myShannonigans

I feel a little fit coming on! I'll be honest that I am saddened we never get a vacation. I find I am jealous of all the families traveling throughout the year.

Each year we have hope and as the reality of a large family comes into picture we are faced with another year of surprise expenses that keep us close to home.

This never seemed to bother me like it does now. I'm guessing since the kids are growing and beginning to move out one at a time I know my dream of family vacations is nearing an end.

You know you have an issue when your husband tells you of a friend who is going away on a family vacation for a week and you go from excitement to tears. Really? I'm gonna tear up? WOW...guessing I have a few emotions built up. I really am excited for them! Maybe because I know what that would mean for us to get that chance. I think I am more sad that, THAT caused me to tear up. It's not very fun to have a death of a vision. I just have to remember to lay it at God's feet and keep on truckin'!

Seems like when the kids were younger we were creative and there was always HOPE we would get a real vacation eventually. Now that the kids are older I guess I am sad we don't have some of those memory type trips with our entire family.

Then I wonder how I can be so sad?

We have been blessed with a large family. We have created some fun family camp trips. Although those are coming less and less with so many going so many directions. Add to that mix financial burdens, health issues, and just the frustration of home ownership our camping moments are becoming very slim!

Grabbing a moment to make a memory I am really praying that God will bless us with some wonderful weather at Thanksgiving so we can take a family camping trip. We may not get Disney, beach trips, ski trips, or even lake house fun. But we do seem to love the campfire smell, the aroma of God's creation, and the simplicity of enjoying one another.

I think I am fearful the weather will be too cold and another moment to make a memory will pass, or will it? Maybe the memory I want to make will pass but I am sure God will provide some sort of opportunity for a different memory. He always does!

I've always been content with my life. Not sure why this is an issue now. Maybe with my health off and on, seeing our college student move out, the loss of close friends and seeing their deep loss, is a reminder of how short time can be with our families.

I'm looking for memory makers! And yet, how can you live in a family of 10 and not have a few memories!

My life is full and I am so very blessed!

We will continue to grab our family camp vacations. But if the weather turns bad, don't be shocked if you see a tent village in our backyard!

I tell you it is craziness this life we live! One moment life is flowing and the next your world is turned upside down and crazy!

Leave it to us to have an episode that doctors weren't even sure what would happen next.

QUICK RE-CAP

A week ago Monday we try to home school like any good home school family. And like any good home school family THERE WILL BE interruptions!

A quick - "someone come here, HE'S CHOKING"

We find - toddler with chair next to cabinet, he has pulled down a big bag of powdered sugar, grabbed a big spoon, and is helping himself to his delight!

The result - a quick grin, puff of white smoke, and an immediate coughing fit that lasted an entire day!

(7 HOURS later we decide it is time to pull in the experts! After several calls to a doctor friend, then our pediatrician, and later an after hour clinic, we are on toddler watch for pneumonia. Two weeks we must watch! Oh, or his lips turning blue!)

Wake up the next day to a cough free toddler...yippee!

Feeling we are in the all clear with a good laugh here and there, we awake early Saturday morning to a fever coughing toddler. (6 days later) Being a mom of so many at some point you get your experience with croup. I am thinking he has croup but it could be pneumonia related to the powdered sugar?

A quick - phone call to doctor friend, a hospital, then after hours clinic (same doctor from earlier in week calls us back and says, "oh, its the powdered sugar bandit" I remember you!) Great! Toddler has been labeled!

We find - nobody is quite sure what is happening and we probably need x-rays to rule out pneumonia.

The result - off the to ER we go with one very lethargic baby!

A cough here and there and everyone agrees it's croup. But with the powdered sugar incident (we are now known as the incident) all feel an x-ray is a must. X-ray reveals some great lungs, doc concludes croup it is. They force a much hated dose of steroids down toddler. A spit here and a spit there and he grabs a paper towels and eagerly scrubs his tongue from the awful stuff. A peppy toddler is off leaving the hospital. As we arrived he could barely hold his head or hand up, but as we left he eagerly waved and sent shouts of "BYE" to every crossing stranger.

What happened next???? (you know there is more!)
Three minutes from our house and we have projectile vomiting in the car!

A quick - STOP the car!

We find - we find he has vomited up powdered sugar clumps (tsp and bigger)

The result - he no longer has a croup cough!!!! WHAT???

