How Many Hats?

I am thinking this post will likely speak more loudly to women than it will to men, especially those women that are moms. There is a magnet on my refrigerator that a good friend gave me years ago. It is ringing ever so true for me right now. It reads, "I try to take one day at a time, but lately several days have attacked me at once!" Who knew that a magnet could speak so loudly through the morning silence.

Pat is off to work, and with him Andrew is at martial arts. This leaves Adrian and Amie in bed and me on our new computer. (Who knew our old one was SO old. I guess you just do not know what you are missing until you have something new. The old computer pales in comparison.) You would think that I, being the solitary type that NEVER gets enough quiet time, would be reveling in the silence. That would be true if my list of THINGS TO DO was not screaming inside my head!

Talk about overburdened. Check this list out, and see if you don't get a headache:

- Take post-Christmas stuff from kitchen to garage.

- Reorganize garage before tomorrow in preparation for husband unloading contents of our old transmission shop into it in preparation for going back into business at new location this year.

- Regain control in office which is still being attacked from post-Christmas remnants.

- Do 2008 filing and prepare for filing taxes.

- Update the bills, and do a new financial plan for the year. Put in place new savings plan in preparation for new business.

- Do the laundry, again!

- Update calendar to include new weekly and monthly commitment.

- Update calendar with Dustin in mind adding Tabitha's school and work schedule. (Dustin is our 2.5 year old grandson that I will be watching while his mom goes to college and work.)

- Prepare candy vending machines to be placed back out in the community in support of Solid Ground. Write up plan for Amie and Andrew to run business. Clean and empty machines. Get new candy. Get new stock of fliers and newsletters. Compile list of businesses.

- When old computers come back from repair capture bookmarks, email files, address book, and program files to disk for new computer.

- Create meal plan for month to prevent me from totally going insane.

- Write and mail Thank You cards for Christmas gifts.

- Box up gifts for Tammi and Rocco, daughter and grandson in Indiana, and mail. Do the same for grandparents in Florida.

- Plan our remaining educational calendar, and update my records. Gee, that's a quick and easy one!

- Get Amie's college books. They run almost $300, and she starts next week.

- Start back up with the Homeschool Teen Community Service team yet. We haven't met since October!

- Start planning VBS and the games for my family reunion in June.

- Start planning Christmas this month. My plan is to work on it one day per month until it gets closer. I just need to set aside the time.

- Get Adrian to make some real progress in his Pathfinder workbook. We have a ton of reading to do.

- Call Micro Center about new computer in regard to bright pixel on new monitor, missing product code for software, and the camera not staying closed.

- Pay cell phone bill and mortgage.

- Make sure kids' plans are straight for weekend outings and trips this weekend and next. Especially next weekend since I will be out of town.

- Plan a night away at nice hotel with husband as his Christmas gift to me. (Too bad he's not planning it, too, as part of the gift!)

So, do you have a headache yet? I know for sure that is not even everything. How does that happen? How do we get SO overburdened? How do things snowball to such an extreme? It seems to happen to me at least once, but more like twice, per year. I always make it through, but this time it seems so overwhelming.

Just how many hats is a mom supposed to wear, and can she possibly wear them all at once? How does she choose which one to wear and when, when the rack is so full of choices? I honestly feel like a toddler trying to choose what clothes I want to wear. Why can't someone just set out two choice for me to minimize my burden? All I have done today is get up, talk to Pat and Andrew briefly, send an email and do my Bible Study. I am already ready to go back to bed. It feels like 11 o'clock at night, not eight o'clock in the morning.

I am thinking the remedy for me right now is to go take a long soak in the tub with some Epsom salt. You would not believe the health benefits of an Epsom soak. We have a 1920's claw-foot tub that is five feet long. I am only five foot, four inches. It is the perfect tub for a soak. My husband and I found it in a salvage yard and re-did it when we remodeled our downstairs. The bathroom is by far my favorite room in the house. I seriously consider taking the tub with us when we finally get around to moving.

That is another thing I need to deal with. We have had our house on the market since mid-November. It is a terrible time to move, but we have wanted to for so many years. I need to get with the real estate agent and discuss our options again. It's time to review what they are and are not doing in regard to selling our home.

Johnathan Hatch at How to Get Rid of Things: A People's Guide to Better Living has a great article on How to Get Rid of Stress. There are some wonderful tips there as well as some great resources. I am going to start off first by making a TO DO LIST and hanging it on the refrigerator. It will put things in perspective for me. Next, I will update my calendar including allocating time for the things that I need to do. This will give me a light at the end of the tunnel and make things more manageable for me.

Stay-at-home-moms, home educators, working moms, single moms; MY HATS OFF TO ALL OF YOU!

