Chaotic Glimpses of June as we Go, Go, Go!

All school year, I have been looking forward to summer break, so I could slow down and not constantly be worrying about lesson plans.  I was looking forward to getting lots of house projects done, organizing all the school materials I pulled out of my classroom, purging closets, donating clothes, cleaning the house and getting organized.  I had also hoped to begin making plans for the STEM program I'm supposed to be teaching next year which has now grown to four different classes.  Instead, my office has become a dump zone and is complete chaos while I kept it neat during the school year despite working several part-time jobs and staying so involved with endless school and extracurricular activities for the kids.  How could I be worse off now than at that busiest time of my life?

June has been a whirlwind from the last end-of-school party and final awards assemblies and graduation ceremonies to hopping a plane the next day for our Naples trip. The day after we got back from Naples, my husband had surgery.  I had expected to spend the next few weeks at home organizing and nursing him through his recovery, but instead I became a full time cab driver.  My husband could not drive for weeks, so I drove him to doctor & PT appointments, me to the pharmacy for medicine and medical equipment for him, my daughter to doctor appointments for yet another sprained/broken toe, and the kids back and forth to gymnastics three times a week, Tae Kwon Do three times a week plus the 4+ hour belt testing, swim lessons and/or pool playdates three times a week, shopping trips at least four times a week, piano lessons one time a week, science camps (18 round trips) for both kids, VBS, gymnastics expos, to shopping centers nearly every for more stuff the  family needs, etc.  Then there was the trip back home for my Dad's birthday and church commitments, birthdays for friends and family, Father's Day celebrations, numerous doctor's appointments for the kids and myself, furniture refinishing projects (lugging heavy furniture downstairs into my van and to a refinisher's home 30 minutes a way and back again six different times), three kids' birthday parties, helping the kids start a new business venture with their candy store, writing about major devastating current events, ministering to multiple friends who lost loved ones...some to illness, others to suicide, adopting a rescue kitten and teaching him to litter train, stay off furniture and play nicely with our bunny, a fun-filled trip to Bald Head Island with the kids (my husband could not come), and so forth.  Oh, and our daughter lost her LAST baby tooth on June 23.  Of course her tooth fairy forgot to take it or leave any money (as usual).  The tooth fairy did come by the next night though even though losing the last tooth means braces can be put on now, so braces seem like a terribly generous tooth offering without a few extra coins left by the tooth fairy.

 So I haven't gotten any purging or organizing I had planned to get done for my sanity, and I'm still struggling to get my own chores done while the TruGreen guy keeps berating me for not watering, sanding, or mowing enough (jobs my husband usually does when he has two working arms), and all his Mr. fix-it projects keep mounting as I do what I can but give up on the rest.  I have been battling extreme fatigue, but my doctor can't see me for another two months, so it's all just been a big tiring blur.  Oh, and just today, my husband, who worked all weekend on problems at his employer's Colorado facility while we were at Bald Head Island, learned of another crisis, so an hour later, he was on a plane headed to Boulder to hopefully fix it before the company loses over $5 million in revenues.  So, I'll be single parenting again this week.

But I think the kids have at least had lots of fun. I'm way behind on scrapbooking, but here are a few pics from some of their recent  activities.  First up is a gymnastics demo our daughter participated in at her gym's spring "recital". We decided to leave this gym, so her last day was June 26.

Competitive Team Performance at the Class Recital

 

Demonstrating her double back-handspring

 Demonstrating an aerial (with more bounce than usual due to the springboard used here)

Our daughter got to see all her school friends less than two weeks after school got out at a pool and pizza party hosted by one of the girls in her class.  She was still limping around on crutches with her injured toe, but she still had lots of fun, and she wasn't the only one there with a toe injury.  This age of rapid growth must make kids extra vulnerable to injury.

Both kids attended an oceanography themed science camp on different weeks at different locations, but only our son's class held a parent demonstration where I could take pictures.

While our daughter attended science camp one week, our son went to VBS at a nearby PCA church. Our church held it's annual Super Summer Adventure that same week, but since I had signed my daughter up for science camp that week before I knew which week SSA would take place and since that was the week my husband was originally scheduled for surgery, I knew I could not drive my son to our SSA or volunteer this year as I did last year.  I am sorry my daughter missed out because our church makes it super special for rising 6th graders since it's their last year with outings every day to fun places like the bowling alley, jump zones, the movies, a pool, etc.  I will have to make it up to her, but my son certainly experienced an amazing VBS program at Peace Presbyterian.  It had a science theme, and his teacher was the mom of one of his closest friends in school last year.  I dropped him off at their house on my way to science camp located in our capital city (which started at the same time) while she drove him to camp and brought him back home to me.  Without her carpooling assistance, he never could have gone.  Our school's best high school science teacher and several other career scientists performed cool experiments each day to reinforce Biblical themes.  The kids enjoyed great music, lots of funny skits, fabulous recreation and craft time, a really fun water day with slip & slide, and just had a great time in general.  I came the last day for the final assembly and cookout.

 

In the midst of all this busy activity, I'm still thankfully finding time to seek a better perspective.  I was feeling extremely overwhelmed today when my husband told me he had to fly to Boulder, CO asap.  He missed our vacation to Bald Head Island this past weekend, and now he's going to miss the rest of the holiday week with us including some July 4 celebrations. Today started out normally, but when crisis struck in Colorado, he was on an airplane within an hour headed to Boulder to solve a problem which should (if successful) save the company many millions so it can continue developing new life saving medications. While we miss him so much, we will not begrudge him for leaving, for we know his priorities are in the right place. He honors God by using the gifts and abilities God has given him to serve his employer and to provide for us. When he's home, he's fully engaged, forever "saving the day" and helping our family thrive. So, while he may not be wearing a superhero suit or have super powers (his left arm his still in a sling), he is a super hero indeed in our eyes.

Of course my perspective was greatly lifted after seeing my chiropractor today.  I have battled chronic pain (back, neck, joints) off/on since our kids were born (birthing babies is not my forte'), and have seen dozens of doctors several times a week, done PT almost every day since, and tried almost every gimmick or therapy known to man other than surgery & injections which would make my problems worse in the long run. Well, today I had a check-up with the doctor who has helped me most over the past years, and after taking the kids to Bald Head Island by myself and lifting all our heavy luggage over and over, climbing trees & other adventures, running more miles on the beach in one weekend than I have cumulatively over the past 2 years, carrying furniture up and down stairs for refinishing projects, and numerous other no-nos, I was NOT expecting a good report. Instead the doctor said, "I am amazed at what I'm seeing. I am really good at what I do, but no one is THAT good. Only God could have healed your body the way He has."

It may have taken 10 years of waiting, but I'm all better now, so look out world, I'm back and ready to make up all those fun adventures I missed while languishing in pain. ‪#‎GRATEFUL‬