Now the real fun begins! Two very long nights of fever over 103! Hot baby! Coughing baby (but not croup cough)! He is a sick little guy. Talk to doctor friend again we decide to ride this out at home. Both of us confused at why powdered sugar shows up 6 days later and the croup cough ends in less than a day!!!!

There is more!

Still with sick baby, oils were applied (because after 2 sleepless nights I had friends driving in for an oil info meeting from Houston. I couldn't very well send them away. Thankful they came because they knew what to apply.) and 20 minutes later that little guy is running around. NO more fever and an appetite has returned, or has it?

A quick - realization that toddler is devouring food, but NOT swallowing!

We find - this continues for 4 days! YES, we are calling doctor friend again! (Have I mentioned I love her:) Deciding to wait it out another couple of days we watch and wait.

The result - two days later, its time to either see toddler eat or take the child in AGAIN! I caved...I needed to know...I bought a donut to see whether he would eat or not. The entire family sits and watches him eat. YES, an entire donut eaten. (we gave him more sugar:/)

I learned a couple of things....

• DON'T let toddler reach powdered sugar
• children will always become ill after hours or on weekends (the medical field SHOULD change the times they are open!)
• after hours clinics will only help with certain things. And possible pneumonia is not it! Nor are x-rays, basically JUST the common cold.
• go to the ER prior to 6 p.m. (we were in and out in 2 hours, but when we left the waiting room was completely packed!)
• liquid steroids must taste REALLY bad!
• powdered sugar can possibly exit 6 days later, NOT the way you expect!
• it is a God send to have a medical friend to talk things over with
• whatever state you left the house in upon going to ER, it will look the EXACT same 5 days later!
• caring for sick children is tough, but MOM will always be there to hug, kiss, and snuggle during your worst hours! And it is our pleasure to do that for our children!

I have decided that parenting is much like a counseling service! I really have to set aside the fact this is MY child. If I can view them as God's child then I tend not to take our issues so personally. If I view them as MY child, then I tend to over react at every pressure point.

Counselors don't tend to react because they can sit outside the problem vs. in the middle of the issue.

Every issue we have that comes up in our home has to be managed delicately. Even when they need the hard line of dad stepping up and putting down the law! That law without grace falls apart! And frankly, there isn't much grace when we are in the moment of reacting to a given situation verses guiding them into adulthood.

If I remember that at this stage we are helping them grow into WISE young adults it means I have to walk with them through the messes they create. Not judging, not disciplining in fear, not over-reacting! I am so thankful I have a husband that we can hash out the issue before we address the issue. We process together, share each of our insights, pray, seek a heart that will respond as Christ, and then settle on how we will talk with the teen. Only after we have processed our own emotions can we actually be to a point to approach and help the teen.

More often than not when an issue comes if we address it before much thought or weeding through our own perspective I find we make a bigger mess of the issue. We all begin arguing over what really isn't the problem and leaving the root to come back out again and again.

Why I can't always remember this is sad to me. We tend to react more often than process.

But when we process, we give time for God to feed into the emotions and really help us see what we are dealing with at any given moment. When you have parents seeking the Lord, teens seeking the Lord, then we need to allow God to work on each of our hearts.

Yep, we aren't just parents, we are nurses, beauticians, lawyers, chefs, house keepers, educators, and even counselors. We don't get paid for the different hats we must wear, but we will reap beautiful benefits as our children grow into some fabulous adults. It takes time, patience, and a great deal of God's grace. Probably more importantly, it takes parents willing to seek God's heart!

Let's challenge one another to seek God in some of the most difficult relationships to manage...raising young adults for Him!

I spent 10 hours in my van today without going more than 12 miles from my home. Insane! Right?

Knowing I had more to do than I had time. I said a prayer and began shuffling through my day.
So, how does one use up a 1/2 a tank of gas staying within nearly walking distance of ones home?

Let me share!

8:45 a.m. - load up 6th grade daughter and friend to run them to Home School Academy
9:00 a.m. - drop them off and try to get my head around all there is to do
9:10 a.m. - realize I can't possibly think when I am surrounded by clutter
9:15 a.m. - vaccum out van
9:20 a.m. - sigh of relief and a moment of clarity
9:30 a.m. - call home and tell them to get toddler ready I will do all my errands with little mr. toddler
9:45 a.m. - Toddler and mom begin making our rounds....