Reliance

There is much to learn here, and I am starting with reliance. I have been learning this pretty heavily over the past year, not to mention my entire life, but it became a solid understanding in me this past year. God has ALWAYS taken care of me. Have things been tough? You better believe it! BUT, have I ever gone without my needs being met? Absolutely not. God has ALWAYS provided, and he is continuing to do so.

Now, more than ever before, I truly understand the importance of tithe and can see the effects in my life. We are called as servants. God wants to use us, but we need to be submissive. One pattern I have noticed is that, when I faithfully tithe, my finances stay in order and actually improve. However, when I mess up and become even slightly unfaithful, my finances become a mess. It's almost instant!

God uses so many things to teach us, and our lessons are tailor made. Have you ever noticed how God will repeat a lesson as many times as it takes for us to learn what it is we need to know? If we do not pay attention, a gentle nudge could turn into a whack upside the head! As I've grown and matured in life and my relationship with God, thankfully, I have learned to pay closer attention to the details of my life.

What is God trying to teach you? Are you open to His leading? Do you get the lesson the first time, or does it take more than a gentle nudge to get your attention? Are you conscious of life's lessons that play all around you everyday? I continue to become more present and aware in my life and what is happening around me. It definitely pays.

Being more conscious and aware has great rewards. For me the greatest has been peace. When we know and accept that God is in control the benefit is peace. What could we possibly have to worry about if we are not the one in the driver's seat? Try stepping back and observing what happens around you. Let go of control, and learn to be obedient. The rewards are bountiful!

Going Well

I have managed to read at least one chapter in my Bible each morning since my Stinkin' Thinkin' post. I have also been eating breakfast, a good breakfast, daily. The exercise on the other hand has been a little more challenging. However, I did just workout a bit upstairs. My left shoulder always gives me trouble, and the pain motivated me to the workout machine. Maybe there really is something to that old expression, "No pain, no gain!"

I do have to say that the decision to refocus has made a tremendous difference in the quality of my day to day life. I have a better attitude and am kinder and more pleasant to those around me; a big plus for all of us! It's not that I was nasty or anything, but I knew my attitude needed a check. I knew that I was not focusing on what I should be, and my quality of life was suffering.

It is amazing to me how simple God's instructions are. I have found time and again that consequences are almost immediate when we do not follow God's will. I find the object lessons most obvious in starting my day with prayer and Bible reading and in tithing. Have you ever noticed this in your daily lives?

Whenever I slip away from my daily devotionals my quality of life suffers. Also, when I manage to mess up with my tithing my finances instantly become stressful. It doesn't matter how much of a sacrifice it may seem to be to get back on track it is always worth it. The presumed sacrifices give way to peace and prosperity almost immediately after making things right. What does God use to teach you how to live? I'd love to hear your experiences.

Merry Christmas!

Have a safe and happy Christmas!

Stinkin' Thinkin'

It has not been too long yet, and I am already thinking I need to read The Sexually Confident Wife again. The book did a good job of teaching you how to keep your thinking in check, and I could use a booster shot. Why is it so easy to get off on a destructive thinking path?

It seems hubby and I are clashing heads a lot lately. It's not anything big, really. We just seem to spend a lot of time misunderstanding each other and being defensive. Even though I don't think what we are having a confrontation over is worth the magnitude of our attitude I just cannot seem to keep myself from going there.

As I am typing this I am wondering if I have been neglecting my prayer life. Oh, I pray constantly, but I haven't had my morning Bible reading time and beginning of the day prayer in probably weeks. I didn't realize it until this very moment. I know the importance of starting out on the right foot, but honestly I haven't even been getting breakfast regularly. Skipping meals is another thing I have struggled with for years. I know the destruction it inflicts on my body, so I have changed my ways. However, when things get hectic or stressful I just seem to naturally gravitate to old, bad habits. Let's recap. So far I have listed two bad habits; morning prayer time and breakfast.

As a mother it is so natural for me to put my needs first. It has been years that I have been thinking on a daily basis that I need to implement a regular exercise regimen. Yet, here I sit still needing to lose a full 60 pounds. If only mentally exercising your body would prove fruitful! I'd have been my ideal weight a year ago. Bad habit recap: no morning prayer, no breakfast, and no exercise.

Hmmm...I'm starting to see a pattern here. Maybe if I pledged to take care of myself first everything else would be easier to maintain. What do you think? Even though my schedule is insane I think now is the time to try something new. For the next seven days I am going to slow down. I am going to do some low-impact exercise, spend time in the Bible and prayer, and eat breakfast each and every day before I do anything else. Do you think it is possible?

I'll let you know how it goes.