A New Name

We decided it was time for me to get back to blogging. After a long stretch of silence, I am glad to start up again~maybe this way I will remember something about my kids childhood! Upon trying to find my own blog, I googled "a quiver full" and to my horror  astonishment, I found that there is a whole movement/lifestyle widely known as the quiver full movement. Once I got over the shock of it all, it was really funny. I'll spare the details but it basically demonizes any form of birth control. Enough said. SOOOOOOO. I have a new blog name and address..."Its NUTS at the Sachs House."

And that it is -Nuts at our house and pretty much wherever we go. Like yesterday. I was a single mom for a few days and we were running out of milk and diapers fast. Our 2 yr old- affectionately known as the "Bud"- didn't get a nap. One child had gymnastics and another  had soccer. In the midst of the carting them from one destination to the other, I committed a cardinal sin of motherhood: The grocery store. All five animals precious lambs. At supper time. WHAT IN THE (insert explicative) WAS I THINKING?

The show started in the parking lot as the Bud  began crying and begging to ride in the "bye bye buggy" (one of those big honkin' grocery carts with steering wheels mounted on them for unruly children like mine). I hate 'em...its like pushing a train and I never fail to knock at least one display over. Not only that, but the baby's pumpkin seat won't fit which means we have to use 2 buggies. Jman and E started fighting over who would push the baby, Jeremiah stepped on Bruiser's flip-flopped clad feet with his cleats so then I had two wailing kids. The baby got startled so 3  there were screaming and I hadn't even gotten out of the parking lot. We made it to the door with me carrying Bruiser in one arm, pushing the baby in the buggy with the other, while J and E fought pushing the bye-bye buggy. I'm tired just thinking about it. 
We got inside Publix and they began the hungry whine...."Momma, we're STARVING. The least you could do is let us get a free cookie." Ugh. J ate his, E had hers-I told the other 2 they needed to wait til dinner. The Bud looked straight at me and shoved it in his mouth begging for more...nasty brown drool running down his chubby chin. We made it to isle 2 before he reached over yanked his sister's cookie out of her hands and crammed it in his mouth. More wailing. You should have seen the stares I got! As if we were a freak show or something. 

I was so done. To all the audience gawking at my fiasco, I just wanted to calmly say: "Yes,I've got my hands full. Yes, we could have our own basketball team. No, I am not babysitting any extra kids and Yes. I do know how "that" happens....
Pardon me? Do I realize my 2 yr old is standing up in the buggy? Why, yes, I do. And if I'm lucky he might fall and get knocked out (but not really hurt) for just about 5 minutes so I have won't have to hear him scream! Now leave me alone, kind Publix patrons!"

But I refrained. And that is all I want to remember about yesterday. Whew.

More Grace, Lord! More Grace!!!!

The Only Mother's Day Present I Ever Really Wanted Was To Be One...

And I got it. Five times over. (Nine, if you count my babies born straight into the arms of God.) This Mother's Day was different from the other eight I've celebrated for one reason. Perspective. I found something the other day that stopped me in my tracks. Amidst picking up the children's story books and stacking them on the hearth for what had to be the gazillionth time, an old journal tumbled out of the basket. The only entry was dated January 11, 2007. The ink on the paper was smudged with tears as I penned my grief over the loss of my "Granny" On and on I lamented over lost opportunities to glean from her wisdom, to ask her a question about sewing or even see her bounce my little ones on her knee. But one thing tightened my throat and stole my breath. The words read:

"Since she's been gone, I keep trying hard to remember conversations I had with her~things she taught me, the cooking, the sewing, the love for reading. One thing stands out in my mind clear as day- just after Jeremiah was born. I can still her her voice.Having had a stillborn herself, she knew the pain of miscarriage and the intense longing I'd had for a child. It was the weekend of Wes and Nicole's wedding...I was nursing Jeremiah and she was sitting right beside me on the hotel bed~smiling that beautiful smile and just marveling at the newborn babe in my arms. "I'm so glad you got your baby" ~And she was so happy for me. So very happy."

I read and re-read the entry. Tears rolling down my face and my heart full of thanksgiving for the legacy of mothers I have. I closed my journal and opened my heart. Opened my heart to embrace the trials and travails of this short, sweet season in my life. To look at this day as a Holy privilege and be thankful for each life the Lord has entrusted us with. To look past the sharpie on the wall, that new tube of lipstick now ruined, the mounds of laundry and dishes...To stop thinking of how many times a day I say the same thing over and over,  how they keep me from completing a task or my gosh-will bedtime ever come?! Today. Just for today, I resolved to soak up the moments to memorize the monotony, and to be thankful.

 That sounds really good, huh. Idealistic. It won't last...but today I'll celebrate this little victory. Of course Mother's Day couldn't be complete without lots of tears, attitude adjustments and a toilet clogged with a matchbox car wedged so tightly that the whole throne had to be dismantled. Ha! Just another day in the life that I love.

What a great day its been remembering the privilege of motherhood. Church was incredible-we had Communion (my favorite thing) then went for Thai food at the kids request. And I got the best gifts ever- An apron I've been wishing for from Anthropologie and a painting. What a sweet day.

Thank you, Father, for making all my dreams come true.