Exceedingly Abundantly Beyond

I haven't blogged for a while.  I'll be honest, it's because I've really been lonely and depressed.  Who wants to read about loneliness and depression!?  So, rather than whine and complain about what's wrong, I'll just give you an update on life in general. * My air conditioner broke in July.  Thankfully it hasn't been too hot this summer! It finally got fixed about a week ago.  I am planning to have the ducts cleaned this week, as well.  Hopefully, it will work even more efficiently after that!  * My washing machine also broke in July.  I did laundry at my parent's house or at my brother's house. Someone came right away, and did what he thought would fix it.  No such luck.  After a month of no washer, someone else came and did what he thought would fix it.  Still no luck.  The second repairman came back right away, when I realized it still wasn't working, and broke the news...  It's the motherboard. It would cost me a gra...

We have been home from camp almost a week.  And though I enjoyed it, it was a lot of work.  Christian did his own thing.  But it was up to me to get the little kids up in the morning and to class and to meals and to church in the evenings.   To make sure they were supervised when they were swimming.  To make sure they ate something other than dessert and soda for every meal in the cafeteria.   To make sure they didn't get lost in the dark. And it was up to me, after a long day, to get them to bed at night. It was a good week.  I'm glad that we went.  But It was exhausting... like a lot of things that I do with my little kids in tow.   A friend of mine approached me on the last day and commented that she believed there was something wrong.  She said I didn't seem to be acting like myself.  I assured her that what she had seen for the last week, was indeed my everyday life.   I told her that what she sees when I come to her house...

What a day!!  I can't say I'm sad it's over!  Happy Father's Day, Derick!  I hope you enjoyed FaceTime as much as I did!  And I hope you enjoyed "sitting with me" in church!  I look forward to that every Sunday! So this morning started with a series of emails and texts. (Actually that all started yesterday). Trying to find out who was riding their bike this afternoon at church. And trying to find a babysitter so that I could ride, too.  Since today was Father's Day, I struck out on the sitter.   I missed Derick so much this morning, getting ready for church.  I almost didn't want to go to church at all, but we made it.  My sister came over, just long enough for me to braid her hair this morning. And I cried on her shoulder for a few minutes.   When Derick first left, I used to tell my kids, our church wants to support us while Dad is gone.  So we're gonna go to church and we're gonna let them.  And they have, in so many ways!...

We did it!   We survived!   The 2013-2014 school year is officially in the books and all of my kids passed!   This year was the start of something new.  A totally new school.  The last thing I wanted to do when I knew Derick would be leaving in January.   But we made it!   It was a relatively calm school year, actually.  All three of the kids stopped going to the local Christian school and started in our public school district.  Christian technically went from being a middle school student, back to being an elementary school student, because of the way the grades are arranged.  Allyn switched teachers (away from his cousin and classmate) halfway through the first semester when a new kindergarten teacher was hired.  And Aida... well, she excelled, except when she would get teary from missing her daddy.   Last summer, I came to the realization that we could not afford private school anymore.  If I'm ...

It's 10:20 pm on Sunday night.  Today seemed to be a pretty good day, albeit long, with the time change.  Nothing in particular really set me off.  I went to church.  Went to a meeting about Bike Trip.  Went to a retirement party for my brother's father-in-law.  My sister's family came over and we had Avanti's for dinner.  I did my sister's hair. But when everyone started to leave, Aida and I both just went into meltdown mode. Aida cried herself to sleep tonight.  I just cried til everyone else went to sleep. Little things that make me feel like half a person.  And each thing builds on top of the previous thing.  Always being the driver, never the passenger.  Kids that don't listen to mom, and dad's not here to set 'em straight.  Not having someone to go to the grocery store for me, when I forgot to do it earlier in the day.  Kids messing with my sewing notions and leaving them all over the floor.  Being alone at nigh...