A Year of Habits, no. 42
It’s been a great week. I took an unplanned break from blogging while my children were out of school for a couple of days. I didn’t intend for it to happen; I ended up with a raging headache for several days and am fighting a cold. It was enough to keep up with the children and work {a little} on my task list for the week. Now it’s Sunday night and I don’t want Monday to come. I want to just keep them all home with me.
I had ambitious goals for the weekend, none of which were fully accomplished. I made the most headway in the yard, but still have far to go. Yesterday I began planting some bulbs but only planted around 40 of them. That may sound like a lot, but I still have a few hundred to go. The weather is going to change drastically this week, so I’m hoping that my headache will abate and that I’ll get most of them in the ground tomorrow. I also have an enormous pile of laundry that needs attention so we’ll see how it all shakes out.
My problem is that I love this time of year so much. I want to do everything that involves Fall. I want to rake leaves, I want to plant bulbs, I want to sew a fall-ish quilt. I want to take a walk, read a book, slow down and speed up. I want to feed my family everything I can of the harvest that is quickly disappearing, and I want to bake. Oh, how I love fall baking! I want to bake multiples of everything so I can deliver it to people I love. I want to decorate for the season, cover my porch with pumpkins, start new projects, order seed catalogs for spring planting. And I need to fit it all in around the laundry, cleaning, homework, carpools and all the other million things that already fill my days.
Do you have this problem too? Please tell me I’m not alone. It’s a wonderful problem to have, but sometimes I feel a little frenzied on the inside. I tell myself I should just cut some things out, but knowing the season is so short pushes me to try anyway.
Ok, so how did I do this week?
I pulled out my Halloween supplies and found a couple of unfinished projects from past years. I finished two of them and am almost finished with a third. I really think I’ve improved in this area this year. I’m becoming a better finisher.
I feel good about my efforts with the children this week. I helped several of them with various projects and was pleased with their efforts. They worked hard and I’m so grateful. I feel like we’re becoming more deliberate, more intentional with the things our children are doing. We’re getting better at planning activities that will help them grow in significant ways. FYI, my oldest daughter spoke in Church today. It was her first opportunity to speak in front of the entire congregation and she was very stressed. She did a wonderful job, and later agreed to go to an assisted living home in our neighborhood and speak there too. It makes me happy to see my children have opportunities to serve, especially in ways that make them stretch. If nothing else had happened this week, I’d feel good based on this area alone.
I did some creative things this week and loved it. I’m excited about a little plan my sisters and a sister-in-law have hatched. I’ll share more later. Tonight my nine year old joined me in the kitchen to try a new pumpkin recipe. I loved experimenting with her.
Once more, we had some opportunities to serve this week. I am grateful for these chances to have our family participate in helping others, and I’m also grateful for the self-discipline I’m developing as these opportunities arise, requiring a change of plans and a surrender of my own wish list. In those moments of decision, I’m reminding myself that “God loveth a cheerful giver.”
I was tired this week, as the combination of a migraine and a cold hit within days of each other. I had moments when I felt worn out and frustrated with the arguing and noise of the children. In every instance I tearfully prayed for strength and found it. I know my Heavenly Father helped me and I’m so thankful He loves me that much. I also know that I could help myself more if I’d be more diligent about eating well. I didn’t keep that promise to myself this week, which was silly.
My little one has grown before my very eyes this week. I can see it in her face and body language, hear it in her vocabulary. She is quickly growing out of toddler and into little girl and my heart aches as I watch it happen. I could do without her adventures. This week she built stairs for herself out of various items so she could reach the top of a tall dresser and get a large tube of super glue like adhesive, which she promptly emptied into an antique planter in my living room… with a hole in the bottom, which means she poured it on the carpet. Hours later she threw some glass, and tonight she somehow scaled the shelves in my daughter’s closet to go through several bottles of nail polish. Gratefully we found out about all these adventures fairly quickly and things could be fixed, but still, she’s amazing. Seriously. Good thing we love her SO much. She hasn’t slept well this week, waking up crying in the early morning hours. I admit I like bringing her to our bedroom to snuggle in my arms for a while. She’s growing up so fast… I’ll take any form of baby I can get right now.
I think that slowly, steadily, I’m handling this crazy life of ours with more poise and calm. I’m beginning to think that perhaps I’m finally growing into this mother of eight role I have. {You realize that typing that probably means I’ll have some very humbling experiences this week to prove me wrong.}
I look ahead to a new week, hopeful that I’ll feel better and get a lot done. It’s our last week of soccer and I’m ready for the break. I have a long list of goals I wanted to accomplish in October and I’m going to give it my best effort.
I hope your week is great!
Jennifer