Do you ever get that feeling like you just need a break? Well, by Thursday night I was there. I had had a long few days, with very little time to breath. The week went by so fast and I didn’t seem to accomplish as much as I would have liked. By Thursday night I was done.

Just as I was heading to bed Ray remembered that soccer sign-ups were on Friday evening. He then discovered that we needed copies of birth certificates and 1×1 photos for each of our three kiddos playing. Being the super unorganized mom that I am, I had only an idea as to where to find the birth certificates, but knew that I would need to take some head shots. I would deal with it tomorrow, I figured.

Well, tomorrow came. The morning seemed to go well, but I only seemed to have time for a shower, and rummaging through our piles of clean laundry to find clothes for everyone, before we needed to head out the door. I could hear that the kiddos were all good – and even had my older ones read to me as I was getting ready for the day – BUT, as I walked down the stairs, to gather a few things together for our day out, I remembered why I never leave my kiddos to themselves for more than a few minutes at a time – the entire downstairs was a disaster!

I wasn’t going to leave the house a mess, which meant we would be late yet again. Wonderful!

We finally joined our friends at the park, had a great day with our pals, and even spent some down-time at my sister’s house. I so needed it!

We made it home before Daddy and did our best to finish cleaning up. I started a post and even began to make spaghetti for dinner. Multi-tasking at it’s finest. Chaos, however, was waiting to rear it’s ugly head. Didn’t take long… I remembered about soccer sign-ups. Doh!

First I had to find the birth certificates. I sure hoped I had a copy of each of them. Our filing cabinet, with all of important documents, is kept in the guest room closet, conveniently packed in tightly with a desk and tons of boxes. Great place for the important stuff, huh? I couldn’t get the bottom drawer open – the one they had to be in – until we moved everything out, so I decided to finish getting a guest post ready to publish.

20 minutes and a door-less closet later… Daddy, Ethan, Zach and Julia were off for soccer sign-ups. The floor still needed to be swept, my post was just about ready to be published, and the pot of noodles was boiling when I got a call from Ray – he didn’t have the 1×1 pictures and they couldn’t sign up to play without them.

Since I haven’t printed pictures of my kiddos in almost three years, I knew I needed to print the pictures I took that day, but neither of my two printers would print pictures. When I finally got one of them to print, the picture was too small and wouldn’t work, so I went to take another one of each of them.

Then four things happened at once – My camera gave me a “card write protected” message, my computer screen went blank as I hit publish on my post, I couldn’t find a strainer for my noodles, and the babysitter arrived. Did I mention that this was a date night?

We finally got everything worked out for soccer sign-ups and Ray and I made it to dinner, but as far as I could tell From Dates to Diapers was gone. Believe me when I say that I was more than a little distraught, at this point. Was this a test? If it was, I had most certainly reached my breaking point and was proving weak.

And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. (2 Cor. 12:9)

I had forgotten Who was in control and on Whom I must lean.

I was more myself by the end of the night … The kiddos were signed up for soccer, I had spent some much-needed time with my hubby, and From Dates to Diapers was back.

BlissDom was a blast… I really can’t wait to share pictures and tell you all about it. I got to hang out with some of my bestest friends on this here internet, and I met so many amazing women, who I can now call real-life friends.

But, boy am I basking in the glow of being home! I felt that heart-stopping anticipation as I saw Ray pull up at the airport to pick me up, and I was thrilled to wake up to my kiddos wanting to snuggle with me. Early, I might add! There is nothing like a big hug from the people you love the most.

Does absence truly make the heart grow fonder, or is there really just no place like home?

I just received the following email from Jessica, the winner of the $50 Walmart giveaway I hosted last month…

After winning a $50 Walmart gift card on your site I felt the need to “pay it forward” so that’s exactly what I did. I decided to help out a needy family in our area by doing the 12 days of Christmas for them (it’s still a work in progress, obviously!) I blogged about it here and here and got my readers to donate their time, money, and items to the family. It’s been a great success and I wanted to let you know that I appreciate winning on your site and this family really does too. So please take a look at the great service that you’ve unknowingly had a hand in. And feel free to check back again for updates!

Times are tough and will continue to be so long after Christmas, but I think most of us forget that we are not the only ones effected by this horrible economy… You will always find someone worse off than you. I applaud Jessica for treating a family less fortunate than her own to a very merry Christmas!

As you are finishing up last minute preparations for the day we celebrate the birth of our Saviour, please remember those in real need… Those who have no roof over their head, no warm fire to toast their toes, and no hot food to fill their bellies. There are many families this year who will go without a tree decorated with bright lights, or presents filling their living room.

Have you been blessed this year? I encourage you to pay it forward.

To help one of you accomplish this mission, I would like to offer another $100 gift card, courtesy of Walmart. This time the winner must pay it forward. Find a family in your community who may need this more than you, or enter for a fellow blogger or friend who may be going through a more difficult time than you.

Giveaway Rules:

• Visit the Walmart Holiday Gift Guide and choose three items you would purchase for a family in need. List them in the comments, along with who you may be blessing with this gift after the new year.

• You may enter every day through December 31st, but you must leave a different scenario for each entry.

• Please include your name and email address in every entry. Your entry will not be accepted if you do not leave me an email address.

• The winner will be randomly selected of the eligible entries and notified on January 1st.

P.S. You can enter to win a $100 Walmart gift card for yourself by entering Katja‘s giveaway, but HURRY! You must enter by midnight on Christmas Eve.