one day

just one day to me, here in minnesota.but a life changing day for my family in oregon.i set out this morning to document my day-in-the-life, as inspired by laura of the hollywood housewife‘s one day project. it turned out not to be just any old, average day.:: :: :: :: :: ::8:45am: our furnace has been dead for a while now. this was all fine and good and kind of funny last week when the over night lows weren’t 15°. our furnace company was a victim of the hurricane (which was two days after our furnace went out) and hadn’t been able to ship anything out until monday of this week. the new, covered-under-warantee parts should be here friday.for now, i use my oven to help heat my house.9:30am: on mondays, wednesdays, and fridays i have been taking the boys to the ymca to play in their childcare for a bit while mommy either attends a ‘body pump’ class or hits the treadmill. it is a great way to get me out of the house. this is my stupid picture face.literally moments after taking this picture, i got the call from my mom.things are changing for my family in oregon. i don’t really know how to talk about it here. we lost a family member and he will be missed. it broke my heart to hear it from my mom, but if there’s anything i’ve learned about her in the last 10 years it’s that she is strong. still, as i left for the y, my heart was heavy.10:30am: the boys stop to watch the ‘people dancing in the pool’, as always.11:30am: while i run, i pray for my mom, for my brothers, for the other family back home. i just keep asking the Lord to show me my role in this situation. it’s a good, hard run and few things are better than a hot shower while someone else watches your kids.12:00pm: in our little city life, dano’s work is about a mile from our house, and it also happens to be about 6 blocks from the ymca. on occasion, we swing by and pick him up and bring him home for lunch after a morning at the y.it is one of those occasions. it’s a good life.12:30pm: lunch boy number 1.tired, messy lunch boy number 2.another huge, huge perk of having dano home for lunch some days is that when he has time, he stays and helps me put the boys down for nap.i think i’ll keep him.1:00pm: heavy-hearted, with two snoring boys and dano back at work, i set about trying to do something. being two thousand miles away from loved ones when they are hurting sucks. it makes you want to send a fruit basket or jump on a plane or something, anything more than cry on the other end of the phone.i send a fruit basket.2:00pm: the oldest wakes up.  he’s pretty good about taking a solid one-hour nap. in his haze we either read books or watch a show. today i am more pre-occupied than usual, so i turn on the cat in the hat, give him some milk and a bowl of granola bites, and keep processing my thoughts and options.i call this picture (and the glaze over his eyes) mommy’s gotta do what mommy’s gotta do.2:30pm: i do it. after deliberating, i buy a next-day ticket to fly home to oregon tomorrow (thursday). you know when you feel that ‘i should’ nudge but sometimes the follow through on that should is so complicated that you nearly turn back several times?that.but it will be so, so good to be there.3:45pm: normal life, it just carries on, doesn’t it? i click purchase on plane tickets, begin making arrangements… then moments later i exchange a fly-by kiss with dano who got home early from work so that i could hurry out the door and make it to a midwife appointment of the very best kind*.*and by very best kind i mean the semi-annual, invasive kind.4:45pm: with my pants now back on, i return home to throw dinner in the oven. last weekend, two friends and i got together and made several large batches of freezer meals that we split amongst ourselves. this is a freezer pizza and if i had the recipe available, i would give it to you because it was awesome and convenient and cheap and yummy (but i don’t).while i stand in the kitchen exchanging texts and phone calls with family and waiting for the oven to heat up, dano and oboy are outside starting a fire.it’s this thing they do lately, and i love it. it’s about as close to rustic outdoor life as we can get here on our city lot.we also have really nice, high-end patio furniture.5:45pm: having thusly inhaled dinner, the menfolk and i return outside to the still-going fire, stoke it some more, and let oboy practice his mallow roasting skills. we have long ago stopped making s’mores with them as one boy really just wants the marshmallows and the other, just the chocolate.6:30pm: two nakey butts in the shower.6:45pm: we brush.6:55pm: we read the bible together, which really looks like the boys climb all over dano while he reads the bible outloud. today we read the story of moses.8:00pm: both boys finally asleep, i sit down on the couch to email my parents, check-in with friends, and write this post.9:00pm: i have cycled the laundry and am packing for my trip tomorrow that i didn’t know about until this afternoon.crazy the difference one day can make.:: :: :: :: :: ::