Whew!

 

As of today we are done with 4 straight weeks of hosting company.  On top of having company, I caught my brother's terrible illness (influenza?) and had 2 weeks of misery in coughing, headaches, sore throat and aches as I battled that.  So, the last month has flown by in a whirlwind of activity and I'm thankful to be leaving that behind and heading into a month of more relaxation before CC starts.

 

Thank you to those of you who prayed for my friends in the dire situation.  (See previous post).  Baby Remmy is breathing on his own now and should be released from the burn center very soon.  The dad's burns are healing well and someone has provided them with a house to live in until they find a new home to buy.  The community has gifted them with money and enough new stuff to fill an entire house.  Our church continues to emotionally support them through the immense grief of losing their two little boys in this fire.  Keep praying for them, especially for the 5 year old boy as he copes with his grief and loss.

 

I look forward to being "back to blogging" and sharing my heart for keeping things simple here on "A Stick and Sand."

A Week of Many Emotions

Baby Elizabeth, my tiny baby niece with her new toy from auntie!

 

 

I've been pretty absent here over the last week.  So far, this week has been the toughest one I've endured so far this year.  Though I strive to keep my life very simple, thus the reason for this blog, there are times when life will just be very full regardless of our efforts to keep our days slow and this week has been one of those crazy times.

 

We had a very full weekend with hosting teenage missionaries, attending Gold Rush Days at a local historical site, and I volunteered with our local Bountiful Baskets co-op and did a cleaning job as well as having nursery duty at church.  Then we found out that Josiah's step-grandpa, who had married his widowed grandma 13 years ago, had passed away, which saddened us.  We are unable to attend the funeral in Minnesota because of the cost and distance.

 

 

Being that I used to teach 5 Day Clubs as a teenager, I LOVE and wholeheartedly support the 5 Day Club ministry and I coordinate it for my church.  We ended up hosting teen missionaries for several nights as well as providing the teens with transportation to two of the clubs each day.  My kids adore club and don't mind going twice a day even if it means they hear the stories again.

 

 

It just so happened that my brother's family's first back to Wyoming in over a year coincided with 5 Day Club week.  So, the teens moved out mid-week and stayed in my friend's camper and I did laundry and cleaned like crazy to prepare my house for my brother's family.  I have been waiting for almost a year to meet my precious new niece, so I was overjoyed to finally get to hold her!  She is our first niece; we have 4 nephews!  Ali and Katri are so excited to finally have a girl cousin!

 

 

A friend of mine who is pregnant with her 5th baby is 2 weeks overdue and I was supposed to be her childcare for her 4 children, including 2 year-old twins.  I had expected her to have the baby a few weeks ago but, because it didn't happen and she's super-overdue, I ended up watching her kids all day on Friday this week and then labor stopped and she ended up going home....still pregnant.

 

 

But above all these busy, busy things that are all great things that have made this week challenging, there was a tragedy in our town involving our friends from church.  While making dinner on their BBQ grill, our friend's house caught fire and an exposed propane line exploded.  Though they raced to get their 5 little children 5 and under out of the blaze, two of the little boys hid in fear and the fire quickly became an inferno with 3 gas explosions.  In spite of their parents attempts to save them, they couldn't be found and sadly, the little boys passed away in the fire.   The dad and the twin infant boy were airlifted to a burn center in another state.  It looks like they will make a full recovery, though it will be a month before the baby is released.  The mom had minor burns and was released from the local hospital about 5 hours after being brought in.  The twin infant daughter and the 5 year-old boy are fine.  The family lost their home, 100% of their possessions, 3 dogs, and their vehicles as well as the 2 precious boys ages 3 and 4.  Our community has responded in an amazing way by giving donations, money, housing options, food, emotional support, etc.  This has been the worst tragedy I've ever seen and it especially hurts because these folks are our friends.  Our church family is reeling in pain.  We all feel completely drained and empty from all the crying and grieving this week.  It is devastating to have to explain to your kids that one of their friends has died. 

