back to life

I'm still dealing with a lot. I have paperwork and forms and applications up to my eyeballs, and enough phone calls to make that I should probably hire myself a secretary. As the daughter of a widow, I have always had an emergency "back up life plan" formulated in my mind, just in case--but having it there, and actually executing it have turned out to be two totally different things. I'm trying to make sure I only spend three hours a day on the business of re-inventing my life, and the rest trying to live and appreciate it.

I spent all Saturday morning working in my yard. Nothing like hard work to keep the mind occupied! I figured out how to "cold start" the lawnmower all by myself by moving the turtle/rabbit thingie. I also got the weed eater started on the first pull and fixed the line several times when it broke. I pulled all the weeds and re-seeded the bare patches of grass. And finally ran the leaf blower to clean the driveway and sidewalks. I had 8796 steps on my pedometer when I was done. Not bad, eh?!



Then my good (but blog-less) friend Heidi and I went to go see this:

Yes--when I have my pick of movies, I go see a documentary. I loved it though. Ben Stein just makes anything good. I know we all remember him as the teacher from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but he was actually a speech writer for President Nixon before starting down the acting path. Crazy! Anyway, I'm sure this won't be in theatres for too long, but I recommend seeing it if and when you can.

Saturday evening, the boys and I went to our next door neighbors, Chris and Michelle's, for a barbecue. A great use of a (finally!!!) warm day. There were 4 or 5 other families there and about 13 3,4, and 5 year olds. Very loud, but fun too. A lot of Guitar Hero was played-- with all the little ones 'busting a move' to "Slow Ride". It was HILARIOUS! Chris is a master on the barbecue and made these amazing hamburgers flavored with some kind of secret seasoning he won't reveal. I actually ate a whole one-- which I think is the most food I've eaten in two weeks. Even after we came back home, Liam and James continued to talk to all the kids through the knot holes in our fence. I think they also managed to push a few of the toys from the sandbox through the holes as well. Too cute!

Today before church, I packed up a quick lunch and we drove clear across town to picnic at a park in the foothills. As I watched the boys pair up on either end of the seesaw, and watched them help each other to go down the slide, and saw their precious faces just beaming in the Spring sunshine-- I could have kicked myself for not bringing the camera. But I took lots of pictures in my mind, and though those aren't the kind that you get to appreciate--they work just fine for me :).

So there I am trying to get on with this new chapter in my life-- and so grateful I have good friends and four beautiful boy faces to brighten up each day just a little. And I have even found myself smiling for 10 and 15 minutes at a stretch with no thoughts as to the difficulties that still lie ahead--just the blessings that are in front of me for the moment. And I think that's a good start!

(this is obviously an older photo of the boys and I, but I've always thought we looked just like angels in it! I figured I'd throw it up here so you had a little something more than google images to look at... and so that I could appreciate it throughout the day too ;)! ).