Two Tiaras and a Sword

Friday, November 18, 2016

November 18, 2016

I woke up this morning and did my First 5 devotion.  It was really good.  It talked about trying to wrap our minds around the whole "Jesus was fully man, and yet fully God" concept.  It made me think of some things that I had never thought of before.  Definitely gave me some "food for thought" for my day.

At school, we had a "pep rally" first thing this morning.  It was really to surprise one of our senior girls.  Her dad is in the military, and had come home earlier than expected.  It was very, very sweet.

The rest of the day was spent playing "catch up", and finishing everything off before we left for Thanksgiving break.  We did manage to get everything done.  The test grades were not as good as I had hoped, maybe because we had a test or quiz in 5 out of 8 subjects.  I hate it when that happens, but on some days, especially on those days where you are trying to wrap it all up before a semester end or before a holiday break, it does happen.

Our high school let out at 12:00, because our basketball team had a game about two hours away.  Two of my girls have siblings on one of the basketball teams.  I asked their moms if they could stay the whole day at school, instead of checking out early, and then just come home and spend the night with us.  The Youngest Princess and two of her friends would get a sleepover out if it, and I would have all of my students for the whole day, and we would have time to get everything done without any makeup work when we come back after Thanksgiving break.  It was a win/win for everyone!  So, after school, I came home with two extra blessings.

They played outside with the puppy.  They played in the playroom.  They played chase through my living room, dining room and kitchen.  They ate hotdogs for dinner.  They went upstairs to play.  They had their own glow party, and now they are eating ice cream and watching Finding Dory.

Who knows what the rest of the night holds, but I have no doubt it will be fun.  My Prince and the Young Prince have rented a couple of movies to watch in the Young Prince's room, far away from all the "girly-ness".  I figure I will spend the rest of the evening entertaining and feeding all the "girly-ness".

So, until I blog again...


Thursday, November 17, 2016

November 16 - 17, 2016

Wednesday, November 16 - It was a good day.  Same morning routine.

School went pretty well.  I had to finish early for the cheerleaders to go have their pictures made.  Out of nine girls, six of them cheer.  So that left me with three students.  I let two of them work on homework, while I worked with the third on getting some makeup work done.

I left as soon as school was out and went to get my hair cut.  My Prince picked up the Youngest Princess and took her home.

The Young Prince made a hash brown casserole for the youth group Thanksgiving dinner/cook off.  He did a great job, and even won second place in the side dish category.  I was very proud of him.

My Prince and the Youngest Princess worked on homework.  I was very thankful for his help with her.

After church, the boys stayed downstairs to watch a show, and the Youngest Princess and I went upstairs to get ready for bed and read.

We talked to the Oldest Princess for just a few minutes, and then we read a chapter of Anne of Avonlea.  When our chapter was done, we both decided that we were hungry, so we went back downstairs and heated up some leftovers from dinner, and ate and visited with the boys for a while.

Then we went back upstairs, and read one more chapter before we went to sleep.

Thursday, November 17 - I woke up this morning, and did my First 5 devotion.  It was good this morning.  It was about Mary and how she pondered things in her heart.  It is funny, because I am doing a 90 days through the New Testament reading plan, and just yesterday, I read that passage of scripture from Luke, and it was on my heart.  I had been thinking all day yesterday about how Mary pondered things in her heart, and how I too, should ponder things in my heart.  I think all too often we are quick to speak, and do not ponder things in our hearts much anymore.  I want to be like Mary and ponder things in my heart.  I want to think things and matters through before I run my mouth, and decide if anything needs to be said at all.  Sometimes, things are just better left unsaid.  So, anyway, it was cool that I had been "pondering" on that off and on yesterday, and then that was the topic of the First 5 devotions this morning.  I love it when God confirms what He lays on my heart.  Don't you love those times in your own life?

School went well overall.  The girls are ready for Thanksgiving break, and they are hard to keep headed in the same direction.  Their attention spans are shrinking by the hour.  Which does not bode well for tomorrow, and all the tests we have to take.  But we will get through.  We always do.  And then we will have a wonderful Thanksgiving break with our families, and come back to school ready to learn for a few weeks before the Christmas bug hits us, and we will struggle again.  Same cycle, different year.  Great group of girls though, and I am loving every minute of this school year.  I am sad that it is going by so fast.

