What Does Age Have to Do With It?

     The last few weeks have been very hectic in my household. 

I mentioned earlier that my children were participating in co-ops this year and that this was really something we had not been able to do much of over the years.  

All of this running around is beginning to tell on me. 

 I'm feeling it and I'm not liking it.

      Last night we had two committments back-to-back. They were both quite fun, but I was definitely feeling the fatigue of it all. 

Then a conversation about the fact that I was wearing my contacts instead of my glasses 

(no-line bifocals.....did I really just admit that?) 

was the cause of not being able to see what I was doing, 

led to one of the mom's mentioning that she did not want to get bifocals yet, 

which led to another mom saying something that caused me to say.....

"You're not even thirty yet are you?" 

"Not 'til next year"....and then the first mom mentioned that she would be forty soon..... Sigh.  

I'm the old mom. I'm forty-six. One of them said, "Oh, but you have so much wisdom!" 

     This morning the thought came to me that when I had my first child, 

this "not 30" mom was 4 years old and that

 when I began homeschooling, 

she would have been about eleven! 

Yikes! 

Why does my mind insist on conjuring up these facts for me?  

 Forty-six doesn't really sound too old, but I can remember when I was the youngest mom in nearly every social situation.

 I started my family in my early twenties and I kept it up.....so, now my "littles" are the same age as these mom's "olders". 

It's disconcerting to me, especially since I feel older than I suspect that I should.

     The fact is, eighteen years is a long time to do anything (especially homeschooling) and I am finding that sometimes it is just a matter of will to get this gal to keep going. 

At the same time, my "babies" are not babies at all, they are "tweens" and teens......geesh! 

Am I that old? It's weird because I'm doing things with other moms whose "oldest" kids are the same ages as my "babies".

     I understand that I have emotions that want to surface when I see these young moms with their "littles"......

What do I call my "littles" since they are no longer little?

I realize that I'm in a new "stage of life" (I really don't like that phrase at all) and that it won't be too long until I get to the "grandma stage" and all the wonders of grandchildren.  

But for now, I'm still one of the homeschool moms driving her kids to homeschool group activities and wanting nothing more than a long uninterrupted sleep.....for say...... a week for starters.  

For example, this last week alone we have left early in the morning and not returned until late at night several days in a row which has led to another time-tested reality that I'm really beginning to feel the full force of its existence.

      I have stated and will re-emphasize that I am a Homebody.....

I like to be home. 

It has been a long and established fact that when a person is not at home all day, little faeries enter the house and wreak havoc everywhere.  

They unmake beds, throw dust all around, pile up trash and throw clean clothes and dirty clothes in baskets together and dirty up the sinks.  

You would think that the old stories about elves finishing the shoemaker's work were true ones, but I'm sorry to say they are not. 

There are only wicked faeries who come in and mess everything up especially when you have to be gone for several days in a row. 

Of course, they also eat all the good things in the pantry and fridge knowing that you will be too exhausted to shop for groceries and will settle for toast or whatever odd thing you can concoct.

     I did find the energy to make a list of all the cleaning duties that need to be accomplished to get things back in order. 

But, I'm afraid that is as far as I've gotten. 

 I know all about the wonderful websites that will organize your life in 15 minutes a day, but I am not wired that way. 

I have to go all out and get it all done or it will nag at me. 

I'm not talking about entering the dark recesses of the closets in this house, 

oh no, 

I'd just like the clutter to be out of sight and I don't have the stamina to look at it much longer.

     It is another known fact that clutter is simply "visual  noise".  I don't tolerate noise well these days and everything in my line of vision is 

simply screaming.

 It must be stopped! I suspect that much of the fatigue I'm feeling is the actual drain of seeing so much to do and trying to muster the energy to attack it. 

Talking about what needs done is not always helpful, but writing about it in a public forum just might do the trick. 

 I seem to work better under pressure.  

If you'd like to come over for coffee,

 I am sure that I'd find the energy to clean it up in a heartbeat.......

but I'd still be exhausted and pay for it with aches and pains later.

     I know that I have to come to terms with this "stage" of life.....

I'm in my forties......

I haven't been the young mom in the group for a while.......

