Spring Break Checklist

Find defunct electronics to give to Steph- Check

Start packing doo-dads, nick-knacks, whatnots and whosits- Check

Go back and forth with creditors about stuff that isn't even our debt- Check

Play doofy board games with my daughter- Check

Worry about my children's mental health in the face of scary things- Check

Realize that I am remaining so much more calm these days thanks to actually following the advice in a book I read- Check

Go look at houses and worry if we're doing the right thing by uprooting the kids- Check, uh in a few hours anyway.

Take K to the obligatory day at the inflatables place and come home with a migraine that insists on hanging out for almost four days- Check

Practice guitar until Hubby comes in, rolls his eyes and says, "Don't you know any songs yet?" then commence playing Do Lord for the umpteenth time with the new bass walks in it. - Check

Finish another chapter in the novel I haven't written on in almost a year- CHECK!!!!!

Wonder why it is that children in our great nation must handle, work through, attempt, understand, feel, battle, mourn, and juggle things that most adults can barely do the same with. Why are the evil people allowed to produce and raise children that are broken and scarred? Why does society brush them into the corners and try to pretend it never happened? Or why in the world do they blame the child when they commit the same atrocities as the two people who were supposed to love and protect them? And I mourn the small loss of innocence every time I have to tell my children about those people and of their broken children. But I also get to teach my children compassion, about love that's never failing, and show them how to be the hands and feet of Jesus when they come across the broken. I get to show them that these are precious children of God and that no matter what their past says about them or what the cold statistics of law enforcement decree, they can love them anyway. We can give them hope and joy in the midst of their broken hearts. oh...er...check.

And remember when you go out into the world, hold hands and stick together.