>Late yesterday afternoon, my momma, AKA Marner, was loading my two littles into the car for some special time at her house. The wind was whipping, the trees were scary (we have a long history of tree damage), and the lights went out. I ran the kids in the house explained to them we only had a bit of daylight, to straighten floors and flat surfaces, get the dishes done…..I would not be in the cold dark with a mess. My kids rose to the occasion it was almost a challenge. Daddy arrived with candles and a lighter…..after a few heated rounds of Bannanagrams we were off to the neighborhood Chinese buffet and to pick up the two little ones. For just a moment I thought we should stay the night at my mothers apartment, after all it is cold and our house wasn’t getting heat at the moment. I decided against it, I love my mother, we don’t share small spaces well and the children were already edging on my sensibilities…..off we trekked to our cold dark home. Friends, I witnessed cooperation, yes you heard me right cooperation among my 6 children. We donned candles and a flashlight, gathered blankets and pillows and set everyone up in the living room. There were great plans of reading their books, but alas, there was chatting and yes fussing and giggling for the next hour. Shortly after 9 Donnie announce “lights out”, which takes on a whole new meaning when there is no electricity. We confiscated the flashlight, blew out the candles and we all slept…..well. Did I say well. We slept well, no bed time fight, no trips to the bathroom, no starving to death right now I am going to die, no yelling “please, just stay in bed” every one went to sleep. I have a plan…..Operation Lights Out…..I thought we would hit the breaker every night for a few nights, but Donnie says that waits till March it is too dern cold, but tonight after church we will have quiet…..lights out, tvs off, radios off, books away,washer off….we will sleep. Am I up to the challenge? How will it go with the ability to turn it on…..I don’t know but we shall see. No one hold there breath, but I am excited.
Tell me some of your ideas for sleep and quiet….please.

Gosh, I love sleep and quiet.

>I am a relationship person….I hate that sometimes. I need people. There was a season in my life, a very long season, where the Lord moved everyone, but my children out of my life. It was me and 6 kids. That was a difficult rainy season, but I needed the rain and I grew. Ever heard the old saying that you need fertilizer (pooooo) to grow a garden, well I believe that is often what relationships are in our lives. For those of you in relationship with me don’t be offended, I don’t think your pooo, but I know that the more I know about my family relationships the more I grow as a person. I am at an in between place in my life. I am in between with children (one in every department of church and age of homeschool pre-school to youth group), in between newlywed and married forever (alomost 15 years, can you believe how faithful God is to change us to not just survive,but thrive), in between pants sizes most of the time (my least favorite in between right now….I have been bigger, but ack I want to be smaller) and in between complexion style (isn’t acne a teenager problem). Because of all my in betweens I don’t fit, anywhere. There is this one group of women (high Fray-Mill) who really know me, but I only see them once every few months or so. Which brings me to my next point, I am a talker…..if you know me for 5 minutes you know that I talk. I like to talk about what the kids are doing (mine or yours), talk about school (again mine or yours), one of my favorite subjects is my family in Chicago land,it makes me smile, and cry (because I miss them daily) they are where I fit….all the way without smushing or bending the edges, I just fit and when I don’t they make room and love me into place. With my kids I fit, they know I am going to yell like a crazy person, say some mean things, make them clean, then fill their little bellys. Family here, no fit, like a shoe that is too loose, it feels ok for a bit, then it rubs blisters, small blisters that you don’t notice for a bit, but a blister none the less. I love them, and they seem to think I am tolerable, but I believe that I rub blisters on them as well, so I do short sprints (for my momma) and go home and nap. This is how I deal with family (or rather how they deal with me). Maybe tomorrow I will deal with friends or the lack there of. It seems I have relationship fertilizer on the family side, but I am longing for friends with out fertilizer (is that even possible?) Feed back please……