Take 2- The Flip side

Wow. I really struggle with computers. Don't know what just happened, but managed to post a random grouping of letters. I was trying to type and nothing was showing up so as I banged on the keys in no particular order, hehe he was what came out! Almost like this stupid machine was mocking me...oh well, at least it wasn't an explicative! Jokes on me!
Anywho. I've decided something about myself. My blogging is in direct correlation to my lifestyle or habits....If bloggers had sub-types, I would fall into the "binge blogger" group!! It's feast or famine with me! Maybe this will serve as a warning that my posts may be few and far between, but sit down with some no-doze when it comes because it's gonna be a long one! :)

I so want to be a disciplined person....feet on the floor 6:00 a.m., showered and fixed hair complete with make-up and a fashionable outfit,wonderful time of prayer and bible reading, hot breakfasts for the family,no tardies for my orderly children, never miss a work out, a spotless house, perfectly manicured yard, a clean shiny mini-van Ha! 4 course meal on table each night, followed by bathed kids hopping in bed at 7:30 sharp! Wa-la!
***********************************Yeah, right.

My life is more like this: feet on the floor at 6:55 (b/c that's the absolute latest I can get up and be on-time) who cares about a shower! Hair in pony-tail, whatever make up I find is fished out after the girls have played in it and a fashionable outfit-unless a stain of orange carrots on my boob is an accessory, why ruin something cute? As for prayer-it consists mostly of Dear Lord, help us! There are melt downs happening all around, Jud is having breakfast off the floor where the kids dropped their fruity cheerios (and please don't let him choke, Lord) scramble out of the door running for the car while cramming a bow in Ellie's hair and smoothing Jeremiah's duck tail down in back....Bruiser is lost in the rapidly growing weeds on the way to the car and my daily workout consists of dragging her and her "treasures" ( -today its rocks. Not pebbles. Rocks-small boulders.) to and from all the places we go in between. If french fries, coke, cheeseburger and apple pie is a 4 course meal, then I've got that covered, but as for the rest....it's just a joke. I think you get the point.
I'm learning, though, that there is a flip side to not being so disciplined and scheduled that's rather blissful. Well, maybe not blissful but comical and never dull-nonetheless.
Case in point:
1.If I were disciplined and awoke early, I'd miss the opportunity to hear my 3 year old pitter-pat down the hall, proudly waking us up in the a.m. and proclaiming that my husband has "horse-breath"!
2.While fishing the rocks from the gas fire-place out of the baby's mouth, i might not have noticed those FOUR big new teeth he seemed to have acquired over-night.
3. My clean house that gets messy in 2.2minutes provides a never-ending source of joy for finding new treasures that had once thought to be gone forever! The barbie stiletto, the brown hair polly pocket, a leapster game hidden under the couch, and hallelujah! A passie!!! It's fun to see little faces light up like Christmas in September!
4. If my yard were manicured, that would be boring....after all, a highlight of last week was my sister-in-law killing a real live rattlesnake!!!! in the yard complete with chicken little (me) on back up with the rake in case she missed with the shovel. Big fun! We were heroes for the day and our status even carried on to school as kindergarten and 1st grade heard all about the adventure.
5.If my children were orderly and disciplined as well, then the house would be quiet in the afternoons as little ones napped and older ones had room time. Instead, the baby, (who thankfully can sleep through a hurricane) does nap while all around him a transformation is going on. Peter Pevensie makes a visit and fights the white witch complete with costume and sword. I hear a loud thud and assume the white witch was dealt her fatal blow. Meanwhile down the hall, the princesses are having a party. Belle and Cinderella are having tea -that quickly turns into a cat fight-the remedy; a change of clothes. Next, enters Tinkerbell as she attempts to "fly" by jumping from bed to bed. (I wondered how long it would take them to realize their beds were within jumping distance). If we were disciplined, things would be quiet alright, but we might miss the celebrities that visit our house at unexpected times!
6. And, last, I'd miss the opportunity to have my very own Picasso Painting. Yes. Picasso. With a touch of Van Gough. After Tinkerbell and "Genevieve" -from the 12 dancing princesses-were separated for their antics, Tink (aka Saddler) was sent to the spare bedroom to rest and have a time out. Unbeknownst to me, the Benjamin Moore paint samples we'd been trying out were stored in there...at eye level for a 3 year old. Suddenly, the walls were a blank canvas just waiting to be transformed! And transformed they were....along with the carpet and baseboards and purple tutu that she happened to be wearing. Nice. Dill Pickle green everywhere. Our very own art. (I'll try to download pictures later) Quite comical. All I could do was take a picture and start scrubbing. What more can you say? One day, I'll miss those little hand prints that are displayed so proudly in lime green.

