Surprise!

This year will see my hubby to 50 years of living.  He's a great man, dedicated to family and helping others.  The kids and I wanted to do something super special for him.  Of course he's one of those dads that always tells you to not worry about his birthday, he doesn't need any gifts, and he would prefer a handmade card.  Coming up with something to buy him is near impossible, but we knew something that would mean more to him than any material gift.  So, we made plans to surround him with all of his children and grandchildren.  It was a challenging task that took six months to plan and tremendous effort to keep under wraps, but we did it.  We pulled off the ultimate surprise without a hitch!  Yep, you read that right.  Something went completely perfect for our family, and it was amazing.

Our youngest daughter and her husband flew in from Missouri, and our Navy son flew in from South Carolina.  Due to the government shutdown, we did not know if the Navy son would be able to take leave until the day before the party!  So glad he was granted leave.  It would not have been the same without him since he was an integral part of the surprise, and who would have helped me clean the house?  We gathered all the children, minus two, and all the grandchildren, minus one, into our home. Vehicles were hidden down the road, finishing touches were made, and pictures were taken.

We prepared a traditional holiday meal, had a photographer do family photos, and we waited.  I knew better than to try and capture the moment myself.  Our family is just too big, and it takes too much effort just to keep the party rolling for me to be in charge of photography.  It just isn't humanly possible.  So, for the really big events that I just don't want to be without pictures I hire out, and I breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy the party.

We wrapped up all the details in plenty of time, and we waited.  I watched out the office window for his car to emerge through the trees, and there it was.  "He's home!", I yelled, and everyone got into place.  It was so awesome to hear everyone yell, "Surprise!", as he walked through the door and see the look of confusion on his face when our son in law was the first person he laid eyes on.  Totally priceless!  He was so touched and enjoyed himself so much that he thanked me for it for days.  Pulling this off for him is sure to remain a high point in my life.  SO AWESOME!

SURPRISE!

Smith Family Part Two; the Third Batch

The Family

All present and accounted for!

Mr. & Mrs.

Happy Birthday to You!

Ultrasound pics of #13

It really was a great time.  We missed the children and the gandchild greatly that were unable to attend.  With eight children and 12 grandchildren it's no wonder we can never seem to get them all in the same place at the same time, but we are a houseful nonetheless.  The cousins always have such a wonderful time together, and I am so happy we find ways to get them together now and then.

It just feeds my husband's soul to have his family around him.  If we could have figured some way to make it work we would have had everyone possible here (siblings, parents, grandparents, cousins, friends, etc.), but it just could not be done.  Guess we'll save the super big bash for when he turns 60.

Photo Credit: 
 https://www.facebook.com/Knixon.DontBlinkPhotography

It's a Hard Knocks Life

Life can be so strange. So, what's new, right? There have been so many blessings of late. Avery's adoption was final May 7th, and we held his dedication at church on June 5th. Business is good at our transmission shop. We're not getting rich or anything, but God is blessing us with enough to meet and exceed our needs and have some left over to help others. Our family is healthy physically, and the mental stuff isn't really too much to handle. Nothing is really, truly over the top at the current moment.

However, things do have a way of never leveling off. Our normal is just a little too crazy for me. It really can be exhausting. I find it difficult, if not impossible, to adjust to our lifestyle even after 14 years. It's just crazy! All my life I have sought peaceful and stable. Well, I've achieved, at least currently, financial stability, but emotional stability is another story. Things are always so chaotic. There is always such need, and it's me that is always needed. There is not one person in our entire family that divides themselves up the way that I do, and I am exhausted. It really does get to be too much.

I would SO love to just focus on the people living in my home, but I am always needed by those living outside of my home. Every time I think I've arrived, something else comes a long to suck away my time. Then, to top it all off there is continuous strife between the hubby and I. The poor guy takes everything, and I do mean everything, personally. That is exhausting...for the both of us. I honestly do not know how he lives with himself when everything is such a big deal. I seriously could not cope with that intensity of emotion. No thank you!

My newest endeavor is to learn how to accept my husband the way he is and how to not react to his intense emotion. Talk about challenging! I seriously do not know how to do that. I have been praying about it, but I still have a long way to go. This is a major "baby step" project that feels like it will take an eternity to accomplish. I so desire it, though!

There is no way that we can raise Avery the way that we desire if we do not get things under control between the two of us. The problem is that I sincerely do not know how to go about it. I can tell you that I have no desire to read ANOTHER relationship book. Counseling is a thing of the past. I doubt I could get him to do that again, and I'm not sure the real benefit other than having an impartial party there to mediate communication. I do miss that aspect of counseling to be sure. Our counselor moved south to work in the prison system. Maybe he was the crazy one.

Maybe I can locate a bible study that would aid me in this department. Any suggestions? I think I may look at the Women of Faith studies. I've done two of them that I really enjoyed. I'd love ideas of you all have any.

