Journey to a Gracious Woman

We’ve had a busy “break”! Not only have we entertained a few times, but we went out of town for a weekend and then got sick on the way back, so there is a lot of laundry to do and a lot of damage control from partying and being sick.

Here are the things I hope to accomplish before Monday morning, when we begin lessons again:

1. Laundry
2. Unpack and store luggage
3. Clean car seats
4. Tidy living room
5. Clean off kitchen table
6. Dishes/shine sink
7. Clean off counter
8. Bring homeschooling supplies back out
9. Take down tree and store Christmas decor
10. Tidy all bedrooms and make room for new items
11. vacuum house
12. Tidy basement
13. Lesson plans
14. Complete plans for remainder of year, including projects

Alright! Hopefully I’ll cross off the first 6-7 items by the days end!

Do you have anything you need to get done before winter break ends?

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Last night we were spending the last few hours of our weekend with some friends (my cousin and her husband) at a birthday party for thier little girl. Well, half way through my near 2 year old threw up. I thought (hoped) it was just something he ate and it was isolated…..yea….not so much. Not long after Gabriella (6) was acting funny – like she was going to throw up and did.

Picture this, we have an hour and a half drive ahead of us and two children who are vomiting. How do you prepare for something like that?! Let me tell you, it wasn’t easy and even all that we did just wasn’t enough. My van needs a cleaning.

Last night I prepped each of the kids beds with towels incase it happened during the night, but lo and behold, every slept soundly…except my husband. Now he is home sick from work today. Whatever the “bug” is will only last a few hours and be done, so more than likely Jonathan will come out of it well before the day is out. So today is a day of recovery around here! Hopefully noone else gets it (me, Ellie, and Ben).

*I actually wrote this for last week, so everything pertains to last week. If there are any updates, they’ll be posted at the bottom.*

I have to admit, something came up last night and I’m bummed at how it all went down:

I was right in the middle of throwing our annual Christmas party – hosted at our house for the first time ever – 40 people – and the sewer begins to back up into our basement (where people were congregating during the party). Mind you, we just had this problem fixed 4 months ago (tree roots in our pipes). Well, we needed a plumber and pronto. We scrapped up the cash we had on hand and borrowed a little to pay the plumber…this included the remaining of the kids’ Christmas money. We hadn’t even bought anything for our youngest yet. Well, she’s only 5 months old and won’t know the difference and they are getting gifts from other family members. It’s not like we had a huge Christmas planned for them…in fact, it was quite comfortable. Not too much, not too little.

Well, I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed. But I was gently reminded of all we still had (a warm home in -16 cold, the gifts we did buy, the reason for the seaon which isn’t getting stuff. The Holy Spirit gently reminded me who this holiday is really for and what it’s truly about. Just a day or so ago I wrote that you could take all the presents, and “holiday stuff” away and we’d still have Christmas because it’s about Christ. Period. Now it is time to live out those words and truly mean it.

So this week/weekend I’ve learned/am learning about contentment at a deeper level. God has provided us with so much that we don’t deserve already…there is no reason for me to want more. I will bask in what God has given us and be content….more than content.

Serving God does make us very rich, if we are satisfied with what we have. 1 Timothy 6:6

Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be satisfied with what you have. God has said, ‘I will never leave you; I will never forget you.’

For more Motivate Me Monday’s, click the button at the top of this post.

My husband rocks for a lot of reasons! However, this week I will only explain one, since it is something he is doing now. *In fact, he just walked into the door to tell me one of the very thing I am going to brag on him about*

My husband is such a servant. He just walked in from digging someone out of the snow who got stuck. He was doing his daily (or nightly) run and came across this car who was stuck, ran home, grabbed his shovels and drove back to them to help them out.

On top of that, a few months back a friend of his had a van that broke down, and being an auto mechanic, and having that servants heart, he offered to save him some money and do the job in our garage. It isn’t a pretty job, either, as it is still sitting in our garage. It is major engine work and it is FREEZING outside! He has no heater in the garage, either. Talk about sacrifice! Doesn’t he ROCK!? I think so!

For more “My Husband Rocks”, click the button at the top of this entry.

Christmas Eve has served for some wonderful memories for me as a child. Every year we would go to my Aunt’s for our annual family Christmas party. We would eat food, sing carols, read The Night Before Christmas, open presents, and then play with what we got. Did we do the same thing every year? Yes, and I looked forward to it every year! I would get to play with my cousins again and visit with my grandparents. My extended family is a pretty good size–my grandparents had 6 children and each of them had 1-3 children each–giving me plenty of cousins to play with! 

The best part, was going home exhausted after a night of fun, and knowing the next morning under our tree would be filled with presents to open. Our stockings were free reign as soon as we awoke, but presents had to wait until mom was awake. 

As a child, did you do anything fun and/or traditional as a family on Christmas Eve? What was it?

Today, having four children of my own, and several of the “other cousins” having had children, things are a little different. We still have our annual Christmas party, but it is hosted by someone different each year (we go through a rotation). This year was the first year my husband and I hosted it. Also, it is no longer on Christmas Eve. I don’t know why, but for some reason it got switched to being on the most convienent weekend closest to Christmas. So ours was this past Sunday. Enlight of that, this has left our Christmas Eve open for, with no traditions to fill it. Now, I am not bound by tradition, however, it sure would be nice to fill our Christmas Eve with something fun for our family and something we can look forward to doing year after year.

