The Laundry Room and Mom's Secret

My Mom does laundry in the cool, musty basement about 30 times a day. Or it seems like that. She carries enormous baskets of clothes up and down 2 flights of stairs constantly. (Don’t even bother trying to arm-wrestle her. been there, done that).  I felt sorry for her, you know. Down there, all alone, switching loads between 2 washers and 2 dryers, standing on the cement ground folding load after load. The amount of clothes that a huge family goes through is ridiculous. Sometimes it seems like she’s down there forever. Morning, noon and night.

 Today I stood in a room off the house we’re staying, folding laundry in a stuffy, non-air conditioned room. I folded 2 loads, standing on the warm linoleum with beads of sweat glistening on my forehead, when suddenly it dawned on me.

 This is nice! Even though the kids were running around inside playing and probably destroying the house, the little room was completely quiet. I listened to the quiet, because it’s so rare. I let my mind wander and think, without interruption.

 Complete silence. Peace from the current chaotic state of my house.

 Is this what my Mom feels like when she’s in the basement 47 times a day? That’s why she goes down there! It’s the place where you get uninterrupted peace, because no one dare come near those heaps of clothes lest they get wrangled into folding it themselves, or carrying an 80 pound basket up 2 flights of stairs.  No, they stay far, far away from such a place.

  Motherhood is demanding. I realize it more and more every day. For me it starts from the moment I open my eyes, because there is a baby yelling to be fed from his crib, and he usually has a poopy diaper. Then all 3 are awake and everyone wants something different for breakfast, which they do not get, and the day starts, full swing, never stopping. As Moms, we watch with our hearts bursting as our children show acts of kindness to each other, and other times we are playing ref all day long, breaking up fights, settling arguments and cleaning up messes. The need for us is sometimes feels like more than we can bear, but we press through because we have no choice. We are strong because God gives us the strength and the grace. He gives us moments of perfect joy and peace, when our hearts sing because we feel so blessed.

 And in the moments that we cannot take another second of the craziness, he gives us cool (or hot) laundry rooms to escape to. We get peace and our families get clean clothes. It's a win-win.

Wednesday Weekend Post

We were supposed to close on our house this weekend, but apparently everything is backed up so it’s been pushed back another week. We are fine with that because our move in time is still about the same since the previous owners will be renting from us until the end of the month. I will admit, I’m ready to get into the house and start painting and decorating. I have about a million ideas pinned on Pinterest, but lets be realistic: I stink at decorating and my house will never be pinterest material. However, I do believe with lots of inspiration from photos and some help from friends and family I’ll be able to pull off what I really envision.

 Even though I’m ready to be in my own house, I’m soaking in the moments of less responsibility. We all pitch in and help keep the main house clean and our rooms are pretty small, so I don’t have nearly the work that I do in a normal household setting.

One thing we’ve definitely been able to focus on this summer is spending more time together. I don’t have an official “summer bucket list”, but I did have a few things in my head that I wanted to do over these hot months. One was a family trip to Six Flags. Brookie did a summer reading program called “Read to Succeed”, and her and I each received a free ticket because she completed 6 hours of reading.

We planned a day, Nate took off work, and we all headed down there.  As all Texas days are this time of year it was scorching hot and humid (which is just a kind way to say we were dripping, sticky and nasty smelling) but it’s something you get used to and thankfully the kiddie area had a great splash pad that kept it bearable throughout the day. I packed a cooler and snack bags so we didn’t spend one dime on the outrageously expensive food and drinks. The kids loved the rides and more importantly, kiddie rides don’t really have lines, so there was lots of riding and not much waiting which made the heat even more bearable. J

Our day was filled with kiddie rides--and we were totally fine with that. Things change after you have kids. Making them happy is what makes you happy, and we didn't even miss the adult rides!

We especially didn't miss these swings. Because I would never, EVER go on them, not in a million years.

As the day went on, Nate decided to get a hotel for the evening and it turned into a mini-vacation. We were thrilled. We ate out for dinner, picked up a few essentials (underwear, duh) at the store and headed to the hotel. The room had a pull out couch for the kids that we weren't expecting. They had never seen one before and loved it! At 10:00pm they were crazy and jumping all over the place because they were so excited to be there. Occasionally I would tell them to calm down, but inside I loved every minute of their sheer excitement.

Nate had some previous engagements on Saturday morning, so at 8:40 we finally woke up the kids, and Nathan woke up at 9. Sleeping until 8:30am was such a gift! We ate breakfast, and then dropped Nate off at his ministry and headed home. Family times like this are so precious and rare so when they do happen we all relish each moment.

This was supposed to be a weekend post, but I am just now publishing it. So, happy Wednesday to you all! Hope you are having a great week!

The Perfect Sister Week

“We can’t be this far south and not see each other,” Claire told me a few weeks ago. I agreed. Greg and Claire travel a lot as Greg is an Evangelist, and since they were 12 hours away, we figured we could meet half way for a few days. Come to find out, the halfway point was a city that they knew some people, and long story short we ended up in a free house for 5 days.  The plans were made rather quickly and before we knew it, the kids and I (besides Nathan who stayed with Grandma )headed out to Hot Springs, Arkansas for a girls/kids week. We discovered some absolutely gorgeous lakes, and our kids (um, us) adore the beach, so that’s where we spent most of our time. The kids played in the sand and occasionally ventured into the water and we sat on the beach and talked. And ate snacks every 5 minutes.

The first beach we visited was breathtaking, with hardly anyone around. It was like our own private little paradise.

Shopping in small town America and supporting local businesses makes me happy. In Hot Springs, everyone seemed to know each other and even though they didn't know us they were just as friendly. We happened upon the Historical District which was our best accidental find. An adorable vintage shop, frozen yogurt, bakeries and quaint little gift shops welcomed us--and our money--with sweet smiles and southern charm.

The rest of our long, hot days were spent at beach #2 at a beautiful State Park. The view was just as gorgeous and it was a lot roomier--and had nice bath houses which is a must with a newly-potty trained 2 year old. Sitting with my sister, watching our babies play, digging our toes in the warm sand and talking for hours at a time seemed like a dream. We kept saying, "I can't believe we are really here!" 

Possibly the cutest picture ever of my naked nephew eating cereal

So, if you are ever in Hot Springs, please,  please go to The Pancake Shop. We are lifetime lovers of breakfasts in little diners and we hit the jackpot with this place. The pancakes were the best we have ever eaten, and they were the size of plates. After a few kiddie meltdowns in the restaurant that had the whole town talking about the uproar, the kids happily enjoyed their meals--Michael eating butter and dipping his sausage in his egg. Priceless.

4th of July was another day at the beach, home to bathe little sand filled bodies, dress them Patriotically and head to a beautiful park for a picnic at dinner time. The American thing to eat just needed to be hot dogs, so thankfully Sonic was close and we devoured them like the true Americans we are. We all ate, the kids ran and played and the weather was absolutely perfect. 

At the very end of the trip we came upon...here it goes...a Hot Spring! And it was hot, like boiling hot. Our trip never felt so complete as the moment we scalded our hands and knew why the place was named Hot Springs.

Favorite I-Phone moments of the week:

To look back on these pictures now seems like it was too good to be true and almost like it didn't really happen. It couldn't have happened. But it did, and we will never forget every moment. We had no wi-fi while we were there, and we would pull out a movie each night but then get talking and never watch it. We lived each moment to the fullest, spending it together without many modern distractions (besides our kids who are most definitely modern distractions!). It was relaxing and fun and, dare I say, perfect.