Going on a Fair Hunt

Friday night the girls and I gave ourselves Irish manies and pedies complete with glitter, green polish and shamrocks. We were preparing for the Saint Patrick's Day Fair in Mercer Village, Macon. We woke early Saturday and I braided flowers and green ribbon in the girls' hair and put green shirts on the boys.

We left in search of the fabled Mercer Village at the corner of Mulberry and Spring, only to find ourselves smack square in the Cherry Blossom Festival. So instead of green we found pink... and had a great time. When all the mini's were sweaty and grumpy and we decided to leave, we found what we were looking for just three blocks down.... Typical. :)

Motherhood is Necessary for Invention

The saying is, "necessity is the mother of invention." However, I realized as I was cleaning the kids bathroom this morning, that motherhood was necessary for me to become the inventor. Mind you, I use the title inventor loosely.

I realized as I organized the soaps and loofahs that were soggily trapped at the bottom of the tub, that a shower curtain ring can serve nicely as a hook to hang the loofahs from. Viola! A Loofah Hook... for just two easy payments of, $19.95 you too can have your very own set of Loofah Hooks, and if you act fast I will throw in an extra set for free!

This new invention got my mind working. I began to think about how much my life has changed since I was blessed with these four precious babies. I always thought that my adult years would be spent wearing fancy clothes and working full time and traveling around the world. If that fantasy got boring, I dreamed I would be wearing bathing suits living on the water collecting liberal data on how the world ocean's are polluted beyond repair. Never in a million years would the obnoxious teenaged version of myself have dreamed that she would be a 30 yr old, stay at home, home-schooling mother to 4 kids.

As I am typing this I am reminded of the verse, "For I know the plans I have for you (says the Lord), plans to prosper you, not harm you." My plans were small, self-centered plans. God's plan was bigger and better than I could have ever thought of with my sinful, selfish mind. It's a good thing that we often don't get what we want. How very lonely my world would be traveling by myself or sitting on a boat in the middle of no where. What type of personal/spiritual growth is there in doing what you want and what is easy?

So today I don a new hat. The hat of an inventor. A mother who will create lesson plans and who makes up stories and games. A mom who solves the problem of bathroom clutter...One who will drop her drawers to get her kids to laugh. A wife who invents a recipe for her husband's favorite cupcake. No, I am not your typical inventor and my name will never be remembered as a top mind who changed the digital age, and I may not be of fancy dress or have a pet dolphin. But I will always be remembered as, Mom.

The Gyspy Life

My husband and I recently decided to quit playing part time spouses and to start living our marriage as the happily married couple we are. What does this mean you ask? It means that I have decided to cleave to my husband and travel with him. It means the kids and I now live the gypsy life that he has lived for over three years. It means that I get to live with my husband and my kids get to grow up with their dad. It means that I have withdrawn my kids from school and have begun to home-school them... and it equals 365 days a years of togetherness instead of the 104 we have been averaging.

This was not an easy decision nor is it an easy lifestyle. A change this great requires lots of prayer and many months of preparation. I now run two households complete with bills and have to provide curriculum and instruction for my children who are accustomed to being occupied by a classroom of 25 kids for 8 hours a day. I left my house intact only bringing half of it with us. We live modestly, but we live together.

Most importantly, what does this mean for the reader? It means I now have much more to write about. Stay tuned and keep an opened mind. I do not claim to do things perfectly but rather to the best of my ability. A lot of mistakes and experiences are to be had on this adventure I call the Gypsy life and I wish to share them with you.