Hello!

I haven't been writing much, due to a few extra things going on right now. :-) Thought I would get in a quick update.

We were out of town this past week. Took our one week of vacation this year. We got to go to a Naval Rec Center here in Maryland that we just love. Right on the water, protected, not many people, hiking, parks, relaxing. Very very nice. We were all sad that we had only planned to be gone 5 days!! Oh well. We came home yesterday afternoon and hit the ground running.

Today was our Open House. Or, I should say, was supposed to be. We spent yesterday doing all the laundry and this morning making sure the house was cleaner than it ever has been. Then, about 2 hours before the Open House was supposed to start - rain. Not just a drizzle. Lightning, thunder, drenching rain. Oh, and did I mention the Tornado Watch? It all went away about 5 minutes before the Open House was supposed to be OVER. Needless to say, we canceled it and it is now happening tomorrow from 1-4 ... we hope. :-) My neighbor said this was all a sign that we weren't supposed to move. I said that I was believing this is God's way of saying He is in control. :-)

So, I am way over tired. WAY over tired. I'm 25 weeks pregnant and we are moving in 6 weeks. Our house has been on the market for 3 days. It is clean, but it will take a huge amount of effort to keep it even close to this state for very long! Plus, I need to get back to school mode this week. Finish up a bit of school and order supplies for next year. We have a ballet recital next weekend for Anne (which will take a lot of work this week). A family reunion for Old Man's family the last weekend in June. Can't think of what else is on the schedule. I think I'm ready to go back to the beach! I'll read, sleep, take baths, go for long walks, sit on the beach, swim ...

All right, back to reality. Maybe I should go to bed early tonight. :-) Oh! Hockey game on at 8 - Old Man won't even notice if I'm not in the room. :-)

How is everyone else doing?

Update on Vertigo Issue

While putting some books away today, I found a pregnancy journal I had kept while pregnant with my 1st child. (I only did that for baby #1, by the way - all the rest, nothing!) I glanced at a page - 22 weeks pregnant. Funny, I had horrible vertigo one day while 22 weeks pregnant with my 1st child!!! Hmmmm, what does that mean??? Melissa??? Any ideas?

Bad Mom Alert

I am not fit to be a mother today. I was feeling very sick this morning with vertigo. Since Old Man leaves at 6 in the morning, I didn't know this until he was already long gone. What do you do if you can't stand up for very long? Actually, it started off with just a little bit of dizziness, but quickly progressed to me feeling like throwing up while I stood. So I called the babysitter, asked her to come over asap (I should tell you about her - she is amazing - lives 5 minutes away, so was here in 15 minutes). I went to bed as soon as I called her. Oh, woke up the 10 year old and put her in charge while the babysitter was on her way. After a couple of hours in bed, I felt well enough to get a shower and come downstairs. Strange. Now we are getting to the horrible mom thing. It's 11ish this morning. I've been downstairs for maybe, hmmm, 15 minutes. I realize that none of us changed David's diaper. It is my responsibility, so don't blame the babysitter. First, I was up with him for 2 hours before she came over - and I didn't change it. Second, I always ask her if it needs to be done. As soon as I realized we hadn't changed him yet, I went to pick him up out of our LaZBoy chair. Stuck my hand right in the poop that was clear up his back. GROSS. His diaper was soooooo full of pee and poop that it couldn't hold it all. GROSS. Then I realized we only had 3 wipes downstairs - one for his back, one for my hand and one for the chair. I had to cart him upstairs, strip him down, wipe poop off of everything and give him a bath. Oh, and wash my hands 20 times. GROSS.

I'm turning in my Mother License this afternoon.

On a very funny note: apparently the other day our 4 year old son, Joseph, told his sister that he would rule over her one day. She was not impressed. I thought it was hilarious. Where do they come up with this stuff?

The Joys of De-cluttering

I think that title is a little bit of sarcasm. Anyone agree? So, as you can imagine, we are in frantic mode at my house. We need to have the house on the market by June 1, at the latest - preferably by May 23. Make note of that - it is less than 2 weeks from today. If I gave you the list of all that needs to be done, you would pass out. I feel like it. And I'm still attempting to finish school in the same 2 weeks, although it is definitely becoming less of a priority each day. (Especially since I missed taking a needed nap yesterday in order to do school work. Ouch.)

