Overwhelmed

There is no better way to describe my state of mind as I arrive home after a week away and try to resume life as normal again.

There is not just the stack of snail mail these days, there's the stack of emails, times 2 since I haven't downscaled to one email address yet.

There is not just 5 loads of laundry to put in, there are 5 loads of clothes to sort through to first find all the stained items to pretreat.

There is not just my bag to unpack, I think there ended up being about 7 duffel bags total.

There is not just a lack of food to make meals out of in the house, there is the long-gone-bad food in the fridge that never should have been left there before we left.

There are not just 2 kids who need the usual amount of attention, there are 2 clingy children who spent way too much time apart from us this last week and now don't want to let us out of their sight. Kavan didn't even want to play in the nursery today.

There is not just an overtired off-schedule baby. There is an off-schedule baby who has an upset tummy from my penicillin and doesn't want to eat much at one time, leading to numerous nursing sessions and minimal sleep.

There is not just a potty routine to get into with Kavan again to prevent accidents. There are 2 constipated kids from eating unnatural foods all week.

There is not just a day to unwind before Ben goes back to work his 6-day week. There is just this one day to: completely switch Ben's schedule to be awake during the night, be at our church for a special guest speaker (where it was standing room only and it took us a half hour to leave the parking lot with 3 overtired kids in the backseat), complete with a phone call reminding of a forgotten about overtime shift this morning. Forgetting may have been the best thing for us.


But perhaps the most overwhelming thing is the mental exhaustion. After a week of camp I always feel convicted of the changes that need to be made. So there's not just the normal to-do list. There's spend more time with God. More time with the kids. More time with Ben. More time getting healthy (exercise, eating better). Figure out the finances better. Get a job. Restore relationships. Find the secret approach to discipline.

All those pressing issues and yet all I can do for now is get back to the laundry.

I should mention that I do NOT as usual have to put away all the laundry I'd done before our trip. The piles were strewn about everywhere in my living room and I came home to surprise - a clean floor! So I'd like to express a huge THANK YOU to my friend Jennifer who finished folding all my laundry and put it upstairs for me. I can't imagine a truer friend than one who helps reduce the "overwhelm" a bit following a vacation.