Week Recap

Last Wednesday I picked up the kids and excitedly asked "Who wants to go with me to Christopher and Banks?"  There was complete silence until K says "chirp, chirp, chirp."  The kids then informed that was the crickets chirping while laughing hysterically.  I told them they were all brats and I should trade them in for 4 well-behaved kids!  E then informed me that this would be impossible and went on to tell me about many other kids in our circle of influence who I should be glad aren't mine due to ________________.  I told her I was glad she was so humble, but agreed I really didn't want to trade them in!

K decided on Thursday morning to ride in the front seat and was quite proud she beat her siblings to the seat.  Remembering her oneriness the night before, I looked at the Air bag off indicator light and explained to her that we have a VERY smart van that can detect brats and when it realized there is a brat in the seat, it turns on the brat detector light.  I pointed out the light does NOT come on when I am in the seat because I am NOT a brat!  She disagrees with me...  It was pretty hilarious on Friday when we went to give an adult friend a ride home and the light turned on for a long 10 second.  The kids were convinced she was a brat.  :) 

This week E was given some dresses and 2 were not to her taste. I remember those days (sorry, Mom) as a pre-teen and teen when I was pretty picky about what I wanted to wear, so I offered to take the decorations off of the dresses she didn't like and we could look for ribbon, etc. to redecorate the dresses--for instance she does not think that pink and red should EVER go together.   We took the two dresses to Walmart and she picked out new decorations.  I hand sewed decorations to one of the dresses and a ribbon to the waste of the other.  She wants 15 small bows with pearls in the middle sewed to the bodice of the one with the ribbon.  I told her this would be a great learning opportunity for her!  Surprisingly, her part isn't done yet...

We had a great Bible Conference on the book of Philippians.  On Friday night he talked about Approving those things that are excellent.  If you really think about this a lot, it really puts things into perspective and helps with temptations that come your way! 

Mother Daughter Banquet 2012

Our theme for the Mother Daughter Banquet was "Walk with the Lord."  Several ladies decorated tables.  The girls and I were among them.  Our theme was: Walk with the Lord and shine with the light of life. 

  Our verse was:   

John 8:12

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

We found this poem and had it on the table as well:

Walk With Me, Lord

In the morning before I start on my journey,

As I greet and prepare to meet you each new day,

Once more you strengthen my soul and encourage me

And bolster my confidence all along the way.

Lord, teach me how to walk by faith and not by sight.

Each time I renew my mind, I prove you once more:

That you withhold no good thing from those who walk upright–

I have seen your faithfulness countless times before,

As you opened doors when there seemed to be no way.

Though transient life brings heights of joy, depths of sorrow,

The love I share today surpasses yesterday

But fades in light of my love for you tomorrow.

Led by the spirit and not by mere emotion,

I begin this day with pure-hearted devotion.

We had fun making our table sparkle with gems.  The table "cloth" is material I'll make into skirts for the girls.  :)  I also have a nicely decorate summer bench in my entry way with the decorations from the table.  Love reusing things!

 

High Maintenance

I now manage an optical shop.  Part of my Christmas gift from work--in addition to the 29 extra personnel to manage and two new departments... 

Anyway, I pushed for us to start carrying Coach frames since I see a lot of Coach handbags around work.  I let the head doctor of Ophthalmology know we were getting Coach, so we would be adding to our designer lines since we already had Jimmy Choo and Kate Spade--"whom I had never heard of before starting there, but seems to be popular with the wealthier echelon."  He looked at me rather surprised and said, "You apparently don't have a high maintenance wife."  Apparently my husband doesn't either.  I decided to google Kate Spade and discovered their purses are about $400 each.  Amazing! I think my purse would have to double as a dishwasher for me to pay $400 for it!!!

E turns 12

E turns 12 today.  She really has come a long was and is turning into a great young lady.  She even practices the piano most of the time without being reminded.  She is pretty excited about her gifts.  She did pretty well--books, clothes, watch, a matching purse, wallet, and flip flops, and $$$$!  Daddy took her out to Dairy Queen since he is leaving tonight for a Cub Scout campout with Z.  We will have her birthday dinner and cake on Sunday when he is back.  :)  She has also enjoyed talking to those who are calling to wish her a happy birthday. 

Everyone, please stop trying to out-martyr the rest of the world!!!

