Days Like This

I’ve “banished” the older children upstairs for an hour of rest. Not really, but I need a few minutes without their noise and clamor. I love them dearly, but some days I need a few minutes of quiet to refresh my soul. Plus, it’s good for them to have a few minutes of rest and separation from one another. I can still hear them talking to one another so I’m not sure how much “separation” is really occurring. I’ve just called up to them to “be quiet”. Both of the younger children are sleeping (a blessing since they are both slightly under the weather).

I think I shall brew myself some tea. My favorite tea is Golden Yunnan by Adagio Teas (Thanks Debbie!).

I’ve felt myself slipping out of balance this week…probably something to do with being on Spring Break last week and the stress of getting back in the swing of life this week. The children have all…well not all…three out of five have been grumpy and sick so this week has not been much fun. My sweet Elisabeth has been in rare form this week. Coming out of the store she was complaining that her ear hurt. Oh, sorry, I haven’t told you about our trip to the store yet. Chuckle.

Today I decided that I would run a little errand. Lately I’ve been running my errands after school hours (around 4 pm) so that we can finish our school work and be out and about when the majority of children are out and about, but today I decided to go out a little earlier (about 12 pm). Can you guess where this story is going? Yes, indeed…!

I had hoped that some of the local children would still be on Spring Break, but as it turned out my children were the only older children/children in the store. Well, everything was going fine until Caleb decided that he had to go to the bathroom. So off to the bathroom we (reluctantly) trudged. In we went, out we came, and then as I was reloading Ben into the cart Bess decided to bite him. Yes! She bit him.

To her credit I don’t really think she meant to bite him. I think she was trying to give him a kiss, and got carried away; if such a thing is possible. I don’t think she realized that it would hurt him. (She isn’t a biter.) But once she bit him it was immediately obvious to her that she had hurt him, and that I was upset with her, and that her unthinking act had caused her little brother a great amount of pain. With a little coaxing she immediately apologized and gave him a kiss (she really loves him), but the damage had been done and by that time Ben was crying quite loudly. Talk about wanting to disappear. What is that line from the commercial? “What to get away?” Yes! Luckily Ben isn’t much a crier so he calmed down fairly quickly, but after that he was ready to leave and let me know it by allowing every little thing to upset him. Needless to say, I finished shopping as quickly as I could. I also made a point of smiling at everyone I passed (after I thought about the frown that was plastered on my face). I was very aware of the fact that my stress was about to go through the roof…but I hate to give people the impression that my children are a burden, or difficult, or that I don't enjoy being with them or that they are not well behaved. Smiling helped to change my attitude…it is good medicine. I want people to see that having five children (and no It, inside joke) is possible and that Mom isn’t about to go insane because of it - at least not most of the time.

I have more to say, but Mark just called and informed me that he is on the way home and needs the computer so for now I’ll leave you with this wonderful quote to chew on…

There is no such thing as impossibility when God says, “Forward, soul; arise, go over this Jordan!” -F.B. Meyer