You guys....in less than two weeks I will have a ten year old. Ten. As in a decade. Double digits. Where the heck did ten years go? You know, anyone who has ever been inducted into this blessed thing called parenting has been initiated in by well meaning fellow mamas and dads, nanas and papas with great , yet usually unsolicited advice. It's usually given approximately three weeks before their little bundle of joy is welcomed into the world with lots of hugs, kisses, I love yous and happy birthdays. Not surprisingly, it is also about the time the glowing mama to be is getting slightly (read incredibly) more uncomfortable than she has been her entire pregnancy and is also just a little anxious for said little one's arrival.
So it's not surprising that the sentiment of some of the advice, especially cliche'd advice can lose its meaning quickly. You know where l'm going right? It usually goes something like "Cherish every moment. They grow up so fast." It's not bad advice...not at all. In fact it's the one piece I give every new mama. Maybe it is just poorly timed or just overused, but somewhere along the way it isn't heeded the way it should be, and if you are like me, you have maybe already sat down and looked at your littles and thought to yourself, "Where did the last ten years go?"
Fortunately, like most things, you get better as you get older. I cherish a lot more now than I did when Jae was a baby. And those moments are just gone. I don't get to relive them. There are no do overs. And yet, there aren't any regrets. I did cherish moments. We made memories and I was present, but it wasn't until very recently that I started to truly enjoy the small things. You know like bedtime prayers and jumping off the diving board for the first time. The look of excitement when traditions are played out and how they sneak into my bed in the middle of the night like I won't notice they are there.
A few years ago, some of those things wouldn't have been on my radar. In fact, some of them may have annoyed me a bit. But now? Now I crave those moments. My baby is four. These little moments don't last forever. Right now, my four year old hates it when I leave. I'm his best friend. But in a few years, he will trade cuddles with his mama for sleepovers at a friend's house. So we don't take those little things for granted anymore. I have a new chapter to begin in my little lady's life now. I'm excited to enjoy the small things here too. It won't be long and we will be sending her off to college. I'm a little sad but also a lot excited. We have a lot of memories to make. But as I embrace the new, I'm realizing it's okay to mourn the old for a little bit. So I'm reminding myself of that wise advice given to me when I wasjust a baby having a baby. Time is fleeting. Live life in such a way that when you look back at your life fifty years from now, you can do nothing but smile. Enjoy the small things friends, whether your babies are brand new or nearing retirement. It's. never too late to start.
Friday, August 30, 2013
Thursday, August 22, 2013
First Days
Well, I'm officially the mama to a 4th grader, 2nd grader and preschooler this year. WHAT? When the heck did that happen? I'm not an overly emotional mama usually, and I never cried sending either of my big kids to school for the first time, but I think I may have a hard time sending Sawyer to Kindergarten next year (or TK if that's the road we're on). I'm fairly certain I'll be okay this year as I can't drop him off or pick him up, so I'm not "in the moment". And anyways, I'm fully confident that Amy will cry enough for the both of us, so I've got that covered. :) Nevertheless, it's hard to believe the daycare years are coming rapidly to a close. While I'm ready for the relief in my checkbook, I'm not sure I'm ready to close the door on the little years, especially now that we're pretty confident we're done having kids. It's kind of like the end of the era. (Tear)
I'm in a slightly different situation than most moms. I've seen a lot of facebook posts lately about back to school. Some are incredibly relieved that school is back in session. I'll admit, I'd be that mom if I stayed at home! Some are having a hard time sending kids to school for the first time. Others are excited to see where this year will take their littles. Either way, it's another shift of pace again. I don't necessarily fit into those categories because my kids come with me. We're going through the flow together which is kind of fun.
Anywho, the first week has gone quite smoothly. Back to school is one of my favorite times of year. I'll admit the first two weeks are usually holy hell trying to get schedules down and getting into the swing of things, but I have the same grade I did last year so I didn't need to learn names which was nice! :) I so enjoyed getting a new batch of kids on Open House night and meeting moms and dads. My kids from last year popped in to hug me and say hello, and I heard a lot of "I wish you were my teacher again" which always makes me feel warm and fuzzy.
There's a lot to look forward to this year too. We have a new principal, Mr. Lentell. I think he's going to be an amazing asset to our team. Carter is in my hallway this year, which he thinks is cool. I'm just crossing my fingers that he can behave himself this year! :/ Jaedyn is the big dog this year. She's so excited for all the privileges they will get. She's already been asked to be on safety patrol. I'm loving the confidence and the fact that she's so proud of growing up. We've also added some fun new staff that I'm looking forward to getting to know better this year. With that being said, it's strange not seeing old faces in the hallway. I'm missing Nancy Speer and Dee Overman. They were a bit part of my education. They've gone from my teachers to my friends, and it's always hard to say goodbye to good friends. I'm hoping they are enjoying their freedom as they begin their first year not being in the classroom. I'm sure it's equally as bittersweet for them!
Finally, we brought little man to preschool open house tonight. I have a feeling it's going to be hard waiting a whole two weeks for him to go back as it's already been hard taking him to daycare while the big kids get to go to school. He's so excited!!
Our first days have been good. My priorities have been at school, and I'm coming home exhausted, ready for bed at 7 o'clock most nights, therefore, my house looks like a disaster and our air conditioner took a poop in 90 degree weather this week. Fortunately we have an amazing friend who helped us out, so after 2 days in an 80 degree house, we finally have some air. 78 degrees never felt so good! HA! We'll get back on track. It takes two weeks to get into the swing of things at school. I'd imagine in two weeks, we'll have clean underwear again. Ebb and Flow baby. Ebb and flow. :)
Finally, I'll leave you with the letter I wrote to Jaedyn for her first day of school. I got it from Glennon over at Momastery. I changed it to Jaedyn's name, and voila!
I'm in a slightly different situation than most moms. I've seen a lot of facebook posts lately about back to school. Some are incredibly relieved that school is back in session. I'll admit, I'd be that mom if I stayed at home! Some are having a hard time sending kids to school for the first time. Others are excited to see where this year will take their littles. Either way, it's another shift of pace again. I don't necessarily fit into those categories because my kids come with me. We're going through the flow together which is kind of fun.
Anywho, the first week has gone quite smoothly. Back to school is one of my favorite times of year. I'll admit the first two weeks are usually holy hell trying to get schedules down and getting into the swing of things, but I have the same grade I did last year so I didn't need to learn names which was nice! :) I so enjoyed getting a new batch of kids on Open House night and meeting moms and dads. My kids from last year popped in to hug me and say hello, and I heard a lot of "I wish you were my teacher again" which always makes me feel warm and fuzzy.
