savvy shopping and maggots (unrelated)

- The past two days I've been going through the clothes I've already purchased for fall 2010.  I start collecting a couple years ahead of time.  A good rule of thumb for thrift store shopping is to buy whatever is new or nearly new, if it's in a color and style flattering to your child, and if it will be worn within the next two years.  This is really the best way--perhaps the only way--to ensure you don't run short during any given season.

-  Garments that fit my children in September don't usually fit them come January.  So, they've been trying on clothes and we've been putting them in September piles and January piles.

- Next, I'll go through each child's September pile and put together as many outfits as I can, making sure I have at least three sweaters/shirts for church with two pairs of coordinating slacks.  I try not to buy anything that has to be ironed, because I'm lazy that way.  The girls wear a warm dress, or corduroy or denim jumpers to church, with warm layering pieces underneath.

- Beyond their church items, each boy will usually have about eight pullovers or warm shirts to go with at least four pairs of jeans.  I try to wash jeans every day.  The girls wear fewer jeans, but they'll still end up with two to three pairs each, depending on what else I've gathered for them.

- Inevitably, even though we're I'm very careful with the clothes, the eight changes of clothes dwindle considerably by January, either because of holes or fading or ill fit, or because of a stain I couldn't get out.  Whatever is stained or faded becomes pajamas, if it's soft enough.  I don't find too many sets of pajamas, so the boys wear sweats and sweatshirts to bed in the cold months, with long-sleeve shirts underneath.

- As I see the myriad of things my oldest child has grown out of, I want to scream.  NOOO!  You can't grow up!!  Not after husband's March 2009 vasectomy.  All growing up from here on out is not just bittersweet, it's painful.

-  To mend my achy breaky heart, I suppose I will have to start making lists of things I can finally do when I have no one in diapers, everyone sleeping through the night, and everyone doing at least one major chore around the house.

-  I'm living in the moment with my baby and really enjoying her days, but I can't help feeling panicky as the calendar shows her babyhood dwindling fast.

- However, it's okay with me if time fast forwards just a couple of weeks, so we can escape this humidity.  Our Christian radio station comes out of Cleveland, which is about an hour from us.  The D.J. shouted the other day, in regards to the weather, "THIS IS NOT NORMAL!!"  

-  Thank you, D.J.  I needed to hear that.  I wanted to believe that, instead of believing that the last four years of tolerable humidity, mixed with dry heat days, were just flukes.

-  After I took the clothing storage boxes out of the shed in the middle of the day, I had to take another shower.  It was 87 with high humidity, which is akin to the miserableness of 115 degrees in the desert.  No exaggeration.  With four young kids, who has time for a shower after every exertion?  We have central air, thank goodness, but it doesn't help once the outdoor humidity has already made me feel dirty.  The children just jump into the kiddy pool and press on.  Good for them.

-  Back to my reluctance about the children growing up.  I analyze this every once in a while.  Why is it so painful for me?  Am I trying to possess my children, instead of looking at them as borrowed gifts from God?  He can take them at any time, I know.  Is it that I prefer the company of children, finding them fun and carefree?  Is it the cute things they say and do?  Their hugs and cuddles?  Do they pull my mind away from the more mundane parts of life--bills, chores, etc.?  Does their growing up remind me of my own mortality?  Is it all of these things together?  And is my reaction perfectly healthy?

- Yesterday Peter came running into the house telling me about a dead mole under the sandbox.  I saw no way out of investigating it, despite my reluctance.  It couldn't wait until Daddy got home, surely--not with curious Beth having regular outdoor playtime.

-  Don't read the rest of this if you're going to eat, are eating, or will eat soon.  If you're trying to eat less, read on.

-  I will now tell you why you shouldn't lament too much about your least favorite body parts.  Here goes.

-  The mole had been dead long enough to be filled with maggots, which were so busy inside his body that it looked like he was still alive.  I can't even type that without multiple shivers happening.  I got a shovel and dug deep under it, bagged it and put it by the trash pick-up area.  My boys were reluctant to even hold the bag open for me, it was so disgusting.

-  That's what will happen to our bodies, girlfriends--a sober reminder that they have little significance, compared to our souls.

As I returned to the back yard, I was so struck by what Jesus has done for us!  Because of the cross, we have more ahead of us than just a maggot-filled coffin!  


Paradise!  Forever with Jesus!  Praise His Holy name!