9 on the 9th

Mrs N. hosts a nifty little meme over at her place, All That Naz. So I decided my 9 would be on music. Specifically hymns. I especially love hymns in four part harmony. You know, good ole quartet singin. The blue-grassier the better! The church we attend does mostly praise songs. I do love praise songs. In fact, my next 9 on the 9th post will probably be my favorite praise songs. For today, 9 of my favorite old hymns......

1. Have a Little Talk With Jesus - Cleavant Derricks
2. I'll Fly Away - Albert E. Brumley
3. O Come, Angel Band - William B. Bradbury
4. Where the Soul Never Dies - Wm. M. Golden
5. It Is Well With My Soul - P. P. Bliss Horatio Spafford wrote the words. Read his story here. It's incredible! (this is my father's favorite too)
6. He Leadeth Me - William B. Bradbury
7. Christ the Lord Is Risen Today - Charles Wesley
8. Must I Go And Empty Handed - Charles C. Luther
9. Amazing Grace - John Newton

I didn't mean to be gone this long.....promise!

You people are getting on my nerves. I mean, can't a girl have a little ole pity party/feeling useless celebration/miniature breakdown/depression packed 6 weeks in peace? Seriously, what is with all the "You haven't updated your blog lately, is everything ok?" or "You never go this long without updating your blog, what's wrong?" or some of you are even going behind my back and asking my mom! REALLY people.......thanks.

The last six weeks haven't been as bad as I made them sound but they have been busy and somewhat emotionally trying.

First off, Noah started school. Little man is in Kindergarten. And I only sobbed a very short time.....that day. Ya see, for the past 5 years or so, my MAIN purpose was taking care of little man. I mean for the most part, I spent the majority of my time with him. On the first day of school, he excitedly got out of the car, walked into those big gaping doors and that school swallowed my baby whole. He didn't even look back, the little brat! I missed him TONS more than he missed me and boy howdy, that's just wrong! I mean, maybe if he had just grabbed hold of my leg wailing loudly, and I had to scrape him off with a crow bar then maybe it wouldn't have been so bad, but darn it people, he was just fine! I'm just kiddin. I'm glad it wasn't traumatic for him and I'm glad he likes school it was just that, well, by golly, now what do I do?

Seriously, what do I do from 7:30 a.m. to 2:05 p.m. every day? I volunteered at the school but they had not called me yet. MOPS had not started for the season yet. Bible study had not started back yet. I certainly didn't want to clean house, it just gets dirty again in a couple of days then you just have to do it all over....talk about frustrating! So that's where the pity party came into play. I actually thought about home schooling him but soon realized that it would be pretty selfish to take him from an environment he was thriving in, just to make me feel useful! Aren't ya'll proud of me. I did a grown up thing.

So, I had myself a couple of weeks of feeling un-necessary, wallowing in self-pity and just pretty much making myself miserable. Then, something wonderful happened. I went to a meeting at the school and volunteered again. They put me to work that very day. I now spend every Tuesday working in the teacher's work room doing stapling, copying, laminating, die cutting, book making, and of course, cutting. I get to use my spiritual gift of scissors! How cool is that? Not only that but I get to eat lunch in the "cafataria" (Noah's pronunciation) with little man. But wait.......it gets better! I have been getting quite a few cake orders, I have done some work at the church with random office stuff and preschool dept. stuff, every Saturday has been busy with something, I volunteered with the Franklin Graham Festival which involved a Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday night, I spend Thursday mornings at Bible Study, most Fridays doing MOPS stuff and for the love of Pete, somebody make it stop!

Just kidding. There for a while, I was a bit overwhelmed. Going from being completely useless to not being able to catch my breath was rough. Everything has calmed down now and I am feeling useful once again.

There is another benefit from being at the school at least once a week. I get to see first hand how the school and it's staff perform. I. Am. Impressed.... and I am relieved. I think part of my problem, was worrying about how Noah was doing. Was he being taken care of. Were they giving him attention. Let me just say, I love they way they "do school" there. I love Noah's teachers. I KNOW they are taking care of him. For instance, Noah was getting "sad" at nap time because he was missing me. His teacher, Mrs. Coates, moved his nap spot to behind her chair so she could talk with him and rub his back until he settled down. She cares. I needed to know that.

In addition to all that, we had four additions to the Smith clan. Fluff had her kittens and they are so darn cute! Three of the four will be heading to new homes in the next week or so. sniff sniff. Keep me in your prayers. Most of ya'll know about my Elly Mae Clampett gene. It makes up a large part of me so I'm pretty sure I will not do well with our babies leaving. *insert sobbing here*

As a side note, my husband has been wonderful through all this. I'm sure there have been moments that he would have liked to trade me in for a more stable model. Thanks for putting up with me honey. You are the best!

Well folks, I will try not to let too much time lapse before my next post. I just know the six of you are waiting by your computers all day just chomping at the bit for me to ramble on.....

Love ya'll....mean it!