Kristen Blog

What a beautiful weekend we had here.  We finally got past the scorching heat and into some lovely Fall weather, just in time for the local Fall Festival. I'm not a big fan anymore. Forgive me. I promise I'm not a total scrooge or anything, but I feel like my personality has done a complete 180...wait...Did I ever really get that excited about festivals and holidays?  Maybe, a bit, when the girls were small.  I enjoyed letting them spend a little money on the rides and games.  But, back then, we had an excruciatingly tight budget.  And technology has only improved. Amazon has come in with the easy, online acquisition of just about (literally) ANYTHING you want.  And there is a trampoline park or an all-you-want gaming center around every corner.  The boys have so much access to so many fun things.  It is hard to get excited about walking shoulder to shoulder with total strangers in a confined outdoor space, when I know they can have just as much fun without having to violate my

Let's start with this, because I can NOT wait a minute longer. DRUMROLL, PLEASE... The absolutely, positively BEST and most dominating part of the week was hearing the words "healed."  The remainder has been filled up with a lot of blessings and firsts.  He got to go, last minute, with an old baseball buddy to see the Royals play.  They had awesome seats and managed to get 4 baseballs tossed from the players.  I was so proud to hear what my son did with those baseballs...he turned around and gave them to the younger kids sitting behind him.  And that was BEFORE he got the good news about the splint/casts.  These are the times when a weary mama stops and realizes, "Yeah...it HAS all been worth it." And speaking of weary... This week was a madman.  (I'm reading a book about one, so I'm pretty much an expert on identifying it.). I had meetings and schools and long drives and long drives and meetings and schools.  My exhaustion just seemed to snowball from o

I have been dreading the first week out of the house for a...pretty much ALL summer.  And you know what.  It was a pretty good week. Every time I walk into the room and see these kids' faces, and the teachers who have returned, my heart just swells.  I genuinely love these people with whom I am so fortunate to work. That said, it WAS a crazy, chaotic, intense week.  I think that's really what I dreaded.  Because, honestly, I have a workload enough to keep me around here.  And I realize I take on WAY too much, but upon reflection, there just isn't anything I am currently willing to give up.  It's all a trade off, anyway.  When I am out of the house, I just don't get the housework and "projects" done.  If you can't stand the occasional table full of laundry or cat hair dust bunnies rolling around like southwest tumbleweeds...just don't visit me here.  We can meet somewhere more sanitary, where I can offer my love and encouragement to you, undistracte

You know how, when you are at the end of your rope, and you are barely clinging onto existence, and it takes every last bit of your energy to just get up and put one foot in front of the other to function through the demands of your day?  And then, say...your washer goes out.  Or your A/C breaks down.  Or...let's just hypothesize...the transmission in your 5 yo car goes out. You guys...I'm starting to feel like a big, whiny complainer.  But...I have seriously been dealt a nasty hand this week.     I can't say more.  I wish I could...but... All I have to do is scan the news headlines each day to see that I am not alone.  And even when I really want to give up, I know I won't.  I've been in this place before, and I will be in this place again.  I hate the desert, but I know I will eventually find the water and shade. I think there are a lot of people having a hard time right now.  I am seeing a lot of friends making big changes.  Some are making smaller changes.  But,