Getting a Handle on Things

Well, I cannot recommend a To Do List highly enough to remove a sense of burden from your shoulders and clear your head. However, if your list is as insane as mine, the feeling will come and go until more items get crossed off; ACCOMPLISHED! Fortunately, I have managed to cross some things off, and I will have opportunity to cross off more throughout the week. I am now in manageable, bite-sized chunks. Don't get me wrong, it is still overwhelming at times, but the list does help immensely.

Nothing eases my mind and soul more than doing things for other people. Tomorrow, my best friend of 27 years will be coming to pick me up for an extended visit. I will be going to her house for the remainder of the week with my husband to join me on Friday evening.

My friend's husband is out of town for work, and tomorrow is her birthday. I will be making her a lovely dinner with her children while she takes a relaxing bath. As a homeschooling mom to SIX children all 15 years and under she rarely gets such a treat. Tomorrow afternoon and evening is going to be ALL about her. It will be a lot of fun!

By Friday her husband will have returned, and they will head out with their oldest daughter and some other teens from the church youth group, Pathfinders, for Teen Snow Outing at Camp Au Sable. Pat and I will stay with the remaining five children for the weekend. It should be a lot of fun. We are back by popular demand! This will be our second year doing this per the request of the children. What an honor to be requested!

It's Amazing

It's amazing to me how we are designed to progress throughout life continuously adapting to our situation. I am finding true that certain things just change with age and time. My youngest child is 14.5 years old, and I now find myself working on five grandchildren. With the early introduction of grandkids to our lives, it is forcing me to adapt to a new phase before my time.

Being a wife, mom, and Nana, along with the other hats I wear, is overwhelming at times. How do I effectively contribute to every aspect of my life? How do I meet the needs of everyone that depends on me and still take proper care of myself? I need feeding too, you know? What about my walk with God? What about my health? What about my interests? What about the care and keeping of me? How does one construct a healthy balance in one's life?

This dilemma seems to be the plight of women everywhere. I know my husband's job is demanding and stressful at times. I know he gets discouraged, angry, fearful, exhausted. But, somehow, I cannot help but look at him on occasion and think I wish that was all I had to deal with. I wish my life was that simple. I wish I could just go to work and come home. I wish I had a wife...figuratively speaking, of course! I know that the grass merely appears greener, but what a picture it sometimes paints.

With my youngest three headed for 19, 17, and 15 years of age, I find myself looking to the future with a renewed sense of anticipation. Although, sometimes it can be a twinge of fear that gets me. What will I do when it's just my man and me? How can I possibly spend "forever" with this man and no one else around? Then I quickly focus on the "no one else" part. How cool is that? This mom loves her children, but she looks longingly to the day when she is in total control of her time. There will be no educational planning, no organized teaching of children, no one to entertain, no one else's needs to be met. I will be free to command my time.

Oh, sure, the husband will still have his talons in my minutes, but he is but one person. There will be sleepovers with grands, gift making, volunteering at church and homeless shelters, mentoring, and whatever I choose to fill my time with. The ironic thing is that I am looking forward to serving others. I guess I just desire the freedom to be myself and choose where to put my efforts.

Lost and Found

Well, as you know if you've read much here, our family is big. Over half of our seven children are off and on their own. In January we had an influx of kids hanging their hats here, so to speak. We had the uncomfortable task of assisting them in transitioning from one place to another on their life journey.

Anyway, in all the accommodating and moving around of things we experienced a few side effects that are just beginning to heal themselves. We keep finding remnants of those that transitioned here. I have three bags sitting in the office of said remnants waiting to be returned to their rightful owners.

The largest side-effect was the consumption of our garage by items that just seem to have planted themselves there. My big project for this summer is to go through the garage, return what is wanted by non-residents, sort and price the remaining items, and have a garage sale. Of course, we are all about simple living, therefor all remaining items will be donated to charity.

By far the most frustrating and puzzling side-effect suffered was the misplacing of my pictures from the living room. See our first set of transitioning individuals found their way to our home New Year's Eve. This means that Christmas decorations were still up, which in turn means that normal wall hangings and such were put away to allow for seasonal decorating.

You do realize that it is now almost SEVEN MONTHS since decorations came down, right? I could remember where they were before we changed everything around to accommodate unexpected residents, but where they landed after that has been a real mystery. I have searched high and low for these personal treasures.

I just love hidden blessings! We had to pull everything out of the office closet today to allow access to the space under our house for and unexpected meter reading for the city. See, here we have a water meter outside, and we have a water meter inside. Ours just happens to be located under the house in the old Michigan Basement accessed via the crawl space through the bottom of the closet. What at first seemed like a minor inconvenience became an unexpected brightener of my day.

Guess what I found? The missing pictures!!! I was SO happy. Remember, I said this was a personal treasure, right? My husband came home for lunch, as he always does, and he didn't even notice, despite that the living room finally looks all put back together! :-)