Juggling

God has made our family special and unique. He gave us Samuel and then He waited five years until He gave us another child, Hannah Grace, and then He chose to give us Faith within a year after giving us Hannah Grace. It sound so crazy...and recently it has become very hard to juggle having a tweenager (11 years old) and a five and four year old. Last night was one of those nights that was hard. The girls are playing Upward soccer at our church and Travis and I are coaching them and Samuel is playing football and Travis is helping out with his team. Well, last night we had both - soccer practice and a football game. So, after a morning of working and a trip to the grocery store and then to pick up Faith and then home to unload the groceries and then to pick up Hannah Grace and then in carpool line where we read and did homework and then get Samuel and go home to do his homework and put a load of cloths in the washer and dryer to add to the huge pile that needs to be folded and a quick supper for the kids we headed out the door to soccer practice where I left early to get Samuel to his football game and then Travis came with the girls and joined up with the Wildcats to begin their game where I tried to watch and cheer Samuel on with two tired girls - I WAS OVERWHELMED and we still had to get home and give showers to three kids and make lunches and get something to eat for us and try to at least say "hello" to each other before we both crashed in the bed.

Some may say, "You need to cut something out" and I agree, but as I look back at my day yesterday, I'm not sure what could have been cut out. Work? No. Grocery store? No, I had been putting it off since last week. School? No way, God has not told me to teach my children at home, I'm not smart enough to teach them what they need to learn. Soccer? Well, maybe, but it's not fair to the girl's to not participate in a activity just because Samuel is playing football. Football? There again, it's not fair to Samuel to not play football just because his sisters are playing soccer. I have had some tell me, "Ask for help." Well, everyone else is busy too, I've asked.

When we finally got home last night and Travis and I had a moment to talk, he was apologizing for the day. I want to stop right now and thank Travis for all the help he did give me yesterday and for being such a great Daddy, who will give up his evenings to help four and five year olds learn the game of soccer and share Christ with them and stand on the side lines and give encouragement and direction to boys on a football field.

We are not the only family in this situation and we won't be the last. And, there are other's that are going through things that are more difficult than ours. But, I learned something a long time ago, God cares for my small troubles as much as He cares for other's "big" troubles. We will survive and God will give us the strength is make it day to day and one day we will miss the days when our kids needed us so much.

I don't often use our family blog as a means of expressing my frustrations, but the purpose of our blog is keep our family and friends updated with the goings on of our family and this is what is going on. So, if the Lord brings us to your mind, please say a prayer that we will put Him first and He will give us His strength for day to day.