Non-Day Days

Does anyone else have a problem with non-day days?

Days like today when you have no particular place to go? These days are rare for me but usually happen on Mondays if they happen at all. I have grand plans to get the laundry caught up, clean the house up from the clutter of the busy weekend, and play with the kids all day. So why then, do I always end up showerless, tired and frustrated at the end of the day? I usually can’t get up since I am exhausted from running all weekend. Then I do get up and see the huge mess and feel like taking a nap. I do a video and play a little with the kids before nap time, and try to join in for the rest. But, it never works out, my 3 year old (nearly 4) has all but given up his naps, and isn’t going to take one just because I want to. So I will waste an hour and a half trying to get him to take a nap with me until I am ready to wring his little neck. So I am grumpy and way behind. Then I try to get stuff done with a totally whacked out nearly four year old who’s dumb mom tried to get him to take a nap. Doing dishes and laundry while being karate chopped incessantly makes things pretty interesting. Then Penny gets up, shower dreams are lost. I feel like such a loser! I know that the rest of the week I will be a busy, competent, and fairly good-smelling woman. But for the day I feel totally lazy and gross. I guess what I need to do is try to remember that a lot of people have these days and that I need some down time after the crazy weekend and before the crazy part of the week begins. Dang, I gotta hit that shower, haha!

Easter, the Circus, and the Mean Reds

Well, we did end up doing the Chinese food and I have to say it was one of my best ideas ever. We pretty much had the place to ourselves!� We had a pretty large crew so this was key. The food was good and not too expensive and we ate ourselves silly and then went home to have an Easter egg hunt. The kids loved it. I got so many great pictures of the kids. It was a relaxed, plenty of time kind of morning so when I got them dressed I just took them outside in the yard and let them run around a little in between pictures before church. All in all, a wonderful holiday.

Out next big adventure was Penny’s birthday. She turned two, and since she doesn’t really play with toys (like, at all) we thought the birthday money might be better spent on an outing. The kids absolutely loved the circus. At one point Pen was trying literally to join the circus, she was trying to get away from her grandma and dive in. When the contortionists came out she was trying to bend her legs all around. I’m going to have to keep my eye on this one. William loved the train theme and the motorcycles in the cage (my favorite part also, I’m pretty sure they don’t have any wires attached to them). Marley just liked it. All of it. And I spent half the time watching and the other half trying to memorize the way their little faces looked when they were amazed and surprised and just plain happy. It almost made me feel better for spending $24.00 (I’m serious) on 2, yes, 2 cotton candies. (which by the way they did not eat so I hovered over everyone else present and made sure that they ate the spun gold)�

I have been having a case of the “mean reds” lately. For those of you who have never seen “Breakfast At Tiffany’s” (shame on you) that is like the blues, but more intense and angrier. Somewhere in the midst of starting a mom’s club, co-founding a 12 step recovery program at my church, being the go-to gal for our small group and, oh yeah, starting a pregnancy support center on top of all my mom and wife duties, I have lost my joy. Now, I know what you are thinking, quit doing so much stuff! And, I assure you I am working on it. I am trying to replace myself in most of these things so that I can focus on the pregnancy center. I am undergoing intense spiritual warfare. The more successful the ministries are, the more intense the warfare. Sometimes I feel like buckling under all the pressure. That brings me back to the circus. In the midst of the cotton candy and the face memorizing and the lost binky finding, I noticed something wonderful in almost all the acts.

Each act consisted of 2 to 10 or so members of a team and each act, whether it be the motorcycle guys or the clowns or the trapeze artists had to work together in a very intense way. Just when they were about to jump or swing or rev up the motorcycle they looked at each other. They nodded or gave some small signal that they were ready, that it was a go, it was time and then they looked out for each other, or sometimes they couldn’t even see each other, but they reached out in faith, knowing that they had trained for this moment, gone over it a hundred times and that their team member, their friend’s hand, would be there to catch them. Balance and timing, balance and timing… I am doing too much (out of balance) and He has a new season of work for me to do (timing)� I couldn’t help but feel small goosebumps and know that this observation was given to me by the Lord. This is what I have to do. Stop relying so much on myself and get on a team. Train together and get in a rhythm and get in sync with the Lord. Knowing that He will tell me, if I will listen, when it is time to let go and when it is time to grab hold and knowing that just in case I get it wrong, there is a net of grace that will catch me.

So, if you would like to be on a team with me, to get involved in the mom’s ministry or 12 step recovery program please let me know. Just make sure you don’t take on too much and lose your balance.

Carrie

Christmas Made Me Cry.