In the meantime though, maybe a little discipline on our lives wouldn't be so bad after all! (said with a wink and a smile) !
I want to close with a favorite poem of mine. It comes from the book A Mother's Heart by Jean Flemming.
"Now is the time to get things done....
wade in the water,
sit in the sun,
squish my toes
in the mud by the door,
explore the world in a boy just four.

Now is the time to study books,
flowers,
snails,
how a cloud looks;
to ponder "up",
where God sleeps nights,
why mosquitoes take such big bites.

Later there'll be time
to sew and clean,
paint the hall
that soft new green,
to make new drapes,
refinish the floor--
Later on....when he's not just four.
Irene Foster

Pulls those heart-strings, huh? This has been a comfort to me-the disciplined wanna-be-on days like I've had recently. Hope it gives you "hope" as well!

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope."
Romans 15:13

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heHhe

A Lesson In Lice. and warning:May contain TMI (too much information, mom)

So, as I stated in my last blog, pride really does come before the fall. In case you are wondering what I mean, let me give you a recent example from a day in the life of the Sachs. Rewind to Tuesday 1 week ago, and I shall explain how it all began.

   So, Cord is in Tampa on a rather impromptu business trip and I am manning the fort myself.

 "I can do this! It's only a 48 hour trip...I CAN get the girls to their first ballet lessons, handle homework, organize a mom's breakfast for the kindergarten class, prepare our 3rd child for her first day at a new "school", remember to nurse the baby, feed healthy fast food to my little chicks, get them bathed, read a devotion and get them into bed, pack backpacks, lunch boxes, lay out clothes and find that ridiculous blue sheet immunization form tonight in order for Saddler to be legal at Mom's day out tomorrow.... Soooooo that I can get up & out of the door, take 1st day of school pics for my 3 year old, deposit kids to their classes, put the baby in the nursery AND fulfill my obligation in the ever-coveted position of Room Mother by attending a meeting at 8:00 the following morning." (deep breath). I. Can. Do. All. Things. Through. Christ. Who. Gives. Me. Strength." 

(someone told me self-talk like this really helps...I think they lied.)

TIME: SOMETIME WEDNESDAY a.m-TOO EARLY FOR NORMAL PEOPLE. (T-minus 10 hours til the moment of humbling)

   Feeling rather un-refreshed from a not-so-great night sleep (compliments of Saddler winding up in my bed), I push little feet out of my face, un-wedge- lost somewhere in the abyss of covers-the barbie that has made a nice imprint in my back, AND hop outta bed rising to the glorious calling of my day. Ha! If only I knew!! While I felt quite exhausted, I did feel pretty proud of myself and all that I had accomplished the night before. I was doing ok at this mommy thing. I even managed to wipe the dust off the family Bible and read them a devotion the night before. Awe, that's so nice. My blissful arrogance propelled me through the morning. Feed baby Jud. Check. Get children up and at'em. Check. Cereal for breakfast-quick and easy.Check. Uniforms on, lunch boxes in back packs.Check. Saddler-fix hair cute...it is first day. Check. Shave my legs and put on some makeup for my most important meeting. Check. Extra clothes, baby food, bibs, diapers and diaper bag ready. Check. Blue immunization form. Uh-oh. Forgot this one. Maybe they'll let it slide since she's not foaming at the mouth or anything! Ok. Re-group. LOAD UP!! We might just make it! Hooray! Oops. Unload. Forgot to snap a picture of Saddler's First Day. Back in van and off we go wheeling out of our drive way! This is gonna be great, I say to myself. :)