After school, I had my yearly eye exam.  I have been noticing lately that especially when teaching math, I have a hard time reading the answers in my book.  The pages are shrunk down, so the teacher notes can fit around the edges.  And the answers are in a turquoise blue color.  On top of that, we are doing fractions, so the answers are even smaller.  So yep.  I'm getting old.  I told my optometrist (that is one of our spelling words this week) about my troubles.  After my eye exam, he told me that I could go buy some readers, and that they would help me be able to see and that they would also help my eyes to be able to relax a little more when I am reading and such.

So, we stopped by the drug store on the way home, and (sad sigh) bought me some reading glasses.  It is amazing the difference they make (another sad sigh).  So if you see me sporting my new spectacles, please be kind, and don't tease me too much about getting old.  I am trying to grow old gracefully, but some days it is harder than others.

We came home and ate dinner.  The Youngest Princess had finished her written homework, and she and the Young Prince were watching a Chronicles of Narnia movie.  We all watched it together for a little while.  Then we straightened up a little.

Now the Youngest Princess is getting ready for bed.  My Prince and the Young Prince are doing a minor home repair, and I am about to go upstairs and read to the Youngest Princess when she is ready.  Tomorrow is Friday, and that makes me happy!

Until I blog again...

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

November 15, 2016

I am typing this on my phone. So please excuse any mistakes my fumbling thumbs may make.

Today started out as usual.  I woke up early and did my First 5 devotion. Then I got ready for school.

At school, the girls were very talkative and energetic.  I had to get out Bob (the Book Of  Blurt) to get them to settle down.  Math was a little bit of a challenge today.  Fractions.  The struggle is real.  There are just so many steps that they have to remember, and they get confused.

Running long in math pretty much put us behind for the whole day.  And then we worked on prepositional phrases in Language, and that was pretty much all she wrote folks.  It should be illegal to have to teach fractions AND prepositional phrases in the same day.  Plus we had library which put us even further behind.

I had a student who was absent and missed a penmanship test.  So she had to make that up.  I had another student who left early yesterday, and missed a different penmanship test and had to make that up.  My student who was in Taiwan is back now, so we tried to spend every spare second catching her as back up to speed as possible.  Especially before we leave for Thanksgiving break and put a whole 'nother week between her and being caught up.  We had band (two different times of band), and today was the first home game for the junior varsity boys.  All but thee of my girls cheer, so they were super excited about that.  Throw in a super moon, and you have a recipe for craziness.  It is a wonder that we accomplished anything at all.  But some days, you just take what you can get.  Today was one of those days.

After school, the cheerleaders stayed and ate the pre-game meal, so I went home by myself.  The Young Prince was already home, and My Prince got home shortly thereafter.  We went to a local restaurant and grabbed a quick dinner before going back to the school to watch the Youngest Princess  cheer for the game.

It was a good game.  Our boys played hard and won.  Our girls did  great job cheering them on.

After the game, we came home and the Youngest Princess finished up her homework.  The Young Prince went to the fire station for his first volunteer fire fighter meeting.

The Oldest Princess called and we talked to her while the Youngest Princess got ready for bed.  Then the Youngest Princess and I read the first chapter of our new book.  When we were done, the Youngest Princess promptly fell asleep.

The Young Prince got home from his meeting.  He told us a little about it, and then took a quick shower.  Now he is watching a basketball game on tv, eating sunflower seeds, and doing homework.

My Prince is sleeping, and I am about to be doing the same.  Going to bed counting down the days until we see the Oldest Princess for Thanksgiving.

Until I blog again...


Monday, November 14, 2016

November 9 -14, 2016

I was thinking, "I need to blog, because it has been a few days."  Um, yes.  Almost more like a week. We have just been busy, and time flies.  Especially from now to the end of the year.  It will all be like one big blur of crazy activity.  So before any more time passes, let me catch up to where we are now...

