The past two weeks have flown by and yet they drag as we continue to await news from Haiti.  I am thankful for this busy life as it really doesn’t leave much time to think about how long this gestation is.

Last week was a whirlwind and I wondered early on how on earth we would get any school done.  Somehow, the girls did it though, in spite of the crazy.  Wednesday of last week we had a field trip to the local children’s museum.  It was my first time, although the girls had been previously with my parents when we were in Haiti.  It’s a lovely place that I really wish we had had about 8 years ago when my girls were all little-little.  We would have spent many a cold winter day there passing time.  Thursday the home school choir sang at the state capitol building in Topeka.  Oh, they really should do all of their performances there in the rotunda.  I was moved to tears more than once by their beautiful voices joining with the incredible acoustics of that magnificent structure.  I should have recorded some of it…but I just wanted to stand and soak it in.  Saturday Matt had a meeting all day so the girls and I did some cleaning around the house and then went out shopping for the afternoon.  This is the first time I’ve attempted recreational shopping with them in quite some time.  Shopping with four children is absolutely exhausting and I have avoided doing it alone as much as possible.  But we had a really great time. After four hours, we were all definitely “done” and ready to come home, but great deals were found and fun memories were made.

This week was much more manageable on paper, but still felt just as busy.  We purged and cleaned and organized a bedroom belonging to a certain pair of children.  It took all week and I posted to Facebook that it will not surprise me at all if one day one of my children ends up on Hoarders.  However, when I told this child that her closet looked like an episode of Hoarders (in a loving way) she looked horrified and seemed to recognize a need for improvement.  Time will tell.  But, oh, it feels so good to keep cleaning out and organizing and minimizing.  I feel like I’ve been purging for most of the last year and yet there is still so much stuff.  How is this even possible?  We don’t really shop or collect or gather or hoard.  I’m convinced that the stuff multiplies when we are sleeping.  That’s the only reasonable explanation.  Regardless, the love/hate relationship with “stuff” is a strong one.  On a different note, Friday night Matt and I took a lovely date to celebrate a belated Valentine’s Day.  We enjoyed a long evening of talking and planning and processing and connecting.  He really is my favorite and I am so blessed.

God has  been so gracious the past couple of weeks to give me an overwhelming sense of peace and flexibility.  He has allowed me to just roll with so many things that would normally make me panic.  Hopefully it’s a sign of maturity.  🙂

This past week is the first time since last fall I’ve felt forward progress in my running.  A friend and I have been doing a C210k program and I finally felt like we had a breakthrough this week.  Such a good feeling after feeling so out of shape for so long.  Still a long, long way to go, but progress is good.  I’m considering a 10k in Manhappiness in March.  We’ll see how this week’s runs go.

The kids have rekindled their love affair with the trampoline recently.  It makes for lots of noise outside, but better out there than in here.  I know in theory they are burning more energy by being out there for hours, but they sure come in just as energetic as ever every night.  Ah, what I wouldn’t give for some of that boundless energy….

I think that’s it for me tonight.  Have a great rest of the weekend, friends!

For His Glory ~