While You Were Sleeping

I hope you slept well last night.

If you happen to live in the same time zone as I do, while you were blissfully slumbering, this is what I was doing:

~ waking up every hour or so (it seemed) to lament my aching back, go to the bathroom, and check the clock to see how many more hours until morning

~ thinking about the chocolate that Emily Sacra was making for me in a dream I had, which prompted me to teasingly ask Jeff (who happened to be awake just then) to go to the store to get some chocolate ice cream for me  :)

~ planning my trip to the Green Valley Book Fair today--what areas to cover, what books to look for, how to entertain Tobin, etc.--important stuff to consider in the middle of the night!  (by the way, I went and had a fantastic time finding incredibly helpful resources for our upcoming school year as well as some books for the boys just for fun...Tobin was easily entertained by watching the other shoppers, especially those with babies or young children...I spent a little over $100 and got a ton of great stuff...it was wonderful, and I couldn't be any more excited about Josiah's second grade year!)...this is what our house looks like now: Josiah and David thoroughly engrossed in the pile of new books (and this isn't even all that I bought since I immediately tucked some away for gifts)...this is one way to get a quiet house  :)

~ drooling over this house that one of Jeff's customers is trying to sell...this is my dream home: log, surrounded by forest, with incredible views, etc...it's enough to make me turn green with envy...during the night, the song "If I Won Ten Million Dollars" (from a piano book I'm using with my piano student Lily) kept running through my head...if I had ten million dollars, I'd have a lot of fun giving most of it away to worthy charities...however, I must confess that I probably wouldn't hesitate to snatch up this incredible deal on the home I've been dreaming of for many years...oh, well, that's probably why I don't have ten million dollars: my heart isn't pure and unselfish enough for that kind of money!

~ going into the boys' room to pray over them according to Lamentations 2:19 (Rise during the night and cry out.  Pour out your hearts like water to the Lord.  Lift up your hands to him in prayer, pleading for your children...), a new prayer habit for me during this season of Lent

~ praying also for Jeff's brother Greg who was admitted to the hospital yesterday because of blood in his vomit...Greg lives in Nevada so we're not close enough to go to visit him, and we don't know any of the results of the tests they've done...I know Jeff wishes he could hop on a plane and head west to be with him...I prayed for him during the night, then continued on to pray for all of Jeff's and my siblings

After each awake episode, I eventually slipped back to sleep; and towards morning, I had a nice long stretch of uninterrupted sleep.  I don't usually have sleep problems (beyond the obligatory fifty thousand trips to the bathroom each night that pregnant women are forced to endure), and my boys are all champion sleepers and have been since about 2 and 1/2 months of age...so I don't really have anything to complain about.  Last night was not the norm, so I give thanks for that!

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And today, while the rest of the world went to work and school, we enjoyed Jeff's day off and the opportunity to spend extra time outside in this glorious 70 degree weather!  It struck me that if Josiah went to a conventional school, he would not get nearly as much time with Jeff as he does now, since Wednesdays when Jeff is off would be a school day for Josiah and Saturdays when Jeff works would be an off-school day for Josiah.  Yet another reason to be glad we homeschool!  :)

The first agenda item of the day was Jeff building the Enterprise for Josiah.  What?  You Star Trek fans don't recognize that structure built out of colorful Legos in the foreground of the picture as the Enterprise?  What's wrong with your imaginations anyway?  :)  Josiah didn't have any trouble knowing what it was!

Then Jeff dragged the top of a blue spruce tree that had broken in a recent storm from our neighbor's yard where it had unfortunately landed.  The Jeep came in handy for this and made short work of the job.  After that, it was time for some swinging, with Jeff giving the boys high underdogs that made their tummies flip and flop.
Then Jeff took Josiah and David off to town to run the usual Wednesday errands, and I stayed here while Tobin napped, then fed him lunch and visited with the Sacras who came by to get some eggs, then headed off to the Book Fair.  Now I need to go get a blanket and sheet off the clothesline where I hung them earlier to dry in the spring breeze.  After that, I'll get supper ready: spaghetti tonight which is an all-family favorite.  

And that, in a nutshell, is a portrait of a night of broken sleep and a day of simple pleasures.