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Amazing

The past few weeks certainly have been. Yup, that's all I can say…they just have been.  A recap if you will:

Three ER visits in less than three weeks; bronchitis, flu, sciatica, fractured wrist, dental stuff, school stuff, homework, drawing, hip hop, karate, visitation, numerous phone calls…the list goes on and on! The other day I sat down at 3:30 pm to finally grab a bite of lunch. I was happily slurping up my soup when I realized I forgot to pick up the littlest one from school! I quickly zoomed out of the house and made it just in the nick of time! 🙂

The kids send me text messages reminding me of their needs during the day, and hope that they've moved up on the list of things to accomplish today!

"Mom, don't forget this."
"Mom, don't forget that."

Sometimes they're just reminding me of stuff for me, because quite frankly, they know I may forget! B-boo continually tells me that she doesn't know what I'd do without her….she's right! She knows what I need these days before I do and will have it in the van as I rush out the door to the next appointment with the next kid. You just gotta love her!

And then there's just life. Honestly, many have asked how I am doing, and it's gotten to the point where I just look at them, really, because, how do you answer that question when you really don't even have the time to sit and think about how you really are? You just are. It's that simple.

What I do know is this:

I know I have an amazing God who really knows how I feel and who really will get us through this.  He continues to prove that to us day after day.

James 1:2-3 says,
2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."

Faith is an amazing thing.

I know that I have an amazing family and that God is working in a mighty way in their lives right now. This comes with much hurt, many tears, and a love that is all encompassing. My children are learning to love in ways that I don't think even they thought was possible.

I know that I have an amazing support system through friends and our church. The outpouring of prayer alone is enough to humble us. This past weekend we had to go through 7 hours of Kinship foster training. We had children fanned out all over the city! Friends were showing up at our house early in the morning to pick up whichever child they were in charge of for the day and just took them and loved on them and gave them what they needed! Another took fluids and soup to my oldest son who was sick with the flu; she'd never been there but knew she lived close and knew I couldn't take care of his needs, so she did it for me. Amazing. Another child needed someone and made a phone call to one of our friends. She didn't hesitate, but jumped in her car and took care of the need immediately. Amazing.

We learned this weekend that these friends who are so willingly helping us are going to need to have their lives intruded on as well. They'll have to be fingerprinted and their homes will have to be inspected. I mentioned this to one of them late Saturday night when she brought back one of our children. She didn't hesitate at all, instead just said, "Sign me up!" Sunday morning at church, her husband was confirming that he was fine with the whole thing, too, when another friend and her husband piped up that they'd be willing to go through the process, too, so that they could be on the list to help out. Amazing that we don't even have to ask. In addition, another friend came up to me and asked what I need help with. I just kind of looked at her and smiled. I don't know what I need, remember? (ha ha) She took control and said she'd bring us a meal on Wednesday; a safe meal for my whole family because two of my children suffer from serious food allergies. Amazing.

I'm learning how to say "no" when I need to and "yes" when I ought to.

I taught a Bible study this weekend on being in the wilderness and looking at the peaks and valleys in your life and how God has, or is, bringing you through. We're in a pretty big valley right now and the mountain seems too hard to climb, but I can honestly say that I'm looking forward to it. There are moments when it seems too hard, and God will send someone amazing who just happens to call right at that moment and offer to pray for me (thank you, dear friend). There are also moments, when I realize just how much God is strengthening me, and so I continue on in Him, after all, He is Amazing!

There will be singing in this house!

The Drama Queen loves to sing…she sings all day long, every day, when she wakes, when she sleeps…she sings so much she doesn't even realize when she is singing!

Hubby said to me the other day, "She's stopped singing."

The past few weeks have certainly been days of chaos as we try to make adjustments and appointments. We need to have the music back. She has a big solo coming up and so we asked her to sing it for us. It took a few tries, but finally, she opened up and sang her heart out!

She's still not singing as much as she used to, but we're working on that. You see, we've discovered we have another child in the house who loves to sing almost as much as the Drama Queen. We've also discovered that in the midst of the chaos, singing, or even just listening to music seems to calm. It's the one time when the fighting stops and the teamwork starts. It's a time when we can focus on Him and just pour our hearts out and be who He wants us to be. When we can focus on something greater than what we're going through in that one moment.

So we will sing! Sing we must! We will sing when our hearts our broken. We will sing when we think we just can't do our homework. We will sing when we are happy. We will sing for fun. We will sing as we get ready for bed. We will sing on our way to school and we will sing on our way home! We will be a house that sings, and we will get through this for sure!

Laughable Moment #7

Having a four year old sure keeps us on our toes! We've been working hard to teach him the proper way to do this and that…things like brushing your teeth, putting your shoes on the right feet, putting your dirty clothes in the hamper, etc.