What about you? What traditions does your family share on Christmas Eve? If you have none, what would you like to see happen on Christmas Eve? Finally, if you see this after Christmas Eve, what did you do?

Merry Christmas!

Just wondering if any of you have begun creating goals for the coming year (notice, I didn’t say ‘resolutions’). Keep a few things in mind while creating your goals:

1. When making a large goal, make smaller goals underneath it so it is easier to reach

2. Don’t give up trying to reach a goal. Sometimes it takes many falls before you stay on!

3. Don’t throw the towel in just because Feb. hits and you haven’t mastered it yet. As long as you are still trying and still working, you are going to reach it.

4. If you mess up, pick up where you left off and don’t try to “make up for lost time”. Just “jump in where you are” as Flylady would say!

5. Read over your goals often (every morning!) so that you remember them and remember to work toward them.

Happy Goal making! I encourage you to write them on your blog for the world to see! It might be more motivating! Let me know if you do so I can come visit you!

FOR TODAY…
December 22, 2008

Outside my window…
It is bitter cold outside, yet the sun is shining. It’s only teasing us because snow and rain are on the way.

I am thinking…
I have a lot to clean up after yesterday’s party. I also have a lot of homeschooling planning to do this week.

I am thankful for…
God providing for our family for having to pay a plumber to fix our clogged pipe last night.

From the learning rooms…
Right now we are on “winter break”. But I still have work to do in planning the next semester.

From the kitchen…
Leftover turkey tonight…nothing fancy

I am wearing…
Running pants with a sweatshirt

I am creating…
goals for the coming months of school

I am going…
nowhere today…but have a few places to go this week/weekend

I am reading…
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis with my husband

I am hoping…
To pull my house together again before Christmas

I am hearing…
The sound of my children playing

Around the house…
It is peaceful as we all just hang out in the living room, even if we are doing our “own” thing.

One of my favorite things…
spending time with my children

A few plans for the rest of the week:
Spend Christmas together as a family, go out to eat. On Saturday is my husband’s birthday. I’d like to pull something special together for him…I wish I had more of a creative streak. We are driving north 90 mins. to spend the night with my cousin and her family. We are very close with them.

Here is picture thought I am sharing…

So I ask you now, why do you think so many people are stressed out during this time of year? What advice would you give them (or yourself) to help de-stress?

I think many people, like myself, get stressed out because we seek to please people. That’s right…we feel like there is a standard we must meet in order to make other’s happy. If we don’t bake 12 dozen cookies for the cookie exchange, we might disappoint someone. If we don’t get ’so and so’ that perfect gift, they simply won’t be as happy. If my house isn’t immaculate for company in order to impress, then I just can’t rest. (that’s me)

Tomorrow I am having my entire extended family over for our annual Christmas party. This is the first year I have hosted it because we moved into a bigger home in the spring. Mind you, I have four children 6 and under; 3 of them are 3 and younger. My house, though it’s not dirty, per sei, in my own mind, I feel like I have to live up to the standards I feel like they have for me. I don’t want them to see dust so I must dust. What it boils down to is that I have to at least appear to look like I have it together. Most of the time I do. Our house is happily lived in. We don’t keep it “company clean” on a daily basis. It’s comfortably clean.

What can we do about this? It’s simple: drop the standards. Relax and do what you can do, leave the rest to God. I know some of us have families who can be rather critical (mine included, even if it’s “passive agressive”). It’s hard not to fall into the “perfection trap” when you’re a stay at home mom and have guests in the house. You want them to see that your job matters and you don’t just sit around all day watching soap operas.

No, we can’t buy gifts for all the people we would love to bless. The funds simply aren’t there. We just bought a house in May. Are there other ways to bless people besides handing them a wrapped gift? Sure! Offer to go to a friends and watch her kids so she can go out for coffee and a book for a break. Take your mom out to lunch at a later date. When you can be good to people all year ’round, they come to understand you didn’t leave them out on purpose.

We need to understand that as long as we “people please” we are always going to stress. As long as we keep trying to be the biggest and the best [*cough* cookie baker or dessert maker], we are going to be stressed.

Keep it simple and don’t become involved in everything that is offered to be a part of. Keep gifts simple. Keep control of your pocketbook by remembering “less is more”. If we teach our children to be thankful, they won’t need a lot.

Have a very Merry Christmas!

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 Where I Find My Christmas Joy.

This may seem like a real churchy answer, but it is the truth – I find my Christmas joy in Jesus. Many times He gets lost in all the other “things” that go along with Christmas. The same way we can lose Him doing ministry – doing His work! We can get so wrapped up in doing that we forget being. Our goal throughout the Christmas season is to always put Jesus first. One way we do this is to come up with a gift we can give Jesus for His birthday. When my daughter was just 4, she wrapped up one of her toys and put it under the tree for Him. Last year, she gave Him her heart (her call!) and my husband talked to her about salvation and what it means.

For this year, I am still putting thought and prayer into what I will give Jesus for his birthday and for the coming year. I may post about it at a later time.

Another way we keep Jesus first is on Christmas morning, before anyone digs into any presents, we gather on the couch to read about the birth of Jesus. We remind our children (and ourselves) why there are even presents under the tree (because Jesus provided and gave us gifts).

The birth of Jesus is why we celebrate and for no other reason. Sure, we enjoy baking and caroling and giving to others as much as the next person. We have fun looking at all the beautiful Christmas lights, we enjoy gathering with family, and watching movies like “The Santa Clause” and “It’s a Wonderful Life”. But take it all away, and we still have Christmas.

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