Conversations with God

1. Me: God, this time, really, I'm going to die. My house is a disaster. The stress Marshall is facing at work is completely off of the charts. I can't keep up with all the school stuff. I'm sure Miranda's teacher thinks I'm an idiot for all the emails I've sent her lately, apologizing for forgetting to do something important. And both children will be home all of next week (no school due to Teacher Inservice days, Election Day and the NJEA Convention). I'm just not going to make it.


God: You just need to hang in there a little bit longer. Your parents will be here in 2 more weeks. And your house cleaners will be here this afternoon. And my grace is always sufficient for you.
Me: (what I hear) Blah blah blah blah Your parents will be here in 2 more weeks blah blah blah blah grace blah blah.  
Me: (what I think) Two weeks feels like forever. I am so tired. Christ, please have mercy on me, and on my family.

Note to my readers: Yes, I know my parents are not actual superheroes and I have many family and friends already here in NJ who do help us, in a great many ways. But when I'm really struggling, all I can think is, "I want my mother!" 

2. So, life's been a little stressful around here lately, but we keep moving forward. I'm trying to write about thankfulness everyday on Facebook, although sometimes it's a struggle to think of something besides: "Well, I'm not dead yet" or "Marshall still has a job today" or "Miranda isn't wetting the bed every night." For my family and friends who read this blog and pray regularly for us, I am grateful for your prayers. Many days I believe that's all that's holding us upright.

3. We are trying to get a handle on Miranda's regular expressions of defiance with bribery, something we've used so successfully with Alex. She now has a chart on the refrigerator with items like "put socks and shoes away," "brushed her teeth," and "followed directions" and if she gets 10 stars, she earns a new book. There were several books she wanted on the most recent book order form from Scholastic that I wasn't willing to buy (they seemed the equivalent of cotton candy and I'd rather spend real money on worthwhile books) but we negotiated for this system so that she could earn them. She's only managed to get one star per day since we started earlier in the week, but that's still progress.

4. I did read Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO, and the Steroids Scandal that Rocked Professional Sports by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams this week and really enjoyed it. Of course, it's made me a whole lot more cynical about watching the Olympics, and I will probably not look on professional sports with such naivete again. But not everyone can be doping, right?

For a change of pace, I picked up Pride & Prejudice & Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem! from the library yesterday. It will either be wonderfully entertaining or too gross to manage. I'm hoping for the latter, but I've never been a zombie fan.

5. I'm still loving Revenge, even as it's getting murkier. I had to dump Hawaii Five-0 off the DVR this week; I'd had enough of their cruelty and rule-breaking. I tried to watch the second episode of Hart of Dixie and turned it off in annoyance, so that show may be gone, too. I still haven't caught up on Castle, or even started Terra Nova, Grimm, or Once Upon a Time. Too many Gigs, too little energy.

6. Halloween was fun but I was so ready for November on Tuesday. With all the birthdays, costumes and parties, it was just one long month of excitement (for the children) and exhaustion (for the parents). Pictures of last weekend's festivities start here.

7. If you haven't yet bought a copy of my mother's book, Bathsheba's Lament, don't worry, she'll be here in 2 weeks with copies to sell to you! And if you missed The Circle of Seasons: Meeting God in the Church Year, written by my dear friend Kimberlee Conway Ireton, you're in luck, because she's trying to sell off her stockpile of copies, cheap. Read about it here. I just ordered 7 for my MOPS table ladies and may order more for our church book store.

And here's Jen.