Transitioning

Well it has officially been a week since Isabelle started school.  We are sticking to a morning routine that includes both of us being dressed and ready to launch into the day when she gets on the bus.  And I have added making her bed to the morning routine as well.  Might as well try to sneak in one good habit as early as possible.  Her effort has been a little weak thus far:

But I believe neatness can come after a habit is established.  Some might not agree with me but I don't really care.  That is what I am going with.

Anyway...

After a week of working on the morning routine and going to school she finally told me she doesn't want to go anymore.  While I expected to hear that at some point I was really thinking it would be more like 2 or 3 weeks, not 1 week.  None-the-less I sort of feel her pain.

I am feeling the stress of developing a new routine and a new stage of life myself.  Today I didn't want to get out of bed, did not even hear Jake leave or John's alarm go off.  Yesterday I was feeling frustrated by the tasks I was doing and today I am not totally sure what I am going to do with my time.  I know I need to start walking the neighborhood passing out these plow postcards I made up but that feels a little scary to me and I want to run away from it.  Conveniently the rain is giving me a good excuse to not do it.  Plus 2 times this week I got "the look" from the bus driver because I got distracted and she was sitting in front of our house honking for a few minutes before I ran out to get Isabelle.  Yesterday I got a little lecture.  And the school nurse called to tell me Isabelle should not have been allowed to go to school because apparently she is missing 2 immunizations which I wasn't aware of.  Then the nurse told me that my pediatricians office told her I didn't go to the 5 year old well child check up.  Is there no patient confidentiality?!  I don't see why I should pay my doctor to confirm the obvious fact that my child is well.  And I don't see how that is any of the school nurses business.  All the paper work I read told me the nurse would call me BEFORE school if Isabelle needed any shots.  It isn't my fault she is behind and I will not be made to feel guilty because I didn't pay $200 to find out if my child needed shots.  Well apparently I will...

What was I talking about?

Oh yes routine.
 
So after a honeymoon week of enjoying the new routine and enthusiastically getting up to run before Isabelle got up, making Jake a sandwich before he left for school and reading a short bible story to Isabelle during breakfast, the fun has worn off.  And now the real work begins.  Deciding what we are going to actually put effort into and what we are going to let go of.  And then making the commitment to press on even when I don't FEEL like it because I know it is the right thing to do.

We must press on through this lazy phase, where we are tempted to sleep in, skip a workout, not make the bed or brush the teeth because we are rushed for time.  We must maintain a belief that these things are important and that developing good habits and routines now will serve us throughout the year and through all the years Isabelle will be in school.  It takes 28 days to develop a new habit.  We are 6 school days down, 22 school days to go.

From this point forward it is all about strength and attitude.  And I am going to choose to have a good attitude and ask God to give me the mental and physical strength to continue working to develop these habits knowing that in a few more months they will just be a regular part of our life.  Because the alternative is to have a bad attitude, not follow through yet still have to get Isabelle out the door every morning and watch the bus drive away while wearing my pj's and feeling stressed before a single thing is accomplished.  And that doesn't sound like fun at all.

Philippians 3:12 "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me."

My Time

Now that I have exactly 3 hours and 5 minutes each day to myself you might be wondering what I am doing.

As I was anticipating fall coming I spent time looking at all I wanted to accomplish, what my goals were for the fall, the activities I was and wasn't going to commit to and how I would organize each do to make it all happen.  I gave myself permission to say NO both to things I didn't want to do and to things I did want to do but knew I needed to let go.  And I created my usual fall goal list to map it all out.  Then I started looking at my weekly schedule.

At first I thought I would assign each day of the week to one of my commitments.  But as I looked at what needed to be done I could see that right off the bat I needed to spend more than one morning a week starting a plow business and that my women's ministry stuff would be busier in October when I was planning a meeting.  I don't have to have a perfectly balanced schedule where I am doing everything every week or every day but look to see what is happening right now and work on that.

