Not going as planned...

So, I decided that I needed to take today to get my house somewhat in order before we spend the rest of the week working at mom's. Joe's been trying to help by throwing in several loads of laundry, but he is unable to fold it, so I've got mounds of clean, unfolded laundry piling up. So, I intended to catch up on getting it all folded and put away. And now that Lily's been sleeping without a pull-up at night, she had her first accident last night and we needed to do the sheets too! So, I started out my morning pretty foggy, cause we were up with one or another of the children nearly every hour through the night. I dove right into the big job for the day, and was interrupted by squealing. I go to find that Lily discovered a dead mouse under Anna's bed. Yuck. So we got that taken care of and I start in on the laundry again. Then Eva needs to eat. Back to work. Then Anna finishes her schoolwork and needs it checked. Back to work. Then it's time for lunch.
So, after lunch the girls decide to play Barbies in Anna and Lily's room. Anna asked to take Eva in her Bumbo in with them, and then asked me to put on some music, cause the barbies were going to have a dance party. So, I get everyone settled and head back to my room to fold yet more laundry. After a bit I hear glass shattering, so I go flying over to find that the girls decided that since the barbies were having so much fun, they would have their own dance party as well! So Anna jumped off her bed onto Lily's and smashed the globe on the ceiling light with her head! There was shards of glass all over the room, and in Anna's hair, but not one of them has a scratch! There seemed to be an invisible boundary about 4 inches from where Eva and Elley were. Anna was shaking like a leaf, but only has a slight bruise on her noggin. Praise the Lord! It could've been really ugly, but He was protecting them.
So, now that I've calmed down, and gotten everyone down for naps - I am headed back to the laundry! Yeah. Today has not gone nearly as well as I'd hoped. But on a happy note - once again I'm reminded how much I love my new washer and dryer!

Catching up again!

I'm so so bad at keeping up with this blog. Alright, most of the time I feel like I can't keep up with anything, much less the computer, but I want to try to catch up. What had consumed a lot of my time and energy the last month was Laura's wedding, which went extremely well and everything turned out beautifully and the bride was happy, so I consider it a success! I was the "official" wedding coordinator, so I helped Laura with details before the wedding and then dealt with any issues, problems and questions on the big day. I also did the bride's hair, and Jess and I did all the flowers - bouquets, corsages, boutonnieres, and other decorations. It was absolutely exhausting, but fun. Joe and I also designed and built a chuppa (a Jewish wedding canopy), which was awesome.


The other thing that has been keeping me unusually busy is working on my mom's house. She is going to have to sell the house because it just got to be too much, both financially and emotionally, for her to handle on her own. So, in order to put it on the market, we needed to make some repairs and improvements. So, Jess and I have been plugging away at that, during the day with all 8 kids in tow, and then often Joe and Todd come in the evenings to help with the "man work" like paneling and replacing cabinets. So far, all things considered, it's going well, but I'm eager to be done, as it's been extremely draining, physically and emotionally.
As for our house - well, we're kinda on hold for now. Currently the USDA (where we're getting our mortgage) is out of money and doesn't know when they will receive their next disbursement. So, we're still continuing with the planning so we're prepared when we get the go-ahead.
I am continually praying for grace to walk through every step of every situation we find ourselves in these days. I praise the Lord for the joy that He has poured out, even when I find myself overwhelmed by all I'm dealing with.
My issues aside, I am finding myself amazed at how big and beautiful my girls are! Anna was a greeter with Kate for Laura's wedding and seeing her dressed up like that, makes me view the future with trembling! If she's this lovely at 7, what do her teenage years hold?!