When I started home schooling 4 years ago, I stepped back from most of my other responsibilities. I wanted time to figure out the ropes of homeschooling in addition to taking care of my family. But last spring, I started to feel a tug. I was ready to serve again. I wasn’t sure where or how, but I knew I wanted to serve in some capacity. (Keep in mind this is not because after 3 years of homeschooling I suddenly had the homeschool thing mastered… truthfully this year more than ever I feel more nervous about our school year….

This weekend marked an anniversary of a life changing event in my life. In fact, one could say that my life is very, very different as a result of it. 2 years ago while on our annual Labor Day cabin trip I did something I had never done before. I finished a cup of coffee. Sure, I had had a sip once or twice, hoping to like it like my friends… but I never really cared for it.

Take 2 missing teeth, plus a few inches chopped off at the salon, and throw in a brand new pair of glasses, and you get yourself a brand new look for first grade

Not sure which I like best about this snapshot, the smiles on the girls faces, my daughters hand in the peanut butter jar or my son sneaking yet another lick out of the bowl….

I have friends that are super awesome yard salers. They get up at the butt crack of dawn on Saturday morning and drive all over the county finding great deals. They truly impress me and sometimes I think I want to be them, b/c I too like getting good deals. But, I don’t like getting up at the butt crack of dawn any day of the week, much less Saturday. And I especially don’t like dragging 4 kids around with me all over the county at the butt crack of dawn, worse yet having the kids see stuff that other people are clearing out of their house and begging me if they can then bring it in mine and then me coming home without the outdoor patio table and chairs I’d been wanting but with a bag full of happy meal toys that are now going to clutter up our family room floor.

We’ve had stitches, numerous trips to Right Time Care and even an over night hospital stay, but so far we haven’t had any broken limbs. Until this week. I was upstairs when I heard the blood curdling screams and sobs of my 5 year old. I raced downstairs to see her sobbing and holding her beloved Kit in one hand and Kit’s arm in the other. (I had noticed the day before, that her arm seemed wobbly and something wasn’t right, so it wasn’t a total shock to me).

I’ve written time and time again of my hot/cold, love/hate, on again/off again relationship with the library. Despite the fines (and my husband can attest to the fact that we have paid MANY), I keep going back again and again….and the reasons are…  1. the hush that falls over the circus van on the ride home as everyone is absorbed in their books (I’ve even been known to sit in the van in the parking lot soaking in that silence)

My youngest was sitting on the floor “reading” his choo-choo book to our dog Maggie when I had to grab my camera and snap a picture. He then looks over at me and says, “Aww man, No SMILE!” I said, “Ok, no smile.” and he happily went back to his reading.

Number one sign you have a 2 year old boy in the house. Nothing is safe. He will drag chairs to the counter to score out of reach cookies, he’ll fill cups with ice only to dump them on the floor, he’ll drink soda, coffee, whatever he finds left sitting out with reckless abandon. And he’ll sunscreen my dining room furniture.  I had even seen the sunscreen lying out earlier and moved it to the center of the dining room table, “just incase”….

Last night I fed my family a dinner so lacking in nutritional value or substance that it makes the time we had ice cream for dinner look healthy. I kid you not. We’ve been burning the candle at both ends round the circus parts the past week… finishing up projects at the old house, organizing the new house, having company, throwing a birthday party…having more company… somehow yesterday it ended up 8pm, the Olympics were on and we’d all been looking forward to watching them… we hadn’t eaten dinner.