(everytime I stopped the van he would begin hollaring, "me, me, me"!) It was like peek-a-boo everytime I opened the door! He was thrilled beyond words!

Target...return here
Hobby Lobby...return there
Payless...return everywhere
Walmart...realizing now I birthed a heavy weight because he is stinkin' HEAVY
Library...late charge from the lost video! At least we found it!

11:15 a.m. - drop toddler off and pick up Senior daughter, and another round of stores we go!

TJ Max...here we go...return here
The Mall...is her stop
Justice...return there



Would you believe none of the returns were for me? Not only that, but each store return was a return from a different child!

Noon - we are off to meet G'ma and get another car (only for the day:/)
(Senior is off to get a glimpse of the college life)

Did I mention we are about to have another college student? YIKES! She will be our little artist. Pretty sure I should blog about her God given talent! Just wait til you see her self taught skill! Basically you call that a God given talent!

12:30 p.m. - lunch with my mom (YES!)
2:00 p.m. - race to pick up 6th grader and different friend from Academy
2:30 p.m. - drop off friend
3:00 p.m. - post office run...returning items from Gibson's from nearly a year ago!
3:30 p.m. - back to church for a few things
4:30 p.m. - back home to trade out more kids
4:45 p.m. - leave daughter to babysit little guys, grab big guys for some tennis time

(Of course today toddler takes a 4 hour nap!)

5:30 p.m. - drop off tennis boys
5:45 p.m. - Purchase Large Coke from SONIC
6:00 p.m. - back home until 7:00

(little kids are having great time PTL and I get my couch time with my guy!)

7:00 p.m. - BACK in the van
7:30 p.m. - opportunity to watch my 14 year old son play against some men and win!!!
7:45 p.m. - purchasing some gas for the van! Imagine that?!
8:15 p.m. - eating dinner that husband fixed!
9:00 p.m. - DONE! There is nothing left for the day!

10:00 p.m. - realize we have to leave at 6:30 to visit college campus, decide to take shower and do my nails (apparently my looks were more important than how tired I am)

10:30 p.m. - making a schedule of tomorrows expected plan!

11:00 p.m. - blogging

11:45 p.m. - DONE! For REAL!

Well, it is never quite fun, but really should be expected, when you come off a great weekend (the mountain), there will likely be some valley time.

Fabulous time with my daughters! Getting away and relaxing a little with some great conversations. The girls thought life was calmer without the boys, and apparently when we got home, the boys felt life was calmer without the girls. I guess when you remove 4-5 people, it takes the chaos of 10 to a relaxation type feel!

Let's just say today was slightly stressful!

• wake up at 4:00a.m. to have toddler climb in bed

(this means a lack of sleep since he is a rather violent sleeper)

• 2 hours later I am woken up by working teen who cannot find van keys

(knowing in 2 hours I will have to awake again to go get van from working teen, it appears I am back on a nursing mothers schedule. And yet, no nursing baby in this house anymore!)

• 2 hours later I am off to pick up van from teen

(knowing I will return home to 2 teens still sleeping, 1 very tired teen trying to manage 3 very awake little children!)

• gotta get household into gear for homeschooling I gotta play bad mom even though they got to sleep in past 9:00a.m.!

(waking the other teens, means fun for me! )

• immediately get school into gear and I find kids are not happy

(apparently, they believe that a weekend of freedom is supposed to carry over to the week!) NOPE..sorry!

• kids mad about school means we have some really fun attitudes flying around.

(this means mom needs to exercise all grace to stay in calm mode!)

• 2 little boys have lost all TV privileges due to not being nice at church childcare!

(this meant at any given moment they can create a mess in their fun!)

• after stopping the fighting amongst the older siblings, keeping the little guys away from technology,and trying my hardest to home school someone with at least one subject, I was already hitting mid-morning!

(now exercising patience since I already feel behind by 10a.m.!)

THEN, you guessed it, THE TODDLER made his move!

Considering technology was put on hold he decided to search the cabinets while we are homeschooling down stairs. (all of 2 minutes of it!)

Next thing I know we hear a choking toddler as the 3rd grader yells, "someone come quick!"

The household takes off!

We round the corner of the kitchen to find a chair shoved across the room, cabinet door open, bag of powdered sugar in one hand and spoon in the other! A little puff of white smoke, teeth covered in white powder, and a little cheesy grin...then, the eyes get big and he begins choking again. That rascal not only ate powdered sugar, but has now INHALED powdered sugar!

