Life

I told you my postings were sporadic at best, and non-existant at worst. We've had quite a busy season here. But then, when is life not busy? Oh that's right. When you're dead. Hmmmm. Since that's not in my schedule, I guess I'll have to be used to the busy-ness of life, eh?

So that I'm not writing a book, I'll give you a short synopsis of life in the S house for the past couple weeks.

L got signed up for Daisies. I've not yet heard from the troop leaders. They'd better be reaching out soon! She went yard saling with me today, and was asked about 10 times how old she was, and what school she went to. By the 7th or 8th time, she was like, "Mom. Why do they keep asking me? I already told a bunch of people!" :)

H is in 3 day a week preschool, and has finally learned to say his "L"'s. It's a big step for him. His teachers are now bugging me about getting him to color inside the lines when he colors, instead of just coloring the whole sheet one color, usually brown. I'm more prone to just wait and see. He'll get there when he gets there.

J is just herself. She's been exceptionally clingy since the older two have been in school. She's never been this bad. I leave her in the nursery at church, she cries. I go in the bathroom and shut the door, she cries. Heaven forbid I have to take the dog outside and walk to the front of the house so he can do his business. She wails. I'm hoping that wears off soon.

James hates his current situation with his job. He's on call every other week, so he's responisible for sitting by the phone in case it rings and he has to go on a service call. He had 3 calls today, the last one at 10 this evening. He was on the phone for about 40 minutes, and at the end, it was determined he has to drive to Decatur Ill tomorrow, on a Sunday, so that he can get someone's smoke detectors working. Decatur is about 3 hours from here. Drive there, push some buttons, put in some codes, drive home. He is so angry. He wants to get another job, or he wants to be compensated better for his on call time. I agree. Dear Lord, please help.

I've been swamped with MOPS stuff. I did not expect it to take over my life like this. Just as I get one month's newsletters printed, folded and mailed, it's time to work on the next month's layout. It's a bit overwhelming. Hopefully I'll start getting more input from the moms themselves as the year goes on, so that I'm not the only one trying to come up with stuff to put in it.

And then there's the major trauma/drama in our lives right now. We got our property tax bill, and found that it went up by $400 per year. So our homeowner's insurance went up along with it. So our escrow account is short. SO our house payment is going up by $75 in November, and probably another $50 in March. I am traumatized. We were barely eeking it by before. For some families, $75 is not much. For us, that's half my grocery budget for a MONTH. It is going to hurt us. We had contemplated moving. We've been looking at a house closeby, and had even talked about making an offer on it. The payments would be lower, the asking price is a LOT lower, but we'd have to put about $30,000 in improvements in it before it would be at the same standard that our current home is at. It's doable, just not what we really want to do. So, instead of moving, we've come to the decision that I need to get some sort of employment. What I am going to do is apply for my friend's job. My best friend works as the overseer for the after-school care at the local Christian school. From 7.30-8.20 am, and from 3.20-5.30 pm daily, I'll be at the school, watching the children of the parents that have to go to work before the school day starts, and don't get off until after it ends. Very easy job. I can take my kids with me, and it pays pretty well. Well, enough that our mortgage increase would not kill us so badly. I'm not crazy about getting a job. Actually, I flat out don't want to. I like being home. I seriously have not considered going back to work in ... well... ever. I never wanted to do it. But, if it means losing our house because we can't afford the taxes, or getting a job, well, job here I come. And maybe it's not permanent. Maybe James will get something worked out with his employer so that he'll get a raise. Who Knows. It's all in the Lord's hands. I just know that He's made this very simple job available to me at the right time, and I'm just going to have to do it, even if it's not what I would prefer to do.

I went to a Joyce Meyer's conference last weekend, called the Confident Woman. It was awesome. Joyce spoke at every meeting, along with a few other speakers, and music by Darlene Zschesch (sp?) of Hillsong. Phenomenal conference. I loved it. I felt like that was the right place for me to be. I learned so much, took so much away from it. Everyone in our group did. The presence of the Lord was like a blanket over that stadium. Just awesome. And then we came home... and, well... you know what happens when you come home from a spiritual high, a life changing event... no one around you has had the same event, and you're stuck in the same sludge that was here when you left. So I've asked my pastor's wife to write an article for our newsletter that is instructional in a way on how to deal with that, and how to keep the spiritual high going, how to keep the changes you've resolved to make alive and happening in your life, and not let it all slide out.

Alright... it's late. I've got to get to bed. Tomorrow is Sunday, and the kids are doing a little skit and singing in church tomorrow. James is also leaving around 7 to make that drive. Lord, be with him in his travels. He's angry about having to go, and that is absolutely not the way he needs to be behind the wheel of his truck. Protect him with your hands and love Lord, and let the drive be good for his temper. Thank you Father.

Goodnight!