so hot, so tired

Those are the words that kept going through my mind today. I'm just not doing so well with this HOT weather. It was actually 106 degrees this afternoon. I am pretty sure I was melting away as I stood outside trying to clean out Makayla's cars seat because her poop had gone out the side of her diaper all into her seat. Yep, I was dying of heat and completely disgusted. It was just one of those days. Life was overwhelming and exhausting today, but, I did have a moment of clarity this afternoon. One of those times when you are lecturing your child about being grateful, happy, and content and all of the sudden in the middle of your lecture you realize that you may actually be the one who needs the lecture the most. I did need the lecture, and I'm glad I gave it because it definitely helped me get past my negativity and focus on all the wonderful things that are making me so happy lately. I have so very much to be grateful for. One of the things that I am very grateful for is a tender mercy and an answered prayer of a pleading mother. I have really been wanting to put my children into activities. I am not looking for activities that consume and take over our family life, but I do want my girls to have experiences to help them grow and learn new skills and talents. So I started looking around. Cloey really wanted to be in gymnastics and Katelund wanted to be on a swim team. After doing all my research I found myself very frustrated by the cost of everything. I am very willing to pay for lessons but to me $80 for four 30 minutes classes a month that teach you how to do a cartwheel, walk on a balancing beam, and jump on a trampoline is absolute robbery. Then I was even more disheartened when I found out the cost of a swim team that I was going to have to drive 30 minutes away for. After driving out to the pool to pick up the packet of papers, I came home and expressed my frustrations and complaints to Cory. He told me to do whatever I thought was best (so didn't help!). That night I knelt by my bed and pleaded for some sort of intervention. As I laid down in my bed, the idea came to me as if a light bulb had literally turned on above me. I thought of my cute cousin, Kayla, who was home from BYU for the summer and had spent years and years in dance and as a captain of her drill team. I called her the next day to see if by any chance she was interested in earning some money by teaching gymnastics to Cloey. After talking with her and my girls, we decided on a day and price and the classes began. Katelund decided to join in on the fun instead of doing swimming and so now they go together every Tuesday afternoon and have lessons in gymnastics, ballet, and other forms of dance. They LOVE Kayla and they LOVE all the variety of dancing they are learning. Then, as if it couldn't get any better...a sister I visit teach (that lives one street over from me) is a piano teacher and the girls started lessons last week...AND...she is only charging me for one of them because I am going to clean and mop her floors during the lessons. It works out great for both of us. So now my girls are in dance and piano....they're happy, my wallet is happy, and I'm ecstatic! So I may be hot and tired but at least I'm grateful, happy, and content.