Normalcy

I'm craving normalcy...whatever that may be for an 8 month pregnant homeschooling mom of 5 who's just been through a fractured elbow, explosive stomach flu that has rocketed through her family of 7 during a 4 day power outage as she prepared for and celebrated Christmas.

My head is still kind of spinning. I did not get all of my handmade Christmas items done and I had to give IOUs, I have an intimidating mountain of laundry piled up, and my house looks somewhat like a tornado went through it. I am at a loss as to where to start catching up on it all. My body still does not feel 100% and I have lost the energy and stamina to get much done. I am praying for that nesting urge to kick in. Perhaps from that I will get the strength to push through this all.

Even the weather around here has been far from normal. Just a week ago our temperatures were below zero with wind chills below -20. Yesterday, the temperature reached 67 degrees. 67 DEGREES! It's a shame our power loss wasn't during this weekend instead of last. We would have been a whole lot more comfortable!

Yesterday, I decided to download some of our Christmas pictures off of the camera and scrap a page. I chose this photo not because it was typical of our Christmas necessarily, but because I think it shows a bit of normalcy that I am craving. This exchange between my two daughters is so typical for them. Anna purposely annoys her sister and Elizabeth gives her that dirty look. Deep down I know they love each other, but they are not so great at showing it at this phase in their lives. (Credits for the page can be found here.)