Rainy Friday and a long post...sorry!

Good-morning girls!  This past week I've gotten into a good routine of going to bed between 8:30 and 9 and getting up feeling totally refreshed at 5:30.  This is good, because hopefully it will mean more time in the morning next week when I go back to work, and I might even be able to fit in morning devotions and a 20 minute workout.  Dreaming big, here.


Yesterday, I:

• Took Jer's car into the body-shop and walked home
• went to a friends house who has a little boy Shea's age and let them play together
• Went to buy wipes and filled up the car with gas
• cleaned the kitchen
• rearranged the front room so Shea couldn't get into the fireplace and vacuumed underneath the couches

This morning I took a shower and made some coffee with my new french press.  I've been wanting one for a long time, and I was given a 15 dollar giftcard to Starbucks, so I bought one using it and paid the difference of like $5.  It brewed some delicious coffee.

Then, I sat down and did something that I realized is sadly almost never on my list of accomplishments on this blog.

I READ MY BIBLE.

Just for me.  Not because I had to do my bible study for work (although, I did include that with my study time), not because I felt guilty.  I sat down to use the computer while my coffee was brewing and somehow decided to turn it off and go read my Bible.  Holy Spirit maybe?  It was good.

(and no, "The Purple Kangaroo" was not part of my devotional reading plan)

You know, it's amazing how I can go through something, kind of freak out - even though I absolutely know that God is unconditional and I need to trust Him in every situation unconditionally - and then receive a word the next day that is like "of course.  I knew that.  thanks God, thats what I needed."  And the storm is calmed.

Yesterday, I looked borderline like this:

yeah.  SO long story short, I thought I had resolved our taxes and got it all settled...well, it happens that I made one vital mistake while doing our estimated taxes last year which I didn't catch until two days before we have to send in our final estimated tax payment.  I kind of freaked out a little and I won't go into all the details, but I know it will be OK.  Money is money, and next year it will be easier because we'll be able to plan ahead.

This is my thought though.  There are some things we really don't have control over in our lives.  Of course I know that God is Sovereign and knows whats best for us, and I can also make decisions outside of His will.  Others can also make decisions that can affect me.  But whats the absolute worse that can happen in life?   If the worst thing that I ever feared happened, would I not be able to get out of bed ever again?  Would my life be over?  Have no more meaning? No.  God will take care of me.  God will still cherish me.  God will still have a plan for my life and something for me to do.  So then, even in these "lesser" situations where I have "no choice" over the circumstances, I do have the choice in how I will react.  I can do something bitter and resentful, or full of joy and grace.  God can handle my screaming and kicking and tantrums that I throw, but in the end, I need to remember that I have an unconditional God who always takes care of my needs.  And, I have a God who I need to trust even IF he allows my greatest fear to become a reality.  Does that make sense?  Maybe not all of it.  Oh well.

So in other news, I did accomplished the following this morning:

• Made Shea breakfast
• learned a new worship song
• Got Shea dressed
• went through our bank statements from the last year to figure out our housing allowance (another thing I didn't know I had to do...)

Wow, so much, I know...And now I leave you with a few pictures from my morning:

Ok, this is actually yesterday, but he was so cute pretending to mix food with my whisk!

Oh and I got these at Fred Meyer for only $3 - how cute are they!  They're so nice because they have non-slip thins on the bottoms and he doesn't slip on the kitchen floor like he does in his socks:

Thanks for listening to my rambling!  I'm sure you'll be glad when I go back to work and don't post super long posts!