Wednesday, January 27, 2010

sunshine

It's 7:30 p.m. Seth has been in bed for 45 minutes. It's been that kind of day. :) Our little guy who is a GREAT sleeper 98% of the time is having one of the other 2% days. Much too short of a nap and meltdown after meltdown meant the earliest bedtime he's had in forever, maybe ever! The crying has stopped now, so maybe he fell asleep. I don't dare open the door yet to check.

The cold, gray days of winter are getting to me. I want to be outside. I want to go for a walk. I want to feel the warmth of the sunshine. I could bundle the kiddos up and go on a walk, but that would require Seth to walk with me since I don't have a double stroller (and don't want one, so that is not a complaint), and that's not going to go well in the frigid temps. I usually take the kids to the grocery store with me every week and enjoy at least getting out of the house. But I went Sunday afternoon while Seth was napping and left Kate at home to go by myself since it would be faster and easier. By the way, that has been the one and only hour I have had without children since my parents left two months ago (I went to the store a couple times without either kid while they were here). And I spent it grocery shopping. But nonetheless, it was an hour to myself. :)

But the days can get long by myself and especially now that basketball is in full swing. I really am okay by myself. It just gives me lots of time to think and pray while I'm holding one or playing with the other, but sometimes that can be bad because I can dwell on things. Poor Kevin has to come home to hear all sorts of things from me that I think about during the day, but he is good to listen. And when he agrees with me and doesn't say that I'm over thinking something or that I'm not crazy for thinking that, then I know it's not just me. He keeps me in check.

But after some long days, the Lord sent some sunshine my way the other day. Not only did we have a surprise birthday party for Kim here at our house, which was fun to celebrate her and visit with other women, but my dear sweet friend Leah called me. Vonage has been working now for two weeks, and we finally got to reconnect over the phone, which is much easier and faster than email. :) She made my day, and we got to chat for a LONG time. And what was even better is that they are planning to come visit us this summer!!! I couldn't ask for anything better!

And more sunshine today... Kevin came home from his basketball game (which they won despite the other school cheating in every way possible!) and tossed me something that he said was in his mailbox at school for me. It was a package of bulgur. I knew immediately who it was from and why, and it totally made my day. I said the other day that we can communicate Christ's love in other non-verbal ways, and this was Christ's love to me. Might be small and insignificant to someone else, but this made me feel loved. I've been rather frustrated about some things lately, and that gave me hope. :) Thank you Jesus!

A few pictures (thanks Michelle!) from Kim's surprise birthday luncheon:

The birthday girl on the far left

Yummy food!

Seth enjoying his cupcake! There were 6 kids under the age of three (all boys except for Kate) so it was quite exciting. :)

Here is a picture of some of Kevin's varsity basketball players, taken at their tournament this past weekend in Bratislava, Slovakia. They dominated, and thus I had a very happy husband.


And of course one of my sweet little girl after her bath :)

3 comments:

Julie said...

i know EXACTLY how you feel!
I so wish that I could have been to the lunch, bummer. Let's connect sometime soon. I can arrange with Zach to go up there :) HUGS

Stefanie Schocke said...

Her little face is just ooooh so precious!!!!!!

What about the sunshine of your sister! :)

Anonymous said...

Ok I'll bite - what is bulgur?
Love, Dad