There's a lot to look forward to this year too. We have a new principal, Mr. Lentell. I think he's going to be an amazing asset to our team. Carter is in my hallway this year, which he thinks is cool. I'm just crossing my fingers that he can behave himself this year! :/ Jaedyn is the big dog this year. She's so excited for all the privileges they will get. She's already been asked to be on safety patrol. I'm loving the confidence and the fact that she's so proud of growing up. We've also added some fun new staff that I'm looking forward to getting to know better this year. With that being said, it's strange not seeing old faces in the hallway. I'm missing Nancy Speer and Dee Overman. They were a bit part of my education. They've gone from my teachers to my friends, and it's always hard to say goodbye to good friends. I'm hoping they are enjoying their freedom as they begin their first year not being in the classroom. I'm sure it's equally as bittersweet for them!
 |
| New principal Mr. Lentell and my kiddos |
 |
| Talk about goosebumps. 491 students plus faculty saying the pledge on the first day of school. |
Finally, we brought little man to preschool open house tonight. I have a feeling it's going to be hard waiting a whole two weeks for him to go back as it's already been hard taking him to daycare while the big kids get to go to school. He's so excited!!
Our first days have been good. My priorities have been at school, and I'm coming home exhausted, ready for bed at 7 o'clock most nights, therefore, my house looks like a disaster and our air conditioner took a poop in 90 degree weather this week. Fortunately we have an amazing friend who helped us out, so after 2 days in an 80 degree house, we finally have some air. 78 degrees never felt so good! HA! We'll get back on track. It takes two weeks to get into the swing of things at school. I'd imagine in two weeks, we'll have clean underwear again. Ebb and Flow baby. Ebb and flow. :)
Finally, I'll leave you with the letter I wrote to Jaedyn for her first day of school. I got it from Glennon over at Momastery. I changed it to Jaedyn's name, and voila!
Dear Jaedyn,
Hey, baby.
Tomorrow is a big day. Fourth grade – wow.
Jaedyn– When I was in fourth grade,
there was a little boy in my class named Adam.
Adam looked a little different and
he wore funny clothes and sometimes he even smelled a little bit. Adam didn’t
smile. He hung his head low and he never looked at anyone at all. Adam never
did his homework. I don’t think his parents reminded him like yours do. The
other kids teased Adam a lot. Whenever they did, his head hung lower and lower
and lower. I never teased him, but I never told the other kids to stop, either.
And I never talked to Adam, not
once. I never invited him to sit next to me at lunch, or to play with me at
recess. Instead, he sat and played by himself. He must have been very lonely.
I still think about Adam every day.
I wonder if Adam remembers me? Probably not. I bet if I’d asked him to play,
just once, he’d still remember me.
I think that God puts people in our
lives as gifts to us. The children in your class this year, they are some of
God’s gifts to you.
So please treat each one like a gift
from God. Every single one.
Baby, if you see a child being left
out, or hurt, or teased, a part of your heart will hurt a little. Your daddy
and I want you to trust that heart- ache. Your whole life, we want you to
notice and trust your heart-ache. That heart ache is called compassion, and
it is God’s signal to you to do something. It is God saying, Jaedyn!
Wake up! One of my babies is hurting! Do something to help! Whenever
you feel compassion – be thrilled! It means God is speaking to you, and that is
magic. It means He trusts you and needs you.
Sometimes the magic of compassion
will make you step into the middle of a bad situation right away.
Compassion might lead you to tell a
teaser to stop it and then ask the teased kid to play. You
might invite a left-out kid to sit next to you at lunch. You might choose a kid
for your team first who usually gets chosen last. These things will be hard to
do, but you can do hard things.
Sometimes you will feel compassion
but you won’t step in right away. That’s okay, too. You might choose instead to
tell your teacher and then tell us. We are on your team – we are on your whole
class’s team. Asking for help for someone who is hurting is not tattling,
it is doing the right thing. If someone in your class needs
help, please tell me, baby. We will make a plan to help together.
When God speaks to you by making
your heart hurt for another, by giving you compassion, just do something. Please
do not ignore God whispering to you. I so wish I had not ignored God when He
spoke to me about Adam. I remember Him trying, I remember feeling compassion,
but I chose fear over compassion. I wish I hadn’t. Adam could have used a
friend and I could have, too.
Jaedyn– We do not care if you are
the smartest or fastest or coolest or funniest. There will be lots of contests
at school, and we don’t care if you win a single one of them. We don’t care if
you get straight As. We don’t care if the boys think you’re cute or whether
you’re picked first or last for kickball at recess. We don’t care if you are
your teacher’s favorite or not. We don’t care if you have the best clothes or
most Pokemon cards or coolest gadgets. We just don’t care.
We don’t send you to school to
become the best at anything at all. We already love you as much as we possibly
could. You do not have to earn our love or pride and you can’t lose it. That’s
done.
We send you to school to practice
being brave and kind.
Kind people are brave people. Brave is
not a feeling that you should wait for. It is a decision. It is a decision that
compassion is more important than fear, than fitting in, than following the
crowd.
Trust me, baby, it is. It is
more important.
Don’t try to be the best this year,
honey.
Just be grateful and kind and brave.
That’s all you ever need to be.
Take care of those classmates of
yours, and your teacher, too. You Belong to Each Other. You are one
lucky girl. . . with all of these new gifts to unwrap this year.
I love you so much that my heart
might explode.
Enjoy and cherish your gifts.
And thank you for being one of my favorite
gifts of all time.
Love,
Mama
Mama
Dear Chase,
Hey, baby.
Tomorrow is a big day. Third grade – wow.
Chase – When I was in third grade, there was a little boy in my class named Adam.
Adam looked a little different and he wore funny clothes and sometimes he even smelled a little bit. Adam didn’t smile. He hung his head low and he never looked at anyone at all. Adam never did his homework. I don’t think his parents reminded him like yours do. The other kids teased Adam a lot. Whenever they did, his head hung lower and lower and lower. I never teased him, but I never told the other kids to stop, either.
And I never talked to Adam, not once. I never invited him to sit next to me at lunch, or to play with me at recess. Instead, he sat and played by himself. He must have been very lonely.
I still think about Adam every day. I wonder if Adam remembers me? Probably not. I bet if I’d asked him to play, just once, he’d still remember me.
I think that God puts people in our lives as gifts to us. The children in your class this year, they are some of God’s gifts to you.