Making a long story short, I decided to call the doctor around 3:00 considering we are still coughing, so we are now on toddler watch! Several doctor calls later and we are to watch to see if his body will take care of this or whether he could get pneumonia! (Basically we have to watch for a fever for the next 2 weeks or his mouth turning blue!) Seriously, I should have left him with the technology!

It has been a day of medical interruptions, mom in fight solving discussions, and yet another day gone by with home school NOT getting accomplished!

Needed to blog for my sanity, showered in case of emergency run to hospital, and I finally graded one child's work! I think I will quit while I am ahead!

See you tomorrow with hopefully an uneventful toddler day!

Conflict is going to be part of our life. How is it that we think we can do everything to avoid conflict when we live on a fallen planet with a bunch of sinners?

We are doing a Marriage Oneness class at our church and this past week was on Resolving Conflict in our marriage. (It seems like every marriage class takes us back to parenting and every parenting class takes us back to marriage.) Probably because they are all about relationships!

Anyways, the conflict resolution can so translate into our homes with our children! I love this quote:

Conflict can be "A Stairway Up" or it can be "A Doorway Out" by Tim
Lundy

Wow...what are we choosing?

I can't help but think we have done our children a huge disservice when we do not teach them how to resolve conflict.

Conflict is inevitable but leaving is a choice!

Yet we tell our children when there is conflict, pain, or disappointments, leave! Do we realize our marriages are training our children how to function in the outside world. We are the living example of how to handle these things. Whether we like it or not, they will mock what we do.

What happened to training them that God can work all things together for His good?

Childbirth is PAINFUL! But oh, the blessing of enduring that pain! Precious hugs, little I love You's, and sweet sound of laughter fill our homes.

Our homes are full of CONFLICT! But what a blessing when we can work through our differences and move forward in oneness in our marriages and our homes. We are a family, a team, living life together. I can't remember one moment in scripture where it says when conflict comes go your own direction. Can you?

Life is full of DISAPPOINTMENTS! But I refuse to let my circumstances rob me of my JOY! Life is too short to live in despair. We only get one life and I hope to enjoy it before I depart to my permanent home of JOY and PEACE in heaven! I did not endure the pain of childbirth, the conflict of raising little children to have my adult kids live in sorrow. They can experience joy in the midst of life! I adore them more than anything and pray they experience a life full of JOY. But unless I teach them how to deal with conflict and disappointments they will live a life of regret. I want them to have the tools they need to move forward in life and not be stuck in their pain.

Barry and I have agreed that our home will always choose to use conflict as A STAIRWAY UP!
God is bigger than our mess!
God is the solution to our pain!
God can bring agreement even when we disagree!
God can use my sorrow, disappointments, and pain for His good. Usually we miss something precious when we will not follow through, all the way through, the pain, struggles, and our conflicts.

If I am pregnant and I end the pregnancy, I have just missed a beautiful blessing of life!
If I am in a relationship and I end a friendship, I have just missed an opportunity to show value to someone I once cared for and who Christ died for, and one more person to love me.
If I am faced with disappointment and I live in that sorrow, I have lost all joy.

I don't know about you, but I would prefer to enjoy the precious hugs of children, cherish the friendships I have, and have more days of happiness than sadness!

I'm not sure how life will turn out for my kids. But I pray they will learn to not hold grudges with their peers. To never allow a dating relationship to allow you to end a friendship. To learn how to do a job well done even when you have a boss that seems to put up brick walls in your path. Their circumstances will not dictate their outcome! God is bigger than any situation they are facing.

They hopefully will learn that God created us as relational beings.

• He doesn't want us breaking fellowship with him OR anyone else!

That leaves an important role for Barry and I. We are a picture of how you resolve conflict in our home. Whether we want to do it well or not, we better, because we are influencing 8 precious children, and those precious children are influencing their friends and peers. And each of us are representing Christ if we are a Christ follower!

CONFLICT is inevitable! But my response is by choice!

What is your choice?

I wonder how well Saturday will go if I am already freaking out!

We haven't done a family picture since Brady's birth! That is just so sad!!!!

But everytime we get ready to go, the stress it takes to get everyone together, is just overwhelming.

