2 shoes. 4 weeks. 6 thoughts.

“Two shoes, Mom?”  Calista said this 2-3 times before I simply had to ask, “What are you talking about?”

I had picked her up from the bus, on my own two feet, with two shoes.  Nothing special, right?  But for this girl, today it was!  I was no longer limping with an air cast or on crutches, or driving (embarrassingly) down 1/2 of a block to pick up my kid.

Two shoes.  Doing my own grocery shopping.  Not freezing a foot 10 out of 24 hours with icing.  Simple things.  I learned that Calista knows how to count by 2’s this week so here goes a list inspired by her and the last month’s events, for which I am grateful.

#1  Putting on your two shoes, one at a time, can really be a highlight of the day!  (There are a few single shoes and slippers I had to really hunt down after not wearing both for a month!)  I am grateful for walking in two shoes without a limp and losing that permanent cramp in my good leg’s hamstring.

#2  I can swim!  Like really swim, with goggles, a suit that fits me (all this time, I’ve been buying them too big!), a swim cap and even learned what is a pull buoy and how to use one!  I had to ask Elam’s swim teacher a few times how to breathe correctly doing the crawl but I’m getting the hang of it.

#3  I like to swim laps.  Especially when I have things to count (like 6 things to blog about) and prayer to say.  I have had to figure out ways to keep track of the laps.  Like using my flips, pull buoy or tricks about the Trinity, how many kids I have and how many we hope to have (which is 3, just so you know).

#4  I can pray well underwater.  A dear friend was diagnosed with breast cancer the same week I wrecked my ankle.  I didn’t know for a week.  Just when she told me, I was getting depressed about how much my ankle hurt still and wasn’t getting better.  Whine whine.  Then I heard the news.  Perspective changer?  Yep.

It has been amazing to be part of the community at the Y caring for her, feeding her family and encouraging her as she continues going to class, running on the treadmill and facing it like the warrior she is.

#5  Adoption note:  I was doing my laps last week, and thought of how to tell people in a different way that we “are in the process of adoption.”  People get how long it takes, but here’s a way I have said it lately: I am 23 months along in the adoption.  It will be 2 years in January.  Thank God I haven’t been gaining weight that whole time!

#6  I’ll admit at first I panicked.  How was I going to survive without going to the Y everyday?  How would I know how much/little to eat so I didn’t gain 30 lbs while I (mostly) laid around reading Harry Potter?!  Especially since Christmas came early to me and my parents gave me a KitchenAid!?  (don’t think of it as a mixer; consider it loaves of homemade bread, brownies and cookies!)

Now after 4 weeks and learning a new routine, I feel less bound to exercise, analyzing my eating habits and rushing schedule.  Elam sometimes needs a nap.  Sometimes I do!  Sometimes I eat brownies as a dessert after breakfast.  The gym can wait.

Two friends at church have asked me as they watched my sprain, Elam getting sick & me getting a cough, “Do you think God is trying to teach you something?”  Do you think?!

The answer is yes.  I hope I am listening.