My Peacefully Chaotic Life

I had great plans for today. I had visions of getting up early to get going for the aforementioned trip. That way we would be home by lunch. After lunch I thought I would give haircuts to the menfolk and my mother. Then the children and I would bake cookies. I would have time to clean the house, vacuum, scrub the bathroom, get the laundry done and put away, and have a nice supper. (Alright, I understand there was no way I could have gotten all that done in an afternoon but I like to dream big!) Well, we did get going fairly early but my bubble burst after that. Town was a madhouse and everything took forever. And folks were so grumpy! Say "Merry Christmas" and they looked at you like you had sprouted two heads! We finally got home around 3:30. Haircuts...out the window. I was tired and Smiley needed to nurse. Cookies? Yes, and they were yummy! Cleaned the house? Ummm...well, for the things I did manage to put away it looks as if other stuff just replaced it. Vacuum? No. Scrub...

Ok it is official. My children have been taken over by what I must assume are aliens. Yes, I am kidding but let me tell you about this night! The FisherMan and I were supposed to go over to the next town to visit a church member who moved to the nursing home this week. We planned on squeezing in a bit of shopping for my mom and picking up some giftwrap. We also thought we might complete a sentence and maybe even NOT go to a public restroom even if it meant "holdin it" just because we could. (Those of you with several little ones know exactly what I am talking about. Oh, the glee of a full adult conversation! Not to mention no bathroom trips...I swear sometimes I think they are marking their territory!) But, I digress. Well, when it got time to go Ladybug and Flowerchild went ballistic! As in full blown panic stricken screaming and crying, begging me to not go, heads spinning, ok maybe not that but we were to that point ....we were left scratching our heads thinking "hu...

The children were nestled all snug in their beds....finally! Wednesday nights around here tend to run late for the kiddos. FisherMan being the pastor means we are just about always the last to leave. Tonight was no exception but it was a nice night. Everyone likes to hang around after church and visit. Tonight the weather was pleasant instead of, oh.... frigid, so we could stand outside while the children ran around and screamed and played chase. The grownups talked and tried to stay upright as the little ones used us to hang on as they ran around. You know, the whole "you can't get me" game as they run around you. When we got home the neighbor's dog showed up to visit, too. Wouldn't be a big thing but he got shot a few days ago! He had been staying up here for a couple of weeks and the children just loved him (i.e. parents were attached and blamed it on children's attachment) Well, he was out on his usual morning rounds of the neighborhood and we heard a shot...

Well, the musical went great. We had a good turnout considering we are a rural church and many of our older folks do not get out at night. The children were precious right down to the boy who fell apart at the very beginning because he did not get "his" jingle bell... ah, the things that seem important when you are five! There is some consideration being given to doing it again in the upcoming morning service. As for home stuff Mondays are Wal-mart day. Except we did Wal-mart on Tuesday this week because I have been sick with a stomach flu. I am better but still not running on all cylinders. But that puts everything behind for the week. I am not sure if I should hope it's a virus in which case I was probably contagious at church and it doesn't bode well for all those folks I shook hands with/ hugged or to hope it was food poisoning which doesn't bode well for the fingerfood fellowship! We had a guy come by this morning to show the FisherMan the bobcat he had shot...

So tonight is our church Christmas program. I think it will be a great program...it is an old fashioned Christmas theme. We decorated as though it was an old timey cottage. The children will be in their jammies and there will be carolers. I will be narrating so that is new for me! I am not really a "look at me!" kind of person. The gospel will be woven throughout everything followed by an invitation. After the program we will have finger foods down in the fellowship hall. So I am excited...just hoping people will come out in the cold for it!

Heard from the lips of a six year old Flower Child when noticing a sea gull flying over the Wal-Mart parking lot hundreds of miles from the beach: "Look, it's a beach eagle!!" Ok, so maybe we need to work a little on animal recognition but it was really cute!

Do you ever feel like time just slips through your fingers at a rate that is just out of control? Christmas seems to make us more of aware of it as it rolls around seemingly sooner each year! It can be a challenge to make each day count, each relationship matter, each moment a treasure. Recently I was reminded of this in a sad and unexpected way. A precious girl I knew years ago was tragically and brutally murdered. I had a very hard time putting it together in my head. Here were the memories of a sweet, unassuming girl colliding with the thoughts of what she must have endured in her last moments. So many of us said the same thing. "I didn't know her that well." How many people pass through our lives and we never take the time to get beyond a surface relationship? Too often we are content to surround ourselves with acquaintances rather than investing the time to pursue something deeper. What treasured friends might we find buried in the clutter of our lives? Maybe the bes...