What a week it has been. But we have learned so much. It’s interesting how God uses the surprises in life to teach us lessons we couldn’t have learned otherwise.

One thing I’ve learned is that when my focus is not taken outside of my home, I get so much accomplished at home. I have done many baskets of laundry this past week and it’s actually caught up! I haven’t spent my days running out the door to the Monroe house as soon as possible and coming in late wondering why the housework isn’t done. Instead we have gotten back into our school routines, the girls have practiced piano faithfully, and we have just stayed home. What a strange feeling!

Today Michael is off work, so I’m hoping to scoot over to Monroe and get some painting done. I also need to figure out a menu and do grocery shopping. But one thing I don’t need to worry about today is laundry.

Evening update:

I’m sitting in my bed with a sleepy baby snoozing off and on while leaning on my chest. I keep thinking about what a productive day I had over at the Monroe house today! I finished a big painting project (the kitchen crown molding) and got lots of other little things done. I finally had to stop, even though I was really enjoying the work I was doing, because the children were getting restless and I still needed to get to the grocery store. So I finished the caulking around the sink, washed off my hands, nursed the baby one more time, and headed to Aldi. I must say, even when I maintain a good attitude and have well-behaved children, it’s still a huge project to take seven children (ages 12 and under) to the grocery store. We made it through the store without anyone wetting their pants, getting lost or tipping over the shopping cart. But even so, as I was bagging up the groceries, a nice grandma-lady came up to me and asked if I needed help getting the children and groceries loaded up. I wasn’t sure I understood her at first, but after she repeated her offer, I thanked her kindly and told her I thought I’d be ok. Lilly had been fussing almost the whole time I was bagging groceries, so I guess it was more than the lady could bear. I assured her that Lilly was fine and that I would have the children help me. Fortunately the children DID help me get loaded up, and when we got home, they also helped unload the van. Still, no matter how helpful the children try to be, it’s still stressful to have the baby crying and people wanting to eat and groceries spilling out of their bags.

So here I sit, enjoying the peace and quiet, and feeling good that I got two little boys tucked into bed and one industrious girl through her piano practice. Soon I will chase the other children off to bed and see if I can make some hot-cocoa mix so I won’t be tempted to keep buying the stuff in the packets. It will all depend on whether or not Lilly will stay asleep after I put her down. I just can’t leave her to cry for very long before I hurry back and try to console her. Long gone are the days of being hard-hearted toward a crying baby. I’m a big ol’ softie these days.

Tomorrow is another day, and I’m hoping I can do some more painting over at Monroe. We’ll see how it all works out.