Almost Back to Normal...Whatever That Is!

The few weeks leading up to Christmas seem to be some of the most busy weeks moms and dads could ever have throughout the year! All of the kids have school parties, Christmas concerts, play practices, toys and cookies needed for exchanges, and usually new clothes for any or all of these events! (you moms know!) Multiply that pressure times eight and consider for a moment how busy we have and continue to be right now! I really don’t know if I’m coming or going most days! If it weren’t for my companion day planners, I would lose my mind for sure! Though tempted to remain in a constant state of stress, I’ve managed to remain calm and try my best to just enjoy the kids as they enjoy the season! Last week however, it hit me! The stomach bug swept through my house hitting someone different everyday of the week! Wesley and I tried our best to manage juggling kids around making sure the “well ones” still made it to the places they were to be and the sick ones had time to recuperate! It was INSANE! Seeing as how it would usually hit people in the late afternoon or evening time, we spent our days cleaning and disinfecting, and our nights holding hair and gagging! LOL I finally broke down on Sunday, when we were quarantined to our house, and had to finally cancel on some things we were supposed to do and places to be. If there is one thing I hate in this life, it’s being a disappointment to others by having to back out on commitments made, but I realized on Sunday, ONCE AGAIN, that I’m just not in control of life and the curve balls that sometimes come my way! At the end of the day, Wesley and I did the best we could do and prayed for life to quickly resume to its normal state, even if it meant back to being busy! Though 4out of 10 have yet to be sick, we are praying it’s over with for now! We all got plenty of rest on Sunday and now we’re back in business! Cookies to bake, gifts to buy, and parties, plays, and concerts to attend! So busy, yet so thankful for restored health! Never too busy to thank the Lord for the abundance of blessings in my life! I look forward to next week though, when the kids are home from school and we can have some time to teach what Christmas is REALLY all about!

Boys, Men, and "War Stories"...

Being one of three girls, I never knew the thrills growing up with a brother. I will even go the length to say, that when it comes to raising Nate, I feel so very inadequate, because I just never knew so much energy could be captured and stored in one little body! He knows how to absolutely drive me insane one moment, yet the very next, make my heart melt with how supremely loving he can be. I JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND! I’ve also noticed a trend of destruction when it comes to the male nature. Things in my house that made it through three years with Bella, can’t make it 5 seconds with Nate. This picture for instance, well…let’s just say, my son can make even a wise man lose his head! LOL
It has come to my understanding as of recent that the insanity of it all never quite goes away throughout a boy’s life, it just expresses itself through different avenues! Urgent moments that happen in a boys life are not life or death moments, they are just stories thrown into a library and used as a “rite of passage” into MANHOOD! Let me explain it better from a recent blog I read. A young boy plays with a knife his dad gave him, because his dad says it’s dull and won’t hurt a fly. He ends up hurting himself bad enough that his panicked mother takes him to the ER and he has to have stitches. The mom calls the dad and grandfather to give them the FYI and instead of them panicking along with her, they laugh, exchange stories of the first time they cut themselves with a pocket knife, and declare to the young boy that NOW HE’S A MAN! All because he has a war story (of sorts) to tell now! Does this sound absurd to anyone else?? Would a young girl ever do such? I did some pretty stupid things as a child, but my stupidity and inability to listen to the instruction of my parents never made me a WOMAN! It made me a little girl who got hurt in some way due to failure to listen! HMM? Why does this notion make me a little frantic when I think of how many more years Nate is supposed to have on this earth?
Nonetheless, my purpose for this post was not to rant and rave about the psychological differences between male and female. THEY ARE TOO VAST!!! My purpose was actually to tell a small piece of my weekend. Saturday night, Wesley was out in the cold selling Christmas trees while I had the joys of being stuck in the house with eight children. (PS- the 1:8 ratio is not recommended) Some of my girls did actually get to go to the Clemson game and the others wanted to be outside around the fire at the tree lot drinking hot chocolate. So, some how or another it was just me and the two little ones. Nate and I were enjoying leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner which happened to include grape salad, which Nate LOVES. I usually still cut his grapes for him, but for lack of time, he got them whole that night! Fortunately, I didn’t stray too far while he was eating and was able to catch him as he started panicking from the grape suddenly being lodged in his throat. He couldn’t breath! Though I have been trained for moments like this, I went into Mommy panic mode and instead of beating him on the back first, my finger was in the back of his throat before I could even analyze what was going on. I fished for the grape then turned him facing the floor on my arm. One blow to the back, and out came the grape. As a mommy, I was ready to console him in hopes that it would really calm ME down, but instead Nate wanted nothing to do with me, he wanted down, and he wanted that grape back in his mouth! WHAT? I quickly picked up the grape before he could get to it, only to discover that it was covered in blood. Whoops! I must have dug a little too far in my efforts to retrieve the grape. You will never know the panic I felt even then. Though Nate seemed fine, my heart was still racing and I wondered now if I had hurt him in the process of helping. Nate however, laughed at me when I tried to shine the flashlight down his throat! Now, had that been Bella? Shrills could have probably been heard in the next city had that happened to Bella. BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Why do the big things seem so small to them?
Minutes later, Wesley calmly walks through the doors with a blood drenched hand dripping all along the path he walked. “REALLY?”, I thought. Seems he had pierced his finger with his pocket knife while cutting a zip tie from a tree. I helped him wash away the blood to try and take a closer look, but the problem was, the blood would not stop pouring long enough for me to see the wound. I frantically exclaimed that we would be going to the ER right that instant! HAHA That went over NOT so well! Wesley was determined NOT to go and was also convinced that it wasn’t THAT bad! So… because of his stubbornness, I went on washing the dishes and picking up around the house for the night. Probably an hour after the incident, the bleeding was still steady and I finally convinced him that we needed to go, even though he still thought it was a stupid idea! It took 4 ½ hours to get to a resolve, but Wesley now has a new “war story” to add to his library. Turns out it was pretty bad! He stabbed himself a good inch right through the tip of his pointer finger, back behind his fingernail. With a digital block for the pain, a tetnus shot, an antibiotic to prevent infection, and an expensive bandage we were finally ready to go home. You’ll never guess what he said when we left the building. “I told you they wouldn’t be able to do anything!”
So, though a bloody night for me, the two guys in my life have new “war stories” that evidentially aren’t that big of a deal! Go figure?! Just another rite of passage, I guess?