  We arrive at school on time-barely- and with a little shooing along, we manage to have everyone deposited in their respective class rooms, baby in the nursery and  me-off I go with head held high to my room mom meeting all ON TiME. A modern day miracle. Ahhh, it's great to be a mommy! As I approach the meeting room, I could almost hear the "hallelujahs" from Heaven as this "elite" group mothers was mingling. (Did I ever mention that all I wanted to be when I grew up was a Room Mom for my kids classes?) Things went great, we got our job description and off we were...  to be heroes for the teachers. Since I did already have a spot for Judson in the nursery, and all other children were supervised by qualified individuals, I decided to reward myself and drive to my favorite breakfast place for coffee and a bagel. Oh! And look! I even had a grown up book to read...I discovered it by default as I slammed on the brakes at a light...haha! Out it flew from under a seat! (one day I'll blog on the condition of my mini-van)

  You always hear that Hindsight is 20/20. Shoulda paid attention. Clue #1-thinking rather highly of myself for doing what normal parents do without a glitch on a daily basis. Clue#2- considering myself one of the privileged few to be mother of 4-no nanny/maid/cook AND ever-eager room mom. Here comes Clue #3- found in book which I am now certain the Lord sovereignly delivered out of the rubble of my car in order to prepare me for the impending doom that lie ahead.

exhibit A: a summary of my reading at the coffee shop.

  "All day every day we are being re-shaped into the image of Christ. Everything that happens to us is designed to this end....nothing is wasted, nothing is missing. There is never a moment that does not carry eternal significance-no action that is sterile, no love that lacks fruition and no prayer that is unheard.... The apparent frustrations of circumstances, seen or unforeseen, of illness, of misunderstandings, even of our own sins, do not thwart the final fulfillment of our lives hidden with Christ in God."  -Brennan Manning Abba's Child 

  Humm. How encouraging and un-nerving all at once. The enemy whispers at this time "You know, your husband is flying back today...something may go terribly wrong with the plane". Dear God how aweful! Isn't my lack of faith and fear of the unknown sad!! Anyhow, along I go with my day. Feeling a smidge less confident of myself and more aware of my Savior who is before all things and holding -even at this moment-all things together. The time arrives to rescue the school from my children and I am on the home stretch now. Cord will be home at 9:00. Kid's eat free at a local restaurant so I am meeting Misty at 5:00. All I have to do now is coast!!! Work on a little homework, put younger ones down to nap and it's all good. Or so I thought. It's 1p.m. T-minus 2.5 hours. The afternoon is peaceful....I even sprawl across my bed as the kids have room time. Homework time. T-minus 1 minute....Ellie is getting her notebook out, finding her jumbo pencil, and 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, TWO. ONE.  BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!! HERE IT COMES.

  "Mommy, my head is just itching soo very bad!" It's driving me crazy and it just won't stop"! Says my beautiful little blond head. 

  "Ellie, just try not to think about it and lets get busy" I say as I begin to move on. Wait. What was that email last week about checking your kid for lice.?! NO. Surely not. Can't be. Deep Breath. Ok, several deep breaths.

  "Ellie. Come here and let me see." Since this is my first experience with this loathed event, i tried to recall what to do. I went back to my days when the teachers would call us up one by one and using 2 ink pens, they would fish through our hair looking for the little creatures. Yuck! So, not real sure what I was looking for, I began to see little gray dots in her hair. They were hard as anything to pull out! My heart began to beat a little faster. Quick. Call somebody, Milma!(My mother-in-law) She'll know. Tegan once had it. (Sorry teg!) As I described my situation, Milma it became evident that I was now living out one of my deepest motherhood fears. LICE. UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

   Sometimes, every once in a blue moon, you have these moments in mothering that you just want to freak out and run as far a way as you can. Or, in my case, to the nearest road with a yellow line-lay down on the stripe and pray that a Mac truck comes hard and fast! Take me now Lord! Take me!!

Well, since Cord was still on a plane, I couldn't risk leaving the kids as orphans. My family would kill me. So,  I did what every mom has to do sometimes. I reached deep deep down inside, told myself "I can do this!" Put my Big girl panties on, and decided to take on the lice. Full force. 