So please treat each one like a gift from God. Every single one.
Baby, if you see a child being left out, or hurt, or teased, a part of your heart will hurt a little. Your daddy and I want you to trust that heart- ache. Your whole life, we want you to notice and trust your heart-ache. That heart ache is called compassion, and it is God’s signal to you to do something. It is God saying, Chase! Wake up! One of my babies is hurting! Do something to help! Whenever you feel compassion – be thrilled! It means God is speaking to you, and that is magic. It means He trusts you and needs you.
Sometimes the magic of compassion will make you step into the middle of a bad situation right away.
Compassion might lead you to tell a teaser to stop it and then ask the teased kid to play. You might invite a left-out kid to sit next to you at lunch. You might choose a kid for your team first who usually gets chosen last. These things will be hard to do, but you can do hard things.
Sometimes you will feel compassion but you won’t step in right away. That’s okay, too. You might choose instead to tell your teacher and then tell us. We are on your team – we are on your whole class’s team. Asking for help for someone who is hurting is not tattling, it is doing the right thing. If someone in your class needs help, please tell me, baby. We will make a plan to help together.
When God speaks to you by making your heart hurt for another, by giving you compassion, just do something. Please do not ignore God whispering to you. I so wish I had not ignored God when He spoke to me about Adam. I remember Him trying, I remember feeling compassion, but I chose fear over compassion. I wish I hadn’t. Adam could have used a friend and I could have, too.
Chase – We do not care if you are the smartest or fastest or coolest or funniest. There will be lots of contests at school, and we don’t care if you win a single one of them. We don’t care if you get straight As. We don’t care if the girls think you’re cute or whether you’re picked first or last for kickball at recess. We don’t care if you are your teacher’s favorite or not. We don’t care if you have the best clothes or most Pokemon cards or coolest gadgets. We just don’t care.
We don’t send you to school to become the best at anything at all. We already love you as much as we possibly could. You do not have to earn our love or pride and you can’t lose it. That’s done.
We send you to school to practice being brave and kind.
Kind people are brave people. Brave is not a feeling that you should wait for. It is a decision. It is a decision that compassion is more important than fear, than fitting in, than following the crowd.
Trust me, baby, it is. It is more important.
Don’t try to be the best this year, honey.
Just be grateful and kind and brave. That’s all you ever need to be.
Take care of those classmates of yours, and your teacher, too. You Belong to Each Other. You are one lucky boy . . . with all of these new gifts to unwrap this year.
I love you so much that my heart might explode.
Enjoy and cherish your gifts.
And thank you for being my favorite gift of all time.
Love,
Mama
- See more at: http://momastery.com/blog/#sthash.KCliw6pB.dpuf
Hey, baby.
Tomorrow is a big day. Third grade – wow.
Chase – When I was in third grade, there was a little boy in my class named Adam.
Adam looked a little different and he wore funny clothes and sometimes he even smelled a little bit. Adam didn’t smile. He hung his head low and he never looked at anyone at all. Adam never did his homework. I don’t think his parents reminded him like yours do. The other kids teased Adam a lot. Whenever they did, his head hung lower and lower and lower. I never teased him, but I never told the other kids to stop, either.
And I never talked to Adam, not once. I never invited him to sit next to me at lunch, or to play with me at recess. Instead, he sat and played by himself. He must have been very lonely.
I still think about Adam every day. I wonder if Adam remembers me? Probably not. I bet if I’d asked him to play, just once, he’d still remember me.
I think that God puts people in our lives as gifts to us. The children in your class this year, they are some of God’s gifts to you.
So please treat each one like a gift from God. Every single one.
Baby, if you see a child being left out, or hurt, or teased, a part of your heart will hurt a little. Your daddy and I want you to trust that heart- ache. Your whole life, we want you to notice and trust your heart-ache. That heart ache is called compassion, and it is God’s signal to you to do something. It is God saying, Chase! Wake up! One of my babies is hurting! Do something to help! Whenever you feel compassion – be thrilled! It means God is speaking to you, and that is magic. It means He trusts you and needs you.
Sometimes the magic of compassion will make you step into the middle of a bad situation right away.
Compassion might lead you to tell a teaser to stop it and then ask the teased kid to play. You might invite a left-out kid to sit next to you at lunch. You might choose a kid for your team first who usually gets chosen last. These things will be hard to do, but you can do hard things.
Sometimes you will feel compassion but you won’t step in right away. That’s okay, too. You might choose instead to tell your teacher and then tell us. We are on your team – we are on your whole class’s team. Asking for help for someone who is hurting is not tattling, it is doing the right thing. If someone in your class needs help, please tell me, baby. We will make a plan to help together.
When God speaks to you by making your heart hurt for another, by giving you compassion, just do something. Please do not ignore God whispering to you. I so wish I had not ignored God when He spoke to me about Adam. I remember Him trying, I remember feeling compassion, but I chose fear over compassion. I wish I hadn’t. Adam could have used a friend and I could have, too.
Chase – We do not care if you are the smartest or fastest or coolest or funniest. There will be lots of contests at school, and we don’t care if you win a single one of them. We don’t care if you get straight As. We don’t care if the girls think you’re cute or whether you’re picked first or last for kickball at recess. We don’t care if you are your teacher’s favorite or not. We don’t care if you have the best clothes or most Pokemon cards or coolest gadgets. We just don’t care.
We don’t send you to school to become the best at anything at all. We already love you as much as we possibly could. You do not have to earn our love or pride and you can’t lose it. That’s done.
We send you to school to practice being brave and kind.
Kind people are brave people. Brave is not a feeling that you should wait for. It is a decision. It is a decision that compassion is more important than fear, than fitting in, than following the crowd.
Trust me, baby, it is. It is more important.
Don’t try to be the best this year, honey.
Just be grateful and kind and brave. That’s all you ever need to be.
Take care of those classmates of yours, and your teacher, too. You Belong to Each Other. You are one lucky boy . . . with all of these new gifts to unwrap this year.
I love you so much that my heart might explode.
Enjoy and cherish your gifts.
And thank you for being my favorite gift of all time.
Love,
Mama
- See more at: http://momastery.com/blog/#sthash.KCliw6pB.dpuf
Dear Chase,
Hey, baby.
Tomorrow is a big day. Third grade – wow.
Chase – When I was in third grade, there was a little boy in my class named Adam.
