The Simple Life at Home

Whew!! I feel like the last 5 days or so I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off! From the time we got the news that the kids had both gotten a seat at the school, we've been going non-stop trying to prepare them.

First there were the school supplies to buy. Going by the school-supplied list, we hit store after store trying to round everything up. When it was all said and done, we had more than two laundry baskets full of stuff and our wallets were quite a bit lighter!

Then there were the last minute academic things to stress with them, the emotional and social "tips," the lectures about choosing friends wisely and standing true to the values they hold.

On Sunday we went in and met with the middle school counselors to work out the kids' schedules. They've got some great classes on their schedules and are looking forward to beginning classes next week.

This week, however, is a whole other matter. This week has been like going to camp almost! Emily's group is working on a photography project and has been going all over Doha - the zoo, a boat ride, the souq (a traditional Arab market), museums, etc. Daniel's group has been doing "culture-building." They are divided into teams and each team is creating a culture from scratch - complete with music, religion, art, daily life, etc. Today I dropped him off for the culmination of the week, an overnight campout on the beach. He was so excited!!

Both kids have met several kids and had time to find their way around the school, locate their classrooms and get settled in. Come Monday when regular classes begin, I think they will be much more confident now that they won't be venturing into the unknown. They've really enjoyed the week so far and I think this is a great move for them. In just a few days, I've seen them both perk up and return to being the happy, enthusiastic children I've always known.

And as for me? Well, I've been keeping myself plenty busy. After dropping them off on Monday, I headed home, jumped on the treadmill, showered and headed off to a meeting for the facilitators of the Esther Bible study. That ended just in time for me to dash back to school and get the kids. Collected everyone, rejoiced that the day went so well, and came home to make dinner and clean. Laundry, can I just say, is the bane of my exisitence these days. Normally, I don't mind (too much) that I don't have a dryer and have to hang my clothes to dry. However, the temps have been so low lately that things are taking forever to dry. Like a couple of days. And when I have loads and loads of laundry to do, that just doesn't cut it. It's dragging out and driving me crazy.

But I digress.

Tuesday I dropped them off and headed straight to my very first Women's Ministry Leadership Team meeting. I've taken on the position of co-leader for Women's Bible Studies. Following the meeting, I had to get to school to pick up Emily (who only had a half day). Got her, ran to the store to get snacks and goodies for later, ran home, ate lunch, cleaned a little more and then it was time to go get Daniel. Got him and came home and cleaned like a maniac. We were hosting a meeting here in our home last night for the kids who are going on a mission trip to Jordan in April.

In a move I am quite proud of, I gave myself a break and didn't force myself to bake the cake I had planned on making for the meeting. I realized that chips and salsa would be just as good and take way less time and create way less stress for me. I whipped up some hummous, cut some veggies and put out bowls of chips and M&M's and I was done.

The meeting went well. I think there are about 15 kids going and they will be meeting bi-weekly until Spring Break in April. I loved listening to them pray and sing worship songs!! I really love our youth leaders! While that was going on, Daniel and I were packing him up for his campout.

Then today, I dropped off the kids and needed to head straight to Bible Study. Of course, as I got out of the car to help Daniel get his gear, he says, "I don't think I packed my sweatshirt, Mom." (That would be the one that I handed to him and said, "Put this in your bag.")

My response was not something I am proud of.

Now, yes, I live in the desert. And I know that last summer I was complaining mightily about the heat. But, y'all, it's pretty cold here these days. Not ValleyGirl cold, but cold enough to really need more than a polo shirt if you are going to overnight on the beach. So, good mom that I am, I ran home, grabbed the sweatshirt and drove it back to him, wandered through the school looking for him, got yelled at by the guard for parking in the wrong place (hello, it's a dirt parking lot - you want perfection put in some lines!!), and finally headed off to Bible study.

Don't you just love going to Bible study when the Spirit of God is just all over your morning?!?!?!

That was sarcasm there, folks. But God is good and it was an amazing lesson. Some of the things I'll be sharing with you sometime soon here are:

• our tendancy to compare ourselves to other women (looks, $$, status, clothes, etc.)
• our view of ourselves and how we feel about how we look
• our understanding of God's providence

Esther has SOOOO much to teach us, ladies!!

Well, I've got about an hour before I have to go pick up Emily. We are going to have some mother/daughter time and hit the mall together since Daniel is on his campout. So, I'm going to go, um...take a nap! Yeah, that's what I'll do!! These early mornings aren't agreeing with me very well. I'm so used to waking up naturally, around 7:30. 5:45 is just not working for me!!!!