Countdown to Summer

I'm happy to report that things are hopping here at the troops!  In spite of multiple "trials", we are moving along towards the end of the school year.

The Coach and Son #3 made it safely back from their trip NE.  Had a fabulous time!  I'm enjoying the fact that we are all together for a bit before the next adventures begin.  It is NICE to be together.

After the car accident (the Odyssey is now in the shop and we are driving a loaner), we've also dealt with a stolen credit car number, an eye emergency (she's fine!), a dental emergency (taken care of with lots of time at the dentist, yesterday), an 8th grade girls party at our farm over the weekend, countless chiropractor appointments, and lets not forget  - free breakfast at Chick-fil-A all week!  Except we've only made it there, once.  And did I mention that knee pain is keeping me from my daily runs?  Ugh.

One of the kids said, "Mom, what is the DEAL with our family, lately?"

And I know what he means.

That expression, "When it rains, it pours"?

I'm feeling it.

But in spite of it all, God is faithful.  He's provided.  Comforted.  Cared for us.  I've seen character growing by leaps and bounds in my kiddos.  Particularly the ones who have been going through these trials, of course.  And even in the Coach.  Who is already such a strong, Godly, man of character that it amazes me.

No there hasn't been a lot of time for relaxing.  Sitting down, even.  Certainly not for blogging.

But only 7 more days of early mornings. . . packing 8 lunches. . . signing notebooks. . . washing and filling water bottles. . . washing school pants at night. . . listening to reading, math facts, study sheets, verses.  . .

Now that I think about it?  I'm going to miss it.  I can't believe another school year is coming to an end.

I'm going to miss our fabulous, sweet, capable, amazing teachers.  How I love them!  I'm going to miss the content of what my kids are learning every day.  I'm going to miss the "community" of our school and how much I love that my kids are all there, together, with their daddy, uncle, papa, cousins. . .

Well, I guess the cousin part won't change - it will just move to our back yard!

Yay for Summer!

So in the meantime, I'll enjoy the end of the year festivities, assemblies, parties, class events.  I'll take lots of pictures that will never make it off my computer (or camera, honestly), I'll fix hair and help choose clothes and keep packing those lunches and buying those snacks.  I'll help the Coach and Son #1 and Daughter #2 gather the things they need for their mission trips.  I'll keep filling out forms. . . SO many forms!  I'll keep driving back and forth, back and forth (and putting gas in the van!).  I'll keep letting the answering machine take care of the phone calls.  I'll keep piling the mail up on the counter and throwing the clean laundry in the living room chair.

Because Summer is coming!

Happy Wednesday!

Absence makes the heart grow fonder. . .

and tired.

(sigh)

I haven't slept too badly without the Coach home.  Except for that one night when 1/2 of the kids ended up in bed WITH me.  Let me just say. . . we do NOT go for the whole "family bed" thing.  Ugh.  If that works for you, great.  I'm entertained by the stories that Kelle tells about her sweet girls sleeping with them.  It's not for us.  Or me.

But as the nights have passed, I've started having trouble GOING to sleep.  Once I'm asleep, I'm fine.  But getting there hasn't been easy. . . in spite of my experiments with Benadryl, Melatonin, and Unisom.  All of which work beautifully.  Some of the time.

I think I'm just ready for him to be home.

Duh.

Not to be one of those bloggers who gives TMI. . . but the Coach?  He hums in his sleep.  And sings, sometimes.  And puts out his arm to drape over my waist.  Or the general area where I used to have a waist. 

Yes, sometimes he hogs the covers (and then has the audacity to accuse me of being a blanket hog!).  Or takes over my pillow when I go to the bathroom in the middle of the night (a side effect of the 9 pregnancies, I'm afraid).

But it WAY beats sleeping alone.

However, these late nights (trying to get REALLY sleepy before I crawl in bed) have been interesting in their own way.  The Coach is an "early to bed, early to rise" kind of guy.  Actually, that would be an understatement of the worst kind.  The man has been known to go to bed BEFORE 9:00.  Which to a reformed night owl like myself?  Incomprehensible. 