Yesterday I worked on getting the boys' room ready. It actually looks great right now! A friend called while I was working on it and she came over to help. (She brought her 4 kids too, so while we cleaned upstairs, the kids destroyed downstairs. :-) Oh well!) We took down the crib, sorted toys and books, moved the bed, rearranged all the furniture, cleaned, ... We even managed to get the crib in the attic! Old Man wasn't impressed that I helped to move a double bed while pregnant. I sweetly (ha) reminded him that HE ISN'T HOME to help me, so what am I to do? Yep, he worked another 14 hour day yesterday. I thought this would end once the move was certain. Sigh.

Today, we are tackling the girls' room. I am down here, on the computer, to lower my blood pressure. Nothing like opening the closet and seeing clothes everywhere - on the floor, the shelves, on top of the hangers - but NOT on the hangers. My blood pressure shot up, I took everything out of the closet, put it in a huge pile and told them they had 30 minutes or I was giving it all away. Each of the girls has been down here crying. Not budging. Nope, not. Other than that, it's going ok, but very very slow. Anne, our 7 year old wanted to keep half of a plastic egg. Why? Why? Why? Can anyone explain this to me? She collects everything. Rocks, feathers, beads, lip gloss, plastic jewelry, broken things, half of toys ... This could take a few days.

Better run. My blood pressure is down. I need to eat something. Hold David, who just crawled on my lap. Get back to work.

IT'S SIGNED!!!!

It is official. The waiver is signed (was on Monday, but did they think to call us and tell us? NO. Whatever.). Now it just has to go through AFPC (Air Force Personnel Center for all you non military folks) to have the orders made official. Old Man asked for a report no later than date of August 1, which means he will plan to leave here around July 15.

You probably think I'm jumping up and down right now, thrilled. Nope. I think I'm starting to panic. Feel overwhelmed. Freaking out. We have sooooo incredibly much to do, decisions to make, house to sell, things to get rid of, YIKES! Yep, panic. That is my feeling. Fortunately I have some verses posted next to me that I will be quoting over and over for the next couple months. Philippians 4:19, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Isaiah 40:31 and Galatians 6:9.

Gotta go. TONS to do!

I'm Having a Moment

I've been really patient with this whole not knowing thing. Serene, calm, not worried, patient. But right now, at this exact moment, I'm NOT. My living room is a shambles. We had it painted over the weekend and nothing is put back where it belongs. What to do? Do I put it all back the way it was, or pack up stuff in prep to sell? The lawn needs mowed - badly. But since we don't know if we're moving, Old Man is still putting in long hours at work and hasn't had time to mow. I would do it, am seriously contemplating mowing, but our lawn mower's self-propelled thingy is broken and the lawn mower might break me if I mow (which I am still thinking about doing). Hire someone else? Great thought, but so far I've been unable to come up with someone who can do it without hiring a service. Basically, I'm just tired of not being able to move forward. Do I pack up a bunch of stuff in prep for moving? Do I just try to reorganize and get rid of a few things in prep for baby #5 living in this house? Argh.

Ok, things could be worse, much worse. I keep telling myself this. Normally it works, but not at this moment. I will tell you about 3 people who are going through much worse things than I am right now. Maybe this will help fix my perspective.

Friend #1. They own a rental house. Went to check on it over the weekend. Largest amount of marijuana growing in a house EVER found in that county. Nice. They don't live in that town and are moving to England this summer. So in the next month they have to get the tenant officially evicted, clean up the house (which may require extensive renovations) and decide whether to attempt to sell or keep the house, all in addition to getting ready to move overseas!

Friend #2 (I don't actually know her, just know of her through another friend). They just moved to Hawaii. Expecting baby #7. Husband is on a ship and will be on it when baby is born. Living in a 1000 sq foot house - which has a termite problem. Household goods? Still on a boat somewhere. No maternity clothes, nothing. Oh, and she homeschools.

Friend #3. Her husband just died, at the age of 29, in a motorcycle accident last week. She is a widow, at 31 years of age with 3 children under 10 years of age.

Ok. So, see, my situation is NO BIG DEAL. No one is dead. My husband is in town (sort of - he works in another state, but he is home at nights!). If we don't get the waiver, no big deal, he will put in his retirement papers. Either way, this horrendous commute will end in the next 6 months. We can put the house on the market today, as it looks, and God is still in control of selling it. Bottom line. God is in control. He knows what is going on. He has a plan. Do I trust Him? Breathe, Tonya, breathe. Time to put on some uplifting music, pray for a while and get my mind back on track.

***Just in case you're wondering, we will not put the house up for rent. See Friend #1 above. :-)