My goodness. These past few weeks have just felt like a roller-coaster, one that is just a huge drop downwards....forever....never-ending...okay. You get the picture. Basically you just feel like life is coming at you so fast that you don't know how to handle it and so you throw your hands up in the air and scream. My downward drop right now consists of 27 (that's right, TWENTY SEVEN) cello students, three church callings, 19 credit hours, a junior recital coming up, and then there's the whole "being married" thing. ;) To top it off, I got some sort of bug or stomach thing the last two days (for whoever knows me well, you know that I am TERRIFIED of vomiting...luckily none of that was involved, just lots of stomach pain and nausea). I was upset with myself the other day because I came home and the house was dirty, and I hadn't gone grocery shopping which was desperately needed, I really hadn't practiced my cello enough that day, and I was behind on some homework that I needed to do. I really felt like throwing my hands up in the air and screaming. How am I supposed to manage it all? Well, I'm not, and I can't on my own. I have definitely experienced some silver linings in the past few weeks. Dallin has taken on a new desire to do the dishes and laundry this semester and that has helped me so much. No to mention his constant support and big hugs when I need them. Now, let's talk about the 27 students. When I signed up at Springfield music, I was thinking my studio MIGHT get as large as 18 students...that's what my manager told me it would probably be. I started out with 12 students, and then the e-mails just kept showing up. New student! Starts this Thursday at four....this saturday at 12...this tuesday at 7....Meanwhile, my planner pages were filling up with "Do theory assignment #7, study for quiz on monday, complete assigned reading for REL 131, do elaboration composition for counterpoint." The list was never ending, but so were the tender mercies. There have been a few nights where I was just completely exhausted and had no idea how I was going to finish teaching those next two students, and then both of them call saying that they had something come up and would need to cancel for that night. There have also been times where I walk out of a lesson feeling renewed and energized because I had a wonderful day teaching wonderful children how to play the cello. A few of my classes that I'm in this semester are light on the homework load, and so I can manage all of the harder ones and still not be completely overwhelmed. When it comes to the sunbeam class, I'm still working on finding multiple silver linings for that one, but this last Sunday, one of the cute little boys, definitely rowdy and a handful, came up to me and just gave me this giant hug and wanted to sit on my lap. When I walked out of that class, I was happy. We have friends and family here who have done so much for us, and I just can't help but to see the silver linings. They don't happen every day, but they are enough to keep me going until the next one. God knows us individually and he knows exactly what we need when we need it. I have no doubt that He has been sending those little tender mercies and silver linings to me along the way.
