That Thing You Do

Right now is one of those incredibly stressful times for me for multiple reasons, including, but in no means limited to the following: TOO MUCH WORK, transitioning the nonprofit, no idea where we are moving to and when exactly, school work and not making the progress I want on the research component, homework for my classes in school that never seems to end, lack of exercise, and on and on. Pleasant, huh?! I honestly try not to be a negative nelly, so I am sitting here trying to decompress and I am thinking of a humorous aspect of each of my family members that makes me smile.

Shenzy: She gives ear massages. Ever heard of this speciality? Neither had we, but she is a riot and it is not uncommon for her to be giving D an ear massage as she stands on her bed during prayer time, totally focused on her task at hand and oblivious to the oddity of this behavior. She looks like a professional and takes her task very seriously. She invented this, but it cracks me up every time I picture her doing this to him. She is the most passionate child when it comes to her love and she freely shares it with D and I and we are very blessed to be the recipients of it. She is a pint-sized package of power and while she is definitely overwhelming at times, it is amazing how well she has bonded with us and loves us. She has phrases of an adult (clean ones...come on now) and is truly a riot to converse with, she is 4 going on 24!

Meesta: He is a neat pack rat. I can't even be frustrated with it because it is honestly funny. If you were to enter his room, it is often picture perfect - but that is the surface level picture. He has always been a bit of a pack-rat, but has so many clean aspects like the perfect bed he makes every day, his deal not necessarily ours. However, knowing we are moving soon, I have been trying to pitch and sort as I have some time and last Saturday was such a day and his room was the destination. I threw away almost 2 BAGS (large trash bags, mind you) of just junk that was below the surface...broken toys stuffed here and there, papers, and on and on. Just thinking of it makes me smile for some reason, the kid is a riot. When asked why he didn't just throw stuff away, he said he didn't know, he was usually just in a hurry - for that I blame MYSELF as I pretty much rush them to hurry up at least once a day. When he holds my hand, in public, I melt inside that my little man is still not embarrassed to do this, that makes my mouth and heart smile.

Doodle: Every time I think of her laugh I smile, the girl has an infectious laugh. She is starting to show her spunk and as much as I am disapproving of the homework tossing situation, it makes me smile that she is spunky enough and has the gumption to outright toss her homework, IN HER CLASSROOM. She is much more complex than she seems. One memory of her that always makes me smile is when we were walking into the airport after landing in Cambodia last summer, right after she has had one of her worst grand mal seizures as we were landing...during which Meesta also had an accident, she was more worried about him and was comforting him instead of having any concern for her own self and what she had just endured. Her heart is huge and she is just beautiful to look at, enough to make anyone smile:)

D: Just knowing he is by my side makes me smile. He makes everything right and is always trying to lighten my mood and knows how to make me smile. He gets me...and loves me anyway...and is my safe place always. I love to see him interacting with our kids, which is something I never had growing up, and it heals that spot in my heart just a bit each time. He is the best person I know and I am so blessed to have him, and for that, I smile!

There, therapy for free after 11 at night. Can't beat that, and I feel better and am just about ready to go to bed. I do ask for your prayers as our family waits for our placement with the church. Our move has hit me harder since I now know who will be moving into our house, kind of like an eviction notice and the panic of where we are going is rising in me like a flood. I know that I need to have faith and realize that we will get where we are supposed to go and that we will be blessed to meet all new people with unique personalities and interests that will enrich our lives, but now that it is here, it is a bit overwhelming. This is where my driven, type A personality is a handicap!

Life is this good and I need to remember it!
CC