 

 

In the aftermath of this event, it has been wonderful to see the Body come together and lean on one another.  Every day, my friends and I are gathering to talk about ways we can help and mourning together.  Every day, I am sharing tear-filled moments on the phone with friends from church.  It's tough to get through your daily tasks and housework when your heart is hurting.  The whole community is stunned.  We're going to bed with tears in our eyes and waking up with tears in our eyes.  We're tossing and turning and losing sleep trying to process this horror.

 

 

So....needless to say, that this week has been crushing.  It may take me 3 full weeks before I feel like I've recovered from the exhaustion of this week.  Simple and slow is the goal, but when it comes to helping missionaries, loving on family, being a true friend, reaching kids with the Gospel, and bearing one another's burden's, sometimes life won't be simple or slow and it's in those tough times that we have to decide if we will still choose to be thankful and lean on the Lord or wallow in self-pity.  No matter how difficult this week has been for me, it has been 1,000,000x worse for my friends who lost some of their children.  So remembering that puts it in perspective. 

 

Please pray for our friends. 

Simple Isn't Easy

 

In the same way that simple isn't lazy, living a simple life does not mean living an easy life.

 

A simplified life, to me,  is a focused life.

 

I do think that being focused on fewer things allows for a more peaceful and fulfilling life, but it doesn't mean that life will be easy.

 

I think many times we search out "the simple life" because we just want to take a break.  Motherhood is a round-the-clock job and true rest is hard to find in a house full of children.  Homeschooling can feel like an enormous undertaking.  We crave slower days, more relaxation, and less on our To-Do lists.

 

My best friend and I were talking about taking relaxed days.  She was saying that whenever she takes one day of leisure with the kids, staying home all day and hanging out, doing fun crafts or having a family reading day or un-structured day, etc. she feels like it takes at least 3 days of extra-hard work to make up for it with the housework.  I agree!  As I pondered this, I realized that my simplest days still contain lots of labor, but the focus is on my family and home as opposed to tons of other errands, phone calls, demands, requests, etc. 

 

A mother robin has a pretty simple life.  And yet she works very, very hard at keeping those eggs warm and those babies fed and safe.  In fact, it seems that she works from dawn to dark caring for those noisy little ones, without a break.

 

My life is pretty simple too.  My kids aren't in any extra-curriculars right now, I am not working any cleaning jobs this month, I don't have any photo shoots lined up, my house if fairly minimalistic, I don't own a cell phone or have cable, we have a small, simple garden, and we're not taking any big trips or vacations this summer.  We spend a lot of time outdoors, we stay home a lot, we make simple meals, I make time to read everyday, our CC group doesn't meet during the summer, we're only doing an hour a day of schooling in the summer, and I spend a lot of time with friends and family.

 

However, at the end of every day I'm extremely tired.  My life may be fairly simple, but there is nothing easy about having 4 kids!  I spend my entire day teaching them, instructing them, mediating fights, disciplining and discipling, preparing food for them, cleaning up messes, washing, sorting, folding clothing, curtailing clutter and paper hurricanes, stepping on legos and pulling rocks out of my dryer, making sure they do their schoolwork and their chores and that they do them correctly, comforting them with their numerous injuries, making sure our pet bunny is cared for, and turning red over the latest, shocking evidence of their immaturity and lack of common sense or outright destruction of property that I've discovered. 

 

Even on days when we have fewer chores and more leisure time, there is always work to be done.  Though I spend more time in the yard in the summer, I feel like summer requires even more work from me than in the winter because I have gardens/plants to water, more company to prepare food for, the job of enforcing the hanging of wet towels and cleaning up garbage in the yard, sunscreening the kids (if you've done it, you know it ain't no picnic!), a patio to sweep and maintain, and a pool to filter, skim, chlorinate, test, and clean.

 

The simple life is not an easy life. 

