Do The Next Thing

I read a great article this morning which emphasized the importance of just doing the next thing.  Not the endless "to-do" lists, or the unreachable quest of perfection, but only the next thing.  This was just what I needed to hear this morning in week 3 of homeschooling, therapy appointments, laundry, and Corbin's new school.  My last two weeks have been awesome in some respects, and downright failures in others!

I have excelled in working through my lesson plan for Hayden and we are definitely accomplishing and making progress.  Even when I was sick one day last week, we still finished all our work for the week.

But, in that same time, I've cooked dinner, oh about two times.  We ate out a lot and we grabbed lunch in the drive-thru most days.

I have successfully shuttled Corbin to and from appointments and gotten him ready for school each morning by his 7 o'clock bus time.

I have also struggled fitting in his daily "homework" from his speech therapist.

I haven't drowned in a pile of laundry (yet), but the laundry baskets aren't empty either.  I will say that no one has come stumbling out of their room complaining that they have no underwear.  So I'll call that a win.

And the last fail, I've been able to work out only once a week.  But hey, I did work out once each week, which could have been not at all...so success?  I guess it depends on your benchmarks.

So this morning, when I was feeling unmotivated and tired, all I really wanted to do was to stay in bed all day.  When I stumbled out of the bedroom, my previously clean living room now had toys all over it.  In the span of two hours, all my hard work from the previous day was erased.  And that's how it feels a lot of the time.  I clean so that I can clean some more later!  There is no "finish line" for me.  That irritates me.  I'm very much a completion, "job well done" type of gal.  Hrmph.

So in an effort to avoid my inevitable "work", I started my daily blog reading and came across this jewel - which had me saying "Exactly!" and "Yes!!!" a lot.  That's exactly what I needed to read this morning.  Just do the next thing.  I need to let go of what I'm not doing, what needs to be done, and what I should be doing...and just do the next thing.

I am letting go of my feelings of failure and inadequacies, my desire (although unattainable) for perfection, and my need to achieve and accomplish.

And I'm just doing the next thing...which right now means eating lunch. ;)

The Waiting Room

Three hours a week, Hayden and I keep ourselves occupied in the waiting room while Corbin gets therapy.  I'm getting better at bringing games, snacks, and things that will keep a four year old busy for a whole hour - believe me, it's not easy.  Especially, now that we have been going for two weeks.

The waiting room has a really cool ceiling in the kids area that has twinkling lights that look like a sky full of stars.  For the past few times, I've been dying to lay out on the floor "under the stars" with Hayden.  This time, I did it - and it was even better than I thought it would be:

Walking the Line

Shine Your light so I can see You
Pull me up, I need to be near You
Hold me, I need to feel love
Can You overcome this heart that's overcome?

I hate walking that line between faith and desperation. When the world doesn't line up the way I want, when people disappoint me, when I'm dealt a hand that's difficult to bear.  To find meaning and purpose in it all.  It's easy to find faith in perfection, but it's a shallow and hollow faith.  Real faith is found in desperation.  In the dirty details, in the last straw.  It's found in the tears, it's found in the begging for miracles and the silence of waiting.  It's the last breath and the dull ache.  It's in the slow release of the grasped hands.  It's in the death of dreams and the surrender of life.  It's the laying down of pride and pretenses, and coming to Him empty handed and humbled.  When the world has stopped offering up it's rusted and moth-eaten treasures and discovering that the true desires of your heart can't be bought or won.

It's then you find that fleeting moment of clarity and peace, knowing that this world is not what it was meant to be, but there is Hope.  There is beauty in the brokenness, peace in the chaos, and love in this world of hate.  And to live with Hope is the only way to live for all else under the sun is vanity.

 

Shine Your light so all can see it
Lift it up, 'cause the whole world needs it
Love has come, what joy to hear it
He has overcome
He has overcome

Friday Week Review

Just a quick post to update you all on our first official week of school -

I started the week being very unsure of how we would all survive our new and busier schedule, but...WE DID IT!  I'm actually quite enjoying our schedule because I am getting so much more done and really feel like we are accomplishing things.  The only downside is I am very tired by the end of the day and I'm definitely going to have to guard my Thursdays and Fridays carefully because they are truly the only days that have any free time in them.  I still do NOT like getting up at 6am, but it is nice to see how much I've accomplished by 10am each day (Breakfast, Dishes, Laundry, Corbin on Bus and back home, finished school with Hayden for the day). 

