Mommy Brain

I know it’s only Tuesday, but it’s been quite a week. Kevin called from work yesterday morning to tell me that he will be “down-sized” at the first of the year. Laid off, let go, whatever you want to call it. And I freaked out. I tried not to, but I did. We live in a pretty economically-depressed area, and tech jobs don’t come along very often. And when they do – well, let’s just say the pay is ridiculous. We’ve been very blessed with his job, and he received a good wage for our area. And now we’re faced with this huge life change.

When I told the kids, Natalie (who takes after her mom, being a “glass half empty” kind of gal) wailed, “Are we going to have to live on the street?” Which started Noah and Jonathan both crying. So I said, “Hey! Is Daddy’s job our provider? No! Who’s our provider?” The kids all gulped and said, “God.” and I said, “That’s right, so we don’t need to worry about this. We need to pray and leave it in His hands and trust that He will work this out.” And inside I’m thinking, “Yeah, but…”

So, anyway… Prayers would be appreciated. Prayers for a new job, prayers for peace for both Kevin and I. I’m trying to trust. God has come through for us so many times before, but it never seems to get easier to be in the place of uncertainty. Just a few minutes ago, I read Katy’s post at Fallible about Big Tests. And no, our test is not brain surgery, so I have that to be grateful for, right?

So, now that I’ve gotten the big thing off my chest, I have some other miscellaneous things I don’t want to forget.

All three boys stayed over Friday night at Don and Michelle’s house in honor of Nicholas’s 10th birthday. When it came time to say the blessing over dinner, one of my kids said, “Can we say Oremus?” Oremus is Latin for “let us pray.” All five boys then proceeded to say the Sanctus in Latin, and then in English. Here it is in English: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are filled with your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.” I’d write it in Latin, too, since I learned it along with the kids, but I’m sure I’d spell something wrong. I wish I’d been there to hear them. Of course, we say it together – along with the lines we’ve learned so far of the Doxology – every morning before we start school, but how cool it is that they have Latin prayers in common with their best friends! Especially at the ages they are: kindergarten, 2nd, and 3rd grade.

When I was pouring cereal for Jonathan’s breakfast the other morning, he said: “Mom, you know how much you gave me last time? Well, give me that much, and then two dips more.”

Natalie broke a board at Tae Kwon Do tonight. She’s done it before, but I never cease to find it amazing that my little girl can break a board with her foot! She has posted a quiz at her blog; it would be really cool if some of you would visit her and answer some of her questions.

You’ve heard of National Novel Writing Month, right? Well, I guess it’s NaBloPoMo, too. That’s National Blog Posting Month. The idea is to post every day for the month of November. Only problem is, I just heard of it today, and I didn’t post on the 2nd. Oh, well.

Anyone reading the news on the Hollywood Writer’s strike and wondering what it’s all about? Here’s a concise post that puts some things into perspective.

I finished Inkspell, the sequel to Inkheart. I didn’t think it was quite as good as the first one, but I still enjoyed it very much. I was pre-reading it for Natalie, because I remembered reading a blog post that said it was much more grown up than the first. I agree, but I didn’t quite find the objectionable material that the review mentioned. I will be allowing Natalie to read it. I think the review mentioned something about teenage sex, but I didn’t read any of that at all. There was an implied relationship between a prince and his wife’s maid, who was sixteen, but the world of Inkspell is a fantasy world a lot like the middle ages, and in that world, girls were getting married at 14. The relationship is strictly implied, with the most explicit statement being that she didn’t leave his side, even at night. And they weren’t even major characters. So, anyway, if you were wondering about Inkspell, I recommend it. I would probably wait for Noah be a little older to read it (he’s 9) because there is some brief mention of Meggie noticing that her shirts are getting tighter up top – she’s thirteen.

We got rid of our satellite. We had “channels” – as the kids called it – for a year, and then we gave it up. Good thing, we would have had to anyway after yesterday’s announcement. I’m just hoping that we won’t have to give up Netflix, too, or I might go crazy. The kids are going through Hannah Montana and Suite Life of Zack and Cody withdrawals.

Kevin and I are going out to dinner tomorrow night while the kids are at Awana, since it’s my birthday. I’m turning 35 – in forty minutes!

I guess that’s everything that’s rattling around in my mind right now. Rattling is the operative word. Sorry for rambling. I’m off to bed – it’s past eleven, and feels like past twelve, thanks to the time change.