Fall In
Okay, this is good.... I'm so tired at the end of my day now, that I don't care if the kitchen has been a mess all day. I fall into bed exhausted. But you know what? THIS IS FUN!
Like a little kid when we lived in El Paso, or like my first year in school at Adams Elementary, I wake up excited for the next adventure!
There IS a difference, though. I get out of bed more slowly. I have to work around some aches and pains till things get loosened up, but it's all good! I throw on my dusty clothes and take a long walk (after my cup of cocoa, of course) up and down the dirt paths around our property. The more I do this, the faster and harder I can walk! Cool! I'd rather be in the pool where my muscles move more freely, but we're not going to afford that right now...
Prayer, or hearing God, or meditation (fill in the blank) comes easier for me with physical movement.
My landscape is changing so much. We gave our dog away. The chickens are going next. I think the cat ran away last week-end (didn't like eating dog food, I guess). The neighboring Christmas tree farm will soon be subdivided into 5-acre parcels to be sold for home sites. We currently have no neighbors; boy, that change will be weird!
The sunrises are still awesome, though. The trees are still green! The coyotes still howl when the fire station siren goes off in town 2 miles away. When I stand at the northeastern corner of our property I can hear the children on the school playground acres away from me...
Whoops, I got side-tracked!
I've been learning so much with my new job. I've been there a month now. And my first round of grades at school are lookin' pretty good! I work hard, learn hard, walk hard, play hard, then fall into bed. All the while I know God’s hand is on me and He’s leading me into new fields.
I can’t walk out of His blessing.
One thing I’ve decided to do is to set aside most, if not all, of my income for savings and investments. I believe that God is speaking to my heart these days, saying that it was good that I gave so much away, but that He had intended that I’d have kept some of it! I guess I erred on the side of being radical...
I gave hours of my time to be a stay-at-home mom and raise our children. I gave money to missionaries to promote the good news being shared in Asia. I laid aside many of my hobbies and interests to learn new ones, like baking and sewing. I taught myself to “pinch pennies” and be content with what I had. I determined to live for love - for my God, for my husband, for my children and then for my community.
AND...I was determined to be richer than the rich! Can you guess what I mean by that?
When I was a young adult, I didn’t know of any wealthy people that devoted most of their daily hours to being with their own children. So I decided it didn’t matter how much money I had, that it was ME who had to make the decision about where I’d invest my time. And it was TRUE that what my children wanted and needed most was for me to be home...
So, thanks be to God, my husband and I agreed that we would give our children our best: their mother at home. I’ll forever praise Him for allowing me to be the one who was “hands on” with them, guiding them, learning from them, playing with them, understanding them, disciplining them. Without that time, I would not have known them (or myself) like I do. Children tend to bring out the REAL you, don’t they!
We probably should have saved more for ourselves, just my husband and I, but I don’t regret our choices. I still believe it was good to invest as we did. Now is a different time, though, and NOW is when we start to save more.
Thank-you, awesome God! Thank-you for my daughter who’s helping me with household management during this season in our lives (her pic at left with her car). Thanks for not putting me out to pasture when the foster kids left, but you’ve re-designed my job description! Cool!
note of the day: Happy Birthday to my Grandson, A.P.! - I love you, kiddo!
Like a little kid when we lived in El Paso, or like my first year in school at Adams Elementary, I wake up excited for the next adventure!
There IS a difference, though. I get out of bed more slowly. I have to work around some aches and pains till things get loosened up, but it's all good! I throw on my dusty clothes and take a long walk (after my cup of cocoa, of course) up and down the dirt paths around our property. The more I do this, the faster and harder I can walk! Cool! I'd rather be in the pool where my muscles move more freely, but we're not going to afford that right now...
Prayer, or hearing God, or meditation (fill in the blank) comes easier for me with physical movement.
My landscape is changing so much. We gave our dog away. The chickens are going next. I think the cat ran away last week-end (didn't like eating dog food, I guess). The neighboring Christmas tree farm will soon be subdivided into 5-acre parcels to be sold for home sites. We currently have no neighbors; boy, that change will be weird!
The sunrises are still awesome, though. The trees are still green! The coyotes still howl when the fire station siren goes off in town 2 miles away. When I stand at the northeastern corner of our property I can hear the children on the school playground acres away from me...
Whoops, I got side-tracked!
I've been learning so much with my new job. I've been there a month now. And my first round of grades at school are lookin' pretty good! I work hard, learn hard, walk hard, play hard, then fall into bed. All the while I know God’s hand is on me and He’s leading me into new fields.
I can’t walk out of His blessing.
One thing I’ve decided to do is to set aside most, if not all, of my income for savings and investments. I believe that God is speaking to my heart these days, saying that it was good that I gave so much away, but that He had intended that I’d have kept some of it! I guess I erred on the side of being radical...
I gave hours of my time to be a stay-at-home mom and raise our children. I gave money to missionaries to promote the good news being shared in Asia. I laid aside many of my hobbies and interests to learn new ones, like baking and sewing. I taught myself to “pinch pennies” and be content with what I had. I determined to live for love - for my God, for my husband, for my children and then for my community.
AND...I was determined to be richer than the rich! Can you guess what I mean by that?
When I was a young adult, I didn’t know of any wealthy people that devoted most of their daily hours to being with their own children. So I decided it didn’t matter how much money I had, that it was ME who had to make the decision about where I’d invest my time. And it was TRUE that what my children wanted and needed most was for me to be home...
So, thanks be to God, my husband and I agreed that we would give our children our best: their mother at home. I’ll forever praise Him for allowing me to be the one who was “hands on” with them, guiding them, learning from them, playing with them, understanding them, disciplining them. Without that time, I would not have known them (or myself) like I do. Children tend to bring out the REAL you, don’t they!
We probably should have saved more for ourselves, just my husband and I, but I don’t regret our choices. I still believe it was good to invest as we did. Now is a different time, though, and NOW is when we start to save more.
Thank-you, awesome God! Thank-you for my daughter who’s helping me with household management during this season in our lives (her pic at left with her car). Thanks for not putting me out to pasture when the foster kids left, but you’ve re-designed my job description! Cool!
note of the day: Happy Birthday to my Grandson, A.P.! - I love you, kiddo!
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