Roles/Responsibilites: Day 3

Oh. My. Word!!! This month is going to be hard to swallow! I already hate this month (that I thought would be such a great break and really enjoy). You should never, ever ask people what they think about you and/or the roles in your life unless you REALLY want to hear some hard truths. I know this month will enlighten me and be good for me in the long run… but the first week during my “research” phase is a bit traumatizing to say the least. And here is the thing… no one is telling me things I don’t already know about myself or what I should or shouldn’t be doing… it is just tough to hear it!

I will be the first person to tell you I have faults… lots of them! And I fall short more frequently than I like to admit, but Jesus is doing a number on my heart.  I’m still in the bitter “dang it!” phase where I am becoming painfully aware of how much I try to take control and run the show (and fail miserably) as I am examining things this week. But I am hoping that I come out a better woman on the other side.

Here’s to hoping this ends up well (and not in a psych ward:)) by the end of the month!

And to keep my sanity (and because I haven’t posted a pic in a while)… Here is how I know I/we haven’t completely failed as parents! :) Landen made the decision to accept the Lord, and took Him on in baptism Sunday!!! I love how the Lord gives us those glimmers of hope to remind us we aren’t totally screwing them up for the rest of their lives. :)

My favorite moment... Eric was beyond proud and I was a bucket of tears!

Thanks for joining me on the journey!

Roles and Responsibilities

So I am starting my sixth month of this thing, and this month is very different than the months that have already done. Up to this point each month has truly been a fast. There are things I/we have been giving up or depriving ourselves of to make room for God to work. We also have been “doing” during these months, but thus far every month has had a sacrificial aspect to it. That might not be the case this month (though God has thrown me a curve ball every month… so who knows… it could end up being the most sacrificial month so far.)

Jen Hatmaker’s book Seven (you know… the one this entire project was based off of) had seven different areas that I carried over for this fasting process… but then I added two areas I felt I really needed to focus on. Roles/Responsibilities is one of those areas. With that being said, there is not a guideline for this month that I have based anything off of… just me and my little brain trying to figure out how to do this month in the best way to learn what is there for me to learn (in an area God prompted my heart to choose) and glorify God in the process. So here it goes…

This month I have chosen five different “roles” in my life that I want to focus on.

1.     Wife

2.    Mother

3.    Homemaker

4.    Friend

5.    Christian

Now I realize that there might be many more roles… but these are the ones I am focusing on and hoping most all other “outside” things will fall into one of these categories. I also realize that all of these over lap in some way or another. And some roles (Christian for example) should be portrayed/carried through in every other area of my life. I get that, I know that… but this is a project so I am breaking it down. I am going to take a very close look at each of the roles and figure out what my responsibilities are/should be in each of these areas. And then I am going to attempt to start putting them into practice (hopefully I am doing some things right already) to be living the way God wants me to live.

During the first week I will be “interviewing” the people in my life that these roles effect (i.e. my husband and children), I will seek wise council from women in my life I trust to give wise council, I will bring the council’s opinion in, and above all… the Bible will be the backbone and guideline for the decisions made as I move forward. I will also look back on things I have used in the past to see what works, what doesn’t, and why.

I am really excited about this month! I have a feeling when it comes to implementing these things, my deeply buried, only comes out when organization projects are coming to life or party planning is involved, Type A personality is going to make a visit… and I have missed her in my chaos, carefree summer!

Thanks for joining me on the journey!

Waste: Day I don't even know... but it's over!

So… we had a family emergency last week that kept me from writing, but I wanted to let y’all know how the fast played out. So here are the highlights.

I finished 2 more projects!

1)    The non-paper paper towels… what this really means is  Cassie fighting with a not well functioning sewing machine for about 5 hours on what should have been an hour and a half project max. Result… material sewn onto car cleaning towels in order to have something “cute” to wrap around a paper towel holder. I use the word “cute” very loosely here because they did not turn out at all the way I envisioned… but they are done and functional… so project complete!

notice the screwdriver and multiple bobbins... it was not my day!

finished... but not at all what I intended...

2)   Laundry soap! It took a lot of tracking down… borrowing things, purchasing from my local store, going to another town to purchase from their locally owned store… but I finally tracked down all the ingredients and the soap was made. Smells great and there is a ton of it!

I know it doesn't look like it... but there is a LOT of soap there!

So I completed a couple projects, we continue to recycle everything we can, and we are conserving and being conscience of our water and energy usage. We have gone from 2-3 bags of trash 2 times a week to 1-2 bags once a week. That is a BIG difference when you think of the amount of waste over a month… so we will continue on with that. All in all this was my most enjoyable month so far. There were challenges (as there should be in any fast). Like tracking down an apple cookie cutter… Normally I would just run to Wal-Mart or Michaels and grab what I need… but seeing as chain stores were a no go this month… it took two days to track one down, then a 40 minute drive to pick it up. The cookie project was completed (though wasn’t used as its original purpose) and I guess that is what matters this month.