Wednesday, November 9 - As far as I can remember, it was a pretty good day.  Wake up, First 5, get ready, school, home, church, d-group, home, read, bed.  Nothing major stands out other than the usual day to day stuff. Oh, except we had a special Veteran's Day chapel.  It was really good.  Very touching to see some of the invited Veterans stand up front with the children who invited them.  I really enjoyed it, and I think the kids did too.

Thursday, November 10 - It was "Friday" at school, because due to Veteran's Day falling on Friday, we had a short week.  So, we had to work a little harder to get everything done, and squeeze 5 days into 4, but we managed.  And we were able to leave school with no homework over the long weekend.  Yay!

After school, we thought that we might take the kids and go see a movie, but there was really nothing out at the theater that we really wanted to see.  So we opted for trying out a new (to us) pizza place in a town near us.  They make gigantic pizzas.  Or you can opt to buy gigantic pizza slices instead.  We went for the gigantic pizza slices, since there were only four of us, and we knew we could not eat one of those whole pizzas.  As it was, just buying the huge slices, we ended up bringing home leftovers.  It was great pizza, and a fun experience.  And as a bonus a couple came in with an adorable little girl that was all little miss personality, and we smiled and waved and played with her while we ate.  It was fun.

Then we went to the Bible bookstore, because My Prince had some things he needed to pick up.  I was browsing by myself when the Young Prince found me and asked me to come with him.  When I did, he took me to My Prince, who was talking with one of our favorite workers, Mr. R.  We fell in love with Mr. R about 8 years ago, and we built a relationship with him.  We would always try to go when he was working, so we could see our friend.  Then, for a long time, we did not see him any more.  He had shared with us that he had been having some health problems, and we feared that maybe because of his health problems, he had retired.  We had pretty much given up on seeing him again.  So we were very pleasantly surprised that he was there, healthy and working.  We talked to him and caught up with him for a while, and then we finished our shopping.  When we finished and went to the front to check out, he opened a register and checked us out.  Then before we left, he came out from behind the counter and had prayer with us.  Such a sweet, sweet man! It totally made our night to see him!

Then we went to a dollar type store and browsed and bought a few little things.  Then we ran through a drive through and got My Prince something to drink, and the kids an ice cream.  And then we came home.  On the way home, the Oldest Princess called, so we put her on speaker phone, and talked to her for a while.

At home, we ordered a movie from our cable provider and watched it before we all went to bed.

Friday, November 11 - It felt very much like a Saturday.  We were lazy that morning (it was the first morning in forever that none of us had to set an alarm).  I got up first, and came downstairs, and fell back asleep on the couch.  We just chilled out and did things around the house all day.  It was a nice, relaxing day.  I spent some time reading, underlining, and soaking in my new book that I got Thursday night at the Bible bookstore, Uninvited, by Lysa TerKeurst.  I'm moving slow.  I don't want to fly through it, because it is good.  Girls, I highly recommend it.

Saturday, November 12 - We got up and did our normal Saturday morning things.  My Prince met with his d-group.  I worked on my Bible Studies and read some more of my new book, while the house was quiet.

My Prince got home, and I did some more things around the house.  My Prince and the Young Prince watched their ball games.  Then we went to do a little shopping - the Youngest Princess needed shoes, and I wanted to pick up a few Christmas presents while we were out.  Also, the Young Prince has been asking for us to go to a certain restaurant for the last few days, so we thought we would take him, and make him happy.  It made me happy too, because I love that restaurant as well.  It is a little more pricey than places that we normally go, so it was a treat for all of us.

While we were shopping, the Young Prince got a mini drone.  He could not wait to get home and try it out.  When we got home, the Youngest Princess and I read, and the Young Prince practiced flying his drone.  He had a blast.

Sunday, November 13 - It was a very good Sunday morning.  Our Sunday School teacher and his family were out of town, so we had a substitute Sunday School teacher.  He did a great job, talking about being in God's Will.  Then during the service, My Prince preached from Mark 1:14-15.  I think he did a great job, of course, I admit to being a little biased.

After the morning service, we had our annual church wide Thanksgiving lunch.  It was wonderful.  They also included staff appreciation in, and the church collected money, and gave each of the staff members a card and a check.  It was so very sweet of them, and we appreciate it very much.  On top of that, a lot of people gave us cards, and gifts individually.  Our people are so giving and loving.  We are blessed beyond measure to be a part of such a wonderful church family.  Each and every one of them hold a special place in our hearts!

