Reflections

Sometimes there are little things about my life as a mother that make me laugh.  I can't believe how differently things have turned out from what I "planned" as a young girl.  Praise God for His grace in my life!  I was reflecting, if you will, and I got a kick out of some of the interesting facets of my life.  (A while back I celebrated my 40th birthday and if you didn't know, birthdays are a fantastic time for reflecting!)

• Right now at our house we have kids learning to drive and learning to walk at the same time.  
• Next year we will plan a high school graduation party while potty training. 
• My favorite things to do now, are things I hated as a girl. (cleaning, gardening, cooking, laundry, etc.)  
• If I had listened to the advice of family members, half of my children wouldn't be here.
• The subjects I didn't do well in as a student, I love teaching in our home school.
• I just threw birthday party #62!  Yes, I have done 62 birthday parties for our kids.  You can check my math.  
• I would rather receive 200 rolls of toilet paper, or 10 gallons of milk, than jewelry, as a gift.
• Clothes and shoes don't excite me anymore but coupons absolutely thrill me!
• The only material things I'm attached to AT ALL are my washer and dryer.  I spend more time with them than my husband some weeks. 
• It turns me on when my husband runs the vacuum.  
• My pregnancies total 4 1/2 years.
• I've changed diapers for 12+ years.  (almost 1/3 of my life!)
• Because of my precious 6 children I've become an expert at answering dumb questions from strangers.  I can even field birth control questions at Walmart from people I've never met.
• I no longer consider it strange when people talk to themselves.  It seems more like a survival skill to me.
• Before saying anything to my older sons now, I stop and think if I would want them to tell their future wives one day.  This is a new thing for me.   
• If gray hair is a sign of wisdom, then white hair is a sign of geniuses.  And if that's the case, I am a most incredible genius.   
• I'm able to make it without a lot of the "must-haves".  I don't need an alarm clock.  I have a baby.  Don't need a check register.  I know the balance of our checking account by heart.  It's usually a round number!  I don't need a timer when baking.  The kids camp out in the kitchen waiting and checking and checking and asking.  I don't even need Google really.  I have teenagers and they know everything.