Adam looked a little different and he wore funny clothes and sometimes he even smelled a little bit. Adam didn’t smile. He hung his head low and he never looked at anyone at all. Adam never did his homework. I don’t think his parents reminded him like yours do. The other kids teased Adam a lot. Whenever they did, his head hung lower and lower and lower. I never teased him, but I never told the other kids to stop, either.
And I never talked to Adam, not once. I never invited him to sit next to me at lunch, or to play with me at recess. Instead, he sat and played by himself. He must have been very lonely.
- See more at: http://momastery.com/blog/#sthash.KCliw6pB.dpuf
Hey, baby.
Tomorrow is a big day. Third grade – wow.
Chase – When I was in third grade, there was a little boy in my class named Adam.
Adam looked a little different and he wore funny clothes and sometimes he even smelled a little bit. Adam didn’t smile. He hung his head low and he never looked at anyone at all. Adam never did his homework. I don’t think his parents reminded him like yours do. The other kids teased Adam a lot. Whenever they did, his head hung lower and lower and lower. I never teased him, but I never told the other kids to stop, either.
And I never talked to Adam, not once. I never invited him to sit next to me at lunch, or to play with me at recess. Instead, he sat and played by himself. He must have been very lonely.
- See more at: http://momastery.com/blog/#sthash.KCliw6pB.dpuf
Dear Chase,
Hey, baby.
Tomorrow is a big day. Third grade – wow.
Chase – When I was in third grade, there was a little boy in my class named Adam.
Adam looked a little different and he wore funny clothes and sometimes he even smelled a little bit. Adam didn’t smile. He hung his head low and he never looked at anyone at all. Adam never did his homework. I don’t think his parents reminded him like yours do. The other kids teased Adam a lot. Whenever they did, his head hung lower and lower and lower. I never teased him, but I never told the other kids to stop, either.
And I never talked to Adam, not once. I never invited him to sit next to me at lunch, or to play with me at recess. Instead, he sat and played by himself. He must have been very lonely.
I still think about Adam every day. I wonder if Adam remembers me? Probably not. I bet if I’d asked him to play, just once, he’d still remember me.
I think that God puts people in our lives as gifts to us. The children in your class this year, they are some of God’s gifts to you.
So please treat each one like a gift from God. Every single one.
Baby, if you see a child being left out, or hurt, or teased, a part of your heart will hurt a little. Your daddy and I want you to trust that heart- ache. Your whole life, we want you to notice and trust your heart-ache. That heart ache is called compassion, and it is God’s signal to you to do something. It is God saying, Chase! Wake up! One of my babies is hurting! Do something to help! Whenever you feel compassion – be thrilled! It means God is speaking to you, and that is magic. It means He trusts you and needs you.
Sometimes the magic of compassion will make you step into the middle of a bad situation right away.
Compassion might lead you to tell a teaser to stop it and then ask the teased kid to play. You might invite a left-out kid to sit next to you at lunch. You might choose a kid for your team first who usually gets chosen last. These things will be hard to do, but you can do hard things.
Sometimes you will feel compassion but you won’t step in right away. That’s okay, too. You might choose instead to tell your teacher and then tell us. We are on your team – we are on your whole class’s team. Asking for help for someone who is hurting is not tattling, it is doing the right thing. If someone in your class needs help, please tell me, baby. We will make a plan to help together.
When God speaks to you by making your heart hurt for another, by giving you compassion, just do something. Please do not ignore God whispering to you. I so wish I had not ignored God when He spoke to me about Adam. I remember Him trying, I remember feeling compassion, but I chose fear over compassion. I wish I hadn’t. Adam could have used a friend and I could have, too.
Chase – We do not care if you are the smartest or fastest or coolest or funniest. There will be lots of contests at school, and we don’t care if you win a single one of them. We don’t care if you get straight As. We don’t care if the girls think you’re cute or whether you’re picked first or last for kickball at recess. We don’t care if you are your teacher’s favorite or not. We don’t care if you have the best clothes or most Pokemon cards or coolest gadgets. We just don’t care.
We don’t send you to school to become the best at anything at all. We already love you as much as we possibly could. You do not have to earn our love or pride and you can’t lose it. That’s done.
We send you to school to practice being brave and kind.
Kind people are brave people. Brave is not a feeling that you should wait for. It is a decision. It is a decision that compassion is more important than fear, than fitting in, than following the crowd.
Trust me, baby, it is. It is more important.
Don’t try to be the best this year, honey.
Just be grateful and kind and brave. That’s all you ever need to be.
Take care of those classmates of yours, and your teacher, too. You Belong to Each Other. You are one lucky boy . . . with all of these new gifts to unwrap this year.
I love you so much that my heart might explode.
Enjoy and cherish your gifts.
And thank you for being my favorite gift of all time.
Love,
Mama
- See more at: http://momastery.com/blog/#sthash.KCliw6pB.dpuf
Hey, baby.
Tomorrow is a big day. Third grade – wow.
Chase – When I was in third grade, there was a little boy in my class named Adam.
Adam looked a little different and he wore funny clothes and sometimes he even smelled a little bit. Adam didn’t smile. He hung his head low and he never looked at anyone at all. Adam never did his homework. I don’t think his parents reminded him like yours do. The other kids teased Adam a lot. Whenever they did, his head hung lower and lower and lower. I never teased him, but I never told the other kids to stop, either.
And I never talked to Adam, not once. I never invited him to sit next to me at lunch, or to play with me at recess. Instead, he sat and played by himself. He must have been very lonely.
I still think about Adam every day. I wonder if Adam remembers me? Probably not. I bet if I’d asked him to play, just once, he’d still remember me.
I think that God puts people in our lives as gifts to us. The children in your class this year, they are some of God’s gifts to you.
So please treat each one like a gift from God. Every single one.
Baby, if you see a child being left out, or hurt, or teased, a part of your heart will hurt a little. Your daddy and I want you to trust that heart- ache. Your whole life, we want you to notice and trust your heart-ache. That heart ache is called compassion, and it is God’s signal to you to do something. It is God saying, Chase! Wake up! One of my babies is hurting! Do something to help! Whenever you feel compassion – be thrilled! It means God is speaking to you, and that is magic. It means He trusts you and needs you.
Sometimes the magic of compassion will make you step into the middle of a bad situation right away.
Compassion might lead you to tell a teaser to stop it and then ask the teased kid to play. You might invite a left-out kid to sit next to you at lunch. You might choose a kid for your team first who usually gets chosen last. These things will be hard to do, but you can do hard things.
