I had promised an update after the classes ended. A couple of days ago I grabbed a few precious moments and typed up a literary masterpiece, detailing the various trials of the last month with great flair, but my computer crashed when I was almost finished, and the entire entry went poof!
I don’t have the energy tonight to recreate my work of art, so I will just give the highlights:
Last month was tough. Perhaps no one thing was overwhelming, but several together made me feel rather undone. I think God was just testing to see if I practice what I preach. In September, as speaker for my homeschool group’s Back to School Night, I spoke of how “the battle belongs to the Lord.” I detailed various trials in my family’s life over the last couple of decades, then told how God victoriously brought us through each one. Of course, the Lord’s answer to that was to bring more trials!
I taught a four-week class on Lewis and Clark, which I loved, but which required great expenditures of physical and mental energy, neither of which I have stockpiled in large amounts. It takes about all I have just to keep things running at home.
In the middle of the month, Steve and I took our two oldest boys to Oregon for a quick trip to visit a college in which Hans is interested: Gutenberg College. It was a fun trip, with lots of stops at bookstores and sales, but everyone knows vacations are never restful for Mom.
I also turned 40 last month. I’m proud to be growing older and getting a few gray hairs, but I was surprised to find that this milestone made me feel a little down in the dumps for a few days.
One of my children (who shall remain nameless) brought home head lice. This meant a complete home renovation project in the space of a day. ALL the bedding had to be removed and laundered (that took several days), everything had to be thoroughly vacuumed and heads had to be examined and shampooed, among other things. It was a relief to find that this is one of those dirty little secrets lots of other people also share. One friend told me that she was so disgusted with having to deal with the lice on her son’s head, that she lost her appetite and dropped 20 pounds. She calls it the “Lice Diet.”
We are also in the middle of a real home renovation project outside. The end result will be fabulous as I will have lots more space in my house, including a very large library with built-in bookshelves and a window seat (are you drooling?) However, I had to find a place for all the boxes which were once stored in my garage, which is where the new library is located. A family of 11 can collect a lot of stuff!
The piece de resistance was that my husband lost his job due to layoffs in his company. The economy is in bad shape, and lots of people are hurting from it. We know that God will take care of us as He has so often in the past, bringing something much better out of what seems to be a hard situation. We are praying for a job close to home so Steve can be with our family much more. Right now we are enjoying having him around all the time, and he is enjoying working on the remodeling.
I didn’t even tell about the colds, the book sale I worked at, the unexpected visitors, the classes and events to which I had to drive children, the struggles with homeschooling, the dental appointments, and all the other things which are a normal part of life.
Now you know why I occasionally long for the hermit’s life. Just occasionally. But I think I could only stand the quiet for a few hours before I longed for a slurpy kiss and big “SQUEEZE!” from chubby arms or an intense discussion with a philosophical child. I guess some people would say I have it pretty good.
