Jeni Posts Again

For those of you who noticed that two of my posts were deleted, here is a replacement. I was having a horrible, no-good, rotten, very bad day, and I wanted to move to Iceland (or Australia). I knew in my heart that even the bad day was a gift from God, something for my good and His glory. I knew it, but I was still not at peace. Then I deleted my whiny posts and went instead to God in prayer. Much better use of time! I also emailed two friends--Debby and Liz. Debby always gives me wise counsel, and Liz answers my twin questions. Liz's response to me is worthy of remembrance, so I'm posting part of it here.

Hi Jennifer.....Wow...how do I do it...I don't do it, but I'm happy. Make every
day matter, I laugh at the twins when they "re-sort" the laundry, make cat-food
soup, wash each other's hair with a variety of wet substances, etc. My home
looks very lived in..if I wanted it to look like a model home we'd never eat a
meal together...I do two loads of laundry a day, the family knows where to find
it...on the floor in my room....I also feel I have to try to stay a few steps
ahead of everyone all the time or I'll get overwhelmed. But other times I'll
catch myself with a spare moment and I have to remind myself that God gave me
this moment to have a cup of tea, read, get inspired, dig in the dirt,
whatever...and to seize it. If I have been diligent it is o.k to stop and be me
for a minute or two....I know how overwhelmed you feel...it IS so hard, but we
are growing spiritually, as mothers, wives, women and growth hurts. God gave us
our responsiblities because he knows we can do it, with HIS help. We have to
keep seeking his wisdom and guidance. He has ALL the answers, we have to have a
seeking-heart and ask for help. When we are humbled we realize that we cannot do
it alone... It does get easier, not physically but mentally, you'll be able to
handle more and more, little steps at a time..baby steps.

Inspired by her message, today I let go of my beautiful schedule with all the little colored pieces of paper telling us when to sneeze. Instead I walked around my house taking pictures with a cup-half-full mentality.

My beautiful babies. Sadie is on the left, and Sophie is on the right.


The kids are making paper plate puppets for a play of "The Horse and His Boy."


The kitchen is only as clean as Ben made it after their breakfast.


The furniture has been moved out for their play. The vacuum cleaner is still out because Bradford convinced Benjamin to do his tomorrow chores today so tomorrow they will have free time instead of morning chore time.


Only a few pieces of dirty laundry didn't make it into the basket.


Instead of trying to clean up the house before Jennifer came to be tutored in Algebra, I sat in the midst of the mess and enjoyed the kids' play. I let them keep working instead of insisting that they eat lunch at a particular time. I do want to be on more of a schedule, but for now I'm relaxing a bit. It'll eventually happen, and I don't feel up to the task of drill instructor on 6-7 chopped up hours of sleep.