Super Mom Moments

The summer flew by. Like every summer I had so many plans for us, and the hot days jsut disappeared behind us in a poof. In counting the days, there are two less weeks in summer now than when I was a kid - and I'm guessing that losing those 14 days really does make it seem to fly by. I also enjoy the summertime days spent with my kids, mostly because I get to sleep in (sort of), and I think that time goes by faster when you're having fun!

Well, this summer we had an unexpected (and not welcome) surprise when Brian had to go TAD (that is temporary assigned duty to you non-military peeps :) to a patrol boat for 6 weeks. His leaving also meant that he was going to miss the beginning of school for the boys. But, living this life for nearly 14 years now, we knew that complaining about it won't make it go away so we adjusted the best we could.

So while Brian was gone I found myself playing Mom and Dad to three. That meant that if we were to eat, then I needed to go to the grocery store... with all three. If we were going to the movies then I needed to go... with all three. That the week I volunteered to help with church camp, then I needed to do it with a baby strapped to me! You get where I'm going. It was hard the first week, but eventually I went into survival mode - meaning some things just didn't get done, just the essentials, and sometimes I had to just let Samuel run around and be loud and not stress about it - and you know what? We survived!

My super mom moment though happened at the end of our time without Brian. His parent's wanted to spend some time with the kids and bought us all plane tickets to Alabama. Now, I offered to drive and in my mind figured out a way to make it work so that we made it without killing each other! But they insisted and I caved. My fear, though, was that I was still nursing Isaiah and had to take THREE WILD THINGS on a plane BY MYSELF. The point - I was not going to be in charge.

 

What if the fight got delayed. What if the boys got bored and loud. What if I didn't pack something we needed (which happened). What if we had a jerk in the seat in front of us and said something to my children. What if the ascent/decent hurt Isaiah's ears and he cried. What if I LOST one of them in the airport (Samuel probably). What if... What if... What if...

Well we set off that Saturday and I spent a LOT of time praying and you know what? We survived just fine!

I was able to fit everything the 4 of us needed into one suitcase (that we checked) and one backpack. We got to the airport with time to spare and the kids were awed just sitting by the window watching them take off and land. They were SO GOOD in the airport and on the plane. The attendants let us board first and I nursed Isaiah during takeoff and landing. The boys were elated for the attendants to bring them drinks and pretzels (you would have thought they had NEVER eaten anything so amazing lol), and were all three given sticker badges and wings for their adventure. And at the end of the day there was Nonie, DuDad and cousin Virginia (who entertained them on the drive home). Magical.

And on the way home. Even better. The guy in front of us promised the boys $1 each if they were good on the flight - and true to his word he paid up when we landed. The ladies two rows ahead of us were surprised to even see three children "And a BABY!" They had not even realized we were there.

Thank you Lord for the super mom powers for those days :)

Rifles for Watie

Over the summer I took the boys on occasion to the library. My hope was to get Jace excited and motivated to read. As a little girl I always loved to read, and still do today - if only there were more hours in the day! I remember many nights staying up late reading novel, mystery, suspense, adventure, and yes, romance. Even in college, I would blow off studying and pour myself into a book all night. My favorites then were Dean Koontz and Stephen King.

Back to the library... during one visit there recently I recalled My 6th grade teacher, Mrs. Newton, reading aloud to us at the end of each day. The school year ended before she finished the book and in a desperate act I begged Mom to take me to the town library so that I could finish it on my own. After the recent visit, I tried and tried to remember the name of the book Mrs. Newton read but after 20+ years my memory faltered. The book had it all, adventure, suspense, romance, and even a huge hunk of Civil War history.

The boys and I were back at the library yesterday afternoon after Jace informed me that he had been assigned a summer reading list (that he neglected to tell me about until AFTER his 3rd day back in school!). As he was searching for one title I was hunting down another. Plopped on the floor with a drooling Isaiah in my arms, I scanned the bottom shelf for The Story of Ferdinand and looked up and my eyes locked on IT, THE BOOK of my 6th grade year, Rifles for Watie. There seriously were little bursts of fireworks popping off in my head! I was so excited to find that book again and scooped it up and practically hustled the boys out the door.

As soon as we got home I had convinced Jace to let me read it aloud to him. He seems pretty into it, although we stopped at Chapter 3 so I could make dinner, and then today he was busy with other boy-things. No problem, I'm too impatient anyway and just finished off the entire book by myself as Brian watched his shows. At one point, Brian asked me if it was as good as I remember.

Yes. Even better. :)