And Then Life Happened

I'm a mom 24/7 and have been since I was 22 years old. Of course I didn't have 5 sons at age 22 but several months after I turned 33 I had our 5th son. By that time Jonathan was in his first cancer fight . We settled into the routine of life with some extra bumps and curves because of the affects the stroke left on him. Being a dad and a business owner is always hard work, but its doubly hard when you can't talk or express yourself well. It was life.

Here we are 13 years later and, the boys have grown into fine young men. Carlin the baby will be 13 years old this month, Justin is only days away from his wedding and everyone constantly is on the move, facing new challenges, dealing with issues and coping with life....its the norm.

Mckenzie winking

Years ago when I was buried in child care, changing diapers and wiping noses a friend who is about 10 years older then me and whos children were about 10 years ahead of mine, said to me," I find that I am busier now then I was when the children were little". Honestly I was shocked! And I was also sure that she did not know how to manage her time! I did not understand how in the world I could possibly get busier then I was then. But now I am here. It is true, I am not in baby care and I don't need to get up at night with babies. I do not have those unplanned interruptions and messes to clean up.I am not settling fights and reading stories and enforcing nap time. The floor does not get strewed with toys for the baby. The table is free of play dough and paper scraps and crayons that the preschooler loved. I am not going on frantic searches for the babies pacifier or going into panic mode cuz I just discovered I'm almost out of diapers. No, those things are all behind me.

And I am busier then I ever was! I get up earlier on a regular basis then I ever did in my life. Its a result of choices that I made. I have obligations to get done, deadlines to meet, schedules to keep, and grown sons to keep happy. I have lots of shirts to iron. They think I iron to much but I don't want them to look like they don't have a mom! They can devour cookies and milk like a bunch of cookie monsters. Food gets consumed and the laundry pile grows at alarming speed!

Enjoying breakfast that the guys cooked

 I had a text message on my phone on Sat morning. It said , "Kevin and I want the kitchen in the morning". I was amazed. You see Kevin is Justins good friend and was visiting last weekend.They are both getting married and both of their girlfriends were in the area. The guys made breakfast in my kitchen. They made sausage and pancakes and scrambled eggs. They set the table pretty and dressed up all fancy and told the girls to be here at 10;30. It was really neat. I stayed out of the kitchen until they were almost finished eating then I ate the leftovers. I offered to clean up the mess too because they wanted to go do some work at Justins house. Life is interesting.

 On Valentines Day I woke up with a knot in my stomach. I wished I could just skip the day. So instead I worked like crazy. New carpet was put in Davids bedroom and I needed to clean the windows and hang new curtains and get the furniture back in place. He had been at Bible School for 6weeks and was coming home that evening.I had a lot of work to do. A friend and a sister-in-law stopped in with some chocolate for me. The boys showed up with a big bouquet of flowers. Mary and Mckenzie brought me flowers and chocolate. I'm a blessed person. David arrived home and his room was ready for him.

Jeremy just had his 18th birthday. This was the year for his golden birthday. Months ago he said that he was going to go snow boarding that day, all day! Well, he didn't. Instead he worked at Justin's house like a nice brother should. And at the end of the day he said,"Birthdays are kinda just another day". And I thought he must have grown up!

Jeremy and his cookie monster cake

Carlin is loving school. He did a research report on Health. I will be posting some of it on a later date ....I was so pleased that his teacher gave him the suggestion on health and we learned more about the evils of high fructose corn syrup which is found in many foods that are on the shelf at the grocery store. They invited the parents to school to listen to the reports and dressed up for the occasion.

Carlin reading his health report at school

The flue knocked me down last week just like it did a bunch more people. It was very bad timing because I wanted to paint at Justins house. The painting got done without me thanks to other ladies that were helping and Jessica's long days of hard work. Justin was pushing the paint roller for 12 hours one day. They got a lot done in several days!

 I stay busy and occupied all the time. Life goes on and we adjust to the changes. God is faithful all the time.

We are at the 3 year mark of the surgery that Jonathan had to remove his tumor in his upper leg behind his stomach. We were in Mexico. In the hospital the night before I was terribly afraid and felt so alone. My children were coming the next morning. Jonathan was half with it because of being on heavy pain meds. It was only God that kept me together. And it is still Him that keeps me together!

And my sweet grandbaby had her first birthday. It is truly amazing how fast this year has gone! She is a very busy lil girl and gets lots of attention from all of us. She can wink when we ask her too and gives high 5's. Life with a lil girl around is so interesting!

First birthday

Changes are a part of life. I get to choose how I deal with the changes. Honestly even the good things that  I am happy about are still hard to be ok with because changes stretch me to a new normal. But if I resist the changes I won't be happy and the changes will still happen, so I may as well accept changes and be happy. I'm glad my boys did not stay babies forever, I'm glad they grow up and move on in life, I'm glad they are happy and serving God...but when they leave home my Mother heart feels a little sad. I once heard a minister say " The two best gifts we can give our children are Roots and Wings". They tell me that I still need to work on the Wings.

The cakes were both made by Gina Stoltzfus. She has amazing talent in the cake department!