Mommy Brain

How I hate the way I feel during “that time of the month”! I feel exhausted, unmotivated, head-achy and back-achy, extremely irritable — in every way yucky. I know that as a Christian I am supposed to “rise above” and “not come under it” and all of that, but it’s difficult when all you want is to crawl in bed, throw the covers over your head, and stay there for about a week. Add this to the fact that I’m still fighting nausea from a stomach virus that lingers on and on and on — and you’ve got one cranky Mommy! I am so thankful that we’re taking this week off of homeschooling for Spring Break!

Our weekend wasn’t bad, considering all this. On Saturday we went up to the aquatic center in Canada again, this time taking our friends Heidi and Mark and their two little ones along. The kids had a blast, and so did we. That evening we watched The Incredibles for the first time. I am so glad that we bought it — the whole family loved it, including Kevin and I.

Sunday morning I woke up feeling wrung out — nauseated, exhausted. We didn’t go to church; I went back to bed after Kevin woke up and slept for a few hours. I spend the rest of the day doing nothing except finishing My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult. The book is about a family who has a child specifically as a bone marrow donor for their older daughter who has a severe form of leukemia. Very thought-provoking, especially as Ms. Picoult tells the story from several points of view: the donor daughter, the mother, the father, an attorney, the older brother. I have found this distracting in other books, but Ms. Picoult artfully portrays each character as real and unique. This book made me think about my own children and choices I would make if one or more of them were severely ill. (Warning: this book has some profanity and a few racy sections. Nothing graphic, but it is not written by a Christian author, unlike some of the other books I have recommended. Consider yourself warned.)

I will be starting Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott this evening after rehearsal for Sunday’s Easter service. I’ve been very hesitant to read this book. I don’t know if I’m just extremely judgmental — I don’t think so — but I’ve had a hard time reconciling the idea of this woman loving Jesus with all her heart and yet believing abortion is okay. (She believes that personhood begins later than conception.) And yet, I’ve been yearning to be more real in my own faith and to be in a church where people are allowed to be authentic, but I don’t want to read a book because the person has faults? Hypocrisy — I hate it in others and forget how much it exists in me! I’ll let you know what I think of the book, not that it matters all that much!

On to dishes and dinner prep,
Carrie

(I added a list of what my 8-year-old daughter is reading to the sideline. She’s picked up her Mommy’s habit of having more than one book going at a time!)