Life Happens

We've been having an...interesting...October around here. And more than a few people have told me this little phrase: Life happens while you're making plans. That pretty much sums up how this month has gone. We didn't get to go on our vacation that we've spent months planning, we've had sickness of all weird kinds running through our house, and "life" keeps on happening. Since we hadn't really planned anything the past few weeks (except trips to ER, trips to the clinic, trips to the pharmacy, etc), I invited some friends over for supper Wednesday night. 

Let me tell you...Wednesday came with extra things and I didn't feel like making our house mostly clean (HA!) & putting together a meal. But it all came together...and while I was running the dust cloth over the furniture, I had a thought. If I continued to wait for the right time to get together with others, it would never happen. There is always something going on. There is never a perfect time, a quiet pause in life...so just pick a day and love on the people in your life! Wednesday supper was so fun, and so refreshing, and I needed that.

And it's a good thing we took advantage of Wednesday night, because later that night Audrey woke up with another croupy cough and we were up till the wee hours. And today was filled with a doctor visit 45 minutes away and other craziness.

Plan A for each day has hardly happened around here this month...Plan B & C have been more like the norm. Problem for me is that my plan is Plan A...God is the one who usually introduces me to Plan B or Plan C...or D, E, F... ;o( Learning lots of flexibility and taking advantage of the small blessings that He sends along with the change of plans...like Nutella Nanaimo Bars after supper Wednesday night!

Financial Peace - Oxymoron?

Tonight I finished the longest class I've ever taken...over a year long. We checked off the last lesson of Financial Peace University. We are notorious for starting something and stopping before it's finished. Not the poster children for "seeing it through" evidently. So, being a little convicted about such things...we sat down and did it! DONE! If you are current with the Baby Steps, we're working on #4-#6...investing 15%, putting away for kids college, & paying off the house. Going through FPU has given new perspective on money, debt, things/stuff, and actual NEEDS. We'll probably go through the course again at some point to keep it fresh and refocus on our goals. Before FPU, we mismanaged our money...er, God's money...horribly. We aren't totally out of debt yet, but so close! If you've never done a course like this, do it...you won't regret it.
On another note - I have worn this shirt all day and just now found a hole in the sleeve and a hole in the underarm. I evidently need to take myself to Target and find a new long sleeved T (and maybe a Starbucks while I shop?)! Oh, wait... the clothing budget is spent for this month, I'll have to wait until November ;o) Just one little way FPU has changed the way I look at urgency and need. It can wait...so it will. After-all, I have THREE other long sleeved T's I can wear (although, none of them are pink!) ;o)

Enter: The Iron

Since the past two weeks have been a little crazy with Rohn's doctors appointments & surgery...and ER visits, and family coming into town to help us out...yada yada yada...a lot of things have slid around here. Today started to feel a little more normal around here and I checkity-checked off some of the list. But let me tell you the major moment of my day. Yes...just monumental.

Olivia is in Cubbies (Awana), she got her first badge last week...which I had not yet attached to her vest. Since tonight was Cubbies, I found thread (read: got into bins of fabric, misc junk, lost my way for a while), needle, scissors and sat down on the couch to attach the patch. As I'm trying to get it on, I see that I'm sewing it on CROOKED ;o( Annoying...I can't fix it, so it has to get ripped off and reattached. It is at this moment I look at the back of the patch & see it is an IRON-ON. Really Debra? Oy...sometimes I am such an overachiever. (Yes, I iron my jeans). Enter...The Iron. Thank you whomever invented this wonderful item...2 minutes and done. I'd been dreading this for a week...and it was an iron-on.

Whatever - I had one happy Cubbie Olivia prancing around the house after naptime. Thank you, Sunbeam, for your contribution to my day.

Here's What I Know...

Maybe it's just me. Maybe it's because I had a corporate job right up until my first was born. Maybe I think I must contribute to society or at least my family in a great way everyday. And maybe I just don't live up to my own standards like I think I should. But, here's what I know. I like to look back at my day and see some sort of accomplishment, some great way I impacted those around me. And don't know you it, there are a lot of days I really don't feel like I did much except for keep my children fed & happy...and sometimes it just doesn't seem like that's enough. But, what I'm coming (slowly) to grips with is the fact that...it just MIGHT be enough! I didn't abandon or abuse my girls, I loved on them and sang silly songs while dancing like Elaine from Seinfeld....and we laughed. We read books until they were sleepy, and then they had naps and woke up happy. That is something! I didn't balance the national budget, but neither did all the elected officials that are actually SUPPOSED to be doing that! My day doesn't look like anyone else's...so why compare it?

So here's what this blog is about. It's just a daily archive of the biggest event or thing checked off the list. And when I sit down one day to look back at what I did with as a SAHM (btw, I hate that label), I'll hopefully be able to see how every little thing done was building up my girls and helping them grow into women who have their own personal relationship with my Jesus. I hope to see a wife who loved her husband and showed that through her everyday life. My TO DO list doesn't look the same as it once did. The list might have the same things on it for days in a row, but I don't live the same life I once did before...and that's the whole point.