For my friend S - An Update

It's 10:20pm on Wednesday and I finally am able to sit down and blog. Whew, the last three weeks have been challenging!! To make a long story short, I took on a painting job at a home about an hour and a half away from my home. My cousin helped me and we painted 3 bedrooms twice (sealed them and then painted them) including ceilings, two large hallways, two bathrooms, and stained the front and back of 5 doors. It took two days to prep the rooms for painting and 7 days to do all the work. I'm exhausted!

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend. Thanksgiving was a very restful day at home with a late afternoon meal at my sister's home. Later that night my neice took the kids to see The Muppets while Management and I took my other neice to see Breaking Dawn. It was H&G's first movie and my neice said that she sat through the entire movie and LOVED it! Really loved it. I was shocked she sat through it but then again, she loves being with the big kids and loves popcorn! :) Breaking Dawn was great and I can't wait for part 2.

Friday was spent getting out the Christmas decor and then helping my parents stain their garden wall and winterize their backyard. I slept very well that night!

Saturday we headed out to Management's brother's home and had a good time catching up with that side of the family. We also spent some time at the mall and purchased our first few Christmas presents because...

Sunday was our first Christmas gathering. We got together with my dad's side of the family and ate and laughed and ate and laughed! WeeklyAd opened exactly what she wanted - a Lalaloopsy doll. HomeAudio opened a new addition to his nutcracker collection. H&G opened up some puzzles. Management and I opened a gift card to Applebee's. Yum! My mom and dad did a great job with the food too!!

I'm thankful for a day of rest with H&G tomorrow! I've missed her so much these past few weeks but she's had a lot of fun with her grandma's and with daddy. She doesn't seem phased by my absence and we've made the most of our evenings together. She's growing up so fast already!

Full Time Work

This past week has been exhausting.

Every day was spent driving an hour and a half one way...painting all day...and driving an hour and a half the other way home.

I'm thankful for my mother-in-law who came to stay with H&G for three days and my mom who kept her the other two days. I missed her so much!

I missed the rest of my family tremendously too as Wednesday night was dance and church and Thursday night I worked at the dance studio.

This weekend has been a lazy one of just cuddling, talking, and resting.

I'm so tired. It's been a very long time since I've worked full time.

Three more full days and the job should be done.

Brokenness

Management made it home safely. For that I am thankful!

Re-entry has been interesting. Not hard, not great, just interesting. I've been praying hard for peace, grace, love, and wisdom. Today we hit the wall. Thankful for grace, love, and wisdom as we move ahead and re-adjust.

My mother-in-law is coming for a few days while I work on a project Mon, Tue, and Wed. Praying that H&G feels safe with her and warms up to her and that their days together go smoothly.

Management's new boss is flying into town on Friday to spend the day and night with us. I'm nervous but excited. I really like his new boss and will enjoy his time with our family, I think. I'm only nervous because this is such a busy week and the brunt of cleaning, preparing, and re-organizing schedules falls on me.

It's been an emotional last 3 weeks. Lots of tears and thinking and praying. Just a lot of internal dialogue going on and the alone time (with Management traveling) has been good, though very trying. The Lord is at work in me. It all started with a message on Pride and has continued from there. I'm thankful for it, but it's hard. Looks like this week will continue the emotions and pondering.

Thankful that God loves me too much to let me wallow in my brokenness!

Travels and Tickets

~Management left Monday morning to go to Cambodia. While there he will be meeting with the Minister of Interior and law enforcement, World Vision leaders, Hagar International leaders, people from International Justice Ministry, and more. He has a packed schedule and lots of people to meet. While there he also will be seeing children and adults who have been rescued from slavery and will see the work being done to not only rescue them but also to train, educate, and restore them. He had an emotional day yesterday and I know has many more in store.

~The kids and I have been doing well. This has been a packed week so time flies by quickly. They have been obedient and joyful for the most part and I'm so thankful for the few friends that I know are specifically praying for us this week!

~Purchased tickets this week for WeeklyAd and I to go see Wicked on Christmas Eve! I really can not wait!! I really really wanted to go sooner than that but with the wedding and WeeklyAd's Christmas show, Christmas Eve was the earliest we could get it on the calendar. She and I are both so excited! I'm hoping that it will be as good as everyone says it is and that going on Christmas Eve, just mommy and daughter, will be magical for us. I think it will be!

~Can't believe it's already the holiday season!