Last night, I was trying to get him ready for bed. We've been working hard on having him dress and undress himself. It had been a long day and we were near the end. I showed him how to get his pajamas out of the correct drawer and then asked him to take off his pants. I remember vaguely thinking that I ought to show him how to pull them off from the feet so that they won't be inside out, but before I could say a word he just dropped himself to the ground and started shaking…more like convulsing!

I'm sure my mouth must have dropped in horror for a second, but then it turned into hysterical laughter as I continued to watch the little guy! He shook himself all over the carpet shaking his legs and body as fast as he could until he shook those jeans right off! It was probably one of the funniest things I have ever seen! So funny, in fact, that I don't think I'll ever be able to teach him how to properly remove one's pants from one's body!

Happiness

Today was one of those days that you really just want to end. We're on our second day of new school for our niece and desperately trying to settle into some type of regular routine. This morning I managed to get the oldest to high school, the next one to middle school, the niece to elementary school and the other three off to grandma's so I could go get my chest x-rayed. That was fun!

By the time I got back it was time to take my nephew to PreK, fix my two youngest a quick lunch and then head out to pick up the oldest from high school, then B-Boo from middle school, after which I had to go register my nephew for Kindergarten in the fall, then pick up my niece from school, and finally head over to the PreK to pick up my nephew! Whew!

By the time we got home, we had a few moments to fold some laundry, grab a snack and then take B-boo to soccer practice…making it home just in time to get the Drama Queen to her Hip Hop class for 45 minutes of relaxing time for me. NOT! It was spent with a very upset 6 year old who couldn't believe I would honestly make her do her homework and read a book to me. 45 minutes of constant crying later, we finally headed home to put away the laundry we'd managed to fold and try and come up with dinner.

This is about the time we had some friends from out of town show up! Praise God for leftover chili from Easter…it fed us all! We got to visit for a small bit, then I headed upstairs to try and get the two youngest to bed. Honestly, have any of you ever had a day like this? Crazy! All I wanted was my bed, so I grabbed my nephew and took him into the bathroom to give him a visual lesson on the correct way to brush your teeth. We started by putting on the toothpaste and then went into the lesson. That's when it started to get fun!

Teaching a four year old new things can be quite interesting. He watched me closely in the mirror and followed my every move. When we were finally done, I washed my face. That's when the why's started.

"Why do you wash your face?" (To get it clean.)

"Why do you put that stuff on?" (Toner…to make sure it's really clean.)

"Why are you putting that on now?" (To make my face soft)

Me…"Why do you ask so many questions?"

Him.."Why is my face so red?"

Me…"Maybe because you were outside in the wind"

Him…"Nope."

Me…"Ok, then why is your face so red?"

Him…"Because I'm so happy, Aunt Hope."

Me…"You're happy?"

Him.."Yes, I'm so happy."

Ok, so maybe all of this craziness is worth it after all…because we could all use some happiness in our lives, right?

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It Really Does Take a Village

It really does take a village…God's Village. I can honestly say I don't know how we would have made it through the last few weeks if not for the friends that God has provided.

Three weeks ago, my 6 year old niece and my 4 year old nephew came to live with us. It's been pretty tough, I won't deny it, but God is definitely moving. We have received much prayer, encouragement, clothes for the children, and time.  I have one particular friend who has spent her day off, for the past three weeks at my home, taking care of the children so that I could make the various appointments that are needed. She has done my laundry, swept my floors, wiped runny noses and played many games all in the name of good old-fashioned, Christian friendship.

I have others who have held my hand, prayed with me and have been there with me to hand me tissue while I poor my heart out, all while crying alongside me. We've received many phone calls offering to run errands, go grocery shopping for us, etc. I am truly humbled by the amount of love God has poured into us through the friends that He has provided.

Even in the little things, He knows. A few blogs back, I posted about my excitement for our annual Easter Party. Those plans have been put on the back burner in light of the changes in our home. My bathroom hasn't been repainted, my house isn't "spic and span*, and fresh flowers haven't been planted. And then I found out yesterday that the honey baked ham wasn't going to make it's yearly Easter arrival. I have to tell you that I really look forward to that ham! I had to remind myself that I could live without it, the ham isn''t really that important in the larger scheme of things and I shouldn't worry about what other meat I can feed the 60+ people that will be dining with us on Sunday. What is important is that we will be spending the day with the wonderful friends that love us and just want to celebrate this special day in our home with us.

This morning, I received a phone call from one of those friends.  She said that she and her husband had really prayed about what to bring this year, and wanted to know if it was ok if they brought a couple of hams this year. A reminder of how God is amazing even in the little things and how He continues to prove it through the friends that He has provided.

I was talking to someone earlier this week about church. We talked about Pastors who had come and gone, as well as others. But the one constant has been the body; the friends who have continued to be a part of what makes up our church. I think God has done a pretty good thing in our church body.

And so, when I think about that old saying about it taking a village and how I disagreed with it, today I say, it does take a village, only it's God's Village.