Pure JOY!

There are many enjoyable times in our lives, but there are moments that will last in memory as those of PURE JOY.

Yesterday, watching my children welcome their dad home from deployment was one of those times. The older kids were a lot more reserved, but McKenna, being 4, could not contain her excitement, then...or even hours later when she was pinging with glee. It's times like these when I can witness such PURE JOY in their faces, that make being a mother worthwhile for me.

We are all happy to have him home safe and sound, and welcome moving on to the next phase for our family in our new home. Now, we just hope we get orders soon, and the pack-out goes smoothly enough for us to move on with fond memories of our time here. We are all looking forward to seeing family and a fun summer ahead. More updates ahead, hopefully filled with more delight and less stress...

It's Hayden Style...

My, sweet, sweet boy...I'll tell you, he's got his own style.

He's always been small, so he's gotten used to wearing belts. Doesn't phase him, I think he actually likes the security of it.

You'll find him usually with his shirt tucked in, buttoned all the way to the top. No matter how I try to get him to "loosen up."

He loves to wear this bandana he got from a favorite teacher two years ago. Never mind if the rest of his outfit isn't Luau style.

He's been growing his hair longer to prepare for that "surfer" look. It kills me to not see his eyes, but I understand him asserting his style. (since typing this post, I DID have to cut his bangs...it's ok, he'll try again...)

And, right now, you will always find a bag clipped to his belt. The hot thing right now are Bakugons, and Hayden is busy collecting and trading them with the rest of the boys his age. He wears them close to pull out at recess, the library, the food court...any time, any where.

And, don't forget the cool sunglasses and Jonas Bros necklace. Yes, definitely signature Hayden.

Yay! I'm not alone!

I mentioned before...it's been rough...a rough couple of weeks, especially. It doesn't help when you run into someone that says, "You are so amazing...the three kids...a pending move...doing it all alone...blah blah blah." Seriously, what do you say to that? "Yeah, I rock!" No, you just think about all the times you yelled at your kids this week, and think, "if they only knew!"

So, I read a blog now and then, can be found at http://thebackorderedlife.blogspot.com/. Sometimes her posts are lengthy, but they are also real and humorous, and a warning...not much in the way of hearts and flowers.

Her recent post summed up exactly how I feel, especially right now...TODAY. And exactly how I feel when someone that doesn't have teenagers, or at least not MY teenager, says something fluffy and sweet about how wonderful my kids are...and I hope she doesn't mind me quoting her here...

"However, my kids are all in very challenging places right now, and it's tapping me out, folks. They're awesome kids. (Why do we always feel the need to clarify that point? I mean, you never hear a mom say, "Well, the problem is, we shoulda tossed that one in the river on the way home from the hospital. Saved the taxpayers a lot of aggravation and freed up a bed in the big house.")

But each one of my kids is grappling with some major life-transition stuff, and I'm the sounding board / punching bag / crystal ball gazer who, guess what? has less of a clue than they have. These are grown-up choices, and many of them will require a great big leap of faith that, frankly, I can't take for them. They'll weather it all just fine, and by this time next year Hallmark will be a safer place to be on Mother's Day.

But meanwhile, it was pure torture to sit through church and hear moms whose oldest children are EIGHT tell me that motherhood is the closest anyone can be to God while still on earth. I'm telling you, there are days when ONE of us is flirting with a face-to-face with the Almighty, but somehow I don't think that's what the speaker had in mind.Another wonderful bit of wisdom I heard a couple of times this weekend was, "Live in the moment." Seriously? Live in the moment? Which moment would that be, exactly?

Any of the hundreds of moments where one daughter is telling me that I'm the meanest, most heartless slug ever to sully the title of "Mother" because I suggested that her life plan of joining a Korean boy band was perhaps a little unrealistic?

Or how about that moment when another daughter can't be asked to pick up her room or take a turn with the dishes without passing through the seven stages of pissiness?

Should I just take up residency in the moment where I'm seeing via ParentLink that my 7th grader hasn't done any school work since the bronze age?"

OH.MY.HECK. She's living in MY house! And, I've lived through all of her moments with just ONE of my kids...I'm really struggling to find a way past her anger over having diabetes.

I have, however, two lights at the end of this tunnel that are helping me through. One, Dennis will come back. And, two, I'm working on getting my daughter into that Korean boy band...

My baby's overdue...

I'll tell you, it's been a rough couple of weeks. We did get Hayden's ID...and I had a PCS class to find out how to get all the boxes checked to leave here. But, tensions have been high at the Terry house. I finally had to take a night off and go to the movies with some girlfriends.

So, I won't bore you with the sordid details, but I think I'm finally pulling out of it. Yesterday's Mother's Day doesn't rank up there as one of my better ones, and Christine's family left the country last week. I was finally able to motivate myself to work out today....yay! I accomplished everything on my list today, and hope to keep the momentum for the whole week.

I have been praying to relax about the whole move (Did I mention that Dennis still has a week or so before coming home, and he won't get orders until a week or so after that? That will leave us with 2-3 weeks to get everything packed, shipped, turned off, paid, and get on a plane!) So, I had a revelation last night...

Those of you that have ever gone past your due date with any of your children...that's exactly what I'm feeling right now. I had expected Dennis home already. He isn't. It's only going to be a couple of weeks more, which in the scheme of things and longer deployments, really isn't much. BUT...when you are counting on that deadline, and that baby hasn't come yet...is it not the most miserable time of your life? I was overdue by 2 weeks with both Hayden and Sabrina, and, I'll tell you, I've never spent a longer 2 weeks of my life...until now.

McKenna has been using her "wishing flower" wishes...Come home soon, Daddy!