My Kind of Crazy

My husband and I were out doing some Christmas shopping earlier this week.  It was the first time in years we've been able to shop together for Christmas, which is a big deal for us!  While we were out I bumped into an old colleague of mine that I worked with for many years.  We exchanged hellos and he updated me on life at the office, and then he asked me if I was working.  I casually answered no, that I was home with the kids and homeschooling, and carried on our conversation.  But after he had left I almost felt a twinge of regret that I hadn't mentioned the fact that I do freelance work on occasion.  This was the same person who, when I was pregnant with my third child and approaching maternity leave, asked me if I thought I'd get bored being home all day with nothing to do.  It was clear to me that he had no concept of what it means to be home raising a family and all the work that is involved, and that part of me felt the need to justify my current "career" choices as not a waste because I do, in fact, freelance occasionally.  I felt the nagging need to say something that showed my skills weren't being wasted, and that I did indeed have ambition.

New Normal

I have been meaning to write a post for the past three weeks now, since I discovered the blessed news that my husband and I are expecting our seventh baby in June of 2015.  We are ecstatic, and though my husband assures me it's not so, I think I'm already starting to show in the way that is obvious only to a woman's eyes about her own body.  I love seeing the signs of the new life that has only resided in my body a mere eight weeks already beginning to leave its unmistakable imprint.  Life is so beautiful.

Break

This is post I feel compelled to write, because it's not neat, and nice, and pretty.  As I sit here, typing, my kids are on their way to my mother's.  She was watching them so that I could do my part-time job of cleaning an office once a week, and she offered to keep them for the night.  Which is really a Godsend for all of us, because I think we all needed the break.

Homeschool Tweaks

We were facing some pretty significant problems at the end of the school year last June, not the least of which was one (or more) distracted students, a school day that dragged on well beyond the intended end time (and with no additions to the curriculum), and an overly busy schedule.  At the time I chalked it up to it being the end of the year, and the kids and I needing a break.  When September rolled around and we started with all of the same problems however, I knew something had to change.  I'd love to say that this happened without a major meltdown from me, but it's not true.  After my very first (first!) day of school this year I lamented to my husband, "I caaaaan't do this for another year!!!"  A couple of days later at a meeting of homeschool Moms I shared the same thoughts.  I prayed and cried and prayed some more, and eventually God helped me to see the areas I could improve upon.  I share them with you in the event that they may be helpful, knowing of course that every family, like every child, is different. 

Stay-At-Home Feminist

I’ve watched a few great videos about feminism lately, including one by UN Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson and another by Laci Green.  They both made powerful points about gender equality and stereotypes, and sought to de-vilify the word feminism in order to move forward with the necessary work that still needs to be done to improve the condition for women around the world.  Both were excellent, and you may be wondering what someone like me can add to the conversation?  Hasn’t everything already been said?

Busy Week

We're finishing up our fourth week of school, and this week has been the busiest so far.  They won't all be so crazy, but right now I'm enjoying the freedom of being able to pick up and do things a little bit easier than I could this time last year, when I still had a little-ish baby to work around.  This week, for the first time since school started, we had something to do every single day.  On the average week I try to make sure I only go out two days of the five, and I try as best I can to make sure they aren't in a row.  Today we were out on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, today and will be again tomorrow.  It's been exciting and exhausting.

If you let your children touch Jesus

A friend recently asked me if I had any tips for bringing very young children to Mass.  Immediately it brought me back to the days when all of my children were little (when my oldest was four, and I had a two-year-old and a baby at the same) and I remembered just how difficult that was.  I thought of all the things that kept me going in those years, when Mass was such a trial for me, my children, and anyone sitting around me.  I worried that I left more sinful and flustered than when I came.  I worried my kids had no clue what a gift the Mass was, and that my lack of patience was not teaching them.  I worried we were ruining the Mass for everyone around us.  But always, I knew Jesus was there.  And for me, that trumped everything.  I knew this was good, and that even if I couldn't see it, there were so many graces we were gaining, for us and our children, every time we came here.  This is the only place we can bring our children to see Jesus in the flesh.  That was the only thing that got us through those difficult years.  And so, we persist.