Meeting our third son. Falling in love with him. Learning to love deeply, even though we had no idea he would be ours until 2019. Letting go of fear. Learning to trust in ways that cannot be put into words. Real life photo op right here. His shirt reads: Current Family Favorite I will forever be thankful that our plans changed that year.

This summer has been full of the unexpected.  I have seen a neurologist, a rheumatologist, mental health, a Lyme specialist, and a sleep doctor.  I have had an EEG done, nerve testing on all my limbs, multiple MRI's, and had my blood studied.  I have woken in the middle of the night to severe pain, and wondered if I should ask my Strong Man to call 911.  I have asked God if I was dying. My Strong man has woken in the middle of the night and asked me if he needed to take me to the hospital.  He has missed work to take me to walk in care because I can't walk without holding onto the wall.  Every test comes back normal, but my family has watched me drop the milk simply because my hands were too weak.  They've watched me writhe in pain as they put ice packs on my head. We have moved our whole family to one floor because some days I struggle to walk upstairs.  Getting ready for the EEG. It has been a hard summer, full of unexpected things....

Sometimes pictures say it best: