You know those moments when you think through the recent events of your life and realize it would make a great made-for-tv movie? Yeah, that is my life recently. One of those need-a-lot-more-prayer-than-usual times.
I wondered if we were biting off more than we could chew when we not only started Kyuki-Do as a family (and were going to classes four nights a week) but also signed the kids up for baseball and t-ball...Erin in dance...both Mike and I training for another marathon.....
When there is too much on the plate, because the things with the kids are just the tip of the iceberg, I tend to get short with people. I tend to not be able to do things I want to do and know I should. Things suffer. Relationships suffer. I suffer.
In a typical week, I: work on training with our dog/the trainer comes to visit, take Erin to dance in St. Charles (and we are getting ready for recital, so I just bought tickets, a costume, tights, etc and made plans for people to attend with us), Kyle has two baseball practices, Erin has two t-ball practices (and games start next week), we attend several Kyuki-Do classes (which I love!), I try to visit with a friend or two, lead a Bible study for moms, do a prenatal visit with a client, answer several calls/emails for doula services/classes/products, make an order for either diapers/detergents/slings, transfer funds around and do business banking, teach a childbirth class, do 7-8 loads of laundry, make 5 or so home-cooked meals, buy groceries, run errands, fill the car with gas, read books to kids, help with 5 nights of homework and projects, make a trip or two to the bank, make several trips to the school to drop off and pick up kids, try to have a play date or two, attend church and lead a small group of 8th grade girls, attend either an interview or professionally-related meeting of some kind, field phone calls and texts from expecting and new moms, and I know I am probably leaving something out of this as well.
In the midst of things being just generally busy, my grandma has been very ill. Congestive heart failure, an almost non-functional spleen, liver problems, difficulty keeping her sodium and potassium levels where they need to be (instead of too high or too low), blood and other bodily infections, digestive problems...you name it. And the latest thing-- her tongue got really red and swollen (and sore) and now she can't taste anything. As a result, she is eating less and has lost like 20 pounds in the last few weeks. She is back in the hospital for the fifth time in just the past couple of months. Even worse than the illness for a family member sometimes is the stress that it places on that person's care providers. In this case, my mom and my aunt. They are both run ragged and losing steam. I worry about my mom a lot in this situation because she has medical issues of her own and doesn't need to be dealing with the additional stress. She needs to be taking care of herself too, but she doesn't make herself a priority, like most mothers that I know!
A song came out last week that has really hit me-- the lyrics just speak to me. It is Laura Story's song, Blessings. Here it is.
I'd like to think that God is using all of this to shape me into the person I need to be to better serve him. I'm sure some of this is also self-inflicted, so I am going to evaluate some options for freeing up some time. Pray for us in the meanwhile if you can.