Mom vs. the Dot: Making it COUNT!

Do anyone else's group shots look like this?  This is as good as it gets with us.   Not perfect, but better. This is my motto.  At one time in my life, I considered myself a perfectionist.  That was when I was the only person in my life.  I ate a healthy diet, I was in good physical shape, I had a super-healthy devotional life, and enjoyed my work.  I shared an apartment with a college friend, it was always perfectly clean.  My laundry was always done in one or two loads.  I bought a small bag full of groceries and it would last me a whole week.  I went on bike rides and joined a fitness club - I thought that was perfection.  But there was something I didn't know.   I didn't know how empty and lonely life could be when I was by myself.   And how quiet. I may have been teaching a classroom full of kids, but none of them were my own . I lived close to my family, but I didn't have one of my own.  Most of ...

In the last month or so, everything spun wildly out of control.  Crazy-fast, extremely crammed, not a moment to think of anything except completing the next task.  The kids, on the other hand, had a great time! I'm not exactly sure how that happens.  We homeschool, so I set our schedule.  We keep our "out of home" activities pretty limited - two evening activities a week, and church activities on Sundays. All the extra Christmas shopping, baking, present coordinating, buying, wrapping and hiding might have done it.  We only baked one batch of cookies.  I sent only a few Christmas cards.  We went to only one Christmas party...but it all adds up.  Every time I sat down with the thought of writing a blog, there was something else that would come up. Things like Shop Girl's hair being caught on the water spout of the tub during bath time.  Shrieks of "Cut it off!  Cut it off!" could be heard throughout the house.   (...

                  (Here my family and I are on a nature walk together - my hubby took the picture) I have been looking forward to this week.  Our kids were all signed up to go to VBS at our former church, bursting at the seams with volunteers and children.  I was ready for a week of free mornings, doing whatever I felt like doing. Tra-la-la! And that's exactly what I've  had: mornings by myself. I've tried to accomplish a few things, but mostly I've had a lot of thinking time.  Not a common occurrence in the land of children.  It's a question-a-minute all day long here. The house was so quiet - it felt peaceful, but not right.  I began to wonder if this is the way moms feel when they've sent their last child off to the first day of school.  The house is suddenly empty. Sure, there are piles of laundry to be folded, mail to be sorted through and phone calls to make, but I missed the interruption...