Diligence - This is Life

You might think my New Year's to be more diligent is off to a rocky start. I've had more than one moment where I've wondered.....

The first week my older kids were sick. Resting, movies, and snuggling - instead of getting back to our routines.

Olivia needed her tooth pulled, then we went back so she could gag on foam to make an imprint of her mouth, and we get to go back next week to have a spacer put it. 

The second week the other half of my kids were sick. More resting, movies, and snuggling.

I'm still wrestling with our PC-to-Mac conversion. It's involved a lot of downloading software that doesn't want to work right on the Mac and trying to figure out why. And kids missing an entire week of some of their classes. Oy. 

Nyah's dog bite. 

Going into our third week. Still sick kids. Never-ending sick kids. Poor Olivia has been sick with one thing or another since Christmas. 

And I forgot I told my friend I would watch her 4 kids for 3 days and 3 nights. I don't know how I forgot that but I did. Until the day before they were going to come and my friend emailed me something about it and I was like, "Wait. What?! Tomorrow?" Oh my. 

However, in the middle of one night, as I sat snuggling and rocking my feverish Sophie girl back to sleep, a very profound thought came-

This is life. 

Well, it seemed fairly profound for 3 a.m. 

Maybe things aren't going according to my plan. But let's be real for a minute, it very rarely ever does. 

Oh no, my life is wild & crazy. I'm very familiar with the wildness and craziness around here. Oh yes. 

Sometimes I try to squish it in neat rows and columns. Somedays we stick to those neat rows and columns and it feels great when we do. 

But so many things don't fit into rows and columns. 

A husband needing my undivided attention to tell me something important.
A boy needing me to listen as he chatters about his latest video game quest. 
A girl needing me to help her know she can be brave and do hard things. 
A girl needing me holding her hand while the dentist pulls her tooth. 
A girl needing me while she throws up all night long.
A feverish little girl crying for comfort in the night and needing her mom. 

I'm the mom. I have a job to do. 

Diligence = 

constant and earnest effort; 

perseverance in carrying out action; 

determination.

I've really felt diligent the last few weeks even though we haven't had a week of sticking to my plans. Not even a single day. Little parts of some days. 

However, there also hasn't been any woe-is-me-attitude. No poor-me-pity-parties. No look-at-me-being-a-martyr. 

A little bit of happy dancing because I haven't gotten sick. 

Yet, anyways. Knock on wood. Throw salt over my shoulder. Evil be gone. Or some old-fashioned washing my hands, drinking noni tea, eating veggies, and popping vitamin c at all hours of the day :)

This is life. I like it.