My pile of laundry of a life

I just thought of my friend from Romania a second ago, because I have a HUGE pile of laundry and at the bottom I found some shirts and pants that should not have been at the bottom of the pile because now they need some major ironing. That's when I said "I wish Iuliana was here. She would LOVE to do this ironing" That is actually a really good metephor. The PILE of laundry represents my life right now. It is overwhelming, overpiled with too much to do and worry about and be in charge of. So much that I haven't been able to sleep. I am up now at 4:51am, because tossing and turning usually ends up in less rest than if I just get up. It gets my muscles all in a twitch because I stress out that I'm not sleeping and then I start wondering why, and then all the stress of life comes to mind and I get up and start typing. I'm trying to pray through it, instead of type through it, but I think it is too much to piece together to even be able to pray about. That's where you come in. Sometimes you just need someone else to pray and to sort out the situtation with God for you. Since I know so many prayer people, I thought I'd bring this current mess in my life to your attentions. Please pray for me that I "iron" out the things in my life that need ironing and then that I "clean out my closet" and find a way to put the thoughts in my mind away in the right places and get the "pile of clothes folded" so I can relax and do more important things, like play with my son and teach him new songs. The ironing out, is the processing through all of the things I'm committing to and finding a way to fit them into my life, the cleaning out the closet is trying to figure out what to eliminate from my life, and folding the clothes is getting my life back in order so I can sleep again and work and live without stress and a constant feeling that there's something I should be doing.

You're probably wondering what in the world is causing me all this stress and piles of laundry, right? I'll list it off systematically and maybe that will help me confirm what to cut.

It probably strated with the baby girl that I watch needing to come to my house 3 times a week instead of 2. That only lasted a couple of weeks, and then my business (tutoring and hiring others out to tutor) started a big BOOM, so I had to get someone else to replace me to watch her for one of the three days. That gave me more space to work on my business and spend more time with Matthew and my grandmother on that day. That time with Matthew and Grandma didn't last long though, because I realized I needed to take an online teaching class to keep my credential current, so I signed up for that and added a book to read to my life and the impending class to the load of stress. If that wasn't enough, before the book even arrived, a former student's mom called to see if I could find teachers for her daughter to be schooled at home for 16 hours a week. I found two for her and it was working out, but only for 2 weeks, before the second of the two teachers suddenly quit and I am now forced to go through the interview and screening process to find another teacher for this girl. I also had a number of other students looking for teachers. With the pile of resumes I had to go through for the first girl, I ended up hiring someone for another former student who had been looking to come back but needed a teacher and one other from my church who is teaching math with me. That means in the month of Oct, I added 4 new staff members to the three I already had. WOW. No wonder I'm stressed. But that's not all. The very last thing that I've undertaken has me thrown for a loop, but I really believe there is no one else for the job and at least I have help. My good friend, and mother of the baby I watch has agreed to join me in leading the baby and toddler ministry at our church. It is a group of 13-17 kids who desperately needed the dedication and organization and leadership to have a much better time in the room they stay in while their parents are at church. So while I've been looking for a teacher to replace the one who quit on me, I took it upon myself this weekend to organize the toys, arts and crafts, scheduling of team members, and many other duties for the little ones at our church. To top it all off, my son was sick and my husband was out of town for 4 days. It is now Monday morning, 5:15am. Both baby and husband are asleep and I am without sleep, trying to deal with the pile of laundry that is my life's stresses piled on top of each other.

So what in the world can I cut? I am trying to work that out. I have a couple of ideas and am going to try them out in my mind before attempting to pull them out from under the pile of clothes, in fear that the whole pile will tumble down and create a bigger mess all over the floor. The guest bed is calling to me though because I have an out of the country guest coming and I have no choice but to remove those literal clothes from the bed and then the "clothes" from my life so that I can welcome him properly and spend time with him shopping and catching up on his life. Yes. My former supervisor from Ukraine is coming for 3 days and I'm so excited to have a chance to DROP all of the balls I have in the air and just cater to him. But before I can do that, I need to find places for those balls so they don't just run off and leave me chasing after them in the days after my friend leaves. Well, I don't know where all these metaphors are coming from, but they're helping to keep me in check and realize there are ways to get out of the juggling act and the constant piles of laundry. PRAY and eliminate! And I think I'll go for a walk with Matty and the baby today to sort all this out in my mind. Plus they would love to walk to the park, well, they ride in their double stroller, I walk. As if I have time for that. But I should really make it. It would be good for us. Please pray that I take more walks, get more sleep and unpile the enormous pile of stress I am faced with. Thank you. And find some time to go grocery shopping so we can have some food in the house.

Hope all is well with all of you. Write me back to let me know.