A short break

It's Monday, in case you haven't noticed. The laundry machines are doing their thing, and everyone has been sent to bed for a nap. It came down to that after every attempt was made to keep things peaceful.

Sometimes it's like that, and I guess there's no need to beat myself up about it. We're tired on this otherwise lovely Monday. We're having a fun summer with sleepovers, lots of swimming, parties to attend, and the regular busyness of life. The kids just need to catch up on sleep if I can expect them to be emotionally stable.

Ha! That's what I want too: Emotional stability! Truth is I'm tired deep down to my core. It would seem that anemia has crept up on me again. I've gone through this so many times before that without a blood test I know my levels are pretty low. So I'm taking a break too. The shades are down, and I'm resting on my bed with a warm drink on my night table. Its sounds depressing, but it's not. It's real life!

Olivia was away for several days with our dear friends. She had a blast, and as her mom that makes me so happy. I am thankful for sweet family friends that have such a godly influence on my kids, and who are examples for me to follow. Thank you Auntie and Uncle Man... we love you!

We had some fun time here too. The boys played in their super-hero costumes, they wrestled, built tents, played army games, and made all sorts of boy noises. Actually they were easy to please. One morning, when they were missing Olivia (and were somewhat jealous of her time away) I asked them what I could do to make their day fun. They said they wanted to swim, and eat pizza and ice cream.

(I'm loving Andrew's gummy grin and sloshy speech!)

So they swam. Andrew went from cautiously swimming in the shallow end to enjoying the deep end and even jumping off the diving board. I can't believe his progress. Michael learned how to do a back dive and is working on a back flip. His eagerness to keep trying after so many painful flops makes me proud. Jacob has no fear. I do have fear so I make him wear floaties.

Thankfully I had all the ingredients for some fresh pizza Margarita and ice cream sundaes.

(Homemade slime. Way better than play dough.)

We've been looking for a house, and it's not easy! In the spirit of 'real life Monday' I can say that times of change are times of testing as well. I half joked to Jon the other night that it was a good thing we didn't know each other very well when we got married! Maybe we wouldn't have married each other! We laughed a little. It was kind of a painful laugh.

After nearly four years of dating, we knew each other as well as we could before marriage. But living side by side, day in and day out, unearths deep set differences. Sometimes I wonder if we will ever really understand each other. Sometimes I wonder how we can work through it all.

But you know, it is good we didn't realize the extent of our differences. It was part of God's kind and gracious plan. Our differences balance each other out, they cause us to grow in sacrificial love and dependance on Him. We're in this together, for the long run. And we're determined to love each other more through it all.

A timely verse from yesterday:

"In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him." Ecclesiastes 7:14

And the verse I've been coming back to recently:

"But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me." Psalm 13:5,6

OK, break time is over. Wow, the time went by quickly!


~Katherine