February 12

This was a super busy day for me! Jonathan worked all day, didn't even get home until 8:00 :( I had to take all 5 kiddos to drama tryouts where I thought we'd all hangout while Kalyn auditioned for about 20 minutes or so (like last time!) but, I was wrong. (As usual, I hardly ever remember to read the papers they send home with important information!) I had to drop her off for TWO hours, which wouldn't be a big deal if Jonathan had been keeping the other kids. But he wasn't. I surely wasn't about to run errands with all those kids. No way! I am not brave enough to try that again anytime soon. So, we called my mother. We went to her house for a little while until it was time to get Kalyn. Then we went back home and I cleaned and worked on business taxes/files for another three hours. My sister was generous enough to sit with the four little ones so that I could take Kalyn to a birthday party at the skating rink for an hour and a half, and then I came back home to clean and cook again. Yay! Dont you wish you could have done all that with me? Sounds like the funnest day ever, right? Not. so. much.

Kalyn did have a good time, once she got over the fact that I was a very cheap and poor substitute for her daddy, who is her "skater helper". Most of the kids at the party knew how to skate well, and she was, well, let's just say less than confident without her strong daddy to keep her up when she was about to fall. Or stop. Or attempt to move. I felt so badly for her, and I tried to encourage her to just walk slowly around the wall, and hold on until she felt comfortable enough to let go. Eventually she gained enough courage to do it. I watched her go all the way around the rink, twice, and she even made a new friend who was just learning, exactly the same as she was.

It made me think of how much easier it is to try something new when we have someone by our side, learning with us for the first time. It also made me thankful for the group of amazing women I have in my life who encourage me when I am afraid. They encourage me and remind me that God would not have me to be afraid, and even when I don't have one of them, standing by my side, I know that God is there, holding me up and keeping me from falling everyday. I also know that, sometimes, God lets me fall, just so that He can teach me how to get back up again. I pray that my children will not have many fears in their life, but when they do, I also pray that they will remember that God is their strength, and they can call upon Him in their time of need. I hope you know that, too.

Pic of the day:

Here she is braving it all on her own, with no side to hang onto :)
WW Update: I went over by like 15 points today. Too much food to list but A LOT of it can be blamed on the Key Lime Pie - 12 points per slice - that was left at my house on Friday night after small group. It's so hard to stay on track when you are busy! (and didn't plan ahead, and too lazy to cook, and just NEED something sweet!)  I am losing a little bit everyday though, and I am happy that I am still within my planned points. I just had higher hopes of not using all the extra points. Maybe next week :)