A really good problem!

Have you ever had a GOOD problem? It doesn't happen much but it did this week. Last week was absolutely insane for us. Eight days in a row we were either going somewhere or we had overnight visitors. While I feel very blessed by all of the love that our family shows us and even enjoy watching the kids get a little bit spoiled, there are times that I just get overwhelmed by it all. I suppose that being exhausted from everything was a big part of it. So on Saturday afternoon, I set out to reclaim my house. A week of entertaining, being gone and having new toys and gadgets all over the house was really getting to me. At one point, I looked at Brad and said, I don't even know where to start so I'm gonna go upstairs and change my clothes and check my email. He laughed and told me that was a good start! haha! But seriously, it was all I could think to do so that's where I started. It was then that it suddenly hit me....you know, this is a GOOD problem you have. Your kids are healthy, you've had a great Christmas and you all managed to stay healthy over the holiday so just calm down, it will all get put away and cleaned up. I must admit, it was good advice I gave myself because I had it all knocked out in about 2 hours! Yippee!

Surviving December

Whew! What a month December has been. Despite cold weather, December is my favorite month, I think. I love Christmas time and all the sights and sounds. I love celebrating the life of the Christ child and all that he represents. Most of all, I love going to church (I love going to church all year, but especially during advent!) Well, this December did not prove to be very cooperative with that this year. We only made it to one church service this month and it was AFTER Christmas.

The first Sunday of the month, we got up, ready and left but the road conditions were terrible and we ended up choosing safety over church that day so we came home. The second Sunday we were sick. It seemed as if the kids and I spent the entire first three weeks sick with colds and infections. Most certainly not the best time of year to be sick! And the third Sunday, we had our power knocked out in the middle of the night and were up with kids from that point on. Yes, that night, we had Brad's mom staying with us so Gabby slept with me and Brad took the couch. The first thing that woke me up was Gabby falling out of bed and if you're a parent, you already know that she was not going to fall out of a sleigh bed and go back to sleep. About 5 minutes after that, the power went out...I waited, waited, waited and nothing. Brad's mom soon woke up because her breathing machine had stopped on her and from that point, we were all up. Carson was also sick with ear and throat infection so he woke up not feeling well as he hadn't been sleeping through the night for a little while.
It took the power over 2 hours to come back on but thankfully it did and by that time it was 6a.m. and everyone was hungry and a little chilly so I fired up the stove and made eggs for everyone. We all went back to bed at 7 and the kids and I slept until 11! Ahh....I was able to catch up on some sleep...somewhat.

So by this point, I am thinking...o.k. at least I'll get to go to the Christmas Eve. service and then we'll drive up to mom and dad's to spend the night as we had planned to have Christmas early so my brother's girlfriend could return to Fort Wayne as she had to work. Well, that morning, I got a call that my brother had slid off the road. No one knew his exact location and he had also gotten out of his car to start walking to get a ride and fell on ice. We knew he was hurt but didn't know how badly and didn't know if he was able to get back up or not. A scary thought when your loved one is stranded somewhere and you don't even know where to go to find them.
Long story short......we then didn't know the extent of his injuries, he hurt his shoulder. A good samaritan came along and took him to the hospital. The doctor was talking possible rotary cuff injury but didn't know. Brian was also scheduled to fly to Florida on Friday. He ended up o.k. but weather reports were predicting icy roads in the afternoon and evening so mom and dad felt we should leave early or not come. So.....we packed up early and left for their house early afternoon and so we didn't get to attend church services. An interesting thing though, I have found as I grow older, my faith grows so much stronger and so even though I didn't make it to church much in December, I still found Christ throughout the entire month. I still felt his presence and I still was able to celebrate in a deep and wonderful way! I saw him in the way our Mops group came together to give Christmas to a couple that had many needs. I saw him in my children and the excitement they had and how Gabby is really starting to grasp the TRUE meaning of the season. I saw Him in so many ways and it was awesome!
I hope you were all able to do the same amid all the running around this month! So many people have the opinion that if you go to church on Sunday, you're going to heaven. While this may be one of the criteria, I don't think it's the going through the motions of attending that get us there, it's what we do every day of the week that really matters!

4 going on 16

Just had to share a conversation that Gabby and I recently had. To set the stage, I have a few houses that I clean on Wednesday's and Friday's so on Friday morning, I leave and go clean and then return home in time to take Gabby to preschool. Here's what was said:

I'm sitting at the counter eating lunch. I am wearing an old blue jogging suit. Gabby approaches and sits beside me at the counter.

Gabby: "I hope you're not planning to wear that when you drop me off at school."
Stacy: "Well, I don't have enough time to change so yeah, this is what I'm wearing."
Gabby: "Well, the teachers are gonna smell you."
Stacy: "I'm not gonna get that close to your teachers."
Gabby: "They're still gonna smell you."
Stacy: "Too bad, it's time to go."

I just had to laugh to myself, knowing this is most likely not the last time we will have a conversation like that.