AprilMayJune

AprilMayJune

That's how these last two months and the next one coming are feeling - like they are streaming together with no spaces in between.  Whoosh.  And my babysitters are about to all leave on summer break!




A friend once told me she doesn't like to journal because she inevitably gets behind and then feels like she needs to catch up and the thought of catching up her journal on all that's happened since she last wrote just derails any urge to write.  That's about how I'm feeling about this blog right now.

My California life has been full of the normal day to day: teaching the children, feeding the children, separating the bickering children, and sunshine.  Lots and lots of sunshine.  I realized I've been to the park more times this past May than in (at least) the previous six months combined.  And yesterday, I walked out into my sprinklers just to remind myself what rain feels like.  Of course it's rarely 90 degrees and raining in Oregon, which is unfortunate.


God continues to provide relationships for us, and it truly has been wonderful to meet so many fantastic people, and to start building friendships that I already know will be lasting.  I know, I know!  Weird to hear me talk about liking meeting people.  It's like my introvert is broken or something.  I was at the park for a picnic recently with the kids and I was looking around like, "I'm lonely enough I would totally go talk to a stranger."  What?!  I'm almost never feel lonely, but maybe all this meeting people has thrown something out of whack.  We'll have to see how this all plays out.



In other news, we've finished up school for a while.  Classical Conversations ended in April, and we continued lessons through May.  We'll take all of June off for camping, swimming lessons, and the CC practicum (which is like teacher in-service rolled together with a bit of mini-retreat), and birthday parties.  I've been deliberately redirecting myself to keep from working on next year's research and lesson plans until after the practicum, so I think I'll be more than ready to get back in the game come July.  Plus it will be broiling by then, so they tell me, and I doubt we'll want to do much outside during the daylight hours.



Many people have asked about Grant's job, so I'll mention that he's totally swamped, and you could also say there's some what-did-I-get-myself-into levels of stress going on too.  It's crazy, but thankfully the Mr. and I have been pulling together and supporting each other really well.  It's a beautiful thing when we finally find our footing together and then get to watch our marriage flex, adjust, and even grow stronger under pressure.  It helps too that we are taking a camping vacation back to Oregon in the second week in June, and know if we can just make it a little bit longer, we get a break!

Here's a little story finish off this random update post.
One Sunday my dear husband was home for the day and we were working on getting our crew out the door to church.  The kids were dressed and fed, so Grant and I went upstairs to finish getting ready.  When I came back down one kid was curled up in a box, one was sprawled on the floor looking dazed, and the oldest was weeping on the couch.  "I think we spinned too much," was the explanation.

So Mr. Cyrus and I decided to divide and conquer.  I gave toast to the two most affected, thinking to help settle their stomachs that way.  Toast seemed to help one, the other went to the bathroom to dry heave a bit.  Mr. Cyrus loaded the two still standing into the car and was about to leave when the heaver came out looking better and wanting to go. So we all piled in the car.  We got about a mile from the house and she (the heaver) started making an urgent sound.  I pulled out a plastic bag for her, which she proceeded to miss entirely and threw up all over the back seat.  The good news is that she was in the middle seat, so she managed to hit both of the other children equally.  They were not appreciative of this display of fairness, nor as compassionate to her situation as one might have hoped.

Needless to say, we turned around and headed home.  On the way, this song came on that Grant and I both really love, so we cranked it on up and belted it out.  I glanced in the silent back seat to see my puke-covered offspring staring at us in injured shock.  We both felt kind of proud though, like we'd graduated to a new level of parenting zen where we could take even that kind of situation in stride.  Those car seats needed washed anyway, right?