So this time I called and locked in a date. If its on the calendar I am not likely gonna back out! Ever since then I have been in stress mode trying to figure out what to wear. It is so sad this freaks me out. I guess the thought of getting everyone together you just don't want it to turn out bad because NONE of us will want to attempt this again.

I have been calling and emailing my college student and senior to make sure they keep their calender clear. Then keeping the boys from scheduling ultimate frisbee, soccer, or disc golf has been a major accomplishment. This doesn't even tackle the clothes, the hair, or time frame to get 10 people happy for family photo!

Is it even possible to get teen to toddler happy with their clothes?

Of course that doesn't account for dad or mom! And if I am gonna be in the picture I better have something to wear, where I look thin AND young!

We are two days away, Barry is out of town, and I am not quite sure I have figured out what we are doing yet! Then I realize I didn't even think about the shoes we will wear! YIKES!

For some reason all my children believe it is okay to grow at any given moment without asking me if it fits into my time frame or my budget! Guess this means back to the store again!

My new motto in life! I think I want to make this a plaque and hang it above the kitchen door or for that matter every room in my house! And I am quite sure I need one in my van too!

The interruptions ARE ministry!

My husband posted this the other day after an all day prayer walk with Family Life.

This hit me hard. It IS sooooo correct!

I am confident that satan is on a campaign to detour our focus from the real issue. How did we get so lost in ourselves, our chaos, and our agenda that we have totally forgotten what is really important.

Moms, this IS what being a mom is all about. Yes, this is true for everyone but in our role as mother, our worlds are full of interruptions, at any given moment, on any given day! (Mostly they are ages newborn - 18, although I am discovering there is no age limit on this! Because whether it is my children, my parents or my in-laws it is an honor to be there for them.)

How quickly we forget the mission field the Lord has given to us! Our mission field is where ever we are, with whomever the Lord opens the door too, in any given circumstances.

I find most of my ministry moments....

• never come knocking at the most convenient time of my day.
• will never be proposed to me in a nice and neatly wrapped box.
• and will almost always cost me something (a sacrifice of my desire).

My goodness, it wasn't convenient for Jesus as He died upon the cross for our sins!

His ministry moments....

• didn't come at the most convenient times. (always came as He was going)
• wasn't always pretty. (as he bled upon that cross)
• and it cost Him something (He died for OUR sins...wasn't even His)

The amazing thing about ministry though is we often would gladly do it again. (We know Jesus although not eager to give His life, was glad to do it!) I can't think of one instance where I stopped what I was doing and was furious that I had to seize the moment to love on a child, share with a friend, or meet the need of my husband.

• That moment in which I stop to train a child about lying always seems to come right before I have some place to be. And yet when the child grasps the truth of what he has been doing it was worth me being late!
• Sometimes to meet the need of a friend means me juggling a few things to make it happen but I never regret it. To see that I actually helped make someone elses day easier or met a very specific need, her smile or emotion of relief is a great reward.
• Or to stop for a moment with what I am doing to hear about my husbands hard day or to help pick up something he needs from the store, even though I did the store run yesterday. For him to see it is an honor for me to help him, then I get to reap the benefits of meeting his needs as the next thing I know he is going above and beyond for me.

Yes, sometimes dinner was a mess, the house was destroyed, I'm a few minutes late, I may not have been able to get dressed before noon or for that matter dinner. But after the fact, I am thanking the Lord that He grabbed my attention long enough to get me off 'my agenda' and onto the moment.

Maybe we should STOP looking at life 'as a world of order' (our mistake to view it this way) and begin looking at it 'as a world of interruptions'! (God's design)

Are you looking for your next interruption with eager anticipation to see what God can do in any given situation with a willing heart? Your heart?

We have no comprehension the plans that God has for each of us. Nor could anyone know the plans He had for Jared, Jane Ellen, and baby Hadley.

The first signs of pregnancy I can only imagine the joy that filled their hearts. To discover at 21 weeks that your precious little one may never survive to term had to be heart wrenching. Then to choose life when others want you to avoid the pain that is coming...forgetting that the pain is already here. It is amazing how we will try to lessen the pains we have but often they only create bigger and deeper wounds. Pain was not allowed to be avoided, it is a realization that something is happening. Apart from Christ I can only imagine that pain is unbearable because it has no purpose. In Christ, we realize that pain serves its purpose as we are used by a Heavenly Father that loves us more than anything to bring us closer to Him. AND it can be a picture for others to see a Fathers love.