Sometimes you will feel compassion but you won’t step in right away. That’s okay, too. You might choose instead to tell your teacher and then tell us. We are on your team – we are on your whole class’s team. Asking for help for someone who is hurting is not tattling, it is doing the right thing. If someone in your class needs help, please tell me, baby. We will make a plan to help together.
When God speaks to you by making your heart hurt for another, by giving you compassion, just do something. Please do not ignore God whispering to you. I so wish I had not ignored God when He spoke to me about Adam. I remember Him trying, I remember feeling compassion, but I chose fear over compassion. I wish I hadn’t. Adam could have used a friend and I could have, too.
Chase – We do not care if you are the smartest or fastest or coolest or funniest. There will be lots of contests at school, and we don’t care if you win a single one of them. We don’t care if you get straight As. We don’t care if the girls think you’re cute or whether you’re picked first or last for kickball at recess. We don’t care if you are your teacher’s favorite or not. We don’t care if you have the best clothes or most Pokemon cards or coolest gadgets. We just don’t care.
We don’t send you to school to become the best at anything at all. We already love you as much as we possibly could. You do not have to earn our love or pride and you can’t lose it. That’s done.
We send you to school to practice being brave and kind.
Kind people are brave people. Brave is not a feeling that you should wait for. It is a decision. It is a decision that compassion is more important than fear, than fitting in, than following the crowd.
Trust me, baby, it is. It is more important.
Don’t try to be the best this year, honey.
Just be grateful and kind and brave. That’s all you ever need to be.
Take care of those classmates of yours, and your teacher, too. You Belong to Each Other. You are one lucky boy . . . with all of these new gifts to unwrap this year.
I love you so much that my heart might explode.
Enjoy and cherish your gifts.
And thank you for being my favorite gift of all time.
Love,
Mama
- See more at: http://momastery.com/blog/#sthash.KCliw6pB.dpuf
Dear Chase,
Hey, baby.
Tomorrow is a big day. Third grade – wow.
Chase – When I was in third grade, there was a little boy in my class named Adam.
Adam looked a little different and he wore funny clothes and sometimes he even smelled a little bit. Adam didn’t smile. He hung his head low and he never looked at anyone at all. Adam never did his homework. I don’t think his parents reminded him like yours do. The other kids teased Adam a lot. Whenever they did, his head hung lower and lower and lower. I never teased him, but I never told the other kids to stop, either.
And I never talked to Adam, not once. I never invited him to sit next to me at lunch, or to play with me at recess. Instead, he sat and played by himself. He must have been very lonely.
I still think about Adam every day. I wonder if Adam remembers me? Probably not. I bet if I’d asked him to play, just once, he’d still remember me.
I think that God puts people in our lives as gifts to us. The children in your class this year, they are some of God’s gifts to you.
So please treat each one like a gift from God. Every single one.
Baby, if you see a child being left out, or hurt, or teased, a part of your heart will hurt a little. Your daddy and I want you to trust that heart- ache. Your whole life, we want you to notice and trust your heart-ache. That heart ache is called compassion, and it is God’s signal to you to do something. It is God saying, Chase! Wake up! One of my babies is hurting! Do something to help! Whenever you feel compassion – be thrilled! It means God is speaking to you, and that is magic. It means He trusts you and needs you.
Sometimes the magic of compassion will make you step into the middle of a bad situation right away.
Compassion might lead you to tell a teaser to stop it and then ask the teased kid to play. You might invite a left-out kid to sit next to you at lunch. You might choose a kid for your team first who usually gets chosen last. These things will be hard to do, but you can do hard things.
Sometimes you will feel compassion but you won’t step in right away. That’s okay, too. You might choose instead to tell your teacher and then tell us. We are on your team – we are on your whole class’s team. Asking for help for someone who is hurting is not tattling, it is doing the right thing. If someone in your class needs help, please tell me, baby. We will make a plan to help together.
When God speaks to you by making your heart hurt for another, by giving you compassion, just do something. Please do not ignore God whispering to you. I so wish I had not ignored God when He spoke to me about Adam. I remember Him trying, I remember feeling compassion, but I chose fear over compassion. I wish I hadn’t. Adam could have used a friend and I could have, too.
Chase – We do not care if you are the smartest or fastest or coolest or funniest. There will be lots of contests at school, and we don’t care if you win a single one of them. We don’t care if you get straight As. We don’t care if the girls think you’re cute or whether you’re picked first or last for kickball at recess. We don’t care if you are your teacher’s favorite or not. We don’t care if you have the best clothes or most Pokemon cards or coolest gadgets. We just don’t care.
We don’t send you to school to become the best at anything at all. We already love you as much as we possibly could. You do not have to earn our love or pride and you can’t lose it. That’s done.
We send you to school to practice being brave and kind.
Kind people are brave people. Brave is not a feeling that you should wait for. It is a decision. It is a decision that compassion is more important than fear, than fitting in, than following the crowd.
Trust me, baby, it is. It is more important.
Don’t try to be the best this year, honey.
Just be grateful and kind and brave. That’s all you ever need to be.
Take care of those classmates of yours, and your teacher, too. You Belong to Each Other. You are one lucky boy . . . with all of these new gifts to unwrap this year.
I love you so much that my heart might explode.
Enjoy and cherish your gifts.
And thank you for being my favorite gift of all time.
Love,
Mama
- See more at: http://momastery.com/blog/#sthash.KCliw6pB.dpuf
Hope your school years are off to a great start!
Hey, baby.
Tomorrow is a big day. Third grade – wow.
Chase – When I was in third grade, there was a little boy in my class named Adam.
Adam looked a little different and he wore funny clothes and sometimes he even smelled a little bit. Adam didn’t smile. He hung his head low and he never looked at anyone at all. Adam never did his homework. I don’t think his parents reminded him like yours do. The other kids teased Adam a lot. Whenever they did, his head hung lower and lower and lower. I never teased him, but I never told the other kids to stop, either.
And I never talked to Adam, not once. I never invited him to sit next to me at lunch, or to play with me at recess. Instead, he sat and played by himself. He must have been very lonely.
I still think about Adam every day. I wonder if Adam remembers me? Probably not. I bet if I’d asked him to play, just once, he’d still remember me.
I think that God puts people in our lives as gifts to us. The children in your class this year, they are some of God’s gifts to you.
So please treat each one like a gift from God. Every single one.
Baby, if you see a child being left out, or hurt, or teased, a part of your heart will hurt a little. Your daddy and I want you to trust that heart- ache. Your whole life, we want you to notice and trust your heart-ache. That heart ache is called compassion, and it is God’s signal to you to do something. It is God saying, Chase! Wake up! One of my babies is hurting! Do something to help! Whenever you feel compassion – be thrilled! It means God is speaking to you, and that is magic. It means He trusts you and needs you.
