May

I am posting out of necessity to say this may be all you hear from me during the month of May. Unfortunately, I won't even be able to do the post justice, as my mind is not functioning to its full potential. Well, maybe instead, I should say that it is functioning in overdrive! I am physically exhausted trying to keep up with what all needs to be done.

My little part time job is in its peak season. I am processing over 700 camper registrations at present, handling over $140K in checks. I really got scared this week; I realized that I had over $100K at that time, sitting on my living room table, in the middle of Oklahoma, during the Spring tornado season! Well, I did manage to get that all sent into the bank for deposit and now have the final camp registrations lurking in the other room.

Add to that the complexity of balancing the church calendar, two schools' end of school year activities, graduations, etc., and then my own child's end of school year activities, and we can hardly keep up. Other than my child's activities, I'd dare say the others' are an occupational hazard being married to a youth pastor. Yesterday I wrapped around thirty grad gifts!

There are a lot of special activities that just happen to be landing right now as well. Last week, I gave a devotional at the Women's Mission Circle's end of year brunch. Just today, I've made a cake for a friend's mom's 93rd birthday, and painted four wooden stick horses for the nursing home's Senior Olympics going on later this week. I continue to plan a church-wide bridal shower, am coordinating an upcoming wedding, and the list goes on. We are gone Saturday and Sunday for a trip to Dodge City for cousin's high school graduation. I am thrilled that Russ is able to go, because it has been several years since he has gone to Dodge with me. My cousin really wanted him there, which says a lot I think!

In the midst of this insanity, I've spent five days with my mom after she had a heart attack two weeks ago, and I've now been called to Jury Duty. Regarding the latter, I called in tonight and tomorrow's case was settled out of court. Now I have to report for Wednesday. I'm trying to take this whole mess a day at a time. It would really be best if they'd just call me back in August!

As for my mom, she had a stress related heart attack and is taking medications to heal it and help block the hormone epinephrine (the stress hormone) from bombarding her heart muscle. She has no blockage and everything looks great there; we are thankful for that! She was back in the ER yesterday for more pain, which she feared was another heart attack. Turned out to be severe acid reflux. No more spicy food before bed we guess!

And need I restate here, that I am a mother in the midst of this crazy thing called my life. I already have a hard time knowing how one woman is suppose to balance other bodies, feeding, cleaning, bathing, yard, laundry, homework, playing, helping, working, scheduling, correspondence, shopping, pets, etc., etc., etc. I often say, "Only one Mommy, two children, or ....."

I would like to add, that I do recognize that I am not the only busy body. Life for many is just as full, sometimes rewarding and sometimes not so rewarding. In the chaos, I'm trying to stay focused on the LORD. I fail often, but am reminded again tonight that how I respond is a choice. I will choose to seek God and draw on His immeasurable richness and strength to guide me each day as I prioritize on that day's obligations.

And so, those are some highlights of my life these days. As May is already almost halfway over, I fear I may not be back on here before June. The other day, I took some pictures to upload and blog about. I will save the pictures for later, as it takes roughly 15 minutes per picture when I upload, as we still have dial up Internet! The news would be that I have vegetables growing; we are trying out a Topsy Turvy planter (one store bought, and one Russ made from scratch). Russ is also in the final stages of finishing some bookshelves for me. This has been a project in the making since January. I can't wait to get them put up in the guest room and get our photo albums and novels put back on shelves. (Right now, they are on the floor lining two walls in that room.)

I best close, and go work on camp registrations. To those few that have cared enough to read through this long blog, I love you! May you find joy in your May days!