Wonder Woman

I love life. I love doing things. I love being involved with great projects. I don't usually do things half-way and I don't usually say "no".

In fact, "no" is not an easy word for me to say. I seldom say it. If someone asks me to do something the answer is most often "Yes!" It's not a guilt thing, it's just an "I want to do EVERYTHING" thing.

I have always seen myself as Wonder Woman. I have always been able to get a lot done in a short amount of time and on very little sleep. Really, I can do it all!

But, spring was stressful. Especially the month of May. I kept telling myself if I could just make it to the summer months, things would slow down and I could breath.

So, in June we did VBS, started working in my grandmother's house, went to Wonderland, went on a short fishing trip, had a garage sale, celebrated 2 birthdays and Father's day, went to the zoo, and volunteered at the used curriculum sale. We have 6 weeks left of summer and on the calendar we have church camp, 3 (yes, 3!)out-of-town fiddle contests, a ladies retreat, vacation, summer violin recital, July 4th @ Mom's, and whatever else pops into our lives.

Oh, and school! I have 6 weeks to wade though a huge stack (about 2 feet!) of teaching manuals for our new curriculum. I also need to re-organize our school room and set up our new workbox system. I have 300 pages of learning centers to cut out and laminate.

All of this is piled on top of normal, day-to-day chores and activities and 2 very active kids who are always on the go, creating new adventures and begging to go to the pool.

Please don't misunderstand - I love all of the activity! I really do! I am just starting to realize how over-committed and over-extended I have become.

I am a fairly organized person. I have schedules and lists and calendars. I have always believed if I could fit it into my "box", then I could handle anything. I am Wonder Woman, right? As long as I didn't have to physically be 2 places at once, I could do it. But this morning, I walked into the laundry room, looked at my pile of laundry that I could have sworn was caught up, and I thought, "Wow. I guess I can't do it all. Maybe I am not Wonder Woman, after all."

It's a sad day but, I guess I need to hang up my Golden Tiara and my Lasso of Truth. I need to slide my red patent boots back under the bed, grab my calender, a big glass of sweet-tea, and a fat black marker. Then I need to go sit in the shade and start "x-ing" things off the calendar and penciling in things like "breath", "take a long bubble bath", and "date night with Kris". I received an email from my friend, Leah, today and something she said has really resonated with me. I think it's time to cut out something "good" for something "excellent."

I'm saving my Wonder Woman gear, though. You never know, I may need to pull it back out again some day.

It's Gotcha Day!

I originally posted this on June 21, 2009. Today is my sweet Bailey's "Gotcha Day", so I decided to re-post. Happy Gotcha Day, Sweet Bailey Jean!!!




Eight years ago today, our Bailey flew home to Texas and officially became a part of our family.

We had waited 9 years to have a child we could call our own. It was, at times, an extremely painful wait. But when my baby girl was placed in my arms, all of that pain was wiped away. It was if it had never happened. The wait was over and we were finally together.

That night at the airport, cameras were snapping and people were laughing and talking. Documents were presented and information passed hands. But I was in another world. I just hugged her and cried and said over and over again, "Mommy loves you, Mommy loves you, Mommy loves you . . . . "

Looking back over my life, I realize Bailey has always been a part of me. I loved her long before I knew her. I will never understand how God put us together or why he chose to give her life a world away from my own. It doesn't matter. She is mine. We may not look the same, but our hearts beat the same beat. We are a part of each other.

At night, while she is asleep, I sneak into her room to watch her sleep. I look at her little face and wonder what she saw in the first few months of her life. Who held her first? Who changed her first diaper? Who fed her the first time? Who was the first to rock her to sleep? I want to see them, too. I want to thank them for loving her. I want them to know how much she has grown and how happy she is.

When Bailey talks about adoption, she explains it this way, "Jesus gave me to my mommy and daddy. Then, he stuck us together like glue. Our family is glue." I couldn't have said it better myself.

Craziness!

I love summer! I love trips to the pool, VBS, snow cones, trips to the mountains, cook-outs, flip flops, Wonderland, July 4th celebrations, and lazy afternoons. This will be Bailey and Zack's first year to go to church camp as real campers instead of Mom and Dad's helpers and they can't wait! I am loving this summer!

I love summer so much that I usually try to stretch it as far as it will go. I push school to the back of my mind and just drink in the sunshine. But something happened this summer that has forced me to think about the coming school year much sooner. (sigh) The PCHEA Used Curriculum Sale.

You see, I have been wanting to change curriculum. However, the curriculum I chose was above and beyond our homeschooling budget, so I knew I was going to have to get creative. I was going to have to sell our old curriculum and try to find some used curriculum. The only problem was, it was going to force me to think about school during the happiest time of the year - summer!

But, I did it anyway. I cleaned out the old and brought in the new (well, gently used.) I am so thankful that God led me to ebay, the Used Curriculum Sale, and Mardel's 90% off sale. I am so thankful He led someone to my stack of goodies at the sale.

The result? Amazing.

Next year, we will using Bob Jones curriculum for a fraction of the cost and I am thrilled. We are also using Spelling Power and Saxon Math in addition to my friend, Bob's curriculum.

All of this has brought about a flurry of lesson planning, plotting a course of study, scheduling, list making . . . .

Which has left me SCREAMING at myself to stop and enjoy summer! I have to break free from the "homeschool mode"! Quick - someone bring me a watermelon snow cone! It's too early for this craziness!