Impromptu field trip
There are some mornings when you wake up and the sun is shining and the weather is pleasant. There are also some mornings when before 9 am has even arrived multiple children have either disregulated or melted down. These are the mornings when you know you just need to cancel school and go to the zoo. A change of scene, being outdoors, using lots of energy is just what is needed. This is exactly what we did this morning.
We had a lovely time. The zoo wasn't too crowded, the weather wonderful, the children re-regulated. Ahhh... We only missed seeing the brand-new baby rhino because he was napping that the keepers couldn't get him to wake up and come outside. It was even empty enough that I was willing to take the crew to the children's zoo to climb on the huge play structure. (Which always strikes me as a claustrophobic nightmare when too crowded.) After two and a half hours, we headed home in time for a late lunch. It was a good day. Far better than it would have been had I tried to do book work this morning.
Which leads me to mention another blessing that a difficult adoption brings that I didn't think to mention in yesterday's post. That would be the ability to live in and appreciate the moment. You see, life does not always go swimmingly around here. Sometimes it's hard and sometimes it's really hard. But there are also those moments when life feels calm and possibly normal. You learn to soak those up and use them to breath and gather your strength.
I didn't always do this. I was too busy worrying about what the next crisis will bring. I discovered that this is really not healthy and the next crisis did come whether I worried about it or not. In the meantime, I missed out on the good times by clouding them with my worries. I'm not perfect at this, but I am much better. I know the rough times will come, but they will come regardless of how much I worry. Now, I would much rather just enjoy the pleasant times and be thankful for them. You would think that this crazy life of mine would cause me to worry more, but I think it has caused me to worry less. (I still worry, but I know it is not to the same extent that I used to when everything was easy.) I know I have lost control of pretty much everything and have had to hand it over to God. It's hard to worry about things when you have put God into control. It's a funny thing that I am more peaceful because my life is harder.
We had a lovely time. The zoo wasn't too crowded, the weather wonderful, the children re-regulated. Ahhh... We only missed seeing the brand-new baby rhino because he was napping that the keepers couldn't get him to wake up and come outside. It was even empty enough that I was willing to take the crew to the children's zoo to climb on the huge play structure. (Which always strikes me as a claustrophobic nightmare when too crowded.) After two and a half hours, we headed home in time for a late lunch. It was a good day. Far better than it would have been had I tried to do book work this morning.
Which leads me to mention another blessing that a difficult adoption brings that I didn't think to mention in yesterday's post. That would be the ability to live in and appreciate the moment. You see, life does not always go swimmingly around here. Sometimes it's hard and sometimes it's really hard. But there are also those moments when life feels calm and possibly normal. You learn to soak those up and use them to breath and gather your strength.
I didn't always do this. I was too busy worrying about what the next crisis will bring. I discovered that this is really not healthy and the next crisis did come whether I worried about it or not. In the meantime, I missed out on the good times by clouding them with my worries. I'm not perfect at this, but I am much better. I know the rough times will come, but they will come regardless of how much I worry. Now, I would much rather just enjoy the pleasant times and be thankful for them. You would think that this crazy life of mine would cause me to worry more, but I think it has caused me to worry less. (I still worry, but I know it is not to the same extent that I used to when everything was easy.) I know I have lost control of pretty much everything and have had to hand it over to God. It's hard to worry about things when you have put God into control. It's a funny thing that I am more peaceful because my life is harder.
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