Someday

It's been a while since my last entry because I've come down with a bad case of Someday-itis.  The symptoms?  An inability to focus, mental fog, and lethargy.  The patient deliriously repeats "Someday I'll catch up, Someday I'll have time for that, Someday, Someday." 

The cure?  The "Do-It-Now" shot in the arm.  I love Don Aslett's book, How to Handle 1,000 Things at Once.  He argues that you'll never have more free time than you have right now.  As we get older, we have less and less.  Having observed several retired people's frantic pace, I'm inclined to agree!  Even if we DO have more free time as we age, the likelihood that we will use that time for what we've dreamed of becomes less and less.  Are you waiting to finally LIVE in retirement?  My dad did that.  He hated working and was so unhappy with his life.  When he finally retired, he was beside himself with joy.  Just a couple years into his retirement, though, he developed lung disease and couldn't do any of the things he promised to do "Someday."

I'm a very busy mom.  Obviously, I don't have time to take piano lessons or play in a tennis leage, right?  Rather than succumb to Someday-itis,  I took Mr. Aslett's advice to heart and started taking piano lessons and playing tennis with my sisters-in-law.  I cannot even tell you how glad I am that I didn't wait!  Playing piano has become an enormous source of stress relief for me.  It has inspired a love of music in my children and has reawakened mine.  Playing tennis has been a fun way to grow closer to the women in my family. 

What would you like to do that you have been putting off?  What if Someday never comes?  What if you never have more free time than you do today?  Think and pray about making your Someday Today!

What I Wish I'd Never Been Taught

As a little girl, I heard the Bible stories my mama told me and I said my prayers.  God gave me the gift of faith and I believed everything I'd heard.  I believed heaven was such a wonderful place that I sat myself down in the middle of a busy road hoping to go there right away! 

After first grade, my parents stopped going to church.  I did attend church with another family fairly regularly.  I cannot remember who they were.  How I wish I could so I could thank them!  By the time I was in junior high, though, I was no longer attending church.  I was also being taught that the earth was formed billions of years ago in some kind of cosmic accident.  I had evolved from some single-celled organism, I learned. 

I still believed in God so I figured that God had used evolution to make us.  I didn't know the Bible at all.  I had never read it for myself nor was it read in my home.  I decided that it wasn't my problem to figure out how both creation and evolution could be true.  I held to that view well after I'd become a staff member at a Bible-believing church. 

Only when I watched a video lecture on dinosaurs and the Bible delivered by Ken Ham, did I come to understand that God's Word really was true--all of it.  My eyes were opened and I realized that it takes more faith to believe in the theory of evolution than it does in our Creator, God.  I am now reading a wonderful book by Ken Ham called, "Why Won't They Listen?"  In it, he argues that people do not accept the gospel of Jesus Christ as our risen Savior, because the foundation is not there.  They don't believe in a God who created the world in six days.  They don't believe that Adam and Eve really lived and sinned and caused the death and destruction we currently see.  Without those foundational beliefs, they cannot accept the idea that Jesus Christ was required to be sacrificed for our sins.

Answers in Genesis is an incredible ministry that teaches science from a creationist and Biblical view.  They are in the process of building a fabulous creation museum.  Please check out their website and consider ordering their materials.  (www.answersingenesis.org).  God's blessings to you!!

What's For Dinner?

Meal planning has always been a challenge for me.  I am the type who used to run in a panic to find something to eat when it was well past dinner time.  FLYLady's approach to planning meals once a week (I know that's obvious to all you Born Organized people!) helped tremendously.  But it was still a task I dreaded.

My children aren't the most adventuresome eaters for one.  My next problem arose when I started the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) in 2001.  (See www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info for more information).  Before I knew what was happening I was making 3 different meals for dinner.  Making lunches was a huge challenge, too, because I couldn't just have the convenience foods (e.g., tuna sandwich) I was used to eating. 

I knew I needed a system, but the SCD doesn't offer anything other than unorganized recipes and cookbooks.  I was in the process of trying to put some kind of meal plan in place for my family when my girlfriend mentioned to me she was making dinner out of the book Saving Dinner.  I was surprised that I could have all of the ingredients!  I heard of Ms. Ely's book and Menu Mailers many times on the FLYLady website (www.FLYLady.net), but ignored it thinking there was no way my health problems would permit me to eat those foods.  My friend advised me to check out the free Low Carb Menu Mailer at www.SavingDinner.com.  That's just what I did. 

Can I just say that I am THRILLED????  The Lord has surely answered my prayers through this menu planning system.  With a few simple substitutions such as nut flour for corn starch, I now have a week's worth of menu's planned out for me.  I have the shopping list and it's seasonal!  I have one crockpot meal per week and another meal that I can make multiples of for the freezer.  (If you are interested in learning more about cooking in batches, buy the book Mega Cooking by Jill Bond)  My husband is ecstatic that I am making him wonderful home-cooked meals.  I throw him a carb (rather than a bone) side dish and he's even happier.  I think it won't be long before my kids are eating the same way.