I am spending most of my time this week and probably next on the plow business.  Then I will be busy with women's ministry stuff in October.  And Christmas is coming so I will probably be crafting or shopping in November and December.  And blogging and doing other writing things in with all of that.  It isn't about doing them all at once in some miraculous harmony but about doing one thing at a time.  Always keeping my eyes on the priority of my family but knowing that if at times I let something go it isn't the end of the world.  I will come back to it when I am done with the task before me.

A couple weeks ago I was telling my husband that what I really wanted was a year to just have coffee with friends and organize all the closets in the house.  I hate that we are struggling financially and I feel like I need to help more in his business, possibly even look for a job.  But now as the year has started I am seeing that while each task on my list will keep me busy for a moment I have an entire school year stretching before me and I know that I will be able to not only start a plow business, get my writing published and maybe even get a part time job but I will also tackle those closets and enjoy time with friends.  I don't have to do it all tomorrow.

With a few days under my belt I am really enjoying the time to focus on a project.  I would love to be getting more done but I am excited by all I have gotten done and know I will always have time again tomorrow.  This isn't a one time play date this is my new daily schedule.  And it is a very good thing.

School days

Isabelle started school last week.  I think we both needed it to happen.  We had been talking about and anticipating it for far too long.  And then after everyone else started school we had to wait 2 more days for it to happen.  Finally last Thursday she put on the outfit we spent 30 minutes picking out the night before, packed a snack and bottle of water in the backpack with the school supplies, posed for pictures:

Got tired of posing for pictures,

Hopped in the car and drove over to the school where we found the class lining up at the front door.  Got in line with the class and put on the bus sign she is supposed to wear:

Posed with her class for their very first class picture:

Then lined back up with her class, waved goodbye and followed the teacher into a whole new life.  She was nothing but excited to see what would happen next, to have new experiences and go to school like the big kids she knows. 

I stifled a pathetic sob as I quickly turned to walk back to my car knowing that this was the beginning of a whole new stage of life.  She begins independence from me.  Right now as I type she is doing things I have nothing to do with, I am not there to manage, control, protect, direct.  Part of me is afraid, unsure if she is ready, afraid of who she will meet, how she will be treated and what she will learn.  Part of me is happy, proud of her growth, her independence and excited by the opportunities to make new friends and learn new things.

There are many school choices these days and each comes with their own fears and joys.  But I am certain that for this year Isabelle is exactly where she is supposed to be and so whenever those fears come up I remind myself that God is with her, loves her more than I do and will keep her safe when I cannot.

Just a few hours after I left her at school the bus pulled up:

The doors opened:

We watched it drive away:

And I had a Kindergartner:

Monday Money Saving Tip

Maybe this will be a new regular for me.  Maybe not.  Either way here is my tip for the day:

A couple years ago I read in the book, "The cheapest Family in America", how they buy chubs in the meat section at the grocery store and have the deli slice them up for lunch meat rather than buying the high priced packaged deli meat.  Well I had never heard of a chub of meat before but was glancing through the meat section this week and saw a sign for turkey chubs.  It was 99 cents a pound for a 3 pound chub.  So $3 for 3 pounds of lunch meat, definately sounded good to me.  From what I can tell a chub is basically the stuff they make lunch meat out of.  (Nobody out there is under the impression that lunch meat is real meat are they?)  Since it was frozen I wasn't sure they could slice it at the counter and so brought it home thinking I would figure it out later.  When I opened the packaged it turns out the meat still needed to be baked.  The book talked about ham chubs and ham is usually pre-baked when you buy it but apparently turkey chubs are not.  I popped it in the oven, baked it up and thinly sliced it with my favorite dull knife.  It looks great and tastes delicious.  I can't wait to try it on a sandwich tomorrow.  My one tip is that you need to get the string net thing that was wrapped around it off before the meat cools.  It was a little more difficult when the meat had settled around it.  Maybe everyone else already knows that tip but I have only ever taken those things off hot roasts.  It is all about trial and error in my kitchen.

Have fun looking for chubs at the grocery store this week.  Let me know if you find ham and can get it sliced at the deli counter.  That would be my ideal.  I love thinly shaved ham on a sandwich.