After lunch, the Youngest Princess had a friend come over.  They played out in the backyard for a long time.  About the time they came in to play, it was time for them to get ready and go back to church.  They had to be there early for the Christmas program practice.

We talked to the Oldest Princess on the phone for a few minutes.  It was wonderful to talk to her.  She had sent me a sweet text while we were eating lunch, and it really made me miss her.

I left a few minutes after them for my small group.  We were all there!  I was very excited!  We had a good time, and as always, the time flies.  It never seems like we have enough time to fit it all in.  So, I always look forward to the next week.

Then I had my Bible Drills class.  The kids were wired from the Christmas program practice, but they settled down a little, and we practiced our verse and key passage for the night.  I think this verse will take a little more practice, but overall, they did well.

After church, My Prince and I and the Young Prince met with a man in our church whom we greatly respect.  He had heard that the Young Prince was thinking of becoming a volunteer fireman, and he just wanted to make us aware of a few things, and talk to the Young Prince about some things before he started.  He is a career fireman himself, so we very much appreciated his concerns, advice, and input.  He spoke openly and frankly.  He helped us to think about some things that we had not thought about before.  He was also very encouraging, and offered to be of any help he could to the Young Prince.

We came home, talked to the Oldest Princess again (I think she may miss us a little - I know we miss her!) and got ready for bed.  The Youngest Princess and I read our chapter of Anne of Green Gables, and spoiler alert for anyone who has never read it before (is there such a person?).  We read the chapter where Matthew dies.  We both cried.  It was very sad.  The Youngest Princess kept asking, "Is he really dead?"  And as soon as we finished reading our chapter, she had to go tell her daddy that Matthew died and that we both cried through the whole chapter.  After that, we played a game on her iPad to cheer us up a little and then we went to sleep.

Monday, November 14 - I woke up and did my First 5 devotion.  Then I got ready for school.  The kids both got up in good moods.

The Youngest Princess was excited because my student that has been in Taiwan for two weeks was going to be back at school today.  All of the girls were very excited to see her.  And she brought everyone goodies from her trip, so they were excited about those.  I was excited to hear their stories from their trip.  I am fascinated by how God worked it all out, and how God worked in the trip and brought special surprises for my friend and her family as well.  God is amazing.

Despite the Super Moon, and the Petting Zoo, and the face paint, we managed to get everything done today, and even had a few minutes for them to start their homework before time to go home.

I had a brief teacher's meeting after school.  The Youngest Princess had tumbling practice.

I came home and My Prince and the Young Prince and I went to eat before going to pick the Youngest Princess up from tumbling.

The rest of the evening was spent grading papers, doing homework and Bible studies, and watching tv.  Now My Prince has already retired, and the Youngest Princess is waiting on me to go and read our last chapter of Anne.  So I will go and get that done so we can go to bed.

Until I blog again...



Tuesday, November 8, 2016

November 3 - November 8, 2016

Thursday, November 3 - It was a good day.  Pretty much a regular day as far as school went.  I left a few minutes early, in order to go on my yearly girl's night out.  

There is a craft show that comes to town this time every year, and for the last 10 years or so, several of us ladies get together and go shopping, and then out to eat.  The people in the group change from year to year, but we always have a really good time, no matter who goes.  One particular friend and I have remained a constant.  We always walk around and shop together.  One year (4 years ago) we decided to buy a charm bracelet from a man who makes different charms in the shapes of bells.  We are both from Texas, so we bought the Texas bell, and a bracelet.  Then we decided that we would buy a bell to add to our bracelet every year.  This year we bought our fourth bell.  We have a Texas bell, the Christ bell, the family bell, and this year we added the friend bell.  

We have another friend who comes with us sometimes, and this year we added a new friend to our group.  We had a good time walking around and looking at the wide variety of things that were for sale.  We bought very little, but we had fun looking, and of course sampling all of the dips, soups, and seasonings.  

