First day of school, take one

Praise the Lord!!!

The younger 2 kids started their first day of 3rd grade and 5th grade today. Where has the time gone? Such a cliche, but so much truth in it.

We have struggled these last few years with stomach pains from anxiety over school. I cannot count the number of times I have heard "My tummy hurts". We have seen GI specialists, neurologists, run countless of tests on both kids. We have prayed, we have tried multiple medications, with no substanial relief...The result hubby & I have concluded is school anxiety. Babygirl has also been diagnosed with abdominal migraines which of course is brought on by stress/anxiety.

So with school approaching I was dreading the start of it, along with the start of hearing "My tummy hurts", everyday for the next 180 days of school. Ugh!!!

The kids were optomistic this morning saying "It's the first day, so it should be an easy day".
"That's right go with it" I am screaming inside, looking for no stress.

Drop off was amazing! Hugs & kisses, and pictures with smiles :) Oh my heart was jumping for joy!

Hubby and I leave, and their first day of school is underway.

At the end of their day, I am waiting for them on the sidewalk to be dismissed from school and what do I see.....smiles on their faces. Praise the Lord! And when I asked how their day was
my son says "It's terrible, absolutely terrible" What???? My heart was in my throat now. He continues to say with a smirk on his face "It's terribly good. I had a great day" That little stinker.
Babygirl says she had a great day too, and her teacher said so too.

So this night I am praising the Lord for our answered  prayers for our first day of school! Now hopefully the rest of the year can follow just like today.

Unusual day

Today is a very unusual day in our house.

My hubby and 2 older sons have gone off to throw caution to the wind and ride all the extreme roller coasters at a theme park several hours away. Ok, that is really not that unusual. What is out of the norm, is this is also a youth group event. I'm always at youth group events, helping out. Feels so strange not to be there.

Babygirl has also been invited to have an all day playdate with one of her best friends. This best friend's mom works full time so playdates at their house has never happened. They always come to our house, which I am very ok with. It will be strange not to have babygirl around.

That leaves my 3rd son and I the day to ourselves. WOW! I don't think this has ever happened in the last 8 years since babygirl has come along. So what to do??? What are we going to get into today???
Babygirl gets picked up in an hour so I have an hour to plan my special day with my special 3rd born son.

I am so blessed to have this time, in this unusual day!

Vacation, Reflections, and salad!

Ever need a vacation from your vacation?

This past week we decided to take a long weekend for a family getaway. I start getting restless to get away every few months or so. I must have gypsy in my blood or something. LOL.

We jam packed 4 days with about a weeks worth of fun, activities, visiting friends, and bonding time with each other. Whew! It was definitely a whirlwind....closing the amusement park (which we haven't done since the kids were born), riding roller coasters (which I haven't done in probably 15 years), staying at our vacation spot until 9:30pm then started home instead of leaving much earlier in the day. We packed no strollers, or back packs with extra clothes or jackets just in case it got cool. We stayed out till 12:30am almost every night. It was definitely a big kid vacation!

A big kid vacation...Whew!!! Now I think I need a senior citizen vacation to recoup from it all. Lol!

When I reflect on it, it causes me to pause... my kids are growing up, we just had probably our first big kid vacation. My oldest will be leaving for college next year this time (God willing). Have I instilled in my kids independence, confidence, a fear of the Lord. Have I,  and am I, helping them to grow closer in their relationship to the Lord? Have I and am I helping them to love each other (their siblings) in a way that is honoring to God? Have I and am I training them up in the ways of the Lord? Have I and am I showing them the love of Christ in my relationship with them? Have I and am I being the Mom that God is calling me to be for my kids? To be the example for my kids to see in my relationship to my husband? I believe it is essential to every now and then to step back and evaluate, so as not to coast and think and assume everything is going ok.

So I ask my kids those same questions in different ways....what do I do right, what do you wish I was more of, what changes would you like to see...Sometimes those answers are hard to swallow and sometimes I get the sweetest blessings. This past year one of my kids answered the question "What would you like to see more of? or what are you disapointed with?" The answer was simply "I wish we had salad more often with dinner." LOL. Ok I can deal with that. But without asking those questions and probing the kids, I may never know their hearts. Even something as simple as having salad for dinner.

Can you guess what we are having with dinner tonight? Yep...SALAD!

How to survive my sons Senior year.

Wow! It has been 7 months since I last posted. I nearly forgot my password and how to sign on. Lol.

Life is moving at break neck speed around here, feeling overwhelmed much of the time. Having 2 teenage boys in the house adds plenty of activity, along with having the other 2 kids and all their stuff. Whew!

So my question is "How do you survive your son's senior year?" AHHH!!!

All the requirements for senior year and college are incredible! Who woulda thunk it? Certainly not me. Besides all the college stuff, I thought senior year was the kick back year! Well I was in for a rude awakening.

We started all the college stuff last year, and had it all pretty much figured out. We visited the colleges, had it narrowed down to 2 of his favorites, he knew his major. It was just a matter of applying and seeing how the financial end would come out.

Senior stuff starts in the month of June....Wait!!!! He just finished his junior year and hasn't even had a summer yet!! OK, here we go senior class trip info meeting, senior portraits, passport applications, and the list goes on and on and on, with deadlines upon deadlines.

Praise God, I can run to Him in my overwhelmed state. He calms my fears, and restores my soul.

Deep breathe in, breathe out...Ok, I got this with my Lord......

Oldest son says to me a little bit ago "Mom, I have been doing alot of praying lately and I think I may be changing my major, and the ***University and **** University do not offer what I am thinking of changing to"

So I calmly explore his thoughts and probe his heart, encouraging him to go where God is leading him, even if it means we start this whole process over...

WHAT???? Did I really just say that???? PANIC!!!! START OVER???

Breathe in, breathe out, call upon the Lord my refuge! Dear God get me through this senior year!

So here we go on this rollerscoaster ride, with our arms lifted up screaming down the hills. Woohoo!!