Conqueror of 11th Grade

It is the first day of school in our community.  I can sense the emptiness of the neighborhood.  It is quieter, fewer cars driving by our house, fewer kids walking or biking by, no happy screams of little girls running around the yard.  Of course it is also 59 degrees and there is a gale force wind threatening to blow the house down so it would probably be quiet today anyway but, still, I know, the houses are all empty around me. 

(I will not discuss the fact that I am wearing jeans, a long sleeved shirt, socks, slippers and my house sweater because I have sent that part of my brain to my happy place and am pretending this is temporary and doesn't bother me at all.)

The precious folly of my youth is now a junior in high school.  How, HOW did that happen?  He amazes and humbles me every day as I watch him grow.  Juniors and Seniors don't start school until noon the first day so they can prepare the sophomores in the morning for the high school experience.  This gave me a chance to really spend some time with him on the first day of school and allowed him to finish that final summer reading assignment before he had to rush off to turn it in.  Hopefully not a sign of things to come this year...oh who am I kidding, it is exactly a sign of things to come. 

I usually choose a verse or something for school but hadn't really thought about it this year.  I guess I figured we had a family verse instead and I would just pray that over him.  But when I started thinking of it this morning Romans 8:37 came to me, "In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."  Conquerors.  Somehow that word seems so fitting for going into his junior year. 

This is the year all his friends (and soon hopefully him) are driving, he will hopefully be getting a year round job and with all that comes much more independence and many more temptations and decisions to be made without his parents present to help him make the best choices.  When temptations come I want him to remember he is "More than a conqueror through Christ Jesus who loves Jake" (v37) the scriptures goes on to say and I want Jake to be "convinced that, neither death nor life, angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate Jake from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."(v 38-39)  And earlier in the passage you hear the battle cry for the 11th grade warrior going off to conquer the temptations that await him, "if God is for me, who can be against me?" (v 31)

That is my prayer for Jake during this school year.

But, since he usually has to be to school by 7:30, starting tomorrow I will probably be praying it from bed.

Seek First

I am looking back through my posts because I can't remember what I have said the past couple months about what God has been teaching me and didn't want to repeat myself. I am now remembering how little I have blogged but instead just sat in my thoughts this summer. 

I usually puke them out to you all the moment I have a thought but have been in a season of just sitting and listening.  It has been refreshing.  I realize how often I run ahead of God.  A quick prayer and I am off and running without waiting for the response, one of the many things God was talking to me about this summer.

I was going to start at the beginning but as I was reviewing my journal I can't really see where there is a beginning just a process.  So I guess you will receive each thought individually as I decide to share.

Boy! That introduction really is setting me up to tell you alot of deep stuff.  It really isn't that deep but it has been meaningful to me to sit with God and find a peace I really needed during a time in life full of transition.

This summer God led me to what is going to be our family verse for the next year.  Matthew 6:33, "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well."

It isn't an original verse but I really have been feeling lately that the impact of some of the popular verses gets lost because of how often it is referred to.  Yet they are common verses because of the powerful truths contained in them.  So this year as a family we are going to study some of the scriptures that you hear so often you don't even think about them.  But I am getting ahead of myself.  I will tell you about that some other day.

Our family talked about the Matthew 6:33 seek first scripture during our weekend away this summer.  We spent time really looking at the context of the scripture, before it Jesus is asking the people why they are worrying so much.  Jesus points out how clearly he provides for all his creatures and reminds the people (us) of how much more he loves them (us) and so will clearly provide for them (us) as well.  My sister had an amazing experience recently to further emphasize that point.

So we don't have to worry because God provides for all our needs.  And lest we are worried He doesn't know what we need Jesus assures us He does, v32 "and your heavenly Father knows that you need them."

Apparently Jesus was worried we wouldn't know how to properly spend all the free time we would have if we stopped worrying, a valid concern since we had been wasting it worrying before, so in the next verse he tells us what to do, "seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things (all our needs that we have been worrying about) will be given to you as well."

But then we (OK me but I drag the whole family along on my journeys) wondered what the word Seek really meant.  How exactly do you go about Seeking God?  I copied that page out of the old dictionary we have as John was packing the car for the weekend so we could answer this burning question I knew my family would have when we discussed this verse.