After we finished our shopping in record time, we went to get something to eat.  We knew another group of ladies that were there, and asked them if they wanted to eat with us.  They did, and they actually ended up getting to the restaurant a few minutes before we did.  We had a good time, eating and cutting up with each other.

I had a headache by the time we finished shopping, and it continued to worsen through dinner.  I was feeling pretty yucky by the time we got home.  My friend took me home, and we sat in the driveway and talked for a while longer before I went in.  I pretty much went straight to bed, due to my headache, and wanting to get rid of it.

Friday, November 4 - I got up, did my First 5 devotions, got ready and went to work.  I worked until lunch, and then I had a sub come in for me, because I had company coming that night, and had a few things I still needed to get done to be ready for them.

The Oldest Princess was coming home, and she was bringing two of her new college friends with her.  The Quiet One, and The Crazy (in a fun way) One.  We had met these two friends before when we visited the Oldest Princess several weeks ago, and we liked them both, so we were excited for them all to come.

I got home and finished up the things I needed to do.  I also cooked some chili for dinner.  The girls finally got here.  We ate dinner and visited.  It was fun to have them.  My Prince and The Crazy One went back and forth at each other most of the weekend.  We laughed and picked on each other, but we also had some serious conversations, and prayer time together. 

The Young Prince had already gone to bed a little earlier and the Youngest Princess had fallen asleep in her daddy's chair.  It was after mid-night when we all ended up going upstairs to bed.

Saturday, November 5 - My Prince got up bright and early to go to his D-group meeting.  I got up shortly after him, and got my shower and started my day.  The Young Prince was up a couple of hours later, getting ready for a youth group outing that he was going on.  The Youngest Princess, and the Oldest Princess were the next ones up.  The Youngest Princess was chomping at the bit for the other girls to get up.  

The Oldest Princess had arranged for us to keep Super C while the youth group went on their outing.  So our youth pastor and his wife brought him to us, and took the Young Prince with them.  They were doing a Compassion Walk, and then buying items for Christmas shoeboxes, and then to see the movie  I Am Not Ashamed.  

While they were gone, we all had a blast taking care of Super C.  He is such a sweetheart!!  He already had my heart, but I think he won over a few more while he was here.

Also, I had decided to do a Thanksgiving dinner for the girls while they were here, because other than the meal at the college, they would not get a Thanksgiving meal.  It was nothing elaborate, but hopefully it was better than what they will have at college.  

The Youngest Princess went to spend the night with a friend, and the Young Prince made it back home.  Our youth pastor and his wife dropped the Young Prince off and picked up Super C.  We were glad that the Young Prince was home, but we hated to see Super C have to leave.  Have I mentioned how sweet he is?

We ate our Thanksgiving dinner.  After dinner, we pulled out the Dutch Blitz cards and played a few hands.  The Young Prince did not play, but terrorized us with the nerf bow, and the blow up princess wand.  After a while, he left to go and spend the night with a friend, and things calmed down a little.

Again, we sat and visited, and watched football.  I kept dozing off, and the Crazy One kept waking me up yelling at the television.  Finally, I could stay awake no longer and decided that I had to go to bed and get some sleep.  

My Prince took a quick nap, and then got up and studied for a while, before coming to bed for the night.

Sunday, November 6 - It was a good morning.  Everything went smoothly with us all getting ready for church.  I barely knew the girls were there until it was about time to leave for church.  The Youngest Princess and I both had on the same dress - different colors - and did not even know it until it was almost time to go.

Sunday school and church went very well.  

After church, we went to eat at one of our local Mexican food restaurants.  Time went by way too fast, and when we were done, the girls had to head back to college.  We enjoyed having them, and were so glad that they were able to come.  It was sad to see them go.

We returned home.  I did some studying for my Sunday night group and for my Bible Drill class.  And I took a quick nap on the couch.  Then it was time to go back to church.  

My group went well.  Two of us could not be there, and that left only two of us.  But it was good time of sharing and encouragement.

My Bible Drill class went well also.  The kids picked up on the night's verse quickly and most of them remember the verses we have already worked on, so we had a good night.

After church we came home and had leftovers from Saturday for dinner.

Then we got things in order for the next morning, and I read to the Youngest Princess and we went to bed.