Sometimes the magic of compassion will make you step into the middle of a bad situation right away.
Compassion might lead you to tell a teaser to stop it and then ask the teased kid to play. You might invite a left-out kid to sit next to you at lunch. You might choose a kid for your team first who usually gets chosen last. These things will be hard to do, but you can do hard things.
Sometimes you will feel compassion but you won’t step in right away. That’s okay, too. You might choose instead to tell your teacher and then tell us. We are on your team – we are on your whole class’s team. Asking for help for someone who is hurting is not tattling, it is doing the right thing. If someone in your class needs help, please tell me, baby. We will make a plan to help together.
When God speaks to you by making your heart hurt for another, by giving you compassion, just do something. Please do not ignore God whispering to you. I so wish I had not ignored God when He spoke to me about Adam. I remember Him trying, I remember feeling compassion, but I chose fear over compassion. I wish I hadn’t. Adam could have used a friend and I could have, too.
Chase – We do not care if you are the smartest or fastest or coolest or funniest. There will be lots of contests at school, and we don’t care if you win a single one of them. We don’t care if you get straight As. We don’t care if the girls think you’re cute or whether you’re picked first or last for kickball at recess. We don’t care if you are your teacher’s favorite or not. We don’t care if you have the best clothes or most Pokemon cards or coolest gadgets. We just don’t care.
We don’t send you to school to become the best at anything at all. We already love you as much as we possibly could. You do not have to earn our love or pride and you can’t lose it. That’s done.
We send you to school to practice being brave and kind.
Kind people are brave people. Brave is not a feeling that you should wait for. It is a decision. It is a decision that compassion is more important than fear, than fitting in, than following the crowd.
Trust me, baby, it is. It is more important.
Don’t try to be the best this year, honey.
Just be grateful and kind and brave. That’s all you ever need to be.
Take care of those classmates of yours, and your teacher, too. You Belong to Each Other. You are one lucky boy . . . with all of these new gifts to unwrap this year.
I love you so much that my heart might explode.
Enjoy and cherish your gifts.
And thank you for being my favorite gift of all time.
Love,
Mama
- See more at: http://momastery.com/blog/#sthash.KCliw6pB.dpuf
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Last Days of Freedom
We're soaking it in over here! Today is it. Last day of freedom. Tomorrow I head back with the teachers. I debated whether or not I should have gone back to bed after Bodypump this morning just so I could have one more day to "sleep in" until 10:00. I opted instead to finish my Spark, watch the news and get in a blog post. I'm not going to waste my morning on sleep on the last day.
I'm reflecting on my summer. It flew, but it was good. Oh so good. We completed a large chunk of our bucket list, enjoyed a beautiful family vacation and relaxed. It was exactly what this mama needed after our summer last year. Needless to say, not a lot got accomplished and productivity was traded in for sleeping in, lots of snuggling, reading books, teaching my four year old how to swim without a life jacket, filling up water balloons and listening to littles giggle while they tried to pop them on the trampoline. It was worth every ounce of productivity I gave up.
A question most teachers get asked, and I'll say I'm known to ask it to other teachers myself, is whether or not we're ready to be back. (Like we have a choice) By the time we get to this point, I'm usually ready. This year is no different. Mentally, I'm so ready to be back into a routine. My kids are getting on each other's nerves. The pool is old news. The weather is shifting into more Fallish tendencies, and while I don't think they are "bored" yet, it's just time for the seasons to change. Am I ready for students? Not yet. My new classroom is coming together, but there is so much I want to do and HAVE to do that I'm in that overwhelmed state right now. I'm here every year. I panic a bit and lose my marbles, but by the time the first week of school has ended, we are starting to get the hang of things, and it's all smooth sailing from there. ;)
So what has our last week of freedom looked like? Well, at the beginning of the summer, I said the one thing I would get done before school started was clean my storage room. So with a week left to make it happen, I cleaned and sorted and purged. We realized that we had $400-500 in things that needed to be paid for roughly before the end of August, and so in a tizzy, I tried to sell as much as I could to make up for what we don't have. We got rid of a bit and hopefully can get all of the stuff on my dining room table off within the next few weeks. It feels good to accomplish SOMETHING before I go back.
My mom, Jae and I headed to the Albertville outlets to finish off our school shopping, and while we didn't have a lot to work with, it's always nice to get away with people you love and make some memories. Because we didn't have a lot of money, we stayed at a La Quinta Inn and Suites, and let me just say....you get what you pay for. As I was checking in, the guy in front of me tugging along a trash bag with his belongings, our non-smoking room...the one they told us we'd be charged $100 for if we smoked in, smelled as though a smoker had lived there for 20 years, and the pool was over run with teenagers doing cannon balls and screaming at the top of their lungs. Ah well...memories. :)
Sunday was what we called our "last hurrah". We headed up to Yankton for the first time this year to take Mom and Dave's boat out one last time for the season. We were a little concerned that the weather wouldn't cooperate, as we were up the majority of the night listening to the thunder and the rain on the deck. Couple that with a 4 AM fire call for a house that was struck by lightning (thankfully no one was hurt), and we weren't sure we'd even be able to function.
But we took the 30% chance of thunderstorms and called its bluff, and I'm so glad we did. It turned out to be a BEAUTIFUL day-minus the THOUSANDS of mayflies that infested that place. I hate hate hate bugs, and this was enough to make my skin crawl, but we soaked in the sun, played in the sand, played catch in the water like we used to do when we were kids and took the kids on the tube. I even got the courage to go on for the first time in a LOOONG time. It was peaceful and serene, and when I tucked my babies in that night, I said a little prayer thanking God for letting me be their mom and allowing me to fill their memory buckets like my parents did with me.
As I sat in the sand, I reminisced in my mind about all the times we had come to this very beach when I was little. I remembered walking the bike trails and playing catch with my dad. I remembered the time my brother's bike drug behind our camper for miles on the way up one year, and how we would find small uninhabited beaches on our morning walks. Then, I recalled the few times I've been able to share this place with my children and I concluded that you don't need a lot of money to make memories. My parents didn't have it, and I have some of the best memories of my childhood where hardly any money was spent at all. And if I remind myself of that...if I hold onto that feeling right there....I know we'll be okay. All the worries I have about money right now can get shoved into the back of my mind. We'll be okay. My kids will have good memories dangit. I will make sure of it!
