O.V.E.R.W.H.E.L.M.E.D.

So how's your week shaping up? Mine...eehh..not too shabby. I just finished a marathon of laundry and dishes and picking up trash, cuz obviously putting your valentine candy wrappers in one of the 10 receptacles we have is just too darn hard. Now I'm parked in front of the tube, watching Idol, in my current favorite PJs. D is out of town for a couple of days, the girls are in bed, and the boys are in their cub cave. I, at this moment, am caught up on homework and the housework beast is in its cage (not tamed, just contained). So I am sighing, sipping (H2O) and soaking up the relative quiet.

However, last week I had hit one of my push the button days. I won't bore you with all the details but the gist of the matter is I had multiple homework assignments (including a big essay) due this weekend, D & I were in charge of a special children's service at church on Sunday, I had class on Saturday, and of course the usual suspects--laundry, cooking, cleaning, kids..blah blah blah...

On Wednesday evening (after a fab lunch w/ the BFF) I was fighting with the computer at church trying to beat it into submission while simultaneously writing out the schedule for Sunday and making notes of what we still needed to do to prepare. As usual I began to first doodle on my paper, and then my doodling took a different route.

I found myself writing the word OVERWHELMED. And then I wrote it a second time vertically down the page...like this:
I am...

Over Scheduled
Very Tired
Enormous Responsibility
Rejection, fear of it?
Work Overloaded
Helpless
End of my Rope
Losing Battle
Mad at Myself &
Everybody else, too
DONE

I'm not really one to dwell in that kind of misery and it truly made me feel better just to write it down. So of course I had to start writing again and this time I wrote:

I am...

Okay
Very Blessed
Enormously Loved
Revered (obviously I was stretching it on this one..revered, really?)
Welcomed (again not the best choice..I was doodling, people!)
Hopeful
Excited
Loving Life
Madly in Love w/ family
Eternally Minded
Done with Doubt

And finally doodled on my paper, with an assortment of stars all around it, was a short portion of a scripture...'unto the Lord not for men.' Col. 3:23

Ahh..yes..that centered me and you know what? I survived last week, and I'll make it through this week, too. Still overwhelmed at times? Yep. Gonna stay that way? Nah..it's too much work to be overwhelmed!