Seek: To make search or enquiry for; to look for; to strive after

My men were rivoted to their seats as I read the definition of "seek" to them.  Still we did have wonderful discussion about what that would mean for us both as a family and individually to seek God in our lives.  We talked about finding time, reading scripture and devotionals, priorities and prayer. 

Of course we can't ignore the word "first" in this discussion.  I figured we knew what that meant so I didn't copy that definition out of the dictionary.  But I did have Jake read the story of Jehoshaphat.  I didn't know exactly where in the bible it was but figured somewhere in the history of Israel.  Lucky for us God knew where it was and had Jake open his bible right to it.

The weekend before I had been at She Speaks and one of the main speakers had focussed on this story from the old Testement.  I will let you go read it yourself (In 2 Chronicles 20 in case you don't open right to it as well.)  The basic story is that Judah is under attack (again) and it isn't looking good (as usual).  When Jehoshaphat hears about this impending doom he...Seeks First!

"Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah.  The people of Judah came togeher to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him."

OK so lets say I am lounging around the house on a typical morning preparing to have my queit time when a friend calls and asks if she can come over in an hour.  The first thing I will do when I get off the phone is...start picking up the house, get dressed because I am still in PJ's, wipe down the bathroom and wonder if I have any food to serve her.  When even a slight change in my schedule occurs I do not think to stop and seek God before I prepare.  When problems come into my life do I first seek God or do I first start solving the problem?  More often than not the answer is solve the problem.

Yet with a "vast amy" bearing down on Jehoshaphat what does he do?  Gather the troops?  Sharpen the blades?  Reinforce the city? Map out a battle plan?  NO.  He first seeks God.  And upon doing so discovers what a waste of time getting ready for a battle would have been since God tells him they won't have to fight.  So instead he puts together a choir to sing praises to God and sends them out in front of the troops.  This of course would make no sense to anyone else but Jehosphaphat and the people of Judah had sought God first and they knew there was nothing to worry about.  Sure enough by the time they reached the other army everyone was dead and Judah's army never lifted a finger.

So that is what we are doing this year as a family.  Seeking God.  Seeking Him first.  Seeking to discover what he has for us when we let go of our worry, stop thinking about our own needs and turn our eyes and our hearts toward God.

blog updates

School is right around the corner for Jake and Isabelle.  Although I have somehow managed to keep up with this blog for almost 2 years while Isabelle was hanging around, suddenly these past few weeks I feel like I can't do anything until she goes off to school and gives me 3 hours of uninterrupted time to myself.  Because apparently while she is watching Phineas and Ferb and Jake is asleep I can't get anything done.

Here are a few blog updates and thoughts for the fall:

While I was busy having a fun summer I completely missed the fact that I have had over 200 post.  This post marks my 210th post.  Who knew I had so much to say?  Well my husband probably knew but now you all know too.

And I have officially had over 10,000 visits to my blog.  I would say about 5,000 of those hits were of me looking at my own blog and another 4,500 were probably my husband, son, mom, sisters, aunts and cousins but that means there are a few people out there not obligated by blood or law to read my thoughts and yet still do.  A big thank you to everyone who reads this either because you have to or because you want to.  I have enjoyed all the wonderful and supportive feedback which has made this so much fun.

This fall I am going to add some ads to my blog.  Just to see what will happen.  Feel free to click on them or ignore them.  Either way  I will keep posting all kinds of random thoughts for you to enjoy.

My SIL suggested I do some kind of give away which sounded like fun.  I am contemplating that possibility for my 2 year anniversary of blogging which I believe is in October.  Details to come.  I promise it won't be something amazing like an Ipad or anything but I am sure I can come up with something.  I know you are all on the edge of your seat wondering what it will be but you will just have to wait.

I think that about covers it.  Why not leave a comment on my blog today telling me how excited you are about the fall plans, suggestions for a give away, or topics you are just dying to know my thoughts on.  If nothing else you could just say, "hi".  Don't be shy I love comments.