pinball

like many eye/hand coordinated games, i was never good at pinball. and lately, i've been thinking of our lives as one long, spastic game because we have to be physically and mentally sharp at all times.

here's a glimpse...

i realized last weekend while renting a rototiller (big backyard project underway) that my driver's license has expired. over two months ago. oops.

today seemed the best day to get it renewed so once preston left for work, i started to get ready to take both kids to the DMV. sweet. first, i had to shower because i'm vane and didn't want an offical picture of myself having not showered for 24 hours.

showering while the kids are awake is risky. i had to wing it and hope my kids would survive without me. during my short shower, eli emptied all the cupboards and drawers in the bathroom, stirred around my jewelry in my jewelry box...bracelets were dripping out, and made up a game with ava where he would throw a dirty diaper wrapped and tied in a grocery bag down the stairs and she would run down and get it and bring it back to him to throw again. um, no. the game stopped as soon as i got out of the shower.

now i must dry my hair. while drying, i hear a chair moving across the kitchen floor downstairs. i try to dry faster....this is never good news. once downstairs, i find the toaster oven ON and yellow highlighter scribbled on the counter (i was in the middle of working on a Bible study that i'm leading tonight when the kids awoke this morning and forgot to hide the pen).

i grab snacks and coloring books and head out the door by 9:30am.

while i'm scrambling to buckle in eli, ava strikes up a line of questioning about Heaven. she's been asking about it a lot lately because she can't quite understand. can anybody!?!?! she's worried that she won't know anybody there ("i hope to get there before you, ava"), but doesn't want to be here without me ("well, neither do i") and then doesn't know how to literally travel there and if that whole travel process will be scary. she's worried there will be mean people there ("it's great. everyone is SO nice. and they sing and dance and play all the time. it's paradise. i'm hoping we'll be able to fly!").

i'm at a loss for how to explain an unfathomable Heaven to a child that needs specifics. (any advice here?!?!)

once that conversation turns to lighter banter, i review road signs for my "test" once i get to the DMV....just in case we walk right in without a wait. ha!

an hour and a half of waiting later...

"...ma'am, you are now legal to drive again..."

i smile and say thank you.

that was just the first half of my day!!