I know that I may have more wisdom now than when I was younger, but I can't always remember exactly what it is and I definitely don't want gray hair to prove it.  

I know that like every other stage of life, there are survival techniques that must be implemented.... and for now, I have to work out a better arrangement for staying on top of things if we are to be running hither and yon all the time. 

I know that you have to grow your own "good faeries" who will help you keep things in order and training them young is of vital importance. When my good faeries grow up and leave I will be in big trouble!

 Along with age comes health issues. We can't ignore them. We can't wish them away. We have to learn to work with them and try not to be bitter about what they take from us, like our feeling of youth. But such are common to Man. 

So we have to push on.

     Thankfully, the activities for this semester are winding down. I am glad. Because we all know what is lurking coming up around the corner.....Thanksgiving and Christmas! 

     I think  it is time for Home Ec.....where are those dusting rags??

From the Philippines, With Love........

    

In an earlier post, I promised that I had many more children and their spouses that I could introduce to you. Today gives me an opportunity to do just that. I am still amazed at how God orchestrates the events in our lives in order to bless us.

     Sometimes it just boggles my mind, as it did the Psalmist's when he wrote, 

"What is man that you are mindful of him?" (Psalm 8:4) 

For whatever reason, the Creator of the universe is interested in us.

 Isn't that amazing?

   

     I am, by nature, a homebody. 

I have no plans for adventure. 

I grew up in a very small town and planned to live there my entire life. 

God had other plans. 

My husband was offered a job in another state and that move began a series of other job offers and other moves around the country. 

I eventually got used to moving and was surprised when we ended up in Louisiana and it seemed that God had stopped moving us. 

We passed the "mile marker" of two years and we were not moving anywhere else. 

In fact, we lived in the same house for twelve years. 

A record! 

     There were several things that I didn't care for in Louisiana.....

the heat, for one. 

I can't tolerate it.  

The mosquitos seem to be a state crop.......

and pine pollen!  

Oh my.......if you have allergies, 

you do not want to discover that your 2 1/2 acre wooded lot at the bottom of a dead-end street that has PINE in the name of it will cause you to close up your house and not want to leave it from February til June. 

That was a major disappointment.  

My body still overreacts to allergens even though I'm 800 miles away.  

Back in my home state, my sinuses rebel to simple things like corn pollens that I've experienced my entire life. 

But back to Louisiana......

The people in NW Louisiana are some of the nicest I've met in my moves around the US.  

We have made many lasting friendships there as well as in Arkansas, Texas, Mexico, and Russia, all because of God moving us there. 

     Twenty-six years ago, in the Philippines, a baby girl was born. 

 She played with her cousins and ate fresh mangoes that she picked from the trees. 

She came to live in NW Louisiana when she was eight years old, 

after her mom married a US citizen.  

That was about the same time we moved to TN and began homeschooling.

 Four years later, 

we found ourselves in NW Louisiana.

      After our son graduated high school,

 he decided to go to college at NSU in Natchitoches, LA.  

He began talking about a girl in chemistry class.....he seemed to borrow her notes a lot.  

He joined the Army and went to bootcamp. 

After bootcamp, he decided that she should be his wife.

 She agreed. 

 Our family loved her from the start. 

She was supportive of his choice to join the military. 

She was willing to wait at home while he served two tours in Iraq.  

When I think of all the things that had to happen in order for my son to meet her, I am amazed. 

Obviously, he would not have gone to that university if we lived in another state. 

In fact, he almost went to another school altogether. 

     Whenever you hear someone tell how they met their spouse,

 remember that many, many choices led up to those two people meeting in the first place, 

sometimes many generations in the past.  

I think it is so cool that God works in our lives in such intimate ways. My husband and I have prayed for the spouses of our children from the time they were little. 

It is wonderful to see the answers to those prayers!

 Today is this special lady's birthday. 

Happy Birthday, L!  

I'm so happy to be your mom-in-law, or as some put it, mom-in-love! 

We hope you have a wonderful day!

    

    

photos: tropical flower from the backyard; son and daughter-in-law birthday (c) debbie richardson

Moment of Silence

     From the time I left the house yesterday, until the time I came home in the evening, I only had a chance to stop in for ten minutes. The day was filled with various co-op classes and the weekly library visit with a grocery store stop and medical appointment thrown in.  

