To Everything There is a Season

 Hello Friends!

     We're all familiar with Ecclesiastes 3:1 - To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under the sun.  I figure God knows this already, but I'm thinking I must be in the middle of my "I can't remember anything" season.  Right in the time of my life when I have so much to remember, I sometimes forget to get something out of the freezer for dinner.  Right at this very moment, I have a gazillion doctor appointments yet to be scheduled, swimming around in my head.  Blood work at the lab (x 3 kids), dental cleanings (x 3 kids), pediatrician (for one), neurology (x 3), rheumatology (for one), hematology is coming up in October (but I just remembered that we're going to be out of town for at least half of October... oops - gotta re-schedule that) and I'm definitely not remembering some of them even with that list.  But it is so strange to me, when I have so many things to remember - that is exactly the time that I forget... well, all of it.

   I make lists to help me remember all of the things on my to-do list.  I generally lose the list and have to add "find the list" to the sketchy list in my head.  So, to that end, the following outline of conversation took place on at least 6 occasions on Sunday.  We're getting ready to take the 'tweens to camp this weekend and there are a few details swimming around in my head...

Me: Yeah!  So we're doing that on Thursday...
Friend:  What are you doing for a craft?
Me: (Seeing someone else I need to talk to walk by)  D'OH!
Friend:  You forgot to do something, didn't you?
Me:  Uh.... yep.

 When I get bogged down with details and overwhelmed by the sheer number of things that have to be done, I often think of this season of my life as being the "busy" season or "crazy" season.   I don't think there is any way I can logically think of a way to not call it crazy, not label it as overwhelmingly busy, but I do try very hard to keep our life simple.  Not easy, mind you, but simple.  We do have a significant amount of technology here on the (Funny) Farm, but none of the technology replaces human interaction.  The television in the living room is virtually always set to Fox News, so there is news going on in the background of whatever we're doing.  The boys play the Wii in that room as well, but when time's up... time's up.   The laptops are set up wherever we go, but are put aside for kids, animals, outside activities, chores, cooking, going fishing, board games... whatever.  Keeping our life relatively simple and clutter free is important to me.  When we moved out to the (Funny) Farm, simplicity was high on my list of things that were important to me.  There is nothing easy about doing things the way we do them, but at the same time, there is nothing better than the simplicity of going out to your own garden, picking food that you've nurtured and had a hand in growing.  The simplicity of having dinner outside, surrounded by beautiful flowers and the same fragrant herbs that you used to prepare the meal.  The simple joy of having friends over, sharing a meal and laughs, sitting around a campfire, watching the kids roast marshmallows - these are the sweetest things.

    Indeed, I'm in my "Forgetful" Season.  Also, the "Busy" Season... and don't forget the "Crazy" Season.  But most importantly, I need to remember that I am most definitely in the midst of a very, very Blessed Season.