Friday, September 23, 2011

First Day of Fall

At this point, I think we've all come to understand why I only committed to the S.O.B.

                    

Once school and Bible study and soccer and football and run club and math olympiad and college football and pumpkin eating-season begin, I'm toast.

Plus, people around here want laundered clothes and food at regular intervals.

And sadly, blogging is near the bottom of the priority list...unless I get way behind on cleaning, in which case I'll do anything to avoid scrubbing the bathroom floor.

These pictures I finally uploaded are from our Labor Day hike up Devil's Head.

It was the perfect day, our backpacks were ridiculously loaded with snacks, and the kids didn't even complain once the entire hike. Miraculous.

A similar-aged kid whined and groaned the whole way up the trail about how long and painful and boring it was. It helped Jackson and Lilly tremendously to see how unbecoming the complaining appeared on another child. 

{We've extended that favor to MANY other families, MANY other times, so it felt like sweet payback.}

Lilly shimmied up this rock with no plan to get down.

Her only tactic was to have me catch her or free fall onto super sharp rocks. It was one of those teachable moments when the Love & Logic people probably would've advocated a natural consequence.

But in plain sight of other hovering/judging parents, I decided to play it safe and keep her alive. 



At the top of Devil's Head, there are 142 stairs that lead to a watch tower. In the olden days, the fire watchman would stand up there and look out for forest fires. If he saw the trees ablaze, he'd then race down the stairs, 3 miles down the mountain to the middle of nowhere, and alert the bison that fire was imminent. 

 {this is about halfway up}

I couldn't exactly figure out how this was efficient, but J had fun climbing the stairs a few times to check things out.


The four of us had an amazing day, as evidenced by the kids falling asleep in the car on the way home. Whoo hoo for awesomeness!

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So, being that it is no longer summer, I'm not sure if this is good-bye or if I'll blog again.

It's so much fun to chronicle our insignificant family happenings...and even though they're rarely interesting or spectacular, they're the special collection of little moments that make up a lifetime.



Another distraction is a new job I began recently...one that feels a lot more like a hobby, involves writing and trends, and has me working with an amazingly talented team of people. They haven't figured out that I have no idea what I'm doing, so I'm going to ride this wave while it lasts:)

More about that another time...

But for now, I'm returning to my favorite mantra:

They're probably the most freeing words I say every day. When overwhelming feelings creep in, I realize I forgot that I wasn't created to be everything to everyone.

God gives me just enough grace for each moment, each decision, each child, each person, each need that comes across my path each day. 

And while I firmly believe we can't have it all, I know I have enough.

So tomorrow we are on the run again...but filled with "enough" my heart is carried through it all.

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