God has given us all work to do, and though that work can be meaningful, fruit-bearing, and enjoyable, it is going to take effort.  It is going to require sweat much of the time and maybe even some tears and blood.  It takes discipline to say no to the distractions and cultural pull towards "busy" and strength to maintain a more-focused life.

 

 

What can you do if you are overwhelmed with the responsibilities you face today?  Pray and ask God for help and wisdom regarding what your focus should be.  Look for non-essentials you can trim from your day and your life.  I always go back to this book, which I've read several times, when I'm feeling overwhelmed with my life because it helps me find my focus.  Also, recognize that we must embrace the work we have to do and work hard because work is a part of life....yes, even the simple life!

 

 

Say No, Say Yes

 

Last week I said NO to:

 

Inviting some friends over for an impromptu pool party

 

 

So that I could say YES to:

 

Baking and cooking for the 4th of July parties we were attending, being prepared in advance, stress-free!

 

 

Last week I also said NO to:

 

Answering the phone during busy times of the day

 

 

So that I could say YES to:

 

 

Being present with my kids during critical times of the day when they need to be doing chores/school

Summer Fun!

 

A friend gave us an above-ground pool she no longer wanted so this summer has been full of fun in the sun!  Since I'm on lifeguarding duty every afternoon, I have found myself reading more since I'm not being distracted by household chores or the internet.  I'm enjoying this book I picked up in the Practicum bookstore!

Great Post!

At the CC Blog Carnival that Homegrown Learners sponsors every month, I came across this beautiful post about simplifying your homeschooling.  It encapsulates the very heart and purpose of my blog here.  I encourage you to check it out if you haven't already read it!

A Simple Gift

Sometimes I think we forget how much our words can mean to another.  I love serving on the Prayer/Card Ministry team at our church where we send notes of encouragement to those in our congregation going through hard times.  Often, when I go to Prayer/Card Ministry on Monday mornings, my 5 year-old son misbehaves or causes an uncomfortable scene at church during the half hour that I leave my kids playing on the playground or in the nursery while I meet with the ladies.  On one such day, I drove home nearly in tears because of yet another difficult morning with Justus.  I had spent an hour praying for people going through a hard time and filling out notes of encouragement for them with a few other ladies but I felt desperately in need of some parenting encouragement myself as Justus had been naughty yet again.  There are many days when dealing with my endlessly energetic and super-strong-willed child that I am at my wit's end and fall to my knees begging God for help.

 

 

When I arrived home, a note was tucked into the front door.  My parents had randomly left a card there for me, having been encouraged at their church to fill out one of the cards in their bulletin and encourage someone that week.  It may seem like just a little thing and maybe you hear inspiring words daily from your parents, but for me, it was something special and it gave me the boost I needed  right then to "keep on keeping on" that day.  This note now hangs on my fridge, a tangible reminder to me that words of encouragement are so important and that I shouldn't give up going to Prayer/Card Ministry even if it means I will need to bring Justus with me and that he may require lots of supervision.  The cards we send out are truly helping people!

 

 

The other day someone asked me what we could do to bless our director since she is so good to us. 

 

I told her, "Send her notes of encouragement throughout the year!  I doubt very many parents take the time to thank her for her time and her efforts with CC.  Though I've never been a director, I'm pretty sure it comes with having to make tough decisions and to be unpopular or firm with people at times and people are often quick to voice their displeasure, but can be slower to be thankful. 

 So, mail her some cards this year!"

 

 

During the summer months, when the school load is lighter, consider taking some time to stamp and address a few cards that you can send to encourage some folks in your CC group this year.  Of course you don't know what circumstances may come about in the coming school year, but having a few cards ready to go will make it easier to send a note of encouragement to your director, your child's tutor, or the personnel at your CC group's facility.  I bought some darling cards at the Idaho Falls Practicum bookstore that feature little cartoons of Leigh Bortins with witty sayings/jokes on them.  They will be perfect for my fellow CC moms in our community when an illness, birthday, or need arises!