It's so stinkin' HOT!

If you live here in our great state of Oklahoma, you know that there really isn't much else to say around here.

It's hot.

Miserably hot.

OK.

Enough of that.

Two things I wanted to clear up about my rant post regarding not trying to be anyone that you aren't.

First of all, I do NOT mean to say that you shouldn't seek and follow the wise counsel of others. God's Word is very clear about some things.  And a bit foggy about others.  When you study the Bible, read books, and ASK those around you who are older, wiser, and have more experience, you will be much more ready to face challenges and trials.  And decisions.  The Coach and I need a LOT of counsel a LOT of the time.  Life is full of decisions and choices.  This doesn't mean that the counsel you seek will be what you choose to do.  But you should ask.  And listen.

"Where no counsel is, the people fall:  but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety."

Second, I do NOT mean that we should just do what comes easily.  Good grief, if I did that, I'd sit on the couch and eat cereal and watch talk shows (I dream about doing it, but never actually have.).

Instead, I get up early, go for a painful (when WILL it get easier?) run in the miserable heat, drink gallons of water while trying to stop sweating, shower, drink a protein shake (not cereal!), and go on my way to pick up kids, and take kids, and pick up kids. . .

"But I discipline my body and keep it under control, less after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified."

What comes "naturally" to me is often NOT what I should be doing.  However, God has given me certain strengths and weaknesses.  I try to work on those weaknesses (there are so many), but also appreciate that He has given me a strengths, too.

I'm a more compassionate mother than I am a dictator.  Sometimes that's a strength, sometimes a weakness, but it's how God made me.  That doesn't mean I shouldn't continue to work on being consistent and firm with my kids.  But it's also taken me a long time to realize that I'm not going to be the kind of parent who doesn't let the kids eat when they are hungry or watch TV now and then.  And they'll live.  God's grace covers my (sometimes) push-over parenting just like He covers the harshness of others.

It's all His grace, People.

And now, back to the weather.

Wednesday morning, I ran early so the Coach and I could run together.  We've started running together two days a week (the two days he doesn't have to leave the house at 6:00), for the first time since training for this.  This morning we both had to be out the door earlier than usual (for a Wednesday), so we went running at 5:45.

I'm a "half-empty" kind of girl, so I'll try to be positive (not natural for me!).  When my body is only half-awake, it only hurts half as much.  That's a good thing.

However, falling asleep while stretching isn't.

And at 5:45 AM, there wasn't much talking from my direction.  Which made it easier for me to breathe.  The Coach probably enjoyed the quiet.  The lack of the blazing sun beating down on us, was almost worth being bleary-eyed.  Almost.

He can still run circles around me, even though he hasn't run much since the Austin Half-marathon.  I HAVE been out there four days a week, huffing and puffing up and down the hills, and he's STILL in better shape, doing nothing.  Let's be honest. . . he was BORN in better shape than I'll ever be.  I'm not going to try to be something I'm not, right?  So it's all good.

The heat will break, eventually.  It always does.  And I hear that an unusually hot Summer means an unusually harsh Winter is on our way.  This makes my kids happy because they LOVE those snow/ice days.  Can't wait.

Happy Saturday!

A Quiet Moment!

A slightly cloudy afternoon here at the troops, in spite of the 100+ temperatures.

I'm not exactly sure why it's quiet, just now.

It's delightful.

"My Fair Lady" is playing in the living room.  Some kids are eating lunch, others have already eaten and have gone back to playing.

American Girl dolls/school/vacation something or other.

And for once this week?

No one is screaming at anyone else.

I know my kids shouldn't yell.  But they do.  And I know they shouldn't say certain things.  But they do.

We are all learning to live together and get a long and give up our rights.

It's part of life.

(And I'm sorry to say I yell every now and then, too.)

In between all of the driving to and fro. . . running errands. .  . appointments, practices, and just LIFE (meaning meals and laundry, of course). . . it hasn't felt much like "Summer" at all around here.

Oh.  Someone is yelling. . . the quiet didn't last long, did it?

If I could hire someone to work here, at the troops, it would be someone who could follow the children around and tell them to "turn that off, please", "flush, please", "go back and close that, please", "hang it up when you are done, please", etc. etc.

I know I'm the mom.  And it's my job.  But I'm tired of it.

And while we are dreaming. . . I'd hire a chauffeur, too.  Think of all I could get done if I could just be HOME.

We DID clean out the girls' overflowing closet and drawers.  It's very nice to have it done.  And it only took 4 hours, weeping and gnashing of teeth, and LOTS of, "come back here, we aren't finished, yet!"

We also traded out the Legos for the Playmobil.  We only have one set of a million pieces out at any given time, the other stays stored in the attic.  The Legos have been out for months.  So it was time.  Or so I thought.

The fighting over the pieces of "food" may convince me otherwise.  Maybe they have a set with JUST food that I could order.  It seems to be the most desired of all items.

The school year is remarkably busy here.  Somehow I wait all year for Summer in the hopes that there WILL be some quiet.  Some weeks that aren't so booked.  Some days when we can just BE and not RUSH.

The truth is, all year we put things off and schedule them for Summer, "when it won't be so busy".  Leaving ourselves overbooked, rushing around, getting up early instead of sleeping in, trying to fit it all in before school starts, again, in a few short weeks.

Maybe because of that, when a quiet moment DOES come (like the hour or two I have this afternoon), I am trying to relish it.  Enjoy it.  Maybe even fall asleep.

Who knows when it will happen, again!


Happy Summer, Sweet Friends!