And while I've procrastinated getting into my room this summer, knowing teachers have been diligently working in their rooms for a week or two already, I meandered into my room Tuesday to get a few things done, and while I'm not ready at ALL for school to start, I know I'll get it done. I always do. I work best under pressure. Today we are going to enjoy our day. We're going to road trip to LeMars to make a last minute run to the Education Station. We are going to have one last picnic in the park, and we are going to hit up the pool (if it warms up). I'm finally going in to get my hair done so I don't look homely for the start of school, and I will cheer my hubby on at his softball game tonight. And maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to get in a four mile run in tonight. I think maybe I'll read some Harry Potter before my littles wake up. Oh it will be a good day.
Happy Wednesday all!
I'm reflecting on my summer. It flew, but it was good. Oh so good. We completed a large chunk of our bucket list, enjoyed a beautiful family vacation and relaxed. It was exactly what this mama needed after our summer last year. Needless to say, not a lot got accomplished and productivity was traded in for sleeping in, lots of snuggling, reading books, teaching my four year old how to swim without a life jacket, filling up water balloons and listening to littles giggle while they tried to pop them on the trampoline. It was worth every ounce of productivity I gave up.
A question most teachers get asked, and I'll say I'm known to ask it to other teachers myself, is whether or not we're ready to be back. (Like we have a choice) By the time we get to this point, I'm usually ready. This year is no different. Mentally, I'm so ready to be back into a routine. My kids are getting on each other's nerves. The pool is old news. The weather is shifting into more Fallish tendencies, and while I don't think they are "bored" yet, it's just time for the seasons to change. Am I ready for students? Not yet. My new classroom is coming together, but there is so much I want to do and HAVE to do that I'm in that overwhelmed state right now. I'm here every year. I panic a bit and lose my marbles, but by the time the first week of school has ended, we are starting to get the hang of things, and it's all smooth sailing from there. ;)
So what has our last week of freedom looked like? Well, at the beginning of the summer, I said the one thing I would get done before school started was clean my storage room. So with a week left to make it happen, I cleaned and sorted and purged. We realized that we had $400-500 in things that needed to be paid for roughly before the end of August, and so in a tizzy, I tried to sell as much as I could to make up for what we don't have. We got rid of a bit and hopefully can get all of the stuff on my dining room table off within the next few weeks. It feels good to accomplish SOMETHING before I go back.
My mom, Jae and I headed to the Albertville outlets to finish off our school shopping, and while we didn't have a lot to work with, it's always nice to get away with people you love and make some memories. Because we didn't have a lot of money, we stayed at a La Quinta Inn and Suites, and let me just say....you get what you pay for. As I was checking in, the guy in front of me tugging along a trash bag with his belongings, our non-smoking room...the one they told us we'd be charged $100 for if we smoked in, smelled as though a smoker had lived there for 20 years, and the pool was over run with teenagers doing cannon balls and screaming at the top of their lungs. Ah well...memories. :)
Sunday was what we called our "last hurrah". We headed up to Yankton for the first time this year to take Mom and Dave's boat out one last time for the season. We were a little concerned that the weather wouldn't cooperate, as we were up the majority of the night listening to the thunder and the rain on the deck. Couple that with a 4 AM fire call for a house that was struck by lightning (thankfully no one was hurt), and we weren't sure we'd even be able to function.
But we took the 30% chance of thunderstorms and called its bluff, and I'm so glad we did. It turned out to be a BEAUTIFUL day-minus the THOUSANDS of mayflies that infested that place. I hate hate hate bugs, and this was enough to make my skin crawl, but we soaked in the sun, played in the sand, played catch in the water like we used to do when we were kids and took the kids on the tube. I even got the courage to go on for the first time in a LOOONG time. It was peaceful and serene, and when I tucked my babies in that night, I said a little prayer thanking God for letting me be their mom and allowing me to fill their memory buckets like my parents did with me.
And while I've procrastinated getting into my room this summer, knowing teachers have been diligently working in their rooms for a week or two already, I meandered into my room Tuesday to get a few things done, and while I'm not ready at ALL for school to start, I know I'll get it done. I always do. I work best under pressure. Today we are going to enjoy our day. We're going to road trip to LeMars to make a last minute run to the Education Station. We are going to have one last picnic in the park, and we are going to hit up the pool (if it warms up). I'm finally going in to get my hair done so I don't look homely for the start of school, and I will cheer my hubby on at his softball game tonight. And maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to get in a four mile run in tonight. I think maybe I'll read some Harry Potter before my littles wake up. Oh it will be a good day.
Happy Wednesday all!
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Hard Things and Beautiful Things
As much as I'd love for you all to believe that our summer has been nothing short of blissfully perfect, I've got to be completely honest with you. The summer has also had it's intermittent periods of complete fear. I've been able to put this fear on the back burner most of the summer, but now that vacation is over and we've flipped the calendar to August, it's kind of come back to the front of my thought list.
Now before I start this, I'm fully FULLY aware that what I'm about to confess is a very trivial issue in the eyes of many. I get this. I've prayed for a few friends too many this week who have unexpectedly lost one of their parents. My issue is manageable. My family is healthy and happy. With that being said, I try very hard to see other people's lives/problems with a non judgmental lense. I've only walked in our shoes and know nobody else's story completely, even if the little (lot) they share on social media seems to make me an "expert" on their lives. I'm not perfect at this. I'm really not, but I do try. So with that disclaimer out of the way, please bear with me.
A little history: I went to college with nothing in the bank. I was blessed enough to get some scholarships, but being that I was going to be heading to Northwestern College, I was still very short on funds. I had a 9 month old daughter and needed a place to live. Long story short...I racked up $70,000 in student loans in four short years. Some of it was very necessary to live. I needed money for groceries and books and rent, and I only had time to work about 8-10 hours a week if I was going to be a present parent and a good student. I was also young and stupid. Instead of living within our means, we lived like we didn't have limits. Our motto was (and still kind of is) "Live like there isn't tomorrow". And while we still try to make the most of every day, we are a lot more grown up about it. We had no business spending money we didn't actually have to do the things we were doing. And now we are paying for it.
From there, it's been a domino effect. We've never really caught up. We continued to have babies when we weren't financially ready, and while I don't regret that for a second, it came with more debt. The debt continued to pile on. Dan's job got less stable, and we decided that the best thing for him would be to go back to school and get a degree in case he ever needed it. It turned out to be the best thing he could have done as he is happily working in the field he's always dreamed of and being challenged daily with new things, but with that decision came another hefty $55,000 bill. It's a hard pill to swallow. We celebrated last November when Dan received his diploma for his bachelor's degree, but the grace period is over and we are staring down the barrel of a $1200 a month student loan payment...double our house payment.
