Week 2

We made it through Week 2 of J's Alaskan Adventure.

This week I decided that I'm going to hold a yard sale on Saturday, May 19 (and the 18th if I'm feeling ambitious enough). I've been cleaning, dejunking, and organizing like crazy. As if my life isn't busy enough! Today it feels like the silence is trying to creep up on me and loneliness snag me. I'm determined to not let it happen. Oh, and for those who are wondering -- no, it's not silent in my house -- I have 3 boys! I just mean the quiet of not hearing J's voice and feeling like he is so far away from this warm, Spring-y world where I am.

Monday 5/7:  H went to preschool so I went for a 6.5 mile run with my running buddy, all-around friend extraordinaire. The hills kicked my butt. Another friend came to lunch and kept me company while I tended to my garden a little. (The garden is going to need some care -- 1/3 of the plants I put in the ground last Saturday froze.)
Tuesday 5/8:  S went to school early for a field trip to Timpanogos cave. They ended up doing a "nature walk" instead of the cave because of a miscommunication with the park rangers. We'll have to go as a family this summer. I taught another violin lesson in exchange for a voice lesson, visited with a few friends, and worked on cleaning my house after neglecting it for a few days. After school O was able to play with his best friend, which made him exceedingly happy. We ate dinner, I dropped the kids off at piano. I came home and played with my newly acquired Dyson vacuum (jury is still out on it) until the arrival of Grandma &Grandpa Kim! I took my mom with me to pick the boys up from piano. I hadn't told them G&G were coming, so it was really fun to see their looks of surprise and hear their shrieks of delight!
Wednesday 5/9: Since my parents were here I was able to run at 6AM, 6.5 miles up hills that I killed! Once the kids were all at school, my mom and I went to Shelf Reliance in American Fork where she purchased a number of things, then to Costco for more things. We picked H up from preschool and took him to the mall where my mom found some really cute outfits for herself. We met my dad at Shoga for lunch --yummy! My parents watched all the kids swim and helped me out by bathing kids and reading them stories as they arrived home from our crazy Wednesday at different times. S and I rode our bikes to scouts after which S rode home by himself. What a big boy he is!
Thursday 5/10: 8 miles of hills at 5:45AM felt awesome! G&G Kim left for NM once more. I managed our flood irrigation for the first time this year, cleaning out the ditches and making sure everything got enough water. I tamed one of the many wilderness places in the yard, which made me feel good. Now onto the others... A friend brought us the yummiest dinner ever, during which J called to talk to the kids. A sitter came so I could go to Chorale, which went really well, and then that day finally came to a close -- 17 hours after I began it!
Friday 5/11: Friday started out funny: the group O scooters to school with forgot him, so 4 minutes before he was supposed to be there I hustled him and S out the door and told them to ride like the wind! S came back home and reported that O made it on time -- whew! Then, 10 minutes before S's school started, we got a phone call from my friend's daughter (who I thought was driving) who told me that I was driving carpool. I had completely forgotten. I dropped all the kids off late. O boy. Accomplished all the Teacher Appreciation stuff I had to do, plus errands, praying the entire time that I didn't forget anything else. H and I had a little quiet time. I watched a friend's little boy who was bored to death because H fell asleep during his aforementioned quiet time. Swimming, baths, dinner, movie party (Despicable Me) and bed! O and H slept on the floor in my room so after midnight when J called to tell me he loved me and that he had updated the blog, I sat on my bathroom floor with my laptop reading about J's latest adventure.

I can picture him hunkered down in his tent, trying to keep warm, while the storms are buffeting the tent from all sides. I hope he's finding his poop bottle and pee bag handy. Today they were going to go back down and get their cache from 13,500'.

Saturday 5/12: This morning I made a quadruple batch of waffles which I put in the freezer. The kids love to eat them frozen -- don't ask me why. Hopefully this will hold them over for a while. I cleaned and organized the kitchen while the kids made cards for J's cousin, who got married today. We are going up to the wedding dinner in a few hours. Then home again, home again, jiggety-jig, and to bed!

A few years ago I was rereading journal entries and discovered that I was only talking about the events of the day in a list form. Kind of like this blog post. I decided instead to write down my daily blessings, or tender mercies of the Lord, or whatever you want to call them -- those events, thoughts, feelings that occurred during the day that let me know the Lord is mindful of me. On Thursday of this past week I played catch-up with my "daily blessing" list, as I had fallen behind a few days. In rereading it to refresh my memory for this blog post, I realized that the daily events in my life have become my daily blessings. Every time my kids swim well is a blessing. Every day that my kids come home happy from school is a blessing. Spending time with my mom while she happily spends money is a blessing. Every opportunity I have to run is a blessing. Visiting with friends, accomplishing errands, talking to my love, sitters coming to help me out, Chorale rehearsals going well -- every single thing, every person, every event is a blessing. I am so humbled and grateful for this perspective and that all things testify that Heavenly Father knows me and loves me. I haven't always felt His love so personally and strong, but I am grateful that I do now, in these almost-5 weeks that J is away from me. I couldn't manage without it.