Praise the Lord!  Taste and see that He is good.

Thief in the Night

Last night I heard noises outside.  I was having trouble sleeping and was feeling skittish thinking someone might be trying to break in.  Eventually I fell asleep. 

This evening there were 3 people outside my door with long faces.  There had indeed been a thief in the night, but his name was Death and he took their father's life.  My dear sweet neighbor--only 63--is gone now.  We've known him such a short time.  He moved here this spring and was so kind to us.  He offered to pay my oldest son to take his papers up to his house when he was gone on weekends.  He helped my husband trim tree branches.  He offered to have my family visit his farm.  He brought his female companion of 15 years over to see our baby when she was visiting him. 

He waved to me this week.  I remember thinking what a nice man he was.  Now he is gone.  I wish I knew if he is with the Lord.  I hope so.  I wish I had taken more time to talk with him and get to know him.  I could have asked him about his faith.

Last week a thief stole my husband's wallet from his vehicle outside our house.  I have been thinking about having security lights installed.  This week a thief stole my neighbor's life.  It's time I started thinking about the security my loved ones need...security that can only be found in Jesus Christ.

Clean!

Today two housekeepers cleaned my house.  I was gone with all 5 kids for most of the day and returned to CLEAN.  I was thinking how wonderful it is to have someone else clean for you.  Then I was thinking that being clean COSTS.  It certainly isn't free to be clean!

This is so like our hearts.  I can try and try to clean my heart myself, but how wonderful and freeing it is to have my heart cleaned for me.  Jesus did that, but it cost Him his life.  As thankful I am for a clean house today, my joy cannot compare to having a heart cleaned by the Master cleaner.

Breaking in a New School Year

Today I started implementing the new schedule that I've spent countless hours putting together.  I was using the MOTH approach ala www.titus2.com.  I was utterly amazed at how some of it came together.  For example, I had no idea exactly what my baby girl's schedule was.  I just guessed at it.  This morning she took a nap at exactly 11:00 a.m. as scheduled.  Maybe she read it? 

My 2-year-old apparently did NOT read the new schedule.  Mommy was excited to have "toddler time" using all the great materials she's collected over the years and severely under used.  The toddler had his own ideas for how to use that time.  UGH.  I should have let him direct that time, right?  I will keep options available, but will let him choose. 

I am sorry to say that I lost my temper today.  Between repeated temper tantrums, the usual fighting between the middle boys, and my oldest insisting on playing with his eyelid skin (this is akin to scratching a chalkboard to me), I had had it. 

But I was recharged when my niece arrived to watch the kids for my first errand day.  I shopped...for ME!  I bought some non-frumpy clothes and I was delighted.  I also decided to refill my gas tank every Monday.  What I've done in the past is put it off until I can enjoy the heart-pounding thrill of wondering if I will arrive at the pump on fumes.  :-) 

Somehow I have to wonder how God endures so patiently with me.  Here I am with my neat little schedule and my plans and expectations.  And He's waiting there for me to acknowledge that HE has a schedule and plans and expectations for me and they don't necessarily mesh with mine.  I used to think that when Jesus said that love was laying down your life for a brother that I was glad I hadn't been called to do that!  I haven't rescued anyone from a burning building lately.  But I was wrong.  I am called to lay down my life every day.  I am off to lay me down to sleep now and prepare for school day #2.

Not Too Busy!

The last couple of summers I have spent a good chunk of time working on my schedule and organizing for the upcoming school year.  I had high hopes of having a summer of preparation this year, too.  My summer wasn't anything like I anticipated. I have never found enough kid-controlled time to get ready for another year--at least never what I considered to be enough.  As a result, I've told everyone I've talked to that this summer has been TOO busy.  We've had Cub Scout Camp and VBS and camping and water parks and movies and theme parks and lake weekends and baseball and piano lessons and tennis lessons and zoo outings...you get the picture. 

In thinking about this I've realized what a negative spin I've put on my summer.  The more I think of it as "too busy," the more overwhelmed I feel.  Truth is we have had a LOT of fun this summer.  Is it possible to have too much fun?  I think of that country song that describes the cop writing a ticket for the boy having too much fun.  Like the singer, I don't think that's possible!  I've had a wonderful summer.  If I haven't had the time I've wanted to prepare for school, it's because I have been waiting for TOO much time to fall in my lap.  So now I'm preparing 15 minutes at a time FLY-Lady style.  And I've made a commitment.  I'm going to do my best to stop saying how "busy" I am and instead talk about how blessed I am!