Jarman Heartbreak Hall of Fame

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In a house full of teens it was bound to happen at some point...the sting of first love's heartbreak.

I'm not saying who, but in a family the size of ours with children as close in age as our children, there aren't a lot of secrets.

We've seen the symptoms for the past few days... (Images of the longing, sad faces of the characters in Seven Brides For Seven Brothers during that long, cold winter come to mind.)

There have even been tears, and the lament of, "Mom, you just don't understand how it feels!"  (Dear child:  There is a reason none of us want to ever re-live our teen years.  Yours truly, Your Loving, Kind Mother Who Doesn't Understand.)

And there has been anger, and plotting revenge...hoping said heartbreaker would move to California or somewhere far away.  (Or that the heartbreaker's head was a balloon that would pop or deflate.)  As the mom in the story, I'd be ok with said heartbreaker moving to California...  Or a remote island in the Pacific with no Wi-Fi or texting capabilities.

The true tragedy is the heartbreak goes both ways...  (Sigh.)

And her friend said that his friend said that he said that she said that her friend said that his friend said...

Enough already!

Only in teen life (and Desperate Housewives, which by the way, I've never seen) could it be so complicated.

So at the point in the story when it was ok for the tears to turn to levity, we started a new tradition:  It's the Jarman Heartbreak Hall of Fame.  It's currently on a dry erase board, so if you come looking, we'll destroy the evidence.  We all put names on the list.  It was a good family bonding moment.

In the process, I learned the name of Tim's 6th grade girlfriend...

And things about my children that I didn't know before, but were suddenly ok to reveal in a tell-all heartbreak impromptu family meeting.

And for the moment, all is well and said broken heart is healing, until tomorrow when one broken heart has to see the other broken heart at school and the friends start talking and texting and it starts all over again.

I have a feeling this isn't the last time we'll be turning to the Heartbreak Hall of Fame.  Welcome to life in a house full to teens!

It's Been A While...

...Almost three months since my last real blog post?  Really?  (The last two were just acknowledgement of my little hiatus.)

Mono kicked my hiney.  There are still some days I yawn at work (not a good thing for a therapist to do a whole lot of), and I'm amazed still at how fast I can feel exhausted.  Mostly though, I have more days now where I feel "normal," so I'll take it.

But really...  Where to begin?

November...  National Adoption Month.  Thanksgiving.  Most years I have a lot to say about both.  Our November tradition around here is to focus on gratitude by naming things we're thankful for every day and trying to fill up our kernel jar.

This year I heard a question early in November that made our gratitude focus a little different.  The question was "Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch me or one of my family members this day?"

As imperfectly as we could with crazy teen schedules and a parent with mono, we tried to focus on this question when we talked about gratitude.  ...Different twist, and I think a great way for us to focus attention on how God's hand is in the details.

Also on Thanksgiving Day, Tim and I celebrated our 18th anniversary.  Happy day.

We even left the kids overnight the weekend prior to Thanksgiving to celebrate...  All by themselves...  All five of them...  And the house was still here when we got back...  And they're all still alive.  

I know.  Amazing.  

And there's more...  So much, much more, but I'm sure we'll catch up.  Or not.  Either way, I think I'm blogging again.  Time will tell.

Apparently You Can Get Mono Twice

 No wonder I'm so exhausted.

And this sore throat that feels like strep comes and goes and won't go away!

And those days where I'm achy and feverish...

I just thought I must be getting every cold that is going around this fall, but apparently it's one really, really long virus.

But life goes on.  Ibuprofen and Airborne are my friends, because I feel better and function better when they're my friends.

And as long as you don't kiss me or drink out of my water bottle, you should be fine.

And some fun news...

We're excited to be going back to Omaha next week to visit Gabby's sister and former friends, fantastic foster mom, etc...

Meanwhile, enjoy the fall pictures.

Joie was ticked that we had to go see the "stupid fall leaves."

Great picture.  In reality she was running away from the camera.

Then she got into the whole idea of Hunger Games and suddenly the fall leaves weren't stupid anymore.

Then

Something about rugby conditioning...
He packs her around a lot lately, and obviously, she doesn't mind.

They  hiked up from the clearing below where Jeran somehow got them to sit and just take it all in and create a mental picture of their visit to the mountains.  They had a Walden Pond moment.

You would not believe how hard it was to convince Nate to join a family picture.
(Not like you couldn't tell from the look on his face.)

Please Stand By...

...We are experiencing exhaustion, burnout, and fatigue.  Please stand by.  Tim will be finished traveling soon, and the logistical nightmare of being a mom to four teens and one teen wannabe will soon end.  Really.  It will end.

Meanwhile...  My current quote to live by.  (I love that it's from Winnie the Pooh.)  You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.  --A. A. Milne

The Whole Family Got Promoted

How often is it the whole family gets promoted all at once?  Really.  Pretty rare, right?

Well, it happened to the Jarmans.

For starters, all five children got promoted to new grades in school.  Nate is a (gulp) junior in high school.  Megan and Jeran are high school freshmen.  Joie is a "sevie"  (a.k.a. seventh grader), and Gabby is in 5th grade.

Back to school pics...

My neighbor was kind enough to take one of Gabby.  (I have a legitimate excuse.  Really.  Just keep reading.)

Gabby and her walking buddy, McKenna, whose mom will double as a pseudo mom in a pinch and does amazing things like sign planners for Gabby when she forgets to have me sign it, and takes back to school pics of my children.  Don't they look thrilled?

And some real back-to-school photos.  Adjusting to the schedule was hard work for Gabby...

Asleep on mom's lap during Family Home Evening

Another one:

Second day of school...asleep running errands after school

And no one else fought sleep either.  We've all been recovering from a summer cold, and tired was going around.

Then on Wednesday, in the middle of a week of intense teaching, Tim got long awaited news that he got a promotion he put in for months and months ago...like last spring.  (Extremely loud, very exuberant cheering.)  Well deserved, indeed.  He's amazing like that.

I was also promoted.  (And just how do you get a promotion when you're a private practice therapist?)  You move to a bigger office, with a lot of colleagues, maintain your private practice status (read:  still be your own boss), and in partnership with a group of like-minded clinicians (read:  over exposure to pure awesomeness), you offer a wider range of services and pinch yourself because you could have never imagined, in a million years, you'd be doing something this amazing.

Last June we signed the lease.  In July we painted and got new carpet (in all our spare time), and in August we waited...and decorated (not me, but others who have the decorating gift), got our city licenses, changes addresses with insurance panels, and a hundred other little details associated with moving.  Finally, this last week, we moved.  (...The week school started...insane, right?  Which is why I don't have back to school picture, but I did get all my children to school every day with back to school paperwork and notes signed, school supplies bought, and to all their gazillion practices, mostly on time). And I saw a full caseload, furnished and decorated a play therapy room, and my own office...

My family has been stellar!  They're troopers, I tell you.  Troopers!

They helped.

A lot.

And the end result is something really amazing.  I see my first clients Tuesday in my new office.  Exciting doesn't begin to describe how I feel.  (Check us out by clicking on our logo below.)

After months and months of work and waiting, South Valley Clinical services is a reality.

And of course there was celebration involved...

Times like this feel soooooooo good.

And Nate topped it off with a new personal best time on a cold-ish, sort of rainy morning cross country meet.  

Now that's a wrap!