Christmas made me cry. For at least an hour after it was “over” I cried. I felt like I had missed it all. Besides all the regular madness we have going on (6 family members over plus the five of us, and the occasional family friend) we were hosting two soldiers from our local Army Base. They were super. Everyone was, really. It just is so hard to “make Christmas happen” for a family. All the cleaning, shopping, wrapping, writing, baking (ok, well, I don’t really bake, but I do put cookies in the oven and heat them up to the temperature indicated on the wrapper) just takes up your energy. I also had the bright idea to make everyone’s presents and cards since we were pretty broke. But, there is the promise of smiling children, laughing relatives and snuggling by the fire that spurs you on to the final, sore back from sitting on the floor for three hours wrapping presents at the last minute, finish. I didn’t get any of that. For some reason this Christmas I spent the whole day cleaning up wrapping paper (we did presents two times) and stirring the dang cheese dip and blah, blah, blah and missed everything. I missed everything. And I cried.
I say all that to say this about Easter. I’m not cooking this year. I’m not going to anyone else’s house, either. There will be no cheese dip, plastic cups, bag of ice, or leftover containers to clean out and throw away later. (My husband refuses to eat leftovers, I KNOW!) We are going out to eat and taking a nap and that is what is going to happen. If we have to eat Mexican food for Easter dinner because everywhere else has too long of a wait then that is what we will have to do. The Christmas dinner from “Christmas Story” comes to mind, I havn’t ruled out Chinese. either. It’s not that I don’t want it to be special. It’s that I have figured out something since that awful, horrible Christmas. That maybe instead of me trying to make everything all magical and stuff I should just try to enjoy the ordinary wonderful things that happen every day, the ones I miss while I am doing laundry, dishes, vaccuming, etc. I want to take my time to enjoy the way my pretty girls look in their dresses. I want to take extra time spiking up my handsome 3 years olds mohawk. I want to give my husband an extra long hug and hold his hand during church. In short, I want to do all the things I’m usually too much of a maniac to think of on a “regular” Lumley household holiday. The Easter Bunny will come and I’m going to sit with the kids while I drink my coffee and talk to them about Christ, and what He did for us. That He is alive! That He is not in any way related to the Easter Bunny, and He never ate any chocolate. And Easter night we won’t have any cleaning up to do, so we will have a no-holds-barred WII tournament with the kids (too bad my nearly two year old has finally figured out that the dvd remote is not actually a wii controller). You know, the kind we said we were going to have when we bought the darn thing for Christmas, but have been too busy to actually do. Happy Easter, I’ll let you know how it goes.

Mobi Mom

When you’re a Mom, sleeping can be a chore.

Well, it’s 1:07 in the morning. I am the kind of person who works until she crashes (you know, a mom). I crashed yesterday after 6 straight nights of teething with my nearly 2 year old daughter. I tried all day to get a nap with diseastrous results. I just ended up grumpier and grumpier until the big explosive, crying finale. It was the kind of tired that makes everything seem like such a huge deal. My mom came and got the little kids to save their little lives. My husband came home and did laundry and dishes! I took a big nap and then went to bed early for me and slept all night. So, why is it now that I can’t sleep? All that drama and my body refuses to get any rest. My throat is getting sore, I’m sure that my immune system is all outta whack. And even though I am exhausted I can’t sleep.
Sometimes when you are a mom, even sleep feels like a chore. “I have to get some sleep so I won’t be a monster tommorrow,”  ” I better get right to sleep, I only have six hours.”  Have you ever cried because you finally got a break in the husband’s snoring and calmed down from hearing some weird noise and then a baby started crying? Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
So, what can we do?  I am assured by all the beautiful mamma’s out there who have made it through that I will get some sleep when they are about ages 7-10, and then again after they turn 18.  I must believe them. I will have faith. After all, if Paul and Silas can sit in jail, in chains, and be filled with joy for suffering for the cause of Christ, surely I can live through my youngest taking off her poopy diaper mid-nap. Because really, what we are doing is for the cause of Christ, too. Raising these babies in God’s grace and trying to love them the way He loves us is the best thing we can do for this fallen world. It wouldn’t hurt me to do a little more praying in this department either…
So I will go back to bed and sing a hymn or two in my head, rejoicing to be grumpy and tired (and hungry, dumb diet) for the cause of Christ.

I will also try not to be grumpy while cleaning up endless crumbs for the cause of Christ tommorrow.

Mobi Mom

“She’s Gonna Blow” chapter two and three

She's Gonna Blow: Real Help for Moms

So far I have read the beginning of chapter three. Are you guys finding the time to read the book? Let’s make sure we are praying for one another so we can find the “mommy time” to take care of us, too. I have been keeping the book in the car so that when I have to wait for something, like preschool to start, I can read a little here and there. Any tips from anyone else?

Mobi Carrie

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“She’s Gonna to Blow” chapter one

She's Gonna Blow: Real Help for Moms

The thing I most like about the book so far is that she is so frank about the things that went on in her home. I feel like I am not as crazy as I thought, or maybe I am, but it’s more common than I thought.  Mobi Carrie

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36 or more $9.49 each

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