GRATEFUL

Before I start let me just say I'm having one of those...."is that spelled right" moments. You know where you write or type something and it looks extremely strange to you. So I'm hoping the title is spelled correctly.

There are times I feel totally overwhelmed with life and all it's complications. The littlest task of getting the kids up in the morning can be draining. The youngest isn't a problem, he seems to be a morning person like his mother. But the two girls are a challenge. I've yet to find anything besides yelling in there 4 or 5 times that gets them up....and yes I've even tried ice cubes, but that only provoked to anger (which is a no no). Then there is the housework and schoolwork and little extras like birthday parties and such and all of it seems to be never ending. So it is such a joy when in the middle of what seems chaotic you get a little surprise that you never saw coming.

I feel bad that summer went by and Amy talked of having a party of some kind. My husband said to let them plan their parties and I said, relieved "o.k.". But the problem was they aren't very good decision makers yet, so hemming and hawing (sp ?) took place and nothing was ever done, because of the cost of it mostly. So here we are almost 2 months after the fact and I finally am able to take a deep breath and do some thinking after months of illness after illness and say...."gee, I feel bad that she wanted a party and never got one". So here we are planning a spur of the moment tea party with all the trimmings. I even went as far as to take down all the items that usually decorate my dinning room walls, like cursive writing charts, the ten commandments, Language charts and maps and replace them with Victorian themed items like gold framed pictures and lace doilies and such. We even found a wire floral decoration at goodwill for $.99. Can't beat that. We went to the dollar store and bought fake cut glass vases (plastic) and silk flowers. We've put the lace table cloth on and got out all my antique serving dishes that never see a table on any occasion. We've purchased little tiny cakes and cookies and in the morning I will be making chicken salad and egg salad for the main food and running to the store to purchase grapes. While we were getting the table ready I asked Amy if she would make a list for me, for tomorrow. So she promptly got out the pen and paper and started writing (with her new colorful pens from the dollar store). Then she handed it to me with a gentle little smile on her face. At the top it said "Thank you so much Momma for everything! I love you!" My heart melted. I had been feeling like maybe I was going overboard with detail, but I knew that it was all worth it and she was happy with it just how it was and I didn't need to worry about trying to make it better. What a feeling these days to have a child be thankful for something and express it so lovingly. She is my middle child who sits quietly by and watches the other two play baseball, ride horses, take drivers ed. She hardly ever complains about sitting by and watching it all happen. What a joy to be able to do something special for her. I'm sure we will have a wonderful day. And an extra blessing, yesterday I was actually entertaining the idea of making an "old days" dress for her in the middle of everything and then the Lord provided one from the salvation army for only $6 and 5 minutes of shopping time....that is way better than $25 for material and who knows how many hours of sewing....and it looks way better too.. :-)

Another thing to be grateful about. My son was blessed with receiving a lot of little things from his siblings and quite a few (about 20) hotwheels cars from his parents and money from grandma and an aunt. When he was counting up all the cash his dad asked if there was something that he didn't get that maybe he wanted to buy to which he replied "nothing". He thanked us many times afterwards for all his presents and loved the rice krispie treats shaped as baseball paraphernalia. In fact yesterday he asked me about 3 times "mom, did you get me this car?, cuz I really like it! Praise the Lord for these little things that cut right through my overwhelmed feelings and let me know that I may be doing a few things right. :-)

And on that note I'd better try to go back to bed, it's going to be a busy day. Errands to run, school books to order, party to have, girls to entertain and then drive 30 minutes to take them home, then home to make supper....hm, wonder what that is going to be? Gortons fish fillets sound like just the thing. ♥