If there is a broken arm that needs to be reset, we as parents are glad to allow that pain to enter because we know we are doing something FOR our child, not to them. God does not bring about pain, but He does allow it.

Jared and Jane Ellen choosing life even when there seemed to be no hope will actually be their healing as well as a picture of what Joy, Peace, and Love, can endure, and will become!

The birth and life of Hadley Jane will be a beautiful picture of what God can do in the hearts of His children.

The video below tells a story of two families, joining together as one. There really can be JOY in the midst of unbelievable pain.

You will see grandparents, siblings, and two parents awaiting the arrival of Hadley Jane.
You will see and experience the love of a father and a mother for their little girl.
You will see and feel the love of a family as they enjoy life, mourn death, and experience peace with the memories.

What I was completely captivated by was a fathers love for his child that is a picture of God's love for us. Hadley, had her fathers love the moment she was created. Nothing she did earned that love. It was hers from the beginning.

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Roman 5:1-8

Jared and Jane Ellen will walk what God has allowed to pass through His fingers because they understand His love and desire for you to know His love as well. You see, the life of Hadley (all 93 minutes) can be a living picture of the father's love.

They loved ALL of her!

And God loves ALL of you!



Video by duke photo boutiQue

My life has been saved. I love a husband who understands where I am at and what I need. I am always amazed at how quick he can see the issue. I typically think, sure, okay. (not really seeing what he sees) Inevitably within a few days or weeks I come to the conclusion he already knew and I am thankful he was patient as I got there too.

I can't even remember when he first told me about the concept of Getting Things Done by David Allen. It was last year sometime I believe. When he first mentioned it I thought it was great but I really didn't have time to look into this. Now I am discovering that I don't have time NOT to look into it.

You see, this year has been rather difficult. I feel I have been flying by the seat of my pants, being tossed this way and that way. Everyone keeps saying it is just because of the stage of life. But I gotta say it was never this way before last year. I still had 8 kids last year, I still managed our same home and mostly same schedules. I just couldn't figure out why I couldn't stay on top of the everyday life I used to stay up with fairly well. It might NOT have looked pretty but we were there, I was on time, and I sorta new what was coming next.

But NOT this year!

I can't remember this, that, or those. I remember things a day late. I have no idea what my next step is. Things were just being dictated by the urgent. I am positive this method has frustrated my family along with myself.

Something needed to change, but WHAT?

First thought was to end all activities since we have lost all control. But you don't stop driving just because you don't know where your next turn will be. I have been praying about this all summer long as to why I can't get my act together.

THEN, yesterday, my eyes were opened to the problem.

My husband could not attend the one day workshop that was being offered and asked if I wanted to go in his place. I jumped on the chance. Even though my schedule was insane, I wasn't accomplishing anything anyways, I might as well.

Only 40 minutes into the workshop and then chatting with a friend I discovered my problem!

• our minds store a lot of information (it is great at it) by David Allen
• but our minds are NOT great at recalling that information at the optimal times (hence think of work stuff when you are at home or home stuff when you are at work) My past year was constantly thinking of things when I couldn't do anything about them! by David Allen
• as I heard about how to get that information out of your brain and how to organize it (which I used to be able to do without this system)....I saw my problem, sleep!

The discovery that I had Rheumatoid Arthritis and I need 8 hours of sleep every night is what changed! (I was used to living on about 5 hours for the past 19 years.) Once everyone was in bed, I could clear my head, organize my thoughts, and clearly see what came next.

Now that I go to bed with everyone else or before the teens. I have lost my brain so to say!

UNTIL...yesterday!

One 2 minute exercise and MOM is BACK!

Now that my brain is sorting through all that needs to be done.

• I can think more clearly
• I can think more creatively
• I can function, which means my family can function too!

It feels fantastic to feel I am one step ahead verses 10 steps behind! (or at least I know I CAN get ahead) To top it off I am leaving for a women's retreat today! The women of Family Life bless me and I am looking forward to the time of renewal with a clear mind, open heart, and ready to do the things that need to be done.

I have always figured if God allowed it then there is a way to juggle it. Doesn't mean it will always be easy. May not even mean I feel great about it. But I believe with my whole heart HE will provide a way WITH joy and peace in the process.

What has you in overload?