Monday, November 7 - I woke up and did my First 5 devotion and got ready for school.  It was a nice, normal day.  We got in there, got busy and got things done.  After school, the Youngest Princess had tumbling, so I came home by myself.  My Prince and the Young Prince were already at home.  I relaxed for a while, and My Prince left to go and pick up dinner and the Youngest Princess.

When he got back home, the kids did homework, and ate dinner, and then we got ready to go to the church for our special monthly prayer meeting.  We wanted to pray for our country and upcoming elections.  We had a very sweet time of prayer with our church family.  We were not praying for God to preserve "the American dream", but for God to move in ways that stir up His people, and turn us back to Him.

After the prayer meeting, we came home, and got ready for today.  I talked to my niece for a few minutes.  She had been to the viewing for my uncle who had passed away on Thursday.  She was telling me about some of the family members we haven't seen in a while, and how they were doing.  She told me about meeting a man that used to work with my Dad, and how he told stories of my Daddy.  I would have loved to have been there.  When we finished talking, the Youngest Princess and I read together and then went to sleep.

Tuesday, November 8 - I got up this morning and read my First 5 devotion.  Then I got ready for work.  Of course the elections were on everyone's mind.  The Youngest Princess, who for the first time is old enough to realize what is going on, and actually care about it, was very excited.  "It is election day!!"  She exclaimed as she came into my room.

At school, the election was the major topic of conversation.  The girls wanted to know what time we would know who had won.  I told them it would probably be after they went to bed tonight.  One of them said, "So, when you wake up, if your parents are happy, you will know that Trump won.  If they are sad, you will know that Hillary won."

They wanted to have a class vote.  I made up little ballots, with the names just as they appeared on the actual ballots.  That included the two independent candidates and their running mates.  The class voted unanimously for Trump.  So, if it were up to my 5th grade class, Trump would be president.

My Prince came to eat lunch with me, and the Youngest Princess ran over and wanted to know if he had any updates on the Presidential race.  He told her no, that we would not know anything until much later tonight.

After school, we went straight to the town hall to vote.  There was a ton of people there, and there was barely room to move around, but I am very thankful to be able to exercise my right to vote.

After voting, we stopped by the house to pick up the Young Prince.  Then we were going to celebrate voting by eating at one of our favorite local restaurants, but when we got there, there was a sign that they were now closing on Tuesdays.  We were all bummed.  But we changed plans and went to a different restaurant instead.  

Then we came home.  The Young Prince, and the Youngest Princess worked on homework.  My Prince and I began watching the election coverage.  

We took a break from the coverage for My Prince to quiz the Youngest Prince to see if she was ready for her History test tomorrow.  As he was quizzing her, I started trying to beat her to the answer, which woke up her little competitive spirit, and the competition was on.  We played twice.  I beat her both times, but she did come closer to beating me the second time, than she did the first time, so she was improving, which was my goal.

The Youngest Princess got ready for bed.  I read tonight's chapter of Anne of Green Gables to her.  Now she is watching a movie, the Young Prince is playing video games, and My Prince and I are continuing to watch the election results.  I don't know if I will be able to stay awake for the whole thing, but I plan to try.  And so I will leave you with that.

Until I blog again...


Wednesday, November 2, 2016

October 29 - November 2, 2016

Saturday, October 29 - It was a stay at home, hang out and get some things done around the house kind of day.

That night, we had a leadership dinner at our church, with one of our state board missionaries as our speaker.  My Prince and I went and left the Young Prince and the Youngest Princess at home.  Our youth pastor and his wife came to the dinner as well.   When they got there, they were taking Super C out of his car seat, and fixing a bottle.  I told them that I would be glad to hold him and feed him his bottle while they ate.  It was my first time to hold him since the day he was born.  I loved every second of it.  I was pretty much unashamedly a baby hog.  He is so sweet!!

I was talking to my friend, who is our music minister's wife, and we were talking about how we miss our own being so small, and how they don't stay that small very long, and I admitted to her that I had always thought that I was a pretty good momma.  That is until lately.  Lately, I feel like I fail at everything I do, motherhood included.  I even cried a little.  It breaks my heart to even talk about it.

