Time to rest

I just read this post by Lisa-Jo. Reading her posts is always good for my soul, but this one on rest
especially resonated, as it follows on the tails of yesterday’s sermon.

I’m coming off of five years of a 140-mile-a-day, five-day-a-week commute. It was every bit as stressful as it sounds, and then doubled. I left that job in March, for a new one that required full time travel for the first few months. Also every bit as stressful as it sounds. But thankfully that chapter ended last Thursday.

Friday I didn’t leave the house except for a quick trip to the store for school supplies. Saturday involved a few chores around the house, and I started to feel not exhausted.

It was so nice to be in my home church Sunday morning. The first point in the sermon was about following God’s rhythm, six days of work followed by a day of rest. Work hard, play hard, yes. But remember that even God rested. That He commands us to rest, it is that vital to our well-being.

Yesterday after the sermon I thought how nice it would be to have an afternoon at home with little to
do, but instead my day required going back to church. I was there five hours for a meeting that will bring changes in the next month or so, hopefully the right ones. It was a good, productive time, doing the important work of the church.

When I left the house I was worried I would feel like I hadn’t had a Sunday, which has been my normal for way too long. For five years Sunday afternoons were dedicated to preparing for five days of commuting. The last four months, Sundays have been spent in the car or the airport, traveling to
company headquarters.

But last night, when I got home at 8:00, I didn’t have to figure out what to wear all week, and pack a
suitcase and a lunch, and wonder if the car had gas. I didn’t have to go to bed at 9:00, since the alarm
didn’t have to be set for 4:20 am.

Instead, I sat on the couch and talked with my husband, and played a mindless game on my iPad.

And I woke this morning feeling tired, but not weary.

I worked today, sitting on my couch in comfy clothes. I handled conference calls, on-line meetings, and document revisions. I can’t begin to tell you how much I got accomplished.

But I did it while my daughter sang “Let it Go” at the top of her lungs in her bedroom.

I stopped and had lunch with my people at our kitchen table.

I brought in the boxes the UPS man delivered, and got the bathroom organized before it was time to worry about dinner.

I had a leisurely dinner with my family.

I hung out with my kids and watched cooking shows.

And I read a blog post, then found the energy to write my own, for this little blog that hasn’t seen a post in way too long.

The change has been hard, but this change, this new job that comes with challenges and struggles as all jobs do, will also bring more days like these.

Days where I have worked and played, handled countless tasks for work and home, been wife and mom, yet still found some time for me at the end.

And so change is good.

We are gearing up for school, for the messes and the professor, and the usual chaos of the fall. But I
hope this year I will be able to more fully participate in the fun and the work of my home, so that we can all find more opportunities to do the things that define rest for this family: to read, to play, to cook and bake, to sew, and hopefully to write.

It will be good for all of us.

Five minute Friday

My cell phone is ringing and dinging a text (at the same time? can it do that?), the office phone is blinking at me “voice mail waiting” and the computer is popping up emails, one, then two, then six, then 10, then... I’ve only been gone 15 hours since yesterday afternoon, how can I have four new voice mails and 25 new emails, and it’s only 7:30? Today’s to do list has grown overnight too. And somehow the budget got confused and the purchase can’t be made because the contract’s expired and now the license is no longer valid, and, and, and

Breathe in, breathe out…

OK, it’s not a million things to do, more like a thousand.

Breathe in, breathe out…

OK, down to a couple hundred

Breathe in, breathe out…

OK, now it’s manageable. And I have the first thing done.

Breathe in, breath out…

One thing at a time, and I can make it through today. And then a wonderful weekend with my people, all I have to do is breathe.

I'm ready

Above our kitchen table is a set of five pictures from a trip to the UK Hubby and I took with some friends in 2003.

One of them is this picture I took of St. Paul's Cathedral:
Mess 1 was looking at it tonight at dinner and asked me where it was. I told him it was in London, and that it was a really big church. Then a few minutes later he asked if I wanted to know what he was thinking; I told him yes, I did.

After a moment of serious contemplation, he said "I am thinking about you being there," and he pointed to the picture.

I asked him if we were all going, or just me. He responded, with a very sweet smile "How about just you and me?"

"Would you like to go to London with me?"

"Yes Mommy."

"OK, when would you like to go?"

"How about we go next weekend?"

"Next weekend, really?"

He thought about it then asked how long it takes to get there. I told him it would take about 15 or 16 hours by plane.

"Wow!"

"So how long should we stay?" I asked him.

After some more thought, he responded with "Sixty nights!"

"Sixty nights?"

"Yep!"

Sounds good to me kiddo. I'm ready.

Grace

Mess 1 said grace tonight before dinner:

"Dear God, thank you for today, and for our hearts, and for loving us. Thank you for trespassing against us, and those that trespass against us. Thank you for our minds, and our hearts, and our strength. Amen."

"Sweetheart, what does trespassing mean?"

"Giving money to the poor."

We should probably explain more of the words as we are teaching him the Lord's prayer.

Not brave

Last Friday Hubby took the messes to the local mass flu clinic for their flu shots.

All by himself.

He’s such a brave Daddy.

We talked about the shots with the kids before they went, telling them that yes it will hurt for a second, but getting the shot was important since it would help them stay well this winter. Mess 1 told me that getting his vaccination was very important (thanks Sid) and that he would be very brave and not cry.

Friday evening I was fixing dinner while Mess 1 was coloring and telling me about his day. “Mommy, I went to the doctor (check up with the ENT) and then I went to get my vaccination.”

“How was it; were you brave?”

“No, Mommy, I wasn’t brave.”

“Oh, did you cry? It’s OK if you cried a little, shots hurt.”

“No, Mommy. My sister cried but I didn’t cry and I wasn’t brave.”

I was totally confused by that statement so I just looked at him blankly. Then, just as proud as he could be, he told me:

“I got to sniff mine.”

The child cracks me up. Although I think we now have to have a chat about not sniffing anything unless it’s given to us by a doctor or nurse. Thank you big pharma.

Big girl bed

Last weekend my parents came for the Labor Day holiday. They brought with them the toddler bed that has been in the family for generations. I used it as a little girl and and now Mess 2 will get to use it for her first big girl bed.

My mom made the quilt for me and there's a blanket she made just for Mess 2 under it. My mom also had to cut down the fitted sheet so it would fit the narrow mattress, so the bedding is almost all handmade.

She was so excited to be able to get in it by herself.

And of course her brother wanted to get in it with her. I shudder to think of the trouble they can now get into.

And this is how I found her last night. Whether she crawled out onto the chair, or fell out and didn't wake up, I have no idea. She didn't really wake up when I put her back in the bed, so I guess she was comfortable.

Bits of my weekend

We had a wonderful, quiet weekend at home.

We rescued a frog from our frog sandbox/pool.

We made yummy lemon muffins for breakfast.

We made jerk chicken, coconut rice and black beans, and friend plantains for dinner.

We had some success with potty training (thus the chocolate mouth) and then danced in the kitchen.

Hubby and I used all of dominos (double 15s) and it ended in a draw.

And we spent lots of time running up the water bill: Daddy washed the cars while the rest of us played in the frog.

Little boys like to put buckets on their heads. I don't know why.