Before I left for the day, I watched Fox and Friends who were doing their morning news show live from the deck of the USS New York. 

This brand new Navy ship was constructed with over 7 tons of steel from the ruins of the Trade Center Towers in New York. 

USS NEW YORK

     

It was stirring to watch the footage of the Marines and Sailors on board the vessel raising the colors just as they do every morning 

and to hear the stories of how the ship was

 made in New Orleans, Louisiana. 

I lived in northwest Louisiana for twelve years and remember seeing updates on the ship's progress from time to time.  

Hurricane Katrina caused obvious delays but the workers came back to finish the ship. 

It is a working ship and will carry Marines to fight terrorists. 

The Towers will have gone full circle. 

 They will be fighting back.

     On the drive to the last appointment of the evening, I heard the devastating news of the shooting at Ft. Hood in Texas. 

As an Army mom, my heart was stricken. 

Since details were very few, all I could do was speculate on the cause.  

My evening ended with few details to answer all of the questions in my mind. 

My heart was grieved for the families involved. My heart which was earlier stirred by patriotism was now subdued.

     Today, I watched as the military officials sorted out the facts for us. 

The shooter was not dead.

 He is on life support. 

He was a psychiatrist previously working with hurting soldiers at Walter Reed Medical Center. He was recently transferred to this new post. 

He had never been deployed and did not want to be deployed now. 

Other stories said he was giving away possessions. In the midst of hearing these disturbing bits of news, other stories were told.

     It was graduation at the Army Post.  

Medic Officers ran to offer assistance still dressed in caps and gowns when they heard the gunshots. A Private loaded wounded soldiers into his pick-up truck and took them to the emergency room. 

Others provided first-aid even though they were wounded themselves. 

My heart began to fill with the unmistakable sense of patriotism. 

Of being proud to be a citizen of a country where men and women daily make willing sacrifices in service to their country and to their fellow man.

     I witnessed a Moment of Silence for the fallen and their families.

 I saw the flag at half-mast. 

It was a striking contrast to the raising of the flag on the USS New York yesterday. 

In the midst of each of our opinions as to how our country should address the War on Terror, 

must be 

gratitude for the members of our Armed Forces, prayers for them and for their families, 

and thankfulness to God that 

He is ultimately in control of every aspect in our lives and in the life of our great nation.

photos: American flag at Ft. Campbell, KY (c) debbie richardson

Hey Mom, I'm Going to the Moon Today

     Today, my eleven year old, 

the astronomer, 

is going to the moon.  

Actually, he is going with about 20 of his fellow homeschoolers in our Co-op to the 

Challenger Center. 

The Challenger Centers were developed after the tragedy of the Challenger Space Shuttle which carried, along with the astronauts, the first teacher in space, Christa McAuliffe. 

It has a flight simulator and hosts many school kids to learn about science and experience space missions first-hand.      http://www.challenger.org/

 They have been working very hard for the past six weeks or so to get ready for this trip. 

Every Thursday evening, they have been building rockets, rocket-propelled cars, doing experiments and even building a habitat out of plastic sheeting and a box fan. 

They have been divided into groups, both large and small, and the night they made the "house" out of plastic, they worked together as one large group and were not allowed to speak for an entire hour. 

That's right, no talking for a whole sixty minutes. They did it.....well, the house had a few leaks and technically, they would have died for lack of oxygen, but now they know what to do. 

I believe the objective for this mission is to build a permanent station on the moon for habitation.

Maybe we can take a family vacation there some day??

I have, at different times in my homeschooling career, 

wanted to be part of a homeschool co-op. 

For one reason or another, it has not worked out. 

There were either time conflicts, or age conflicts, or a waiting list and we never seemed to get in. 

Now, in our 18th year of homeschooling and after moving 800 miles "back home", 

my youngest three kids have the opportunity to participate in a co-op. 

Everything has it's time, as the Bible says.....so this year, they are learning to play hand bells and band instruments.....

and one is going to the moon!

I will let you know how it turns out and

 if you will be able to make vacation plans 

to the moon in the future.

Singing in Harmony

My family is a musical one with musical roots.