Flying by the seats of our pants

I'm not sure how else to explain the generally atmosphere of our house lately! We found out last month that David would be starting a 2-year apprenticeship with his work this October, and that we'd be whisked to different parts of the country every 6 months during those 2 years.

We did a good job drafting a "to do" list as soon as we found out, but these next couple of months are going to be pretty crazy trying to get everything done. We've decided to rent out our house, partly for the benefit of the extra income we'll receive, but also so that we have someone staying here looking after the place (hopefully! we could get tenants from you-know-where, but I'm trying to stay optimistic). The thought of leaving it totally vacant for 2 years really doesn't sit well with me.

So, now that we've decided to rent it, a whole cascade of "to dos" has fallen into place. There are certain repairs that must be completed, general organizing and tidying to make it look decent when it's shown to potential tenants, etc. Fortuntately, we've decided to use a property management company, so they'll handle all of the paperwork and tenant screening and maintenance issues while we're gone. That is a huge peace of mind. But, the fact still remains that there is a lot to do (in addition to ordinary mom/wife stuff!).

Although we have a lot to do before October, I think it's definitely do-able. I felt overwhelmed earlier this week, but I'm trying to change my outlook and focus on getting stuff done without being too stressed. When I'm stressed, it feels like the whole household is stressed, and I really don't want to affect the boys' well-being too much. After all, these next 2 months will be their last months in our home, in Ramona (possibly even in all of California) for the next 2 years, and I really don't want them to remember this time as a super stressful period where all I did was run around like a headless chicken (or, as David likes to describe me when I get crazy, a frantic squirrel. Augh -- perish the thought of being compared to a squirrel!).

I'm excited about going on this 2-year adventure, but it's a little unsettling to be doing so much seatpants flying. We don't know where we're going for David's first rotation, and we likely won't find out until early September. We don't know exactly when we have to leave (there's been talk of the rotation starting Oct. 1st, but our travel dates aren't set). Being that we don't know where we're going, I have no way of looking into possible charter schools or homeschool groups for Jack. I'm not too concerned, since I figure our "worst" case scenario is that I homeschool for the next 2 years. Mentally, I'm prepared for that to happen, but I may or may not need to order homeschooling resources and such, depending on where we'll be. All of this together wreaks havoc on my usual ability to control situations. As the mater familias and most often parent-on-the-spot with the kids, I'm used to controlling almost everything about the day -- what we eat, when we eat, where we go, timeouts to control unruly behavior, etc. I try to give the kids choices when appropriate, of course, but I always retain veto power. Controlling things has become one of my specialties :).

And now, I don't think I've ever felt like circumstances were so out of control! Especially factoring in the miscarriage last month, it has been (and continues to be) a good opportunity for me to practice relinquishing control gracefully. I'm sure God has lots of adventures and opportunities in store for all of us over the next 2 years, and I'm going to do my best to use those opportunties to become a better Catholic, wife, and mother. At least, that's the idea -- God help me actually do it!