I've learned over the years to get up early, even though I still hate it.  The Coach has learned, over the years, not to TALK to me in the morning.  And it's all worked out wonderfully.

I, however, have NOT learned that trying to talk to the Coach after 9:30 will inevitably end with the sounds of his snoring.  How in the world does someone so thin, I mean FIT and BUFF, snore?  It's a mystery.

But without the early to bed mandates, I've been wasting a LOT of time.  Enjoying the quiet.  Catching up on Frasier episodes that I haven't watched since Little Man was a newborn (remember those 10:00 feedings that keep you up until 12?).  Perusing blogs that I ran out of time to read years ago.  Like Bakerella and a long way from the Theta house.  Reading up about some sweet friends like Blackberry Rambles and Then there were Six.  Making wish lists for online shopping.  This swimsuit (what do you think?) and this running dress.  Did you see that ?  A RUNNING DRESS!  I'm in heaven.  These shoes for all of the time I spend on my feet NOT running - because they are cute.  For running I need a new pair of these. 

As you can see?  I have no trouble wasting late night time.

I even started reading this book.  Again.  First time since high-school, I think.  No one writes like Eugenia.  No one.  Every fiction author I've read since I read everything she wrote, I've compared to her.  The deep South.  The beautifully descriptive way she writes.  Her characters.  LOVE.  Her books transport YOU to St. Simons Island.  Who doesn't want that?

It's not that I haven't accomplished "real" things while the Coach has been gone.  Hmmmm.  Let me think.

Well.

The house is neat and tidy.  Sort of clean.  OH!  I. . . um. . . I've gotten the kids to school on time every morning.  Does that count? 

Good thing he'll be home in a couple of days.  It's about time I get my act together and get something DONE around here.

And I miss his humming.

The God of all Comfort

Today started out well.  Good night's sleep.  Not too sore from yesterday's 1/2 marathon. Kids off to school with few delays.  House in decent order. Time for a shower.  And a visit with a sweet friend and her girls.
I even took a short nap with Little Man.

Then the kids got in the car at school and started bickering.
Little Man demonstrated that his nap was WAY too short.
At home everyone was starving and cranky.
No one liked anyone else.
I wished for the Coach to come home and rescue me.

Trying to make things better, I headed out to pick up pizza for dinner.
Went by for a short visit with my parents.
Pulled out onto the road outside their neighborhood.
Stopped at the red light.

and SMACK.

We were hit from behind.
Hard.
Scaring us to death.
Slamming us into the car in front of us.
Messing up the back of our Odyssey pretty badly.
Destroying the other car completely.

My dad came quickly.
Telling me what to do next when I couldn't think straight.
Calling the police for us.
Reminding me to exchange information with the driver.

We cleared the cars off the road.
Waited for the police.
Who then said they really didn't need to come and we could both go on.

The pizza was purchased.
The dinner eaten in chaos.

And our sweet sitter came to say good-bye before she moves away.

When she left, I thought "I can't do this."

The Coach is gone.
The car is wrecked.
The house is mess.
The kids are up too late.
I'm exhausted.
My BSF lesson isn't done.
And I already miss my "Chelle".

I'm SO DONE with this day, Lord.

But once the children were tucked in safe and sound, I turned to His Word. 

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort."

And then. . .

"We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.  He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us."
(2 Cor. 1:3-7, 8b-10)


So. . .
The house is still a mess.
The dishes are still in the sink.
The laundry isn't folded.
My BSF lesson isn't finished.
I'm still tired.
The Coach is still gone.
The car is still wrecked.
And our sweet babysitter won't be right down the street, anymore.

But if you need some comfort, tonight?  I'm your girl.

He has given me life everlasting. . . and He will give me the strength for this life, as well.

God is the blessed controller of all things.

And I trust Him.