I fed Super C his bottle, and then I just held him for as long as I could.  Trying to listen to the speaker, and admire the baby all at the same time.  Finally, he started squirming like he was no longer comfortable with me, so I took him back to his momma.  But it did my heart good just to hold him and love on him for a little while.

Sunday, October 30 - There are some days that you just don't want to blog about.  Especially when you are trying to blog about every day for a whole year.  Some days just aren't "blog worthy".  Some days are just full of sad, and ugly, and hurt, and battles, and it's just about all you can do to get through.    But, those days are part of our life too, and so, I share.  Maybe because someone needs to know they are not alone, or so someone can learn from my mistakes.  So far this year, those days have been thankfully, very few and far between.  

There are times in the ministry when you must have "thick skin" as they say.  And I usually do a pretty good job of letting things roll off, but for some reason, almost everything said, cut straight to my heart.  It was me.  On a normal day, nothing that happened would have bothered me, I guess it was just seemed to be everything all at once.  I sent an emergency, "please pray, Satan is attacking hard this morning" text to one of my groups, and I made it through the morning service fighting tears the whole time.

Our state board missionary brought the sermon.  It was about how we as a church can leave a lasting legacy.  He encouraged us to get involved with church planting, and helping those who are planting churches.  It was a good message.  Despite my crazy emotions, I was able to pay attention some.

The Youngest Princess had worked hard Saturday and had cleaned her room, and wanted to know if her friend could come and play for the afternoon.  I said yes, because I wanted to reward her for working hard in her room, and because I knew she was dying to show her friend her new puppy.  I also did it for selfish reasons.  I knew that a friend would distract her, and I might have a little bit of quiet time, which I desperately needed in order to pray and pull myself together.

We were having a praise and worship service that night, and so I decided to cancel Bible Drills class. I wanted to hear the Young Prince, and My Prince sing.  So I text my friend who is so sweet to help me with Bible Drills, and told her that I was canceling class for the night.

We went to lunch at a fast food restaurant, hoping to get a fast meal and get home pretty quickly.  Ordering was a nightmare.  The lady that was taking our order kept trying to run things behind the counter and take our order at the same time.  Then she corrected or questioned everything My Prince said/ordered.  I think it took us longer to order than it did for them to make our food and us eat it combined.  It was pretty much more than my already frazzled nerves could take.

We finally made our order, and sat down to eat.  We were making small talk, and I asked the Young Prince something about that night, and what he was going to do, and he answered me a little harshly.  And the tears that I had been holding back, could be held back no longer.  I asked for the keys, excused myself and went to the car to wait for everyone else.  They were all pretty much done, so they followed me fairly quickly.

We came home, and the Young Prince apologized, explaining that he wasn't really sure what he was doing that night, and that he did not mean to answer me so harshly.  I told him that it was okay, and that it wasn't him.  It was me.

The girls played, and I worked on my Bible study for that night.  My Prince did not have to preach, because of the Praise and Worship service, so he sat with me probably wondering what in the world was wrong with me.  I would pull it together, and then I would cry.  Then I would pull it together, and then I would cry.

The Young Prince told me again that he was sorry, and that he loved me, and that he didn't tell me enough that he loved me, and he was sorry for that too, and I cried.  I did not want to go to church a crying, bumbling, jumble of nerves.  When I cry, and someone shows me compassion, "Oh, what's wrong?  Are you okay?"  It just makes me cry more. I was a mess.  Probably more of a mess than I have been in a really long time.

I don't always write about everything.  There are burdens, and cares that I carry, that maybe aren't my story to tell.  I try to respect others when I write.  I try not to share things that would hurt or embarrass others.  There have been several things over the past couple of weeks that seem to be coming to boiling point.  Things that I can't control, and can't necessarily share, but that weigh extremely heavy on my heart.  And everything all added together, equalled one mess of a me.

I decided to text my group and tell them that I would not be there for our group time.  I would not have been any good to anyone anyway.  And I did not go to the service either.  I couldn't stop crying long enough to go anywhere.  It was not pretty.  It was truly an "Unstable!" day on steroids.

