It's Monday

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, one kid is puking-yep, it's Monday. Saturday night Tyson was up at least 5 times and ended up taking a nap Sunday around 4. It would be only logical that he's the one who's sick now, but that is not the case. Sunday night, Jori was up at least 5 times, started feeling feverish, then threw up this morning around 8. She is now laying on the sofa watching cartoons. I am just waiting for A: Jori to throw up again B: Tyson and me to get sick or C: All of the above.

So, if anyone from EGM is reading this, please accept our apologies in advance if anyone in your family gets sick. We didn't know. Truly. Tyson was up, but not ever "sick" and Jori was fine until the middle of last night. Oh well. If you don't get it from us, I'm sure you'll get it from someone else. Positive thinking!!

Finishing...

...is something that I do not do well. I am great at thinking up ideas and some of these ideas actually get put into action, but I usually have a hard time seeing things through to the end.

A few examples:

The kids ABC Bible Memory verses. This started out GREAT, if I do say so myself. The kids were having fun, I put effort into teaching them their verses throughout the day, every day and it was something that I felt good about. Since about the letter M, things have been a struggle, both for them and me. It has been more difficult to keep so many verses tucked away in their minds (and hearts!) and dealing with less than willing participants has made me less than eager to spend time teaching them. We have currently gone through the letter U, but that was 3 weeks ago...

Couponing. I do still clip coupons and have been much more AWARE of how much I am spending, which I truly believe it half the battle, but it has all been to a much lesser degree. I stopped printing internet coupons because our printer was out of ink for a while, and I just never got back into it. I haven't been to Rite Aid or Walgreen's for about 6 months, which means I've missed out on lots of free stuff that I am sure we could have used, but now I will just pay full price. It did get to be kind of an obsession, but there are a lot worse obsessions to have...

Meal planning. We were in such a food rut and were also spending a lot of money going out to eat because I never seemed to have anything in mind for dinner. Knowing that I had meals planned for the whole week was awesome, so I am not sure why I don't do it anymore, but for some reason I just don't.

Gardening. Last year I found out that being outside and digging in the cool earth was very relaxing and almost therapeutic for me. I had BIG plans to garden again this year, but now that the time to plant has arrived I am just not in the mood. Part of the reason is I don't think much will grow in our new plot (that I was super excited about) because it is too shady, so I don't even really want to try. I ripped so many weeds and prickers out of our new plot and composted and was really off to a good start, but now...

Keeping the house clean. I had been doing so much better at cleaning the bathrooms, keeping the kitchen counter cleared off, making the beds, vacuuming, dusting... but now I have let myself get so far behind that the thought of starting is overwhelming, so I just don't.

The list could go on and on. I think that part of it is a bit of depression. I am blaming it on the week of unseasonably warm weather that we had a couple weeks ago. It kind of ruined me for this "normal" spring weather. I think I also have a poor work ethic. Maybe I tried to change too many things and got away from my true "slacker" self, so now the laziness has come back with a vengeance.

While a lot of my examples aren't really serious issues, not finishing has impacted other areas of my life as well. There have been service opportunities that have really interested me, so I gather information, but then somewhere along the way I just stop. Last summer and fall the kids and I were faithful about going to the Laurel's to visit the residents there, but over the winter it became difficult with bad weather and sickness to contend with, so we quit going. We have things in our life that we have planned for and dreamed about, but now these dreams just languish.

Bleh.

A Big Moment For Tyson

Last night while we were all praying together, Tyson prayed "Dear God, please let my mom and dad help me ask Jesus into my heart". Whoa! This is something that we have brought up before and Tyson has always said "Nah, I don't want to", so when he brought it up last night it was a little surprising to me. I am still not sure what brought it on, but am thankful nonetheless.

After we prayed, Darin brought Tyson to his bed while I tucked Jori in. Then I crawled up into Tyson's bed with him to talk about his prayer. I asked him if he remembered what he had prayed for and he said "to ask Jesus into my heart" so I asked if he wanted me to pray with him right then and he said Yes! So I prayed and he repeated what I said. It was WAY stressful for me because I wanted to make sure he was getting the point of what he was doing. Apparently I went a little overboard because when we finished and I asked Tyson if I could pray just for him he said "Is it going to be a long, long, LONG prayer like you just said?" : )

Darin came in to check on us after a 1/2 hour (don't worry, my prayer wasn't THAT long! We were just telling each other 'Once upon a time' stories.) and Tyson told him what he had just done. I'll speak for myself here, but while I am THRILLED that Tyson decided on his own to ask Jesus into his heart, I am also kind of scared. I feel this new pressure to make sure that I teach him what it means to believe and to have Jesus as the Lord of your life.

I talked to my parents last night and my mom cautioned me to make sure I don't turn his decision into a scare tactic of sorts. I can see where it would be easy for me to fall into that, to say "You asked Jesus into your heart, so why are you still disobeying mom all the time?", which I know would be a ridiculous thing to say because I have also asked Jesus into my heart and I sin EVERY DAY, but I can also see where I might be tempted to throw it out there when Tyson disobeys.

So pray for the seeds of faith to grow in Tyson and for this mom to be wise in how she cares for her child's heart!

Puzzle after 3 date nights

Here is a look at our puzzle so far. This is about 8 hours of work (for both of us!) spread over 3 date nights. The first night we did almost all the edges, the second night we finished all but one piece of the edges and started the flamingo and purple bird and tonight I found the last edge piece and worked on the birds at the top of the puzzle while Darin finished up the birds on the bottom, started on some flowers, 2 butterflies and a hippo face.

Good times were had by all.

Where the sunshine causes my mind to wander

We have been enjoying some beautiful weather here in West Michigan the past few days. It has been in the high 40's-low 50's when I wake up (it might be a little cooler when my kids get up!) and the early morning warmth has made my mind wander back to the mornings we had in South Africa. While I was not overly fond of being woken up by the sun between 5:00 and 5:30 or by the pecking of the horn bills, I LOVED sitting outside in the morning with a cup of coffee, the sun already shining, my kids following Amos around, the sounds of so many different birds chirping, the occasional impala sighting and so much more.

I love the sunshine we have been having, but it makes me miss the time we had in South Africa so much. I find myself dreaming up schemes to get us back there. We don't talk about it much, but we were so close to moving to Africa. We had a plan, we were ready to make an offer on a lodge, we were trying to figure out what to do with our stuff and how to say goodbye to our friends and family, and then it all fell apart. Darin and I stopped listening to each other and started fighting, I had a major freak out and the decision was made to not go forward. Then something changed. We had a big heart to heart talk, we prayed, we felt READY and we decided to put in the offer. We found out that someone else had made an offer a couple weeks before us, soon after the time we decided to stop the whole process. It was PAINFUL and it is still something I struggle with. What was God trying to teach us? Had he prevented us leaving because staying was best for us, or was it His plan that we go, but we weren't able to step out in faith and lean on Him so we missed out?

I feel like I am in a good place now, but for the first year I dealt with a lot of "what ifs" and "if only's". The warm weather just stirs up a lot of memories, mostly good, but sometimes they hurt. I just pray that the next time I am ready to step out in faith and that I don't let the fear of the unknown cause me to miss out! For now I'll just drink my morning coffee, close my eyes and, for a few minutes, I'll imagine that I am there again.