  Greater love hath no other friend than this...to still go eat at kids eat free night knowing the other family is infested! Thanks Misty!:) "Guess what! We have bugs in our hair! Isn't that cool?!" My kids announced. OH MY Gosh!!! People -I'm certain- discreetly moved tables or vacated the place altogether. My dear friend even offered to watch my children as she followed us from store to store to purchase artillery. (I'm thinking of calling Oprah to nominate her for friend of the year). Evidently this is a popular season for the pesky little bugs. Took several pharmacies to find enough kits to treat the entire Sachs family. At each location I felt the compulsion to detail our hygiene regimen. A feeble attempt to reassure the pharmacist that we really were clean people and not negligent parents. You have how many children?! They'd ask. Well, sorry. Only have 2 kits. Off to the organic store I went. Someone said RID could be linked to childhood cancer. Lovely. Inside, you guessed it. Fresh out- only i was mortified to discover that. The old lady stocking the shelves hollers out;

"This lady has lice infestation in her family! Can anyone help her find something? Any more in the back? She's on isle 3!"    NO. SHE. DIDN'T. NO SHE DIDN'T JUST DO THAT! I sheepishly smiled and mumbled something about how many bathes we take and that we even brush and floss daily. I then ran, not walked to the nearest exit. Won't be back there for a while!  Couldn't ask my sweet friend to follow us all over town anymore, so I relieved her of her lice watching duties. Off to Whole Foods on the other side of town. Here come the barrage of questions from J-man.

1. Momma. What are "flice"? bugs son. little gross bugs. and they are called lice not flice. 2. Momma, where did they come from? I don't know, Jeremiah.  3. Momma. What do they eat. (trying to make this as not cool as possible and paint a dismal picture so we never have this again, i began.) "Buddy, they live in your hair crawl really fast and with their little claws they hold onto your hair, climb up to your scalp and eat your blood. But you can't feel it. just itches, like mosquito's." MISTAKE. BIG MISTAKE. forgetting Saddler was bug-a-phobic, she went ballistic! Screaming crying .  I...don't...want....dese...bugs.......WHAAAAAAA! I don't have flies in my hhhh -aaaa- iii -rrrr! More wailing.  It persisted all the way to Whole Foods, inside the store complete with her hands glued to her hair as she followed me screaming, "I don't feel like I have bugs in my hair!"

   By now, all my dignity was stripped. My confidence was long gone, and I was ready to curl up in the fetal position and cry while rocking back and forth. How could this day have started so perfect and end so humbling?!!! See, told ya. Pride does come before the fall. 

   Weary from lice and exhausted from gathering our ammunition, our little crew stumbled back to the house only seconds before "DADDDY!!!" got home. Praise God his plane made it. I've never been so happy to see my knight in shining armor's face!! Honey. Bad news. We have Lice. What???!!! Lice?? Are you sure. yep . I am sure. Noooo!  So, in our denial we decided to go to bed and start the fumigating process the next morning. What's just one more night with bugs?? uhhh. I still feel crawling sensations. Don't you just feel the need to scratch thinking about it?!

   As I lay in bed (probably with a few more guests than i realized) I was humbled and brought to repentance via bugs. And, thankful for the gentle exhortation that apart from HIM I can do nothing and  grateful for the chance to trust Him again tomorrow.  I picked up that book again. You know, the one with clue #3.  This is what i read.

   "A  hard day, yes. Rattled and unglued, yes. Unable to cope, no. How does the life-giving Spirit of the risen Lord manifest Himself on days like that? In our willingness to stand fast, our refusal to run away and escape into self-destructive behavior. Resurrection power enables us to engage in the savage confrontation with untamed emotions, to accept the pain (or in my case, lice) receive it, take it on board(they are like hitch-hikers), however acute it may be. And in the process we discover that we are not alone, that we can stand fast in the awareness of present risenness and so become richer fuller deeper disciples." 

  Great is His faithfulness! How precious it is to me, that no trial great or small, goes un-noticed or un-planned by the Father. My Father is the God of the universe. Creator of every living thing and sustainer of all. Matthew 10:29 - "Are not 2 sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't don't be afraid; you are worth far more than many sparrows."  Every detail in my life is ordained and comes to me sent directly from His hand for my good and His glory. I guess you could say I've learned a "Lesson in Lice" this week in more ways than one. Imagine my disgrace when the "room mom" had to report that her children will not be at school due to bugs. That was a fun email to have sent out school wide. And, I realize, like lice, sin has to be dealt with and attacked aggressively. We could leave no room unturned, no fabric, hats, dress up clothes, ribbons, barbie, stuffed animal, clothing, bedding, mattresses, furniture or carseat un-treated. (I should be this diligent with the cleaning of my heart!) Searching and exterminating any root of bitterness, pride, contempt, fear or doubt that My Father will not faithfully be working and moving to make me look more and more like His Son, Jesus! Praise God!

