Luck of the Polish!

So I have a crazy week this week. First I had to get Dave and Jacob ready for Cedar Point. They left today. Now I have to get ready for Joseph's first communion on Sunday, and right after it we leave for our anniversary trip to NYC.

As if this all wasn't insane enough, yesterday my biggest helper, Elizabeth, came down with a really bad sore throat. And I sprained my ankle coming down our stairs. Did I mention to you that tomorrow is my Amelia's 6th birthday? And Tyler has a soccer game. And I am doing this by myself.

This is the first big trip without the kids that Dave and I are taking. My oldest daughter Emily is coming home to run the household. No big deal, she's been the second mom around here since she was 10. Those of you with big families know what I mean. But I have to make sure that everyone has enough clothes, that all the meals are planned, and shopped for. Plus get my own things ready.

Now my husband will look at me like I am a whirling dervish gone mad. "What's the big deal", he will say as he puts a pair of underwear in a paper bag to take with him on the plane. We are only going to be gone for 6 days. No problem. Right?

Husbands can do that. They can walk out the door anytime they want and never look back at the destruction, chaos and potential hazards they are leaving behind. They can put their few essentials in a plastic shopping bag and go off for a week of fun.

Not moms. No, we have to have a plan for absolutely everything that could possibly happen. My kids by the time I leave, will have enough clothes to last them two months, but that is just in case they spill something on themselves 5 times in one day. Never mind that when I am home and they do that they not only wear the messy clothes, they sometimes sleep in them and arrive at the lunch table still dressed in the same thing!

But again, I digress. I don't want to have to worry that they are walking around naked because Emily didn't have time to do a load of laundry! I have gone over the meals with her and had her to the point of saying, "Mother, yes I know how to make macaroni and cheese, you taught me at the age of 8. I am on the dean's list at school, I know how to boil water!". But just in case I am leaving her with at least 20 emergency numbers, the doctor, the dentist, the emergency room number, and the number of the guy who comes to clean our carpets once a year.

I don't know if I will have everything done by Sunday when I get on my plane. There is something I learned early in my motherhood: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!

And trust in God to get you through it. As I limp along in my house I am saying "Jesus, I trust in You."

And when I do finally sit back in my seat on the plane, as I clutch the armrest, I will breathe a sigh of relief, ask God to send His angels to my house, and go enjoy a restful week with my hubby. After 20 years of this, I deserve it!!!