I ate at a couple more great local restaurants. We have some amazing local dinning in our area, both for dating/friend get together purposes and family friendly restaurants.  I also enjoyed finding “local” places when we weren’t local. Just FYI… Joe’s Deli in downtown Washington has some of THE BEST carrot cake I have ever had (and I am kind of a carrot cake snob). Definitely in my top 3 for sure!

God taught me so many wonderful things this month. For a girl who likes to make a list and check things off, this month was a great eye opener that it is not always completing a task that is the accomplishment. The slowing down and doing things the “right” way, or “slow” way,  or “hard” way sometimes teaches you so many more lessons and lets you enjoy so many more moments during the process, and there are sooooo many moments this month that I am eternally grateful I got. And if I would have been doing things the way I always do them, they would have just passed me by. This month has truly made me appreciate my family in a way I did not before, and for that I am abundantly thankful.

The next fast starts Sunday!

 

Thanks for joining me on the journey!

Waste: Day 18

Today was a semi-productive day. I am in the “one week until school starts” mode where I don’t really want to do anything except hang out with my kids. Play games, build stuff, color, watch a movie on the couch, read books… all of these things take precedent to getting anything accomplished right now because I am about to loose our day time hours again. Some days are really long and hard with everyone at home, but I always miss them when they go back to school. The summers don’t seem long enough. :(

Things we did get accomplished:

1)    Clothes on the clothes line!!! This felt very Laura Ingles-ish for some reason. After I got them hung up I just stood back and looked like I had just painted a masterpiece or created something extravagant. 

It came with its own little humor too. Somehow in the load of towels there managed to be a running shirt, two socks, and Addi’s shorts. The girls were so excited to see the clothes on the clothes line until Addi saw her shorts. This instantly erupted in tears. She was crying uncontrollably because she thought this somehow meant that she could no longer have these shorts (probably a lasting side effect of getting rid of so much stuff during possessions month :)). We eventually took the shorts off the line and let her take them into the house, but had a long talk about how we don’t give them away or leave them there forever, it is just to dry instead of using the energy from the dryer. This resulted in ‘She doesn’t want any of her clothes out there… ever’. So we will see how this goes over the next couple of months.

2)   We made garbage disposal cleaners. This was a fun project for the kids (minus Brayden who was in the middle of some sort of Lego creation masterpiece that could not be disturbed). It was easy, affordable, and something we could all be involved in making.

3)   Entertainment was as local as you get: Front porch. The kids spent a lot of time outside today watching the construction crew re-pave our road. And when I say re-pave, I mean put down chip and seal a.k.a the devil of road surfaces. The conversations that occurred between the 4 children while watching them pave the road was very humorous. “There goes our road.”  “No more bike riding here anymore” “they are turning it into a Douglas Road. If you run on it, it will make you fall and have to get stiches” (They might be a tad traumatized from my stiches incident which involved chip and seal and running). None the less, it was entertainment for them to watch, and entertainment for me to listen. :)

 This has been a great month! There are some things I miss (long showers, the convenience of a dishwasher, not having to pack all my groceries in my purse and hands when I forget my re-usable bags to name a few), but all in all it has been an enjoyable month. I am learning to slow down and enjoy the people and moments that are here and now, and that has been an extreme blessing. It has been over emphasized to me this month that maybe I should stop searching for what it is that God wants me to do.  I started this fasting process in hopes that God would show me what I am supposed to be doing with my life. Where am I supposed to be serving? I have seen glimpses of it each month, but this month it has been made abundantly clear. I AM doing what I am supposed to be doing! I am just so busy looking for “what I am supposed to be doing with my life” that I am missing out on “what I am supposed to be doing with my life.” I have been searching for this marvelous, miraculous calling that God wants me to do (like starting a Women’s ministry, or raising funds for orphans, or crafting to raise money for some amazing cause in a third world country- all things I thought God might show me through these fasts), when it has been in front of me the whole time. I just spend so much time looking for something else that I am doing a cruddy job at what has been laid before me. 

I have four beautiful, healthy, marvelous children that God has entrusted to me for such a short time. I need to focus on being the best mom that I know how to be (and pray and seek wisdom to be better than what I know). It is my responsibility to teach these little people to love the Lord, know Him, have a relationship with Him, to be creative, be responsible, and respectful.  To treat others the way they would want to be treated, to go the extra mile, to do the right thing… even when know one is looking. I want to teach them to love people and look for the good in everyone, to try their hardest at everything they do. I want them to succeed, and I want them to be able to fail and still hold their head high. I want them to love themselves, forgive themselves, and give grace to themselves. I have so many hopes and dreams for my children… and sometimes I am so busy looking for “what I am supposed to do with my life” that I am missing out on the amazing opportunity that looks back at me all day every day. 

This forced slowing down and doing everything the “long” way or the “right” way has really impacted me this month. I am learning lessons that I didn’t know or expect I would learn. And though some things are hard to learn (like I have wasted so much time searching for something right in front of me), I am so thankful for this opportunity.

Thanks for joining me on the journey!