The Million Dollar Question

It happened on Wednesday. The day I'd been looking forward to and dreading at the same time. For the past 4 years, my youngest daughter has spent hours with me in carlines watching her sisters head off to school and waiting for them as they would come out of school to go home with us. Well, this is the year she'd been waiting for for a looooooong time {long according to her}. The excitement kept building and building until finally Wednesday came. 

It was her turn to go to school with her sisters. I couldn't help but be excited for her, but as Hubs and I drove away from school after dropping our most prized possessions off at school, the dam of tears that had been bravely held back behind a hopeful smile sprung a leak and then rolled down this mommy's cheeks for the rest of the ride home. Even Hubs had tears welled up in his eyes at the realization that our sweet, little blonde-headed baby is now officially a big girl. It didn't help that our middle child was very teary as we left her that morning. She's just like I was at that age. A little lot homesick at the thought of being away from her parents. I'm still like that in ways. But one out of three isn't bad, right? Our oldest was excited, but a nervous wreck at the responsibility that lies ahead of her this year in 5th grade. {If only she knew that 5th grade is a piece of cake compared to what it will be later...I guess it's best that she doesn't know!}
I got home and Hubs left for work and I just stood in the living room with couch pillows and throws all out of place, a few misplaced toys/dolls and a view of the kitchen sink full of breakfast dishes. It was eerily quiet and the obvious absence of my precious family nearly made me burst into tears again. And then I realized... "I have the whole house to myself!!!!"  I literally shouted, "Woo hoo!!" out loud and then got busy taking back my house. I cleaned, did laundry, got my oil changed, got groceries, cleaned some more, went on a lunch date with my hubby {where we almost cried again because we missed our little tagalong who always went with us when the big girls were in school} and made special snack for the girls before I went to pick them up. It was the most productive day I've had in months! And the next day was even more productive. It's amazing!

But the Million Dollar Question that everyone wants to know is, "What are you going to do now that all the kids are in school?" Well, I'm going to do what I always do. I'm going to take care of my house and my people. I'll just have more time to plan and learn how to do it better {there is much room for improvement}. I'm going to keep cleaning my church once a week and attending my church as often as is possible. I'm going to work harder at building relationships with the people God puts in my path. I'm going to rebuild my etsy shop and work on building this blog. These are the things I'm passionate about. And I'm very thankful to have the opportunity to 'stay home' and fulfill the calling that God has placed on my life. My husband is a big encouragement to me and I love him for supporting me in what I believe God wants me to do with my life at this moment. I feel like I am living my dream. That is, until homework starts controlling our afternoons/evenings! That's definitely not part of the dream - that's more like a nightmare. :)

Have your kids started back to school?? What in the world do you do all day??

Thanks for stopping by!