Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Routine, Change, Structure, Routine


With the first couple of weeks of the new school year being over, my seemingly busy life is slowly getting back into the "normal" routine, With that said, I find myself feeling unsettled. Yes, summer break is over but the summer season is not. As it is said, time to get back to the "normal" routine before the summer chaos happened of no structure. Really, what is that, a "normal" routine for anyone?
 
Most find their daily routine of getting kids ready, school, stopping off at the local coffee house, driving to work then home to make dinner then find a period of time for some relaxation, if they are lucky. Then the next day the routine starts all over again. However, for the stay at home mother with children add in special needs, our day is getting the kids ready, fed, playing referee, off to school, checking in the in-home therapist, checking the schedule, making lunch, making appointments, checking the calendar, doctor appointments, drinking many Pepsi's (for me), playtime, school afternoon pick up, afternoon sports, husband home and playtime with the little's, more in home services, making dinner, playtime, more referee time,  reading, , conversation with my husband diaper changes, bedtime when is the question....I can name more but I think you get the gist. By all means I am not saying a stay at home mother does more than a working mother just a different routine. I do not think anyone can compared the two; it would not be fair to anyone. My issue is right now, this moment in time, I am finding that my routine is not settled, not jiving; it feels off. Why? I am organized, very organized! I color coordinated my calendar, I color coordinate my closest, my little's therapy schedules are down to a science, I organize way too much but why won't this feeling of uneasiness go way. What am I missing?

What am I missing? Recently, I received a very long text message from one of my sisters. She brought up how her recent travels abroad, staying in a place was a reminder of our mother. Reminders down to the colors of what my mother would have in her bathroom, but the she spoke of how our time together in my mother's last days were a gift, gift we should cherish and love. I took those words to heart even when her text stated our family is not the "Norman Rockwell" picture.

 
I read that text over and over. She was so right. My own extended family, my family I married into is definitely not the "Norman Rockwell" picture and that is where my uneasy feeling sits. We get into a routine, the routine of life but some families are the "Norman Rockwell" picture. They see one another all the time, make time for Sunday dinners, once a week Sushi night outs, family movie or bowling nights but my huge family that I was so blessed to be in just is not that family. Do not get me wrong, we see one another, birthdays, holidays, occasional BBQ's but most of the time our busy schedules get in the way. Have to say thank you to social media for keeping me updated on most of the family that I keep in contact with.
 
So, why can' t my immediate family of seven be the "Norman Rockwell" picture. My husband and I have been blessed so graciously. I have written previously, I do not know what GOD has planned for the future but I know when I received my sisters text it validate that my calling to foster. We have fostered and adopted not only to help precious gifts that have been blessed to our family but to be our family. We are given the opportunity to be blessed with a gift of a baby or a child through fostering thus providing a safe place to call home. Whether that is for an hour, a day or a year, ultimately an impact that instills, Home is Where Family Is! So it may not be the perfect "Norman Rockwell" picture but it is our little "Norman Rockwell" Family!

You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them. ~Desmond Tutu

GOD BLESS
Until Next Time...Make it A Great Day!

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Extended Waiting Periods


I was pondering how valuable time is especially when it comes to medical appointments and having to wait. Keeping a very organized calendar, I know that our doctor's offices make reminders by calling, text messages and/or email messages with our appointment information; even asking to arrive fifteen to thirty minutes early for any paperwork or just to complete the check in process. So, why then do we often find ourselves sitting in the waiting area fifteen minutes, twenty minutes or even thirty minutes after our scheduled appointment time? Only then to be called back to a room and wait again for another fifteen minutes, thirty minutes or even forty-five minutes; what is the value of our time?

Having to go to the different doctors at various locations with all my little's and even myself with my knee, I see notices stating..."If you arrive 10 minutes after your scheduled appointment time, your appointment may be reschedule and you may not been seen today". What about when the doctor is running late? What are our choices? To Wait or Reschedule, not very favorable. Usually no apologies are made by the staff; however, each time you see the door open and the nurse comes to call in the next patient, you hope it is you. Finally, when your name is called, though some frustration has set in, you are just so happy to get to the next step. The happiness only lasts for so long as it becomes deflated because you are in the abyss of the unknown of not knowing how much longer? Where is the doctor, actually? 

Finally the doctor arrives to your room, a quick sorry or thank you for being patient is expressed but that is not helping your six year old who has been repeatedly asking "am I getting a shot and how much longer"? Your crying toddlers who want the same toy or ate the snacks you packed, your baby who just does not want to be there or you at your appointment sitting waiting, reading magazines, checking social media, texting, somewhat enjoying the time but knowing there is a lot of other things that can be done than sitting and waiting.  All of this in an 8X8 room, for an appointment that you know will take less than twenty minutes total. Wasted Time!

I do understand emergencies do happen or someone needed more time than what was scheduled thus causing days schedule to go out of whack but truly it is not okay for anyone. Especially the extended waiting created because the office just plain overscheduled. I know nothing will change, some offices are better than others. I now, for the last couple of years, I do tend to try to make appointments, right before lunch and right after lunch, I found that the schedule starts new right after lunch and right before lunch the staff wants to eat or take a break.

In the end, everyone's time is valuable and there is no price to be had on missed out time. Time is something you are unable to get back. There is no time machine, only the time we have in this minute and hopefully the next as you just never know what is planned in your path of LIFE! We live today in a world of fast paced everything, fast-food restaurants on every corner, smart phones, Skype, Face-Time, social media of every kind, whatever it is, please remember to take a minute or a few when your waiting to know through the quiet or the chaos to enjoy a minute without technology (maybe easier said than done). No matter what your time is just as valuable as your doctors!

Old Time, that greatest and longest established spinner of all!.... his factory is a secret place, his work is noiseless, and his hands are mutes. ~Charles Dickens

GOD BLESS

Until Next Time...Make it A Great Day!

Monday, August 3, 2015

A Fork in The Road


It has been a litte over two months since I posted. Though it has not been without good cause or because I truly did not have anything to say. I simply have not posted because my heart nor my mind was not in place to have the words come together.

I believe life is like seasons or as I always say, riding a roller coaster. The ups, the downs, the twists and turns. Truly just been trying to navigate my Mother's passing while trying to navigate day to day stuff, family, friends and most important myself.

Honestly at the end of the day, whatever is not complete, it is not going to make or break me, right? Just so happens, it is another day starting again whether new things happen or picking up from where I left off from the day before. I can post many things that have happened in the last couple of months; the highs and the lows but it is not about the past; it is about today and what tomorrow may bring.

I can share with you one thing though, a gift that was bestowed upon me this past week...a dear friend gave me some very valuable information. She reminded me no matter what happens in my life all I needed to do was lay down everything to GOD and put my Faith in Him always! In those words I knew my Mother was somewhere there as she would always say in our conversations, lift it up to HIM and he will always be there for you...Words to so live by!

My daily life is still a roller coaster ride. Sometimes a slow ride, sometimes a fast ride but a ride I would not change for anything. Choices of Life, the path of the Unknown to ME but Known to HIM! GOD has given me this path, where sometimes he places a fork in the road and that is what makes it all WORTH IT!

Here is to today, tomorrow and whatever the next minute brings! Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you.”  - Walt Whitman 
GOD BLESS

Until Next Time...Make a Great Day!