And FYI, I have a great website for organic lice shampoo and daily repellent spray in case this disaster ever befalls your family. You can save yourself the embarrassment of having to go store to store. If your really feel ashamed, have your lice shampoo sent to your address but put your old high school enemy's name on it! ;) 

  

  

  

AGHHH! The BlogStopper:(

Ok. I have to issue all of you sweet girls a HUGE apology. My sweet, chivalrous, protective husband doesn't want weirdos reading my blog...sooooo, last week he shut me down temporarily. To top it off, he went out of town with the only working family computer, so I couldn't even warn you.! I am so very sorry if any of you thought I was dis-satisfied with you or was somehow offended, etc.!!! That is the farthest from the truth. The reality is, I was so humbled and flattered that each one of you took precious time out of your day to bore yourself with my ramblings and interesting-only-to-the-grandparents kind of material. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for glancing at this and if you want to continue to keep up with the nutty Sachs family, shoot me and email or leave me a comment and I will issue you some sort of invitation kind of thing. According to my husband, a.k.a the "blogstopper", I can only let normal nice people who aren't stalkers hear all the intimate details of my children. AgHhmmm. (sigh).  Now that we got that little matter taken care of, lets get to the fun stuff. OHHHH my. How fun our week has been.Loads let me tell ya!

   But, apparently that will have to wait until tomorrow. Just to keep you guessing though, I'll give you a hint! The Lord has humbled me in ways I didn't know were possible....it is true that pride comes before the fall....and my house is as clean and de-contaminated as it ever hopefully will be. Any guesses? We had unwelcome "visitors" at our house. I obviously did not heed the warning that lice was making its way through the kindergarten at school. Yes! I did say Lice!!! How nice!........More to come later! Love to you all!!!

Weekend words

We spent Labor Day weekend here in B'ham trying to get things done around the house. With a holiday weekend and no babysitters in town, we had the kids in tow and needed to get out. We headed to a favorite Mexican restaurant that has live music on the deck on Fridays. It was a blast....if i closed my eyes it almost felt like we were in Florida with the sunset and breeze. Ahhhh. Anyway. Before I knew it Saddler had bolted. (Closely followed by big sister Ellie who doesn't want to miss out on any fun but is a bit to reserved to bust out on her own). We laughed and laughed as our uninhibited daughters danced and danced right up in the musicians face, turning the deck of the restaurant into a make-shift stage. Hysterical. Saddler completed the end of each song with a bow! They were pretty cute! The other desperate parents without babysitters were loving it as they shooed their kids out there to follow suit. As we were leaving, Saddler got "hit on" as Cord said, by another 4 yr. old. In typical kid-fashion he says, "hey. You wanna run around with me?" She blew him off the first time just and kept dancing. The sweet boy got his nerve up to ask again and she cocked her head to the side and said,"uH, No. actually, I wood weally radder just climb lite poles or something" SHot down! Bless his bones. He dropped his head and walked away! But not for long...she eventually ran with him:) 

   Tomorrow is a big day. Ballet starts for both the girls. Ellie is a great little ballerina. I'm especially anxious to see how Saddler will do. Our "Bruiser". Ballet may never be the same!!! I don't know if she can be still long enough to learn the positions. Nevertheless, she's been ready for "baw-way"  for 2 long years. She's so excited that she is in her bed asleep with Ellie's old ballet shoes on! 

   This week actually holds lots of firsts. First ballet practices, first soccer practices (with Cord as coach) and Saddler's first day of school. As I was tucking them in- urging them to go to bed good since tomorrow was such a big day-Ellie begins to console me on how I'll be "OK" with and empty house once Saddler is in mom's day out. Out of no-where she tells me. "Don't worry, mom. It will only be for a little part of the day and you can have so much fun being home! You can do your chores and clean up (yippe- skippy) and even take a nap!!! And you'll be just fine because you won't really be alone! You'll have God, Jesus and Jud!"  

  God, Jesus and Jud. My 3 amigos! Not bad companions....I'll let you know how it goes;)!!