Gearing up for a new season

I have a friend that is the ultimate soccer mom. She has four kids, and all of them play - the two older kids are already getting scouted. I have watched her for a couple of years now, driving all over the place, sometimes going in two or three different directions at one time. I've seen her try and balance a budget and take on extra work so she can pay for all the insanity.

For the last couple of years I have claimed that she is entirely out of her mind. This year, I join her in the madness.

Red is embarking on his first full year of Boy Scouts. Boy Scouts is a LOT more expensive and time-intensive than Cub Scouts ever was. The plus side, however, is that ~I~ don't have to do as much work for it. We're also bringing piano back for him, and adding in guitar. There is also a real possibility that he could be starting some sort of martial arts training, but that is still undecided.

Princess is still chugging along in Girl Scouts, and I'm excited to return this year myself. I won't be leading this year - yay - but I'll still be around and I love working with the girls. Princess has also started golfing and is doing quite well and showing real promise. She truly loves the sport and being out in the sun, and while she may not be on the LPGA Tour someday, the important thing is how much fun she has!

This is the year that the Fluffyheaded Diva rocks it out hardcore. She'll be starting Girl Scouts - in the same troop as her big sister, and she is over the moon excited! We've also decided some dance classes would do her some good - give her a little bit of focus and maybe help her with her balance. But the big thing is the pageant that she wants to do. It will be in a couple of months, and we're still a little on the fence, so we'll see. We would be doing a Natural instead of the Glitz - Toddlers and Tiaras? No thank you. We shall see how all that plays out.

Sir Smiley, of course, is still too young for any of this stuff, so I'm just going to sit back and enjoy snuggling him while the rest of the kids go crazy. At least for now. He already has an arm to rival Dan Marino, so as soon as he's old enough for football, we're going in.

The dollar signs and the driving are already making me a little sick to my stomach, and we haven't even really started yet. It is going to be a lot of fun to see how the rest of the year plays out!

When Healing Happens

Today, I'm doing a little bit of research on Christ healing the masses and it is giving me a lot of insight into my own heart.

I have done so much in my life that has caused pain. I almost destroyed myself, and I hurt so many other people around me. I have spent many years asking forgiveness - from God, from others.... from myself. But am I healed? Because some of those mistakes, I've made again. And again.

When I think of healing, I think of a scab that sometimes gets picked off over and over. How can that wound heal if I keep damaging the one thing that is supposed to be healing? When do I learn how to just be better, be stronger, be healed?

I can't sit here at this screen and find the solution to inner pain and turbulence. I don't have an easy answer for you. The only thing I can tell you is to keep trusting God. Keep praying. Eventually, the peace will come. I've seen it in my own life - in some areas. In others, I just keep picking that scab.

Gone Again...

Another 2.5 months that I've disappeared. You would think that as much as I love to write and how therapeutic it is for me, I'd be typing up never-ending diatribes daily. Yeah.... no.

So much has happened the past few months. The two littles had surgery, my dad moved in with us, craziness all around is ensuing. But, I think ... more than anything else ... my brain is just overwhelmed. I've been hurting. I've been sad. More than anything, THAT should be the reason to come back and write more. Instead, I've hidden away from one of the things that helps most.

Sometimes I just don't make no sense.