I’m Unsupervised…

The craziness of becoming a foster family hasn’t gone away. It’s just been dispersed differently.

We made the decision to enroll the kids in pre-school. I’m not sure about it, but decided to give it thirty days. I do miss the rascals. BUT it might be good for them (although there are now tears when I drop them off) and it might be good for me.

Paul wants me to keep some of my sanity, because really, it benefits us all. And in order to keep some of that sanity, I need to find a way to balance the needs of 7 kids, 3 of whom have only been here a few months, with keeping some parts of my identity.

First and foremost, I am a wife and mom. Those two titles come before everything else. They’re titles of service, and that services creates the fierce love I have for my family.

But I guess I’m not selfless enough. There’s more to my identity. In order to keep hold of the remaining sanity, I need some down time. Some time to develop newly discovered talents. I don’t want to give up on writing. Paul doesn’t want me to either – which is reason #2968 that I love him.

So kids in pre-school, this gives me time to work.

The hard part – there’s so much to choose from, I don’t know where to begin. Which means I may totally run amok while I figure it out 😀

Back in the Saddle!

Saturday, we woke up way too early after going to bed way too late. For us, that means it’s the start of bike season!

We packed up our gear, and added our two oldest to the mix, drove over two hours (while it was still dark) to get to Wamego, KS for the Cabin Fever Challenge ride. It’s the first organized ride our two oldest have been on. I’m so glad they came. I don’t know if they are. It was COLD!

Our temp starting out was 34*. My friend and I did the 33 mile route, while the kids and husband did the 14.5 mile route. We pushed through the frigid finger tips (cold, even with gloves) and frozen feet until the sun came out from behind the clouds and started warming things up. The hills helped warm us up, too.

I’m trying a new saddle, again. And my inagural ride with it was Saturday. I’ve lost count of how many saddles I’ve tried, and it’s kind of discouraging, but there’s got to be one out there that will work. I think this one has some potential.

For you cyclists out there, it’s the Selle Italia Lady Gel-flow. The saddle felt great at the beginning of the ride. The pressure was where it was supposed to be. But I realized farther in, that when I get tired, my hips tilt forward, and that’s when there’s pain that should not be there. Tilted the saddle just a tiny bit forward and hopefully get to try it again this week 🙂