well, here i am again.
it's strange to sit down to blog with no idea of what will end up being written.
today i attempted to teach my daughters how to do laundry. you see,
a few weeks ago, i took very ill. my sister and my mother had to come and nurse me,
and see to the house and the laundry. i do not plan on taking ill again, but seldom
does one actually plan these things.
i just think it would be a good idea for more than one person per household to have laundry skills. (my husband is next on the list to aquire these skills.)
i am also hoping that it helps my daughters develop an appreciation and an understanding of what actually goes in to keeping a household in clean clothing.
as of now, they are blissfully unaware.
which leads me to this next bit.
panties.
i find panties all over the house.
ok. that's extreme.
but i find them tossed here and there in the bathroom, and in the hallway,
and it's not unheard of to find them in the living room!
what is UP with the dirty panties?!
i have three little girls. that equals a lot of panties to wash!
now i know, technically, panties are not thought of as a particularly "appropriate" topic,
but who made that rule? someone has to address it!
i bet i'm not the only mom out there who would be a millionaire by now if we got a penny for every pair of dirty undies we've picked up here and there and washed and folded!!
and i'm all for changing panties. i am!
but i do not understand how they end up in the hallway,
or the living room!?
pray tell!
what happens in this process?
my child is walking down the hallway and happens to get the urge to change undies, and just casually steps out of her panties and keeps walking?
and why don't i see this happening?
where am i when people who live here drop their drawers???
they don't get it from me!
only one time in the history of my life can i remember stepping out of my panties and continuing on with life as if nothing happened.
and i had a good reason for doing so, even though i left my panties by the side of a back road in rural lancaster county!!
i was approx. 10 years old.
we had a phys ed assignment to jog so many miles per week.
my mom would drop me off at a certain spot, and i would run home.
there was a big hill on the above stated jogging route,
but, i only had to run down the hill, not up.
nice!
one day i was jogging just as pretty as you please down this big hill,
when i started to feel the elastic of my panties loosing their grip around my middle.
to my horror, with each foot pounding the pavement,
my panties began inching their way downward.
what to do?! what to do?!
i threw a glance back over my shoulder and was even more horrified to see
a car was coming toward me.
i kept running. the pantied kept creeping down.
soon they were around my knees.
then my ankles!
and i'll be darned if i was going to bend down and hike up my underware
in front of a car full of people.
so. i couldn't think of a better idea than to step out of them
and keep running as if nothing had happened.
to the best of my knowledge,
that's exactly what i did.
now as a disclaimer:
i may have stopped to pick them up.
or discreetly reposition them at some point.
i really do not know. because, honestly, i think i've blocked it from my memory.
the whole thing happened directly across the road from my classmate's house.
i was humiliated to think that they could have been watching me from a window.
(like they really were! but you know. at 10 you really do think it's all about you, so...)
i know this is true because i have a 10 year old. smile.
my grandma newswanger had made those panties for me.
if i recall, they had little snails of different colors all over them.
poor grandma must have run out of good, tight elastic when she whipped
those babies together. (chuckle)
moral:
be very wary of home made panties. especially when rapid movement is going to be taking place in public.
my above mentioned ten year old graduated from 4th grade on friday.
next year she heads off to middle school. (WHAT?!)
no one warned me that 4th grade graduations are such an emotional experience!
at least for me it was!
i was sitting there the entire time barely holding back the ugly cry!
i had just been to my nephew's 12th grade grad a week ago,
and when i watched my little girl file in to the gym with her class to graduate from the elementary school, i knew, sure as i was sitting there,
that in the blink of an eye,
i was going to be watching her do the real thing. and my eyes burned with unshed tears.
these kids! they make you want to cheer!
they make you want to scream!
they make you so proud!
and SO embarassed!
and so happy!
and SO mad!
and so energized!
and SO tired!!
i was reading olivia (the pig) to cheney today at nap time.
at the end of the story the mommy says to olivia,
"you make me so tired, but i love you anyway."
to which olivia replys,
"i love you anyway too!"
and it was a good reminder that our kids are loving us in spite of our weaknesses,
just as we are loving them in spite of theirs.
it's a good thing, you know.
this people loving people thing.
and the awareness that we are wonderful but flawed,
allows us to lavish love on others who are also wonderful but flawed.
this offering our hearts to one another in openness and truth,
it's so very good.
the other day i sent a long email to a friend who i've only seen but once.
in the email, i poured out many aches and hurts i've been toting around latey.
in her response, she said,
"i don't know what to say to make you feel better, but i'm going to talk to Jesus about you."
she also said she was praying for streams of peace and health to flow over our home in the name of Jesus.
and i was so blessed.
and so glad i had shared my heart with her.
hearts are so beautiful!
i consider it such a gift to share mine,
and to have others share theirs with me.
i really believe it's God's perfect plan for us.
openness and truth.
God called me to share my heart.
especially with women.
i love, LOVE to be among women!
to catch the pulse of their hearts...
where they are.
and to share with them the pulse of my heart...
where i am.
God has called,
and i am in the discerning process of how i can be even more
intentional about following His call.
in the mean time,
i'll keep washing dirty panties,
and watching for opportunities to
learn and grow.
and laugh.
and share.
and rejoice that i am
flawed.
so i can love people.
take good care!
~a
