Turning my Brain Off....

What is the process for adoption?

Working through the adoption process often feels like this....Hurry up, wait, need more information, more paperwork, hurry up, wait.....It's a long process and it can be frustrating.  BUT IT IS WORTH EVERY MINUTE OF FRUSTRATION!!!  I can't wait to have the kids come home for a weekend visit.  

I believe in forever families and it makes me so very sad that I can't help every single child in foster care find the forever family of their dreams -- a family that won't change next week, next month, next year;  a family that comes to sports games;  a family that stands by them even when things get yucky;  a family that

The Hitchin'

From Romeo and Juliet to the story of Adam and Eve, love stories are everywhere.  I love them -- several of my favorite movies are about two people who love each other so deeply that they withstand trials, tribulations, and time to end of together.  It has taken me a while to process that my parents fell in love at the wrong time in the wrong place.  But this weekend, I watched their love story have a truly happy ending -- at the right time and the right place.  

Who's up for a challenge?

Do you ever look on Pinterest at the photos of these beautifully organized homes filled with projects the owner has completed....not a sock to be seen, no "junk" piles, and not a flaw to be found (well, atleast that's what I see but I digress...)  I hate having OCD....It is this tiny inner voice that obsesses over small details.  It makes me great at my job, but not so much as a wife and mother.  (It tends to lead to nagging....mhmmm)

Oooohhh...I love it! I've been a bit crafty this weekend :)

I have what some would call a Pinterest-problem.  But, I have good boundary skills and don't go there every day.  If I did, my husband would be in a lot of trouble because there are so many wonderfully talented people who post wonderfully creative and helpful things on Pinterest.  The real genius is if I could find away to blog about all of my Pinterest projects and make money doing it....now that would be genius.  Just sayin'

This weekend I did manage to get a few things done that I have been wanting to do for a very, very long time.  Think years....Yeah for me!!   

Big Daddy is very excited for this project....you can just see it in his face!

Even with a BROKEN finger, he still helps out.  LOVE

Uggg...can you just see that ugly blank space. 

Ah....LOVE these beautiful boys :)

The finished product

Vinyl letters

Showing Big Daddy how much I appreciate him

AND, there's more.  One of my goals as a mom is to be more proactive in telling my children what I appreciate and love about them.  I tend to get sucked in to nag, nag, nag mode and I hate it.  So this week, I did something about it and made some very cute and fun ways to tell them how much I love them more often.  Here they are...

Each boy has their own hanging outside of their bedroom.  

These hang underneath the bulletin board I hung for each boy for their art, special recognitions and such.  

The hallway

SUPER simple to make -- I printed the template off on white paper.  Framed it in a cheap $3 frame from Wal-mart, and wrote on them with a dry erase marker so that I can change it daily.  (that's my goal atleast).  It also helps improve literacy skills for the two little people in the house.  

OOOOO.....ahhhhhh......Ohhhhh...is what I heard from the boys when they saw them.  Now, to remember to write on them often -- I'm filling their love buckets and helping them see all of the great things I see every day but forget to tell them about.  

"Earning your Sleep"

A long time ago, I heard an elderly woman speak about "earning your sleep" as a wife and mother.  At the time, I thought I was earning my sleep with our crazy, busy life -- I had a large client base in my political consulting business, a large family to care for, I was attending college full-time, and I was serving on several non-profit boards, starting a charter school, and had a church calling.  I was definitely earning my sleep.

But....

I have had the amazing opportunity to correspond a few times with Allison Kimball from Simple Inspiration.  I want to be her when I grow up...seriously.  She is so eloquent, brilliant, talented, funny, intelligent, crafty....did I mention talented?  But there is something more to her that I admire above everything else.  She is incredibly grounded.   She posted a simple blog post the other day that really made me think, analyze, pray, ponder, and act upon what I was doing in my life to "earn my sleep".

"We can ask ourselves, “Am I committing my time and energies to the things that matter most?” There are so many good things to do, but we can’t do all of them. Our Heavenly Father is most pleased when we sacrifice something good for something far greater with an eternal perspective." ~ Dieter F. Uchtdorf

 I definitely earned my sleep today -- I worked a full day, coordinated a football dinner for 70 people, made 15 pounds of spaghetti, two crockpots of homemade sauce, two cookie sheets of brownies and sugar cookie bars, and a bazillion pounds of laundry all while wrangling two toddlers, teaching piano lessons, and a conference call.  Please, don't be jealous...I have poor boundary skills :)

But that isn't where this quote smacked me upside the head and made me smile and say a silent prayer of thanks.  It came as I was loading the dishwasher for the third time today -- yes, I said third but who's counting -- and somewhat lamenting that my large family of boys couldn't manage to load it atleast 1 time.  Okay...I was more than lamenting.  I was grousing, grumpy, and a little bit, a lot disappointed that I was standing at the sink again.

And then there was Allison's blog post...feeding my family, serving my family, loving my family....that's exactly what matters most.  Sure they could do more (I'll make them pay me back later), but I am privileged to be their mom, divinely chosen to raise this herd of Strippling Warriors.  And I am more than grateful that I had the time, energy, and skills necessary to get everything accomplished today.  Phew....I think I earned my sleep tonight AND I did it doing things that matter most for my family.

Be sure to check out Allison's blog for more inspiration -- it was just what I needed to remember today.  (And thanks for the perfectly timed email today, Allison.  So needed to hear your wise words :)  )

My boys :)

Structure and Reality

What do you get when you combine a Type A personality, a dash of OCD, a large family, and a long list of responsibilities??  A mama with patches of hair missing from where she pulls it out frequently.  I wish I could just squash that part of my persona that makes me clean, organize, and freak out when things aren't as orderly as I would like them.  It's a love-hate relationship with that part of me.  Seriously....

Today officially marks the end of summer.  The older kids are back in school and today it is just me and the littles.  Today, I am relishing in the idea of summer chaos aligning in to the sweetness of order.  I have that tendency.  Give me five minutes and I'm going to be in a full blown panic attack about everything I need to get done.  

This was a hard summer for me...I'm not going to lie.  I had seen the dates on paper and knew about the expectations for my job as State FFA Coordinator.  But it's always more complex in reality.  I spent a great deal of the summer traveling and working with six beautiful young people...but that also meant I spent a great deal of time away from the five beautiful people who live in my house.  There was still laundry that needed done, a garage that needed cleaned, and babies that needed potty training.   It was brutal and yet I loved every minute with the state officer team.  Throw in a case of mono and then lumps in Bauer's lymph nodes that won't go away, a week of jury duty, and getting ready for the school year and I'm just about at the end of my rope. 

So today is both a sad and happy day.  Sad because I missed out on summer with my children (I'm planning better for next year) and happy because I get to feed my OCD Type A personality with structure and to-do lists.  There are many happy, amazing, and fun adventures coming up -- football season, meeting Bria and Derek, Cantus, and more.  I'm going to try and take today and breath deep as I unbury ourselves from the summer months of travel.  Welcome back structure and reality....I've missed you.  

And here's a little ditty to motivate you today -- I LOVE this song! It's been a summer favorite :)  Enjoy...