I have been observing for quite sometime this "contest" between stay at home moms, working moms, single moms, single people, etc. to prove they are the busiest and have the most difficult life.  This really bugs me!

First of all, if you are a Christian, you should be doing what God called you to do--whether that is stay at home mom, working mom, single lady, etc.  I know that there are some who would say that it is wrong for moms to work outside the home.  I don't agree.  I think we need Christian ladies and moms to work in the world and be salt in the work place.  I admit this is my opinion.  Each family needs to decide what is best for THEIR family and worry about THEIR family.  Only the family itself can decide what is best for their family since each family is unique.

Please stop playing the martyr.  I hate seeing discussions about who is busier--the stay at home mom, working mom, or single lady.  I've seen stay at home moms insist they are the busiest chasing around kids all day while trying to get the home school and house work done.  I then hear working moms who say they are the busiest because they have to fit all the house work, dinner, errands, etc in on non-working hours.  I then hear the single lady say she is the busiest because all those with families don't volunteer, work late, or help granny so they must pick up the slack.  *SIGH* Isn't this a way to make oneself feel superior to those around them and really just pride?

Can we not just agree EVERYONE is busy, but in different ways???  As long as you are doing what God wants you do, doing it to the best of your ability and contributing to society, you are a hero in my book and God is also pleased with you.  Please stop trying to prove something and just be content with the job God has called you to. Please just play nicely in the sand box with everyone else--stay at home mom, working mom, single lady, etc.


Thanks for listening.  :)

Hello again!

I realize my blog has been quite neglected, largely due to my job that takes more time.  It has been interesting to see how the Lord leads.  I applied for a job working as a manager and RN.  I truly loved this job and really felt comfortable with the work and the people.  The end of December, however, God saw fit to shake my work life up well, A LOT.  I went from having 18 people, including docs and 2 departments to manage to 47 people and essentially 4 departments!  It has been interesting and frankly difficult.  I also got a new boss out of the deal.  It has been interesting because my last boss had a hands-off approach and my new boss is much more involved.  This isn't bad, just different.  I also gave up all nursing duties.  This was probably the hardest thing for me.  I now only talk to patients when they are upset about something!  I have always enjoyed caring for patients.  I am grateful for the lessons I've learned and continue to learn along the way.  I feel truly blessed to know that God is in charge and even when we end up with something we didn't ask for and wasn't necessarily "fair," we can rest knowing that God is with us and has something to teach us!

Speaking of work, today started off as quite an adventure!  I received my second call in for the day at 0620!  My first was yesterday afternoon.  This is in addition to one person on maternity leave and another on vacation.  Did I mention on of the docs put himself out for vacation, then changed his mind and was now going to be in the office, so we were pretty skeleton crewed before the first call in!  I had to figure out how to rearrange staff as I had 2 docs in neighborhood sites...  This meant I needed to call 5 employees to rearrange where/what time they would arrive.  Oh AND get the kids ready and out the door!!!  When I arrived at work I had a brief panic attack as I was walking in and quickly looked down at my clothes to make sure they matched as I had no idea what skirt I grabbed out of the closet and hoped it matched my shirt.  :)  They did match--God even cares if we match apparently!

Funny moment #1 at work--My optical staff told me we received an advertisement display from a frame company that had an immodestly dressed lady on it.  I thanked her for being attentive to this because as an organization would want to be sensitive about this.  As I was walking across our skywalk later in the day I happened to glance over at our life-size bronze statues of the "naked" family as everyone calls them because they are well, naked.  I have no idea why one would create this, let alone buy it, let alone display it, but this is what we have in front of one of our buildings.  You have to admit this is pretty ironic!!!  So thankful my staff are sensitive about this, however!

Funny moment #2--we are going to have virtual take your child to work day.  How does that work????  This concept made me giggle.  On Thursday, we are supposed to talk to our kids about work and they have a video they can watch... I do appreciate the thought and effort that is going into this--they've come up with some activities you can do with your kids.  I just think it should be tell your child about your work day...  Here's hoping we can become virtual workers soon.  :)

T turns 13

T turned 13 today.  It is amazing to think I have a teen in my home now!!!  He has a great heart and loves to help other.  He wanted a new suit for his birthday, so we went suit shopping.  He is in between the boys and men sizes, so this was a bit of a challenge.  In the end we found him one.  He is pretty proud of it AND looks pretty spiffy in it.  :)