The Other Side of Me...

The other night I was having a particularly emotional end to my day which had also just capped off a very emotionally tiring weekend. Noticing I was super tired and contemplative of things in life, Wesley told me to go on to bed and he would take care of devotions and getting the girls in bed. Although I normally would have jumped on the offer, Marleigh was nowhere near tired at the time and there were still so many things to be done in the house, that I decided to stay up a bit longer. I sat in the living room as Wesley did devotions and the girls scattered to bed. Though so many things raced through my mind at the time, it was as if I was paralyzed in the chair as I held Marleigh in my arms. I had also just come to the realization, because of my growling stomach, that I had been so busy with meetings and chats about the girls that I hadn’t even had a chance to eat dinner. Yet I still just sat! I was pretty much too tired to go to bed! Ever had those kind of moments before? I was also having to recite verses over and over in my head trying to talk myself up a little because I was just feeling inadequate in every way possible. I just wasn’t measuring up the way I needed to for the people around me! Though I don’t like to admit it, I felt like a failure. Just then, my sweet hubby turned the corner with some dinner in his hands. For me, of course! “What a sweet gesture”, I thought. He handed it to me in a rush, as he was trying to get Bella down for the evening. As if taking care of the nighttime routine wasn’t enough, he brought me dinner, and a simple 3x5 note card sat atop of my cup of soup. With the emotions I already had going, my eyes immediately welled with tears, and then the tears started flowing as I read the precious words my hubby wrote to try and lift my spirits. It was a moment, like many others, I will cherish!
The point? I love my husband! He is truly my soul mate! He knows me inside and out and still chooses to love me through it all! Even on my most emotional days, when most men run and hide from their spouses, he stands by me, comforting me along the way! Now, don’t get me wrong. We DO have our moments, but usually he makes me laugh in the midst of them, and we usually realize how stupid our tiffs are. I AM SO THANKFUL FOR MY WESLEY!!!
One of the songs performed in our wedding ceremony was The Other Side of Me by Micheal W. Smith. Everytime I have little moments like the other night that seem to decorate our marriage, I usually will think back to that song. It goes like this:
If they were to write about the story of my life,
They would have to mention you with every page they write.
There’s another side to every story told.
If I were the ocean, you would be the shore,
One without the other one would be needing something more.
We are the shadow and the light.
Always love me
Never leave me now.
Now you are the other side of me.
I have know the emptiness of feeling out of touch
And living life without you here would be living half as much
Casue I’ve a need that only you can fill.
If love were mathematical, you’d understand the sum
To the hearts equation, where one and one makes one
And lonely equals me, minus you!
Don’t know what I would do without him; but with him, the opportunities are endless! I will never cease to thank God for letting our paths connect some 22 years ago. So many great memories now and to come! I LOVE YOU WESLEY! (even if you hate I wrote this post!)