One of Our Best Decisions- EVER!

I never gave much thought as to why God said we should rest and observe the Sabbath. I guess I should have had a clue that it was important since even the Lord took a day to rest! I’m a little slow some days…. Now, I’m not sure what the exact rules are with this… Some people say it has to be Sunday; some say Saturday and other say it doesn’t matter as long as you observe one. Until I completely am sure I willdo my own thing. One day over the weekend we want to spend it resting & enjoying life. It is my dream that we will also start going to a church and engaging in a Bible study together too. For now, I am completely loving the family time. Not only that, but the peace that we have found in it too! I have tried to take a little lesson from the Amish community as well by prepping meals the day before. I have found that, with a little work, it can be done. Even the dishwasher is emptied the evening before so all dishes get loaded and re ready to go. Maybe that is normal for you but we have been known to pile up dishes on the counter while the dishwasher sits empty. lol So far today, TMOMD enjoyed coaching some hockey, my MMOMD spent time with his best buddy, I worked on catching up on a Bible study and visited with friends a bit. Tonight, we have had a fun dinner, made some brownies, wandered our very yellow yard (rotten dandelions! lol), TMOMD & MMOMD tried their best to fly some remote-control helicopters and we are getting ready to watch a movie together & munch on some popcorn. I LOVE this & I can see they do too. It’s a time to rest, enjoy & reconnect. I love the sounds of love & laughter sprinkled through the day. I am blessed!

Sometimes the Pot Boils Over

Life has gotten crazy busy which is why I haven’t been here recently. Looking at our family schedule it doesn’t seem ridiculously full. If you look closer and through the eyes of the who is making the obligation you don’t see the obligation but an inner passion within those time slots. In truth, we have five different areas that our passions lie outside of our Faith, family & friendships. That makes eight things we have to balance out and typically we do! We remain flexible with each other and respect how passionate we both feel for these things. We take the time to help each other accomplish our goals. This time, however, we forgot something very important-rest! (OK, OK we also forgot to stop procrastinating too and that adds a whole other dimension of stress.) Sadly, our daily balancing act came crashing down the other day. Our passions took over our life and we forgot about the loved ones behind those. TMOMD and I became frustrated with each other, temperatures rose and the pot boiled over. When that happens all of our marriage skills go right out the window along with our sensibilities. The causes became more important than love and way more important than feelings. His commitments we more important than mine and mine than his. TMOMD and I have the ability to fight like two high school girls. We will emotionally scratch and claw at each other with gusto. Eventually one of use picks up the chess piece and calls checkmate (checkmate in our language means the piece, figuratively, gets picked up and thrown off the board. We aren’t ones to lay down.). It is at that point that everything ceases naturally-it has to!  That does not mean apologies come. That means that we stop, regroup, calm down for a couple days and then come the apologies. Until then we are healing. A mutual understanding has taken place and we are no longer angry and life goes on. Many times we are embarrassed at how juvenile we have acted. We know we are sorry but also know our wounds need to heal before that can be verbalized. This is not how marriage experts would say we should handle things but it is how we function and through this we know and love each other anyway. We remember that WE are passionate about each other. That our Faith needs to come to the forefront and that our family is more than the engine that keeps things running and orderly. Every so often that pot boils over and brings us back to reality and what is important.

Exhausted and I Love it!

This weekend has been jam packed and it’s not over yet! I’m just taking a well deserved break. All right, I’ll be honest, it’s early and I haven’t started yet. lol That’s just between us though, k. We are getting the house ready for a showing while TMOMD is playing in a hockey tournament and the MMOMD (mini-man of my dreams aka my son) has a sleep over. *I got sidetracked mid post. Fast forward 8 hours. lol*  Now, I’m relaxing on the couch, finally! It’s been busy and it’s been wonderful. I adore times when we can work hard & play hard at the same time; when my little family is willing to give each other 100%, where ever they are needed for the greater good-for the benefit of our family. It was amazing to see TMOMD & the MMOMD shoveling mulch & dirt and then taking a break to grab some fishing poles for a few minutes (my Dad used to do that so this warms my heart) then, back to work. Now after the showing (which went great, btw) they are back at the pond, poles in hand, trying to catch “the one that got away”.. I love watching them enjoy time together after the business of the weekend over and while I know they are both ready to drop. I know they are both giving me some much needed “down time” and I so love them for it. So, to celebrate all of our hard work I will spoil them with some strawberry shortcake for dessert & then popcorn and a movie. I can’t wait!

On the Next Episode of The Waiting Game…

I have still been wrestling with  trying to find a solution to the problem I mentioned in my post, “The Waiting Game“, even thought I know I need to wait and see where the Lord direct me. I’m sooo NOT good at this and so my mind keeps circling around the topic trying to find any way to work this out. I have thought through the details and looked at things from every angle imaginable over and over and over and…well, you get it. Still, I got nuttin’! Not one little idea about when to say or do and not one thought about how to act. This is FRUSTRATING!!! *note in my head I’m stomping as I say that* lol I’m used to thinking and solving issues “on the fly”. This stuff is easy for me…except now.

