Life on the First Day of February

I'm late, as usual, with my new blog header--a reminder to me that so much of the time, I still feel like a sandpiper, scurrying along just in front of the huge wave that's rolling in behind.  The wave is my schedule, and the sheer number of tasks left undone each day causes what should be a gentle swell on my heels (if a sandpiper had heels!) to feel instead like a tidal wave bearing down upon me.

However, there is hope!  

The kids had choir rehearsal tonight; and as I prepared for that and then spent several hours away from home for that, I couldn't help but remember how completely challenged I felt last fall on Monday nights.  Benjamin was born the day before the first choir practice of the fall semester; and each time I went to one, I felt a little--or a lot--out of control and unsure how things were going to go.  As it turned out, things went mostly fine, even if it did feel like hard work sometimes!  But having six children was so new, and so many days I felt like I was just hanging on, barely getting to the essentials of what I absolutely had to do.  Planning ahead was virtually unknown last fall, and even a simple evening away at choir felt demanding.

Tonight was different.  Oh, I still felt--and currently feel right this very minute--that I'm not finding the time to get to anywhere near the number of tasks I should be accomplishing.  But while I was sitting at choir this evening, I thought, "Wow, this feels so much easier than last fall did!  I know a little of what to expect from Benjamin, I'm confident that Moriah will sit still and listen to Shav's class without disrupting it, the older boys know what they're doing and I don't have to give them play-by-play instructions.  We've really come a long way since the fall!"  :)

My sandpiper costume began to transform ever so slightly into that of a seagull.  Someday I'll feel the sensation of soaring again.  :)

In other news on the first day of February, the puppies--the ones I really thought would just be a bother and I didn't want to have anything to do with them--have wormed themselves into my heart so much that I'm already having to steel myself against the day they start leaving for their new homes.  Oh, I definitely want to make sure they each go to a good home; and I'm sure that when they're bigger (and noisier...and smellier), I'll be ready for them to depart.  But for now, I'm savoring the sight of puppies snuggling and just being generally adorable.  Don't grow up too fast, little puppies!!