just a little bit busy....

I know, it's not like the old days when I had two in diapers and was expecting a new one, working feverishly to get that older toddler into big girl or big boy undies so I wouldn't have...gasp...THREE in diapers. THAT would have been unreasonable.

Yet I am still busy. Teaching, reading, listening, learning...

Today, little Davian came to visit. He's not yet four, and smart as a whip. He was all about the Statue Of Liberty today. I asked him if he knew where America got her, and of course he knew. He posed as her...if you are reading this and know him in Real Life, ask him what the Statue looks like...he was also very interested in the route Mirielle and I took while traveling across the country. He said, "What do all those places LOOK like?" I explained to him the vastness of the prairies, and the mountains...

As he was leaving, Miss Lydia, our littlest grandbaby, was arriving. The fighting began! "I didn't get to hold her once last time, you always hog her, my turn is too short, you always get like five turns...." They want to feed her and change her and carry her around. Gramma here just bides her time...Joseph, Kathryn, Jon, Char, and Cam went out the door to Activity Club, and Sonja left to go ice skating...Suze had a pile of homework, as did Evelyn...so Grammy got a turn! Lydia is smart, too. If I to the smoochy-kiss on her cheek, every single time, she'll try to make the same noise. She is just delightful.

Evelyn and I sneaked away to town for a quick store run. I baked a double batch of chocolate chip cookies today, because I had to send some to Activity Club with the kids, and discovered there was only one more egg in that huge carton in the 'fridge. And no more bread on the counter. The milk was almost gone too. So Evelyn got a chance to practice her driving skills...did you know that Evelyn is the eleventh child? That means she is the eleventh child I have taught to drive. She has gotten so much better already, it's hardly frightening to drive with her anymore. It's a helpless feeling to be the passenger, pumping that invisible brake and trying to let her drive without the running monologue, "now signal, now start the turn, okay, slow down, SLOW DOWN!"...

Mali came to pick her up after a long day, a 12 hour shift and the first one of going-back-on-days...she switches from night shift to day shift every few weeks.

Then the kids came back in the door...from A.C., then Sonja from skating.

I read several chapters of a new library book to the little girls after hearing everyone's accounts of their evening. The princesses are tucked into bed...in my bed. They have been wanting to share that nice big bed of mine, since Daddy's in France...but I have selfishly been dragging my feet. I SO love stretching out in the whole thing! With the both of those girls in there, I get kicked all night. Miss Cam walks right up me in the night. Part of me loves the cozy part of it, but I don't sleep as well, and tomorrow there's a huge college basketball game, and I am working at it...Notre Dame.

Next week, I am starting a new endeavor, watching a sweet two-year-old three days a week while her mama finishes up her last semester of college. She's a darling little girl, I have watched her in the past, and am looking forward to it. I know we will all be in love with her, and it is so nice to have small children in the house. I also know that I will find grumbling and complaining in myself...that happens whenever I am out of my comfort zone a bit, but that is not a bad thing. It's in there, I may as well deal with it! God is good, He makes sure we have ample opportunity to be cleansed if that is what we seek.

Today I texted with both of my daughters who are in Norway. Abigail is sick in bed, with a fever. She said that besides being sick, she is doing quite well. No matter that she turned 29 in December, I wish I could bring her tea and hand her tissues. Margaret is doing okay, she just a few things she needs me to bring when I visit her in March.

Okay, here's a thought...remember the horrible pain that plagued me, the pain in my side? It went away. It was the story of my life for a while, then it disappeared. It's almost embarrassing, the fuss I made over it, the expensive tests I had...and now it's gone. Nothing showed up on the ct scan. Then I thought...people prayed for me. I prayed for me. Maybe, just maybe...hmm.

Or else it's just proof that my previous theory would have worked: if you ignore something for long enough, it will go away.

My chalk paint order hasn't arrived yet, so nothing on my remodeling/redecorating list has been tacked this week except for cleaning out the shoe area as you walk in the door. We weeded through those and made bags for the thrift store, and for the garbage.

It starts to rankle, that I can't seem to find the time to do the things I want to do, yet the bigger picture: it doesn't really matter in the long run. When I stand there before God, which IS going to happen...I really won't care at all if I ever got those kitchen cabinets painted or that closet cleaned out.

What WILL matter is how I stood in my trials, big and small. Did I keep my heart pure?

Sometimes we forget that our journey here is so temporal, we stick our heels in and stubbornly resist knowing that our eternal home is all that is of lasting value. Our house started out new and shiny, then went rather downhill...more things falling into disrepair than getting fixed, until we reached the point where there are a lot of projects. It's not a bad thing to make things nice, it's not bad to want to live in a pleasant and peaceful place. But. The big picture: it didn't kill me yesterday and it probably won't kill me tomorrow.