Free Cycle discovery

So, mom, you would be proud! I've discovered freecycle! For those of you that don't know, its a "re-use" group in your area that passes their stuff onto interested people in the same area for free, instead of sending it to a second hand store where you have to pay for it, or putting it in the landfills and adding to the mess that's already there! So now, instead of finding things that people throw away before the garbage man comes, mom, I've found a web-group that does it for free BEFORE it goes in the trash. Yes, ironic that I always used to make fun of my mother for this, and here I am . . . doing the same thing, just a little more 2008-ish! :) ha ha ha ha!

Back to life . . . back to reality

Yeah, you know you're all singing the tune now! Anyway, we're home and life as usual has begun again. We're doing laundry from our vacation, but we're doing laundry with a nice tan! Oh, yeah! All the Oak-Harborians here are wondering if we went to Hawaii for a week - I wish! No, we just went to Eastern Washington where the sun actually says hello for longer than a few hours! But no complaints! It's green here, and that comes at a cost! Abby is taking a nap as we speak, and Micah is sleeping but seems to be stirring - next accomplishment of life: get their nap schedules the same! Can I hear an amen?!

Awwwwww . . . . Vacation . . . . Yes!

So we always take our second week of vacation once the students in the youth group start school again. It's a guarantee that things are back in swing, and we can sneak away for a little R&R! Let me tell you - we have been given a gift this week - we were able to stay in a condo in Lake Chelan owned by a generous & precious family in our church. It is a small one-room studio condo with a flip-down bed (out of the wall kind) and an attached bathroom. The kitchenette is perfect too. It is small, cozy, and RELAXING. Our little family of 4 knows not a soul and we are loving it! We have breathed in rest and exhaled schedules and continuous phone calls! We'll write later . . . . .

I'm ONLY 30!

I hurt my back for the first time yesterday. Abby wasn't feeling well after she got up in the morning, so I picked her up to put her back to bed. As I leaned over to place her in the crib, I felt my back strain. Nothing popped, which I hear is good . . . or better. Anyway, I can't lean over or pick up the kids - Chris had to rub Icy-Hot into my lower back last night, and that helped a little. I tell you, these last few weeks have been rough . . . I thought my back wasn't supposed to have issues until I was at least 40! haha!

So, does sleep ever happen?

Chris and I have had many a conversation around 3am about whether or not we should add more children to this family of 4. Usually the conversation is over the heads of our sleeping children who have managed to make their way to the middle of our bed. You laugh, yes I know. My mother must be smiling, thinking that my "time" has come, and yes, ironically I agree with her. So, it's with a weird sense of irrational thinking that I wonder if we still want more. A friend of mine from Starbucks was empathizing with me. I asked her how she raised 5 children, and she said the hardest transition was from 1 to 2. After that, "you're just tired anyway, and you can't tell the difference, so it's just easier!" I laughed. So, do we want more . . . I'm too tired to decide.

Living as a single mother

So, it's me, Cherie. I have been a "single mother" for the last 4 days while my husband has been backpacking in the Olympic Mountains. I think everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. We all got sick - really bad colds. We stayed home and did nothing. The DVD player wouldn't work - the VCR busted. The dog threw up on the carpet. Micah has a cold in both eyes. The sink got plugged. Abby got pink eye. Micah peed through more clothes than I could wash. I was supposed to wear something "Hawaiian" for church, and couldn't find a thing. We were late for church. There are fruit flies reproducing somewhere in our house. Micah ended up with milk all over his face and in his eyes/ears when Abby tried to feed him when I wasn't looking, and Abby found a pen and wrote on the outside of my current book, my journal, and my leather Bible! And the list goes on . . . but we just got the phone call that daddy is on his way home . . . so everything that went wrong, suddenly seems like nothing - our favorite "man" is coming home - and we're VERY ready for him to be here! Makes a person laugh - yep, that's what I did! I cried a little too!