Corbin seems to really love school, he hops on the bus without any fuss.  Of course, when you're going to school for speech, it's hard to know anything about their day.  I ask him did you have fun? and he replies..."Yesssh".  And well, that's the conversation, HA!  So, judging by his demeanor, I'm thinking he's liking school.

His private therapy is going well too, he really loves his speech therapist and she is super sweet!  Wednesday they both came riding down the hall on a plasma car!  Too cute.  Hayden and I relax in the waiting room and work on his AWANA memory verses.  I also now have a bag of fun stuff that Hayden plays with each time.  Things like card games, toys from fast food kid meals that I kept, puzzles, etc.  That seems to keep him busy for the hour.

Yesterday I finished up my lesson plans, copying, cutting, laminating and printing for the month - so I'm completely set till the end of September.  I think I will continue to work on lessons each Thursday like I did this week.  It feels good to have a buffer of lessons in case we get sick or things get hectic. 

The laminator has become my new best friend - I love this machine!  I'm finding all kind of fun games and other manipulatives to make for Hayden!  Plus, it's nice to laminate the items I know I'll use again next year with Corbin.  I definitely recommend this fun "toy" to any homeschooler!

Although it is a lot of work, I'm finding that I'm ending our week much happier than I have all summer - so I think that means Week 1 was a success!!  Come back next week and I'm sure you will find me passed out on the floor covered in worksheets and crayons in complete chaos!  But a girl can dream - and right now those dreams are of a week well done!

 

Family Photo...I think not...

Here's my explanation about why we don't do more family pictures...

Gearing Up For Another Year

I'm gearing up for my busiest year yet in my almost 5 years of being at home.  So busy, that I actually had to resort to scheduling out everything in order to fit it all in. 

Corbin begins daily PPCD (Preschool Programs for Children with Disabilities) classes next Tuesday which will be from 7:45am-9:45am.  And with his recent diagnosis of apraxia of speech, he is also attending private therapy 2 more times a week (and possibly more in the future).  He is also receiving occupational therapy once a week (we are trying to work up to twice a week) for fine motor and sensory issues.

Hayden begins his first full year of homeschooling next week.  I've been lesson planning and organizing materials all week for the next month of lessons.  I am blessed to have 36 weeks of lesson plans and curriculum done for me, but there is still plenty of prep and adapting that needs to be done.  The results of this year will determine if we will continue educating Hayden at home, or if I will enroll him in Kinder next fall.  This year, as he is still four, I am mixing PreK and Kinder materials for him.  He is advancing well in his reading and is already in Kinder material. We took a break (except from reading) this summer, so I am anxious to get back to working with him.

Hayden is also beginning another year of AWANA on Sunday evenings.  We switched to Sundays this year from Wednesdays.  Wednesday was just too hard to do during the middle of a busy week, plus it was at 6pm which is generally our dinner time.  I am very excited to have it on Sunday afternoons now!

This year I also took on the role of Family Ministry Director at our church, and I am loving it! But, that too comes with meetings, planning, and work that I have to proactively schedule to make sure I stay on top of it.  I'm also trying to stay healthy so I can do all these things by working out at the YMCA 3 times a week!  Oh and don't forget all of that cooking, cleaning, and other things we wives and mothers do, HA!

My schedule is a sea of ink, but somehow I managed to put it all in there - with even time to relax and do my quiet time each day!  I think this year I will have to survive on lots of prayer and reliance on God.  Lucky for me, I thrive on less time, not more.  Give me a whole day to something and I will procrastinate until the last minute.  Give me 30 seconds to do something, and it's done.  That's just my personality.  So, I'm kind of looking forward to the chaos.

Hayden's First Sleepover

This month Hayden had his first sleepover!  His friend Jake came over and spent the night.  I was a little worried how I would handle three wild boys in the house - but it was awesome!!  Thinking back to my own slumber party days, I remembered that slumber parties meant FUN and I threw out all our usual rules.

We ate pizza for dinner.  We watched a spooky (ok not that spooky) Alvin and the Chipmunks Halloween movie.  We ate our weight in popcorn. I made a huge "bed" on the floor with lots of pillows and blankets for movie watching.  We ran around the dark house with flashlights scaring each other.  We all crashed (except for Corbin who refused to sleep).  Then we all woke up and went swimming.

I have to say, our first sleepover was a success!  And only one thing got broken!  Woohoo!