So, everyone left for church, and I was sitting here all alone, praying.  Praying for people I love, praying for God to move in miraculous ways.  Asking God to make His presence known in several situations.  Asking God to help me to get myself together and quit crying.  Asking God for the strength to let go of things I could not change.  Asking for wisdom in several situations where I really need wisdom.  Praying for the faith to surrender it all to Him.  When my friend text me and asked if I was coming up to the service.  I told her no, that I was at home.  She asked me if I was okay.  I answered "No, not really."  She asked if there was anything she could do.  I told her she could pray.  And I continued to do the same myself.

Probably about 20 minutes later, there was a knock on the door.  I answered it, and there stood my friend.  She came bearing gifts of a cold Coke, a bag of sunflower seeds, and chocolate.  She told me that I could talk, or we could just be quiet, but that she was just "there" for me.  I tear up now just thinking about it.  We did talk about a few things that I could talk about with her.  Again, some things are not mine to share.  But just talking it out, made me feel somewhat better.  Our time was up too quickly.  Church was over and she had somewhere she had to go.  But her just being "there" meant the world to me.  Her listening to me spill my heart, and laughing and saying that she completely understood, and even making me laugh a little was just what my aching heart needed.  She didn't run from me because I was hurting.  She pulled me close, and ministered to me, by just being "there."

It didn't fix anything.  It didn't solve any problems. But it did make me feel loved, and a little less alone.  When My Prince and the kids got home, I was doing a little better, and we did our normal night time routine of getting ready for bed and reading.  I was very glad to lay my head on the pillow, and give my heart a rest.

Monday, October 31 - I got up, did my First 5 devotions, and got ready for school.  The alarm did not go off.  My Prince usually sets two.  The clock and his phone, but for some reason that did not happen, and so we were running a little late.  My Prince drove me to school.  It was a good morning.  The girls were a little on the giddy, chatty side, but they calmed down eventually, and we got things accomplished.  The Youngest Princess had tumbling after school, so she stayed for that, and I came home.  My Prince and the Young Prince were both already here.  We had to wait for the Youngest Princess to get done with tumbling, and then we were going out to eat.  We had a little trouble deciding where to go, but finally decided on a place that made us all happy.  We went and ate, and then we stopped and let the kids get some yogurt for dessert.  Then we headed home.  I called my sister and talked to her for a few minutes on our way home.  When we got home, the kids finished up their homework, and then I read to the Youngest Princess, and we went to bed.

Tuesday, November 1 - Yay!!!!  It is November!  I can hardly believe that it is already November!  I love November, because it means my FAVORITE holiday.  I absolutely LOVE Thanksgiving.  This year, though, our Thanksgiving will look different.  With the Oldest Princess in college, and not being out of classes except for Thanksgiving day, we will have to go to her to be with her on Thanksgiving. But never fear.  I have a plan, and we will still have Thanksgiving.

Anyway, I got up and did my First 5 devotion, and got ready for school.  School went well.  We were able to face time again with my student who is out of the country, and that was fun.  The girls worked hard and we had time to get everything done, as well as listen to some of our silly songs at the end of the day.

We came home and fixed tacos for dinner.  The Young Prince was supposed to go to a meeting at one of our local fire departments, because he is interested in being a volunteer fire fighter, but we found out that the meeting had been cancelled and moved to next week, so that has been put on hold for a week.  He called a friend and they moved their dinner plans up, so he went on early and met with his friend for dinner.

One of my friends called and we have not talked in a long time, so we spent quite a while on the phone.  My Prince and the Youngest Princess did homework.  When I got off of the phone with my friend, the Youngest Princess and I read and went to bed.

Wednesday, November 2 - Another good day.  Just a normal day.  Doing the normal daily stuff.  I don't know about you, but I love normal days.  They make me happy.  I will take a normal day, any day.

Wake up, First 5 devotion, get ready, school, home, cheer practice (Youngest Princess),breakfast for dinner, talk about our day, practice piano (Youngest Princess), play with puppy (also Youngest Princess), practice guitar (Young Prince), practice flute (Youngest Princess), try to take a nap (My Prince), and then everyone off to church, home to finish homework, and straighten up the house a little. Now, to get ready for bed, snuggle, and read our chapter of Anne of Green Gables.

Until I blog again...