More excitement than you can shake a stick at

I'll be the first to admit that any outsider peering in on my life would likely come to the conclusion that it is not very exciting.  They would conclude wrongly, of course, but I can see how it might happen.  Most of my excursions outside the house only go as far as the mailbox, and those that do go farther usually end at the grocery store.  My typical footwear is socks and slippers rather than dancing shoes or high heels.  

But don't let those indicators deceive you.  I get excited frequently, by lots of things.  I'm excited right now!

I'm so excited that it's Bountiful Basket pick-up week!  It's so much fun to get my box of fruits and veggies, peruse through it, identify any unfamiliar items and then scrounge for recipes for the items I've never served/cooked/prepared before.  Exciting!  Very!  To me, anyway.

I'm so excited that the local homeschool group is meeting next week!  We've been seriously slacking, and it's been months since we all got together just for fun.  And, this get-together will include a planning meeting to insure that these exciting gatherings continue happening regularly throughout the year.  So stinking exciting!  Yea!

I'm excited that we're going to take a spring break trip next month and still finish school earlier than usual this year!  Those school hours we logged during the summer have come in so handy for being able to take time off and still stay on schedule.  Can you feel my excitement yet?

And speaking of that spring break trip -- I'm sooooo excited to see my nephew again!  It's been three months and I miss him so much and just can't wait to smootch his fat round cheeks.  Sigh… I can almost smell the Johnsons baby products already.  Swoon with excitement.

And not only that, mi hermana y yo get to spend a few (too few) days at my parents' home and have a girls get-together that will bring all six of us best-friends-since-before-we-can-remember-girls together for the first time in over two years.  Uber-excitement!  Can you feel it radiating off the screen yet?

And as if all that isn't enough excitement to knock your socks off, every day this incredible man who spoils me just rotten walks in the door and showers me with love and affection and lattes and says he's the luckiest guy around.  He's nuts, but he's very exciting.  And in his absence his four handsome offspring are here to do the majority of the household cleaning chores, the excitement of which is nearly indescribable.

So there you go.  Looks can be deceiving.  This mama's life is rife with excitement!

Winter gardening -- it's all about the apparel

Today was a beautiful day -- upper 40s! -- and I donned purple gardening gloves and a matching stocking cap (both are necessary when working outside in February, after all) to prune some leftover fall stalks, pull a few weeds that got out of control in the picnic area and generally start the spring cleaning.

Except I couldn't find my pruners, so I didn't trim anything up.

And the ground is only soft to about and eighth of an inch deep, so pulling weeds didn't work either.

But I did put on my matching gloves and hat and that was the coolest part anyway!

And I discovered that our yard has had a lot of visitors this winter.  Only one dog, that I found evidence of (ewww), but lots of deer or rabbits (not quite sure how to tell the difference between their pellets).  The size of the piles makes me suspect deer, but I have a hard time believing that many deer have traipsed around our yard unnoticed!

Why is it that dog doo-doo is nasty, but deer/rabbit droppings aren't?

And how do you tell deer and rabbit pellets apart?

Why is it that 45 degrees is lovely yard-working weather in February but miserable in September?

Why were my pruners missing?

Life is full of mysteries.

Foosball Saved My Sanity

I don't think of myself as a terribly picky person.  I like routine, and I like efficiency, but I can deal with a little chaos (I do have five sons after all!).

But watching the boys tidy up after dinner is a little more than I can handle without morphing into a hovering, nit-picking, anxious mess.  They don't put leftovers in appropriately-sized containers.  They load the dishwasher terribly inefficiently.  They dilly-dally like it's the latest greatest game!

But it's utterly important to me that the boys learn these skills of cleaning and storing and working together, so I can't just step in and take over.  

This used to drive me nuts, but not since Christmas.  Not since the foosball table.

Ever since the arrival of the family Christmas gift, Wade and I excuse ourselves immediately after the dinner routine is finished and engage in lively, animated and sometimes sweaty best-of-three foosball competitions.

And we have so much fun!  And I don't stress out watching the boys do kitchen duty!  And when I later discover that a very small quantity of leftovers was stored in my largest Tupperware and the dishwasher ran at only two-thirds full while a cup sits empty in the sink and maybe some of the compost scraps ended up in the trash instead, it doesn't bother me as much, because they come in small, spread-out doses instead of all at once.

It's a wonderful thing.  Foosball has saved my after-dinner sanity.

A wee little thing concluded

Actually, it's more of a beginning for the wee little one.

Today he met his parents, and they're sweet and wonderful and we're so happy he'll be raised in a home where he will experience the love of Jesus in his home and life.

The parting was bittersweet -- the boys, in particular had a tough time saying goodbye.  But putting that precious boy into the arms of his radiant mama and daddy, seeing their joy and love, and knowing this is God's plan for him and them and us, well, it was joyous, beautiful, miraculous.

Here's a little bit of the wee one's story before he came to us.  His mother became unwantedly pregnant.  His family (his family), be it his grandparents or uncles and aunties, told his mama to have an abortion.  Kill him, he'll be too much trouble, too inconvenient.

And in today's society, she could have.  She had a legal right to dispose of the wee one and pretend he'd never existed.  Over one million American women do it every year.  In 17 states, our government will even help pay for it.  Yes, she could have done it.

But she didn't.  She told her family she'd had an abortion, but somehow managed to carry him to 37 weeks gestation, deliver him safely at a hospital, and walk away with her secret.

And he's alive!  And now a couple has a son, a young boy has a brother, a family has grown, an entire circle of people has been blessed.

I thank God that this courageous young lady chose life.  And so does his family.  And so will he, I'm sure, when he's older.

How sad that over one million children every year never get that chance, to be thankful for life.  And hundreds of thousands of couples waiting to adopt, just keep waiting.

My Daily Sanity Saver

Cheaper than therapy.  

Fewer negative side effects than alcohol.

Smells better than tobacco.

One hundred percent socially acceptable.

Helps me keep my sanity on crazy days.

My daily cup of tea.