After a conversation last night with TMOMD and one of my best friends and then hearing another version of the same thing today. I get it! It has been confirmed and reconfirmed to me. I knew I had something to write about today and was excited to share my findings when I got ANOTHER confirmation! Whew!! Think God knows how thick my head is? lol

Let me fill you in…

Once again, last night, I was discussing this faulty leadership issue with TMOMD & BFF.  TMOMD says that the reason that I am drawing a blank is that God is is not ready to give me the answer and that I need to WAIT. Soooo, I keep talking around it more (lol) and the BFF expands on the topic and says that I cannot see what He is doing or where He is moving and maybe I need to let Him do some work and then He will reveal to me what’s next. *sigh* OK, I can do that- sorta… One of them adds that I need to rest and be peaceful about it, hand it over to God and know he has the details taken care of. I think that covers that conversation.

Then I’m listening to that radio this morning and to a talk show that I enjoy called Stand Up for the Truth when one of the hosts says this (paraphrasing), “Something that God has been saying to me me is, ‘obey me, love me and stop trying to manipulate the results’! OK then, gotcha! lol

A while later, I receive an email from the “leadership” that I am ready to fight and within it I see that a key player in the situation is not going to ask for an position in the matter and it slightly opens the door for me. The door isn’t completely open because the “leadership” told me that I pretty much could not go forward on an issue and that if it did work out that I could, the whole leadership as a group would have the final say.

God is so good! Yesterday I didn’t have any answers and today I see HOPE within this big mess! I will remain optimistic, now, and will work hard to let go of this and see where God leads.

Back Again.

I’m old. OK, I’m not really old but there are days when my body disagrees! I need to really work on getting into better shape. Add it to my ever growing list. So…. Yesterday I was working at a very part time job and managed to pull muscles in my back. How? I did it putting water in a cooler to chill. A stand up commercial cooler. I barely had to bend over! I was sore last night and at some points in pain.This has been happening at a frequency that I just don’t appreciate!  TMOMD doesn’t like when I am sick or in pain so resorts to his fail safe attitude when he can’t “fix” things for me: crabby. Moving back to the present… Today I missed out on my perfect day, as you know from my previous post, so I was going to make the best of things and get the house in ship shape condition. Or, not. Just as I started moving and grooving along the pain hits me. Awesome. I managed to make it 100 x worse than it was. What was I doing? It’s noon & I’m walking up the stairs to take TMOMD some brunch. I need to make up for last night and food does the trick! So, plate in hand, I’m on the stairs and I can’t move. Again, awesome. I make it up the stairs and a groggily TMOMD asks me what wrong and proceeds to give me instruction on how to fix it.  I knew I kept him around for a reason! *wink*I’m very thankful that he is happily or at least accepted that today won’t be his dream day either and we can work at a relaxed pace and enjoying our “old age” together. Maybe I can get a massage out of this…

Ahh, the start of another perfect day… out the window!

It’s Sunday! Our day to enjoy life and each other! I had been excited and waiting for this all week long. Last week TMOMD and I were discussing schedules and possible events, etc coming up and I excitedly telling him my latest idea of how our life should be-on Sunday.

Picture this: Breakfast, lunch and dinner are prepped and just need to be put in the crock pot, oven or grill. The house is clean and the laundry room looks neglected because it’s void of clothes & towels for once. We wake up because we are rested (at 7am) and get ready to start the day. Breakfast is delicious (I didn’t drop any on myself) and we are off to church. Once our hearts are filled from worship & fellowship we head home to leisurely eat some lunch and enjoy time as a family or with friends. Life is good, dinner is great and we are ready to start another week!

Then came a discussion last night.  TMOMD was adamant that we need to take tomorrow (Sunday) and really “hit it” we need to “be productive” because we have too much to do. I didn’t say a word and tried not to show my disappointment because he is right. We do need to get a lot done. However, we really do need a day that we can enjoy the life we are striving so hard to have! I’m sure not saying anything did aid in my attitude last night and didn’t curb my bickering attitude and he could feel tension and wasn’t sure why.

Now this morning I find my self not wanting to get out of bed. The crabbiness from last night is still fresh in my mind and I don’t want to deal with what might still be lingering between us. I pulled myself out of bed when my back started to hurt and I didn’t wake TMOMD. He could sleep for days on end if I don’t wake him. I am looking around the house as I type this and I see socks on the floor, glasses not taken to the kitchen, plates not cleared, pizza that never found the fridge and a new colony of dust bunnies that don’t look friendly. At least once a week the house gets away from me and I have to gather myself and get back on task. Sometimes it happens because we are so busy and, lets face it…over committed. Sometimes it happens out of laziness. This was a combo pack. Lazy & over committed. Sigh…

Here is my plan. I’ll make my way quickly through the house and pick up, dust, do some dishes, gather all of the laundry and get lunch and dinner ready. OK, I’ll get the meals planned at least. I hope. Then maybe when TMOMD wakes, he will see the beautifully cleaned house and I can rescue my perfect Sunday from the clutches of productivity! Maybe he will forget all about the garage & yard work…

Maybe I should just climb back into bed and snuggle with TMOMD for a little while longer.

See what I mean?

Here I am. It’s 2:15 am and I’m starting a blog. I should be in bed with TMOMD (the man of my dreams) but I’m not because I’m still trying to figure this blog stuff out. I say “still” as if it’s been hours when in fact it has only been minutes. I’m in avoidance mode. TMOMD and I have traded in Arcadia for a bickering and I’m not sure why. Ever have that happen? I guess this is the perfect post to start off with since I have named this pup The Imperfect Wife & Mom! This is the first of many examples of my every day life where I trade in my great intentions and expectations for being me, plain ole imperfect me. I hope you stick around and maybe we can convince each other that we are just fine and throw that dream of perfection out the window or at least toss it on the corner with the dust bunnies!