It has been C-R-A-Z-Y lately. Every time I think I have a handle on something, I find that I'm very WRONG! Between running to the doctor's office, picking up meds from the pharmacy, running errands for the Krista's Washington trip, trying to meet a deadline (and royally missing it!) and a few dozen other things, I've been feeling a little overwhelmed. A little overcommitted, ya think?!?
The good news is that Krista was well enough to make the trip to Washington, DC with her classmates yesterday. Two days fever free is a God thing!!! I felt teary eyed up to the moment of saying goodbye, but managed to keep the tears at bay. Quite the feat since I'm the one always crying at movies, made-for-Hallmark TV movies or over a sappy commercial! Pitiful, I know! Now, I'm mentally going over all the things I need to do between now and when Krista returns. EEKS! Enough said.
On the Toilet-Training Front...:
I'm happy to report that since the purchase and use of the "Traveling Toilet," Michael is now able to connect the whole "listen-to-your-body" methodology of Toilet Training 101. And it doesn't hurt to "motivate" him with a Jelly Belly if he uses the toilet four times in a row! He uses it every hour (and usually several times within the hour) and is only having about one accident per day. Whew! For a while there, I was concerned we'd be the only family purchasing Depends for our "I'm-never-going-to-wear-underwear" child!!! Toilet training, moms, there's hope!!!
We were all singing to the Veggietales Hosanna CD (Shameless Plug Alert: I just finished adding my review of it in this month's newsletter---you can just clink on the tab "Five Star Books & More Newsletter") and Michael told Jacob, "You sing like a bush, daddy!" Unfortunately, this was NOT the first time he "complimented" someone with that phrase. Sorry, Livi! I think he thinks it's a compliment since he probably associates anything about a bush with Moses and The Burning Bush Bible story. It probably doesn't make sense but make it work, okay?!? The other day he told me this: "You're such a duck!" O-k-a-y. Whatever that means. Quack. I'm thinking we'll have a little discussion before bedtime about what's considered complimentary by the norm...and what's not!
I finished reading Kim Vogel Sawyer's In Every Heartbeat and loved it! Lately, I've barely gotten any reading done. And it drives me CRAZY that it takes me several days to finish just one book instead of a book a day like before. It's been very frustrating until I've come to the realization that Krista and Michael just need more of my time as they get older. It was one of those "Aha" moments and I'm grateful God is so patient with me!!! Duh! Spending time with those two treasure boxes from Heaven and actively participating in all their activities are far more important in this season of my life.
I think that's why I love the familiar passage in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, 14 which reminds me that God brings different seasons in our life and that He's made everything beautiful in His time. Here it is from the Amplified Bible...
"1TO EVERYTHING there is a season, and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven: 2A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted,
3A time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build up,
4A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6A time to get and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to cast away,
7A time to rend and a time to sew, a time to keep silence and a time to speak,
8A time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
11He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men's hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy], yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
14I know that whatever God does, it endures forever; nothing can be added to it nor anything taken from it. And God does it so that men will [reverently] fear Him [revere and worship Him, knowing that He is]."
So let's savor the moment and this season of our lives together.
