use your words (and other stuff)

We often tell our kids "Use your words." Instead of whining, instead of hitting, instead of screaming. "Use words." I need to remind myself of that as well sometimes. Words save me. When I need to escape, I read. When I need to connect, I talk and listen. When I need to clear my head, I write. I write lists and I write in my journal and I write here.

The last few weeks have been a crazy emotional roller coaster and I read and I talked and I listened, but when I tried to write, I couldn't. The words wouldn't come. So I talked and listened and read some more. But I couldn't write.

This morning I woke up and decided that today I would write. I would force it to come. So, here I am writing. Let me write about the last 3 weeks.

1.) The kids and I got home from our fun trip. I was so glad to see so many great friends and it was good to be back in the groove. My wonderful friend (little Zach's mom) even had my house cleaned spotless for me when I returned which was such a blessing. I have great friends. Dave stayed behind in Utah for an extra two weeks while he finished his rotation, so I was on my own for a little while.

2.) A few days after returning home, some of our best friends moved. They were here when we got here and we (and our kids) grew to be such good friends. It was a sad day. I already miss them a ton.

3.) I managed to do 2 weeks in a row of sitting alone with my kids in church and didn't die. I even thought, "That wasn't too bad."

4.) We got water in our basement (see previous post). That was crazy for a minute. These pictures are from that day. The kids went out and played in the puddles before dinner.  The downpour happened after dinner. The last picture is right before I discovered water gushing into the basement.

5.) Our traditional Memorial Day BBQ was a hit. Somehow I returned home with more food than I took.

6.) Dave got home! And he had a few days off before returning to the hospital today, so that was awesome to have him home.

7.) Another family that we love moved. They were awesome and Vermont will not be the same without them.

8.) Saturday we went to a parade and a Super fun birthday party for our friend's daughter.  The kids came home with awesome Superman capes and they spent the rest of the evening running around in them. Katie wanted one too so we pulled out Dave's old one and she ran around saying "Superman!" On Sunday afternoon the kids put them on again with nothing else but their undies and ran around saying "I am Super Underpants Man!" Nothing like a cape to make a kid happy.

9.) Yesterday Dave was called to be a counselor to our Bishop. Crazy! It will make things a little bit more busy, especially on Sundays, but he is awesome and I know he'll be great.


So, there you have it. A glance at my roller coaster. I keep thinking things will settle down, but life doesn't really ever settle down does it?  I think as long as I keep using my words, I might be able to handle it.