As I sat down last week and wrote our budget for September, I realized that we have less than $185 per month to work with after our bills. I panic as I stare at that number because I don't know how to make that work. It makes me sweat and want to curl up in a ball and sit in a dark room and just cry. I'm praying that nothing big happens to our family, that nothing will need replacing and we will all stay healthy. I'm really praying for a miracle that nothing out of the ordinary happens, and even I chuckle a little bit knowing that God's plans are always so different from mine. And also, are always so much better than mine.
As I was sitting in church today, I was breathing it all in. We've been gone a lot this summer, and summeritis has unfortunately hit our house. We haven't been to church nearly as much as we should have. And while I know that it doesn't make me less of a Christian, coming back to His house is always exactly the fuel I need to get me through the week. So as I was closing my eyes and getting lost in worship, one of my favorite songs started playing.
And I got goosebumps. I opened my eyes and I looked at my daughter on one side whose long, tangled brown hair was resting on my shoulder, and I looked to my left and kissed my son's nose, counting the freckles that matched mine. I looked a few chairs over and caught the handsome blue eyes of my baby and watched as his daddy cradled his body in his arms, rocking back and forth. God seemed to be saying in that moment, "It's all going to be okay. Have faith. Lean on me. Look at the beautiful things I've blessed you with. I will not forsake you." And for the first time I felt a calm. He is going to pull us through this and grow us and stretch us in the process. It's not going to be painless, but it's going to be worth it.
I'm still scared. I know it's going to be a tough road. We're going to have to be a lot more type A and a lot less type B. Dan's going to have to work some over time and we're going to have to cut corners. But we've both learned a lot since we got married 8 short years ago. We aren't perfect with our money, but we've learned a lot about managing our money, and we are leaps and bounds from where we were when we were in college just starting out. And even though we don't have a lot left over every month, we've already budgeted out money each month for Christmas and Vacation funds so that they are already built in. I'm confident we can follow our budget and make Dave Ramsey proud. :)
I pray that we can teach our kids valuable life lessons about money that they will remember when they get older and have to start saving for their own college. I want my mistakes to be their reminders to do things differently. I feel badly that we can't provide our children with a college education that many parents will be able to for their kids, but I promise to try my darndest to make sure that I compensate for that by teaching them good money habits so they are successful.
So wherever you are at right now, big problems or small problems and anything in between, I pray that you will be able to find the good. Welcome the lessons that come with the hardships. Sometimes those are the surprise little nuggets in life that become some of the biggest teachable moments. Find the beautiful things in the hard things.
Now before I start this, I'm fully FULLY aware that what I'm about to confess is a very trivial issue in the eyes of many. I get this. I've prayed for a few friends too many this week who have unexpectedly lost one of their parents. My issue is manageable. My family is healthy and happy. With that being said, I try very hard to see other people's lives/problems with a non judgmental lense. I've only walked in our shoes and know nobody else's story completely, even if the little (lot) they share on social media seems to make me an "expert" on their lives. I'm not perfect at this. I'm really not, but I do try. So with that disclaimer out of the way, please bear with me.
A little history: I went to college with nothing in the bank. I was blessed enough to get some scholarships, but being that I was going to be heading to Northwestern College, I was still very short on funds. I had a 9 month old daughter and needed a place to live. Long story short...I racked up $70,000 in student loans in four short years. Some of it was very necessary to live. I needed money for groceries and books and rent, and I only had time to work about 8-10 hours a week if I was going to be a present parent and a good student. I was also young and stupid. Instead of living within our means, we lived like we didn't have limits. Our motto was (and still kind of is) "Live like there isn't tomorrow". And while we still try to make the most of every day, we are a lot more grown up about it. We had no business spending money we didn't actually have to do the things we were doing. And now we are paying for it.
From there, it's been a domino effect. We've never really caught up. We continued to have babies when we weren't financially ready, and while I don't regret that for a second, it came with more debt. The debt continued to pile on. Dan's job got less stable, and we decided that the best thing for him would be to go back to school and get a degree in case he ever needed it. It turned out to be the best thing he could have done as he is happily working in the field he's always dreamed of and being challenged daily with new things, but with that decision came another hefty $55,000 bill. It's a hard pill to swallow. We celebrated last November when Dan received his diploma for his bachelor's degree, but the grace period is over and we are staring down the barrel of a $1200 a month student loan payment...double our house payment.
As I sat down last week and wrote our budget for September, I realized that we have less than $185 per month to work with after our bills. I panic as I stare at that number because I don't know how to make that work. It makes me sweat and want to curl up in a ball and sit in a dark room and just cry. I'm praying that nothing big happens to our family, that nothing will need replacing and we will all stay healthy. I'm really praying for a miracle that nothing out of the ordinary happens, and even I chuckle a little bit knowing that God's plans are always so different from mine. And also, are always so much better than mine.
As I was sitting in church today, I was breathing it all in. We've been gone a lot this summer, and summeritis has unfortunately hit our house. We haven't been to church nearly as much as we should have. And while I know that it doesn't make me less of a Christian, coming back to His house is always exactly the fuel I need to get me through the week. So as I was closing my eyes and getting lost in worship, one of my favorite songs started playing.
All around
Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found in You
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us
Out of chaos life is being found in You
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us
I'm still scared. I know it's going to be a tough road. We're going to have to be a lot more type A and a lot less type B. Dan's going to have to work some over time and we're going to have to cut corners. But we've both learned a lot since we got married 8 short years ago. We aren't perfect with our money, but we've learned a lot about managing our money, and we are leaps and bounds from where we were when we were in college just starting out. And even though we don't have a lot left over every month, we've already budgeted out money each month for Christmas and Vacation funds so that they are already built in. I'm confident we can follow our budget and make Dave Ramsey proud. :)
I pray that we can teach our kids valuable life lessons about money that they will remember when they get older and have to start saving for their own college. I want my mistakes to be their reminders to do things differently. I feel badly that we can't provide our children with a college education that many parents will be able to for their kids, but I promise to try my darndest to make sure that I compensate for that by teaching them good money habits so they are successful.
So wherever you are at right now, big problems or small problems and anything in between, I pray that you will be able to find the good. Welcome the lessons that come with the hardships. Sometimes those are the surprise little nuggets in life that become some of the biggest teachable moments. Find the beautiful things in the hard things.
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