Encouragement

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There have been some hard things happening in our home, but from time-to-time I get a small bit of encouragement, and I don’t want to forget them!

  • A few weeks ago our oldest told us that he didn’t think he believed in God or needed God.  I was intially devastated but then I got on my knees.   But twice recently he has said somethings that really encouraged me:
    • When I was whining about the lack of space in our van and saying we needed a bigger vehicle he instantly prayed, “God, Momma wants an upgrade!”  It made me laugh but also blessed me as I realized he knew from Whom that blessing would come from!
    • Yesterday when I was upset about the van not starting and messing up my plan, he turned to me and said, “I don’t worry about things like this Mom.  God will help us fix it.”  I was blessed that he was reminding me that I was not alone!
  • Since experiencing a big cut to our monthly budget his summer, we’ve been having a hard time getting through the month.  Neither of our jobs can give us a raise, so we’ve been trying to cut back on expenses and be wise about our purchases.
    • Yesterday when the van died, Gpa O “just happened” to still have our almost brand new battery from the Ford wagon when it died.  It fit right in and started right up!  And saved us almost $80 for a new one!  And, nothing else was wrong with the van!
    • And, I received word that a retirement plan I forgot about needed to be cashed out or rolled over.  After praying about it – we are going to cash it out to help pay for a few things we need to do (car maintenance, etc) and get our savings back up to a safe level.  I had NO memory of this money and it couldn’t have come at a better time!

I’m sure there are more little encouragements but Sissy has reminded me that mornings naps are not her thing anymore! :(  Well, at least I got my Bible study done and two blog posts typed up!  PTL!

When life strands you at home…

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…be thankful you can knit! ;-)  I was thinking lemons/lemonade but…ok, it doesn’t work!  But I made it work for me!  Today we finished our schoolwork and were heading out to Gma & Gpa O’s house to swim this afternoon (97 degrees at 5pm!! Ugh) when the van would not start.  :(  Gpa O tried to charge the battery but it’s just dead.  He took the younger boys to swim while J1 waited for his friend to arrive and Sissy took a nap. Since I didn’t have school to do and had already planned not to work, it seemed a perfect time to knit!

So Ruth came over and taught me how to make Dorset buttons for my sweatshirt sweater.  Don’t they look nice?

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And, here is her blue one too!

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I finally found something to do with all those scraps of yarn! Yeah!

Unfortunately, I still need 3 more buttons AND it was HOT trying it on for pictures!  (and I never know what to do with my hands! LOL)

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But I love it and can’t wait for the temps to drop so I can wear it!

I also talked her into modeling the purple hat that I’m giving to my niece (the wool is itchy so this cotton one will work for the summer months).

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And then I finished and tried on the newsboy hat I made for myself!

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Dressing up

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Wow.  Girls really ARE different from boys.  I’ve never had a boy who wanted to see themselves in the mirror after getting dressed.  I’ve never had a boy who wanted to wear Momma’s jewelry.  I’ve never had a boy who couldn’t wait to show Grammy their outfit! LOL

Here is today’s outfit (she picked out the necklace and hat) – all ready for a day hanging out with Grammy!

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And here is what the other 5 shots looked like – she does NOT get the idea that we have to stand STILL for photos! LOL

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The hours in my days

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So I love that I have been able to link my Twitter account and my blog together.  Now you all can see what I’m thinking/saying throughout the day.  But I do feel a bit guilty about it too.  But to be honest, there is just no time.  In fact, I haven’t worked out in almost two weeks now due to that issue.  Where does my time go?  Well, I decided to figure it out.

I sleep about 8 hours a night.  I realize that makes me pretty unique in today’s world.  But since being diagnosed with Sleep Apnea and able to sleep at night again, I really try to go to bed and wake up at decent hours.  I will never again let myself ever get so messed up from lack of good sleep.

So 24 minus 8 is 16.  16 hours to do everything else.

I work for about 4 hours a day.  12 hours left.

Homeschooling takes about 4 hours a day all together.  8 hours left.

Housework, including cooking, cleaning up, bills, etc takes about … ok, this is hard.  But I’m going to round up to 4 hours as that is the minimum on laundry day.  4 hours left.

I am careful to get 1 hour of knitting and Bible study in a day – not at the same time (well, the prayer time I can knit too but the Bible study – nope, haven’t figured that one out yet! lol). I will not give up either as they are both very necessary to my well-being.  3 hours left.

Entertainment.  Ok – this could be my problem.  I probably spend about 2 hours a night hanging out with my husband and watching tv (and knitting – I *did* figure that out and I feel less guilty about this down time).  1 hour left.

OK…there is my one hour of working out.  I can do it.  But in the day-to-day of my life, there is just no downtime.  After my Bible study in the morning, it’s go-go-go-go-go.  I can often sit down with my knitting in that sweet spot of about 4pm each day and Hubs will get home and we can chat for a few minutes.  Then it’s up to cook dinner and go-go-go-go-go again.

I think I need to feel about my work out like I do about my Bible study and knitting.  It needs to be very necessary.  And, it’s just not.  Do I hate myself so I won’t take care of myself?  I don’t hate working out – in fact, I love our gym and the high I get afterward.  But I still struggle with doing it all.  And things for me come last.

You know what?  I’m going to go wake up the boys to watch their sister and I’m going to the gym right now.  Why sit here on my big bum and whine about not having time and just go do it!

I hope I don’t pay for it later when I’m horribly behind!

Ok – stopping and I’m leaving.  Really, I’m going!!