New Normal

It's 8:00AM, a certain 5-year-old is snuggled on my lap, and I hear some other kiddos stirring upstairs. That means it's time to get moving. The activity level in our house right now is basically constant from about this time each day until the kids are sleeping and I've done the last load of laundry for the night.

Things are good busy, but very busy, in our home during this season of life. Family bonding, housekeeping, and finishing the homeschool year would be enough to make me feel I'd earned my keep. But, added to those things, we are preparing to move (our house seems to be sold - Praise God!), finalizing plans for a new house, getting I-man (Eustace's nickname for our new little guy) established with new physicians and therapists, completing the rest of the legal work for the adoption, etc.

I'm learning some valuable lessons, though, about managing stress. Each day, a person can only do so much. So, I just plug along accomplishing as much as possible trying not to worry about other things on the list.

Also, I'm trying to keep things as normal as possible for the kids - the rhythm of the day, outside play, meals at home. Everyone seems to be taking all the extra appointments and errands in stride.

Maybe this is actually the 'new normal.' After each additional child enters the family, there is a period where things seem a bit crazier. Time goes by, and everybody just gets used to it. So, I believe we will get there.

And someday when I'm old and everybody is off on their own, when I have plenty of time to bake and garden, I will wonder how it all went by so quickly