Sunday Mornings

Sunday mornings turn into a circus at our house.

Our church service starts at 11 am.  That takes a little pressure off me trying to get everyone there bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed by 9am. Somehow, even though we, (haha, ok, let's be real here, I) try to prepare and be ready for it, we're still almost late every Sunday.

That's a little frustrating.

There's usually one of us that's not quite done.  Jam on the face, right tie wrong shirt, right shirt wrong tie, stained tights on backwards or inside out, mismatched socks, forgot my jewelry. It's just not the end of the world but it still causes me to sigh, close my eyes and pray for patience.

Then there was T's hair cutting event that I really need to document.  That pretty much tops them all.

Oh, that boy.

I try to keep my cool, I really do.

Our kids are awesome, I must say though, because once we're there, they behave.  Like, really well.

They don't squirm.  They don't figet.  Ok, they do a little, but the days of us taking them out to the lobby (which never happened much because we made sure the lobby was way worse than staying in the chapel and behaving) or having to bring suitcases full of quiet games, toys and books are long gone.

They don't rely on devices to keep them entertained.  No phones, pads or tablets.  They each have a small notebook and a pencil.

Also, not a Sunday goes by that someone doesn't say something nice about one of our kids.

'That boy of yours is sooo handsome!  And polite!'

'I just love watching your little girl, she is sooo cute!'

To which I wholeheartedly agree, of course, and it warms my heart to hear all those nice things about my adorable littles.  Yes, I can hear J cringing.  He can deal.

I dream of Sunday mornings that go smoothly. No fighting, no whining or complaining.  No scrambling to find something clean that should have been washed yesterday. No reminding over, and over, and over again to go get ready.

No.  No I really don't.  When we have a smooth sailing Sunday morning, that will mean they're gone or almost. I'm loving right now too much, even though we're in the thick-of-it, to wish it away.

My Step-Dad

I could take days and days to write out my history.  To combat the extreme boredom that would induce, maybe I'll just chop it all into sections and go a snippet at a time.  We'll start with this.

My Step-Dad.

Today is his birthday.

He's 74 years old and wow, that seems way older than what he is.

He and my mother married when I was nine.   I moved from the sunny, busy, lock your doors, bright lights big city-ness to a small, cold, depressed, isolated town.  They divorced when I was 18.  I whole bunch of life happened in between there, which molded me, not so gently at times, into who I grew up to be.

My favorite thing about him is he's a lover of nature.

He is a hunting, fishing, hiking in the woods kind of guy.  Always has been.

I've eaten Deer, Elk, Antelope, Moose, Pheasant, Sage Grouse, Trout of all kinds, and Cotton Tail Rabbit, all taken at his hand.  Ok, not the Moose, but still.

I've horse-packed, hiked and seen views only a handful of others will ever see.

He's amazing.

He was a father figure when he didn't have to be.  I just kind of came with the deal.  I'm grateful to him for being in my life and continuing to be there when he still doesn't have to be, but is.  Love him for that.

Happy Day.

Lots of Love

Valentine's Day is this week and I thought I'd jot down a few reasons why I love my family so much.

Hub is my everything.  We've been married now for almost 17 years and he still makes my heart skip a beat.  Still my best friend.  Still the one I can lean on and the one I want to be strong for when he needs to do some leaning.  We've done our best to build our relationship on the foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Things like love, charity, selflessness, honesty, working hard.  We're not perfect at it all the time, believe me, but we try very hard to keep the really important things as priorities.

I found this post on things to do as a couple and I like the suggestions.  Some of these things we do really well and some we could work on a little.  One thing we definitely do is talk.  A lot.  About almost everything from politics, to sports, and especially our kids.  Ok, sometimes it's ME ranting on about something completely unimportant until I hear him snoring in the background.  He indulges me.  I love our conversations, in fact it's one of the first things I noticed about him.  Maybe I'll write more on that soon.  We do our best to move forward, together.

Don't know how I was lucky enough to land him or how I'm lucky enough to keep him around, but I'm sure grateful.  I better move on.  He'd think I was absolutely cheesy for writing all that...

J - He's an early-teen-smart-stubborn-determined-big-hearted-sometimes-antagonistic-cute ball of fun all rolled into one.  He makes me want to pull my hair out sometimes for all of his intensity and yet I want to stop time for how fast he's growing up.

T - Ever been scared out of your wits for what your child may get themselves into?  That would be my boy in a one line explanation.  But oh, how I adore him.  He's sweet and thoughtful and really likes to be happy, which gives him optimism or naivety, whichever seems appropriate because he's both and that is very, very endearing.

Lu - She is a fireball, that one.  She is my sweetie.  She's a hard nut to crack, but once you're in, you're in for life.  Or until you make her mad and then she may never forgive you.  Ever.  She's all girl, stubborn, determined and she almost never lets her brothers win.

There are a lot of other people I love too.  My parents, for starters.  Even though we're a broken family with a few straggly limbs, I still can recognize the wisdom from some hard lessons of life, not only my lessons but seeing the impact of other peoples lessons.  My truest and bestest friends also fill holes in me that time and distance don't diminish.

I am so blessed.  :)

Change is Constant...

Life is always changing, isn't it?  Sometimes big things that have a huge impact, sometimes small things that have virtually no impact or some impact that you feel much, much later.  My mother has fears.  Many of them.  Many that I don't understand.  She is a good soul, none the less.  One of her fears is cancer.  Any kind.  This week she found out that she has skin cancer.  Melanoma to be specific, and she is scared.  It's early stage, very thin, and they feel like they've already gotten it, but are taking a little more off just to make sure.  On the one hand it's a very serious, very sober situation.  On the other hand, thank heavens for early intervention and today's technology.  I laughingly told her to be grateful she's not a Pioneer Woman.  I also found out that my husand's uncle has a form of Parkinson's Disease.  His life from last week to this week is now vastly different and suddenly he seems so old.  Medication is starting to take affect and make his life easier, but things will never be the same for him.  And then there's another family member with the knee replacement and a compromised kidney.  All of this seems depressing and sad, but there are bright spots as well.  My mother will learn she has strengths long forgotten.  Uncle will strengthen relationships with those he's always loved and they will maybe appreciate him in a new light.  And so it goes.  One thing I can always count on is change.  Today, I'm grateful for it.