Journey to a Gracious Woman

Woo hooo! Praise Jesus, our closing date has been scheduled for Thursday at 2pm! I am soooo excited!!!! There is a lot to do but at least we’ll be doing something and moving forward now! Our plan is to move in May 10th, but anything is possible! We do have some work to do on it to bring it to city code before moving in, but it’s not anything major. We should be able to get it done this weekend. I can’t wait! I’m so excited to be able to go to our house and do work on it. I’d like to finish raking the leaves in the back and maybe even mow the front and back lawn and do some landscaping (trim bushes, plant flowers, etc.) I’m just sooo excited! I finally feel like it’s ours and it’s really happening! Well, truly it’s God’s house. We couldn’t have done any of this without Him and we intend to use this house for His Glory!

Monday:
Breakie–pancakes/waffles, sausage
Lunch–turkey sand./fresh veggies
Dinner–Spaghetti, garlic sticks
Snack–fruit bread or crackers and fruit
Tuesday:
Breakie–cold cereal, fruit, yogurt
Lunch–bean and cheese burrito (chicken nuggets for my son w/dairy allergy)
Dinner–meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans or corn, rolls
Snack–hard-boild eggs/ pretzels and grapes for son w/egg allergy

Wednesday
Breakie–eggs (waffles), toast, fruit
Lunch–egg salad sand.(turkey and crackers)/fresh, cut veggies
Dinner–Sloppy Joe’s, cole slaw, applesauce
Snack–raisins and crackers

Thursday
Breakie–muffins or cereal/fruit/yogurt
Lunch–grilled ham and cheese (chicken nuggets), veggies
Dinner–Skillet Chicken Teriyaki w/rice, mixed veggies
Snack–fruit bread

Friday
Breakie–cold cereal/fruit/yogurt
Lunch–egg salad sand(turkey w/crackers), veggies or salad
Dinner–Pan Fried Chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, broccoli
Snack–yogurt/crackers and fruit

Saturday
Breakie–pancakes or waffles/sausage
Lunch–Turkey or ham sandwich/fruit or veggies
Dinner–Hillbilly Goulash w/peas and bread
Snack–carrot sticks/pretzels

Sunday
Breakie–French toast (waffles)/bacon/fruit
Lunch–Bean/cheese burrito/salad (or sandwiches)
Dinner–undecided (Leftovers?) We may be moving this weekend

For more wonderful menus, check out http://www.orgjunkie.com/

Each family has their own traditions; their own “signature” of who they are. Today I asked myself that question, “What makes us unique as a family?” Do you know, I couldn’t point out one thing that would set us apart from other families? I can’t think of one thing that we do together, special, as a family that could or would set us apart from other families. Nothing to make us unique. Nothing extraordinary that we do. I don’t want to be ordinary. I don’t want to be the type of family who crawls through life one day at a time and before you know it, you’re sitting in an empty nest wondering, “What could we have done to make our family significant?”

One thing I’ve learned, “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got.” You can’t continue to do the same things over and over again and expect to receive different results. I want to be a family who moves forward, not sits in the same place. I want to have a solid foundation for my family. Jesus is our Rock, yes, but it is our job to make sure we are keeping Him as our foundation. We can and should do this through regular Bible reading/study and prayer….but what else? Why do we not understand how foundational and important regular, daily Bible reading/study and prayer is for our relationship with Christ and with each other? While I have been working to make this a priority I will be working extra hard, through the strength of Jesus, to be sure the habit stays in place. Satan would love for us to be unprepared and unarmed when war strikes. Even being unequipped for everyday life can be a challenge and take it’s toll on a person…spiritually and physically. We need to constantly be drinking in that living water – it’s how we survive.

So what makes my family unique? I don’t know yet – but I do know that seeking first His kingdom (a relationship with Him) will help me to answer that question, because HE will give me the answer!

What makes YOUR family unique? If you are like me and don’t really know, what could you do to help take steps in the direction of setting your family apart from everyone else’s?

Those are definately nice words to hear at times.

I stopped up at my husband’s work a couple days ago and since they were slow, he decided to take us all inside (and show us off, lol). Well, we surrounded one of his bosses offices along with 3 other women and all of them just kept saying “I don’t know how you do it”, and “I give you a lot of credit”, etc. Two of the women did not have children and one had older children (I don’t recollect how many).

However, upon my leaving, my husband informed me that they “jumped all over him” saying, “How could you let that ‘poor woman’ sit at home all day ‘with those children’”. I was floored, yet at the same time I wasn’t surprised because that is just how the world thinks. “Hmm….let’s have kids then send them off to daycare and let someone else raise them.” People constantly believe my husband is “holding me back” and that I am “stuck at home”. That is certainly not the “vibe” I give off! I love being with my children. That’s not to say there aren’t moments of stress. Sure there are! But that doesn’t mean I want to go out and get a career! My family is my “career” and I love every moment of it.
It has put things into a bit more perspective for me, that’s for sure. I am truly blessed! Here are women, “stuck” in a career, saying how much credit they give a woman who is staying home raising her own children. Yet, the catch 22 is that I ought to be “pursuing my own dreams” and be stuck in a career, too, because well, that’s just what everyone else does. I don’t get how it is such a “crazy” thing for women to raise their children! Except that those who live in the dark cannot understand the light of the Truth. I thank God for saving me and bringing me to the Light of His Truth! What freedom!

One of the most wonderful things about knowing God is that there’s always so much more to know, so much more to discover. Just when we least expect it, He intrudes into our neat and tidy notions about who He is and how He works.
~ Joni Eareckson Tadaby ~

What a beautiful quote. To know that no matter how close we get to God, we can always get closer to Him. To know there is no end to the wonderful relationship we can have with our Father. He certainly can surprise us, too, when we have plans for things to go a “certain way” and He jumps in and does them differently. Better. The question is: do we trust Him? Do we truly trust that He knows better what He is doing then we do?

What amazes me is all the different aspects of God there are. I mean, look at all the diversity in His people! The miraculous ways He shows Himself through all of our gifts and talents. Through each of our different ministries – I mean, we all have a very similar ministry – we’re wives and mothers. We’re women. Surely there aren’t many differences between. But alas, there are tons of different qualities to compliment God. We are all gifted in different areas and bring different things to our families. It’s all part of God’s design for us as individuals and for our families. We need to be careful not to keep these wonderful gifts to ourselves, but to use them to serve others for the glory of God. We were created to worship – what aspect were you called to? Some of us home school, some of us don’t. We each bring something different to serve with. Even between those of us who homeschool, we use different methods. We are gifted in different areas. THAT IS GOD’S DESIGN! He is showing Himself in such diverse ways, and it shows us different aspects of His personality – through us. I don’t know if I’m making any sense here, but I pray that you’ve gotten something out of my post!

In making decisions for our children and family, our ultimate responsibility is to first seek Him and be sure we know what the goal or design is that He has for us. Don’t live by default – just taking what life throws at you. Live by design – do something with what you’ve been given. Let God shine through you so that others can know Him in a different way!

Visit Susan @ Forever His as she is hosting this week’s In Other Words! Leave her some encouraging words!