Overwhelmed

I do not normally complain about the goings on in my life.  I figure that there are other people out there that have it worse than I do, so why complain about my trivial things.  But, I am feeling a little overwhelmed right now and would really love to share it with all of you.  We have had an intense six months!

Raconteur Daddy lost his job on Thanksgiving....yep that's right, nice boss huh?  So, it has been a very stressful time for us.  We have been doing OK by utilizing all the resources we could from assistance to unemployment, help from family and using what little savings we had.  Plus my mad budgeting skills came into play.  During this time, we also found out that we were unexpectedly expecting our third child!  It seems no matter how hard we try to be careful, we never get to decide when our children will come.  I guess God likes to keep me on my toes!  We are so very excited to be able to have another baby though.  Through this time, RacDad and I have really relied on each other.  We have turned to our faith to help us through, especially when it seems like too much.  I just keep remembering that God will never give us more than we can handle.  This time has been precious too.  It's been a blessing to have RacDad home to watch Little Man grow and change as he becomes a toddler.  He's also been able to appreciate our Sweet Pea and the wonderful young lady she's becoming.  We've had the time to be more active in our community and our church.  Even though our pocket book has been tight, we've been able to help and contribute with our time and work to help others.  We've been able to sit back and view our path and really take a deep appreciation for each other and our wonderful kids.  I don't know if I've ever been more in love with him!

Now, we are leaving our house to head back home to South Dakota.  This is bittersweet for everyone because we finally feel like we belong here, but we are excited to be closer to family too.  We will miss our closest neighbor and her family, and our friends from church and school.  We will miss our house, church, school, doctors and dentist.  On the other hand, we are looking forward to reconnecting with our friends and family in South Dakota.  We are looking forward to the new job that RacDad has and the exciting opportunities there.  We are overwhelmed by the thought of finding a new house, but we know that it's just another hurdle to jump to get back to being settled in.  I look forward to day trips to the zoo, hanging out at the Falls, going hiking in the Palisades, and allowing my kids to experience a childhood like I did.  Being around family and close friends is what is priceless in this transition.

So, Sweet Pea is on her way to Nashville to visit my brother and his family.  This is her birthday present this year from her Grandparents.  I still can't believe that she's going to be a Tween!!  Nine years old is quite the milestone....her last year as a single digit.  RacDad is starting his job.  Little Man and I are putting finishing touches on the house and it will be listed on the market within the week.  Well, I'm trying to get finished and Little Man is getting into the boxes.

We are blessed to have a family that supports us through this transition.  They have been wonderful to remind us that everything is going to be OK.  The most important thing is the emotional support that they give, not what they can provide.  That hope and optimism is what gets us through the day.

Thank you so much for also helping me through this too.  Being able to write and have something to focus on has been a great outlet for me and I appreciate each and every one of you that follow my journey.  I have made some wonderful connections and learned a lot of new things.  I'm looking forward to the exciting things that are going to happen this summer and in the future on OTTW.

"Life's not fair" lessons....

I have felt bad that I haven't spoken much about parenting my oldest.  She really makes being a parent easy.  Just recently, an interesting piece of information came to light and I thought it would make an engaging post.

Here's a little background for you.  We belong to a small town school system that has grown leaps and bounds in the last few years.  They pride themselves on "strong, upstanding morals" that are upheld throughout the school system.  They use the "Discipline with Purpose system" and seem to be very conscientious about student behaviors.

Now, what we learned from another parent was that the PE teacher was picking two captains in class to pick their own teams.  I thought that this kind of practice had been long done away with.  So, one night, I asked our daughter about it.  She said that it did happen.  She explained that the teacher will ask who has not been captain yet and then pick two people who had their hands up.  She said that she had been captain once, but everyone else lied and have been captain two or three times.  She also said that she was often picked last and it wasn't very fun.  I reminded her that she gets picked first for other things and that it's not that big of a deal.  I also found out that this doesn't happen at every class and the teacher does pick randomly too.  That was the end of that conversation and life has been rainbows and roses for her since.

Out of curiosity, my husband and I were asking friends about this practice and what they would do about the situation.  We surprisingly were given many responses about how this is good because it teaches kids that 'Life isn't Fair'.  Now, I agree that picking Captains once in a while is good because it can be a learning experience.  But to think that 'Life isn't Fair'...What a horrible thing to teach a child.  What a cop out as a parent!  No wonder there are so many people out there with a helpless feeling, thinking that 'Life isn't Fair'.

Life IS fair!

Life is about balance.  When something bad happens, something good usually follows.  We need to teach our children that even though bad things happen, good things happen too.  We need to give our children the tools they need to be able to get through an unpleasant or bad situation.  To persevere in the face of injustice and to handle hard times with grace because it will get better.  We need to teach them that there is always hope.  Yes, bad things happen in life and that really sucks, but bad things will pass with time.  People get sick, but then they recover.  People lose their jobs, but then they find a new opportunity.  People pass away, babies are born.  What a wonderful balance there is to the world.  Full of hardships and extreme joys.  What an amazing spectrum of feelings we endure.  Without the bad, how can we truly appreciate the good times.  To just simply say that 'Life isn't Fair' and leave it at that is teaching them that when something bad happens that there is nothing you can do about it and it will never get better.  Teaching helplessness, hopelessness and indifference should have no place in our children's lives.  I promise that no matter how bad you think things are right now....they will always get better.