Run...try to catch up...run faster....gotta catch up!

Do you ever feel as though life is a race and you're running as hard as you can just to keep things under control? Sometimes I have to remind myself to just breathe. Inhale. Exhale. I don't know if it's the winter months with no sun, or the juggling of work and home life, or the bothersome rash I've developed, or even the teaching of second graders all week and then the 3 and 4 years olds on Sunday, but I've been running. It's up at 5:30am and non stop until 10:00pm (sometimes later, especially since the girls have been waking up at night). I've found that if I sit down for any period longer than 5 min, I get exhausted and lose my energy and motivation, all the more reason to keep moving. Keep moving. Keep moving. And while I don't feel like I'm losing ground, I do feel like I struggle to keep the status quo.
Since school started this year, I've been struggling. During Christmas I went on vacation to Florida and it took all I had to find the relaxation. But with a new year come new goals and mindsets.
I've always been someone who tries to handle life on my own. "I can do it" has become a personal mantra. It's hard to do it all at school, do it all at home with my girls, do it all with the parents of my students (which has started to take on a life of it's own),do it all with my home...just.plain. do. it. all. And to do it all by myself. I'm not one to ask for help. After all I can do it by myself, right?
I just finished reading through the New Testament and I was reminded again that I need to rely on my God. I may not be married with a human helpmate, but God has promised to be there with me. I may not be a stay at home mom with more time to spend on my beautiful girls, but God has promised to help me raise them. I may not be a school teacher with answers to every question, but God has promised to stand beside me. Sometimes I think the way God helps me is through other people. So I have started (with very, very, very tiny steps) to let others help. And I'm trying to remember one of my favorite phrases that I use when encouraging others. I'm trying to say, "Oh, well." Life will move on.
So I'm breathing and smiling and loving my God. I'm still running, but I know that God will run right beside me. A highlight of this past week was the visit of Stripes the Tiger. Stripes is the class stuffed animal for Abby's kindergarten class. He goes home with one student at a time and visits your home. Abby then had to write in the journal about the activities she did with Stripes. Abby was chosen to be with first one to bring him home. Can you just feel the excitement in her smile??? She LOVED IT!

It's been snowing here like crazy. We get 2 or 3 days of quietness and then several more inches of snow. It's still being deposited in our front yard when our neighborhood gets plowed so Abby has been outside several times to climb our "mountain". She keeps sinking down to her knees and laughs and laughs.

This is how I found the girls Saturday morning at 6:30am. They were curled up together in our big chair and snuggling while they watched tv. Grace did have her head laying on Abby right before I took the picture, but then she moved it. I'm so blessed that these two get along and love on each other so much.