Pacing myself

As of late, our home is the kind of place where you have to keep your toast in your hand or someone else will eat it. I can't believe how fast-paced having four kids makes your life. I am constantly saying where did the morning/afternoon go?

Getting the big kids up for school is a challenge. They are still pretty sleepy from their summer hiatus. Gavin asks me everyday, "Do I have school today, too?" He isn't complaining, I think he is just trying to wrap his brain around the all or none of kindergarten.

This morning I closed my eyes a bit and didn't even leave my bed until 7:15 so I was a few minutes behind in getting them up. It's days like this that I am thankful for the chaos of everyday life, because to them it was just another morning as I fed them breakfast and did Maleah's hair at the same time. I changed dirty diapers and filled cups and tied shoes and shoved them out the door almost simultaneously.
We always stand the the picture window and wave to them and today I noticed the big kids arguing a bit over whether Gavin could ride his bike. I saw Maleah wrinkle her nose and point to the seat which was damp with overnight dew. Gavin shrugged his shoulders, threw off his jacket and wiped the seat clean with one huge swipe. He flipped his jacket back on and alley-ooped onto the bike. Maleah rolled her eyes and reluctantly walked behind him on the side walk. Moments later I thought to myself, a year ago I would have waddled out there and gotten in the middle of them, fussing and shushing and nagging them to get a towel from the house to wipe the seat down. It is sort of a revelation that they can handle it themselves and that the whole incident went even more smoothly without my presence.

It happens so fast, this growing up thing. I can't grasp it. I may need some sort of therapy. I guess that's what this blog is for. Still, my throat tightens and my eyes well up when I think about baby Nora walking and Addison talking and the big kids figuring things out all on their lonesome. *sigh*

Prayer requests today for my cousin Danielle's husband, James, who is undergoing an embolization on an aneurysm in his brain this morning...and for facebook, for without that marvelous invention I would not have known about James or his condition. Thank you Lord for giving us the knowledge to create many different forms of communication to share your Word and give each other the reminder of Your mercy. One of the prayers the family has had in the past day or so was that there would be a Christian in the OR with James and this morning,just before surgery, an old family friend and lover of the Lord was assigned to surgery for reasons that were unknown to her. We know this was God's answer to prayers. He is so GOOD!