Monday Meme: Lord, Please Give Me Coffee or Give Me Wine

I love this quip. I use it as part of my "signature" in all my emails.

Of course, it’s a spin off the Serenity Prayer, but I much prefer this adaptation.  It’s much more applicable in my life.  I drink coffee.  I drink wine.  I drink coffee to be alert and DO.  I drink wine to chill and RELAX.  I know I’m not alone.  I know many moms, especially moms of special needs kiddos who rely on this mantra.

With kids, every mom has a daily to-do list.  If you homeschool, that list is even longer.  I have autistic teens.  My list, well, I’ve learned to call it a wish list.  No matter how I plan, life just throws a curve ball, and I have to adjust.  Sometimes, my kids don’t understand an assignment which I thought would take little time to accomplish.  Other times, I get a call from a therapist, doctor, or Mr. WhoknowsWho, and wham, I have to deal with THIS situation right away.  Of course, THIS situation blows up my to-do list.  Hence, now it;s a wish list.  Maybe I'll get to it...

What am I going to do?  Complain?  Probably.  Will it help?  No.

Sigh.  That’s when I ask, “Dear Lord, what do you want me to do?”  I have to admit it is more fun to pray “Lord, give me more coffee to change what I can change, and wine to accept what I can’t.”  However, it is actually helpful to hold a cup of coffee to slow me down to think of what I should do.  It helps to hold a glass of wine to reflect on what I need to accept. Obviously, I don’t do this ALL the time, but the idea still holds.

SO, I have learned to have a plan and be flexible.  I just say that prayer.  I have to remember that the Good Lord is in charge, and what I thought was important may not be so important.  I pray that God will give me what I need and when I need it.  It may be simply more coffee or more wine, depending on the case.  Maybe it will be just a moment of silence to distinguish His will, and that is enough.

Monday Meme: WARNING! WARNING! Brain on overload!

Do you ever feel run down?

Too many things going on at once?

Your head spinning because it's trying to process/plan umpteen things and you cannot even successfully accomplish ONE thing?

Yeah, me too!  My bet is every person who reads this has felt this way at least once in their lives.  Me?  It's my normal every day life....  when you have a eight mouths and bellies to feed, those same eight bodies to keep clean and clothed, those same eight brains to stimulate and teach multiple subjects to, and last but not least, the same eight souls to feed spiritually and nourish with love daily, your one brain becomes accustomed to planning/thinking/processing way more than it can handle.   So how do you survive this chaos going on inside your brain?  How do keep your cool without blowing it?  How do you make sense of the multi-tasking that causes spinning out of control?  How do you find peace amongst the chaos?

Through Him.
With Him.
And in Him.  

Yes, it is by God reaching His mighty hand down upon my overloaded mommy brain and bringing meaning and sense of the very busy vocation in which He has called me.

"Though the mountains leave their place
and the hills be shaken,
My love shall never leave you
nor my covenant of peace be shaken,
says the Lord, who has mercy on you."
~Isaiah 54: 10

He come to us.  He dwells within us.  He dwells all around us.  He brings us a sense of peace.  If we but.....   Stop.  Look.  and Listen.  For me, this can be done in many ways....

• say a prayer - something so simple as, "Lord, I need You", "Please take this over for me...", "Saint ***fill-in-the-blank***, pray for me".  Calling on Our Lady and offering up "Hail Mary's" can also bring about a beautiful sense of calm as well.  

• scoop up a kiddo, smooch them, and go read them a book/play a game with them/or just snuggle them - Seriously!  There is something about distracting yourself from the constant commotion inside with the beauty God's presence in the children He gave you right here, right now.  Distract your overloaded brain and focus instead on their innocence, their love, and the presence of Our Lord within them.  

• go to the bathroom and shut the door - for prayer, quiet time, alone time, but remember you have been forewarned....  

• turn on some music - for me, it's Christian music (K-Love, Matt Maher, etc....).  And some make-you-wanna-plug-your-ears singing may follow.  And dancing.  Yes - dancing around the kitchen!  

• and if you are so blessed to be able to sneak away to get a Son Tan, spending time in adoration is a given that can bring you a peace like no other.  But as a busy momma in the middle of her day, it's not always easy to pack up and leave or possibly to run away to run to Him.  This needs to be a somewhat planned thing for me. 

What brings you peace??

What can you do to calm the go-go-go inside your head?  

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Now as an aside, and so you can all laugh at/with me, I had to share my computer screen when I was busy typing this post.... (hint:  focus on the top)

Do you see the multiple tabs open?  Yikes!!  Yes, it's okay to count them....  16 tabs!!!!  You see, I was trying to do way too much at one time - go figure!!!  Not only was I writing this post, but I was also printing labels for a return, reading the new Catholic Icing blog post on Lent, and perusing Pinterest to get new ideas for St. Valentine's day.  And, yes, this is normal computer surfing for me.  (sigh)  All gung ho with doing so much at once, and most of the time, my computer in trying to keep up with my clicking and multiple open tabs often freezes and freaks out at me anyways.  Shall I take this as a hint??  Ummm, yeah....

Breathe, sweet momma....

Slow down....

And, connect to Him, the King of Peace....