Productivity and Child Care

I don't understand why some days are so productive and some are not.  Of course, there are obvious reasons at times, but frequently there are not obvious reasons.  There are days when I work hard and accomplish so much, and then there are days when I work hard and seemingly accomplish very little.  I know that I can't spend too much time trying to figure it out, I can only try to be productive and work joyfully.  I suppose my goal is not to just work hard, but to work joyfully.  

I have been reading a book to the children at breakfast.  I read everytime we are at the table eating.  Everyone is sitting together and have something to do with their hands and mouths.  It is something I have been doing for years.  Anyway, this book is called Created For Work and written by Bob Schultz.  It is written for young men, but I am getting a lot out of it myself.  There are short chapters followed by questions which apply.  It has been inspiring to me and is one of those books we will read in this way every year or two.  There is another that he wrote that comes after it and I will read it next and then How to Live Nobly and Well.   They changed the name of the last book to something like 'The Catholic Book of Character and Sucess.'  I like the first title better, but the book is the same, inspiring and life changing, attitude fixing and motivational.

I guess I haven't been doing much deep thinking lately.  Perhaps it is because we are not struggling right now; we are relatively healthy, financially still boosted by our tax refund, the excitement and pleasure in our new home is continuing. There are many things that I want both materially and spiritually, but God is blessing us with rest and peace and I am soaking it in.  

We are considering and beginning to seek out a change that may cause a struggle.  We have decided to again open our home to do child care for a family.  We are hoping for an infant (a girl would be nice, but not required) and only one.  I brought it up at breakfast yesterday (or the day before) to see how the children felt about it and they were surprisingly excited.  We would all love to have a baby in the home again.  Caring for a child in this way first began just after Louis was born and a couple in our church approached us with the request that I care for their expected baby when they both had to work.  I said no at first, but after thinking about it and talking about it with Greg we felt this was an opportunity to bless and minister.  The extra income has always been a help, but the blessing I have felt in sharing our home with a family needing our help has always been rewarding. Since then we have watched several children, always only one family until they don't need us or we must make a change.  We were not able to even think about it in the apartment and our days were so busy, but now we are in a nice home again and our schedules are slowing down.  The time seems right so we are waiting on God and letting those around us know of our desire.

I will work again toward a productive day.  Will you join me?

Time to Work

This is the opposite of my last post.  I have been slowly making progress on our schedule and the house.  The children are doing better and better at getting their required school work done each day.  I am getting better and better at doing my required work.  It is time to raise the bar.  

We received our refundable deposit from the apartment we moved out of and with some of it made a trip to Powell's Books.  Anytime we receive extra money it means a book buying spree.  I have been reading my first book by David McCullough, 'John Adams' and I can't begin to tell you how much I am enjoying it.  Aside from the fact that when I read the book I feel like I am being transported back in time and am an invisible witness in the goings on of that time, it is a treasure in our homeschooling education.  And I'm mistaken in saying 'aside from the fact' for it is because of that fact that it is such a treasure.  I can assure you that it will not be long before we own all of David McCullough's books, and in hardback.  In addition to McCullough's incredible books that I am desiring to read as soon as possible, there are many, many more on my 'to read' list.  This is a large reason for my needing to raise the bar on my daily accomplishments, I have got to find more time to read.  I have got to finish arranging the house so I can spend that time getting the necessary cleaning done which is not being done frequently enough.  Also, I have many sewing projects for things around the house and mending.  AND, I want to spend time consistantly doing this, updating my blogs.

Time to get to work.

Taking a Break

I am supposed to be cleaning, but I'm not.  And I know I'm not going to, not today.  It would be nice if it were to get done, but no one will die if it doesn't.  In fact, I and those around me will be much happier if I don't force myself to get up and clean today.  You see, the day has already been filled with a lot of activity.  We all (Henry, Louis, Otto, Solomon and I with Olivia on the Trail-a-Bike) rode our bikes to the swim center the first time from our new home for Olivia and Solomon's swim lessons.  It is a little more than 3 miles which isn't bad, but harder than the less than 1 mile we used to ride or walk.  We stayed for the Family Swim hour which follows their class and we all swam hard. Then we had the ride home which is all up hill, especially the end which we all walked at various points.  I will say, however, that I pulled Olivia up more than the last half of the hill with that Trail-a-Bike.  She refused to pedal; she was tired.  After eating lunch and getting cleaned up  I was going to pick up a little around the house until I decided not to.  In about 40 minutes I will be riding back down the hill, almost to the swim center, to the Pregnancy Resource Center where I lead a class the first three Tuesdays of the month.  Of course, after the class I will be riding back up the hill.  It is only the third class since we have moved and the first I got a ride home, the second I happened to have the vehicle and I drove, tonight I will ride both ways.  At least that is what I expect. So I don't feel badly about my decision to sit here and type rather than clean.  My fingers are not nearly as tired as my legs.  Now tomorrow I have to ride to get the milk.  It is in a different location and I don't think it is seven miles anymore, but likely 5 and, of course, it is uphill on the way home.  Then on Thursday we have swimming lessons again and I will swim laps (for more exercise) and then we will go to the library before coming home.  It may take a while to get used to this routine and be able to get my cleaning done in its midst, but I am confident it will happen.  The secret, I think, is to accept the fact that change takes getting used to.  My body will have to adjust to the aditional exercise and if I accept that and give myself this break when I need it I know I will be happier and more pleasant to be around.  I know my family will approve of that.  Naturally, they will need time to adjust to the exercise also, so the house may suffer temporarily, but I know it will be temporary and we can all be patient.  Can't we?

So we got the townhouse and moved in.  We have been without a computer since my last posting. I will be updating this blog within the next day or two.  God has been blessing beyond comprehension. 

Shameful Distrust

I honestly don't want to write anything, but I haven't updated the other blogs this week and I should be able to ramble a little. I have been feeling an incredible amount of stress this last week and it is not because of busyness. We looked at a townhouse just over a week ago and it was beautiful, exactly the kind of place we would love. It is too expensive. We knew it was too expensive, but Greg is expecting a bonus in December (the company he works for gives large bonuses in December). We are also expecting a raise per his boss telling him he is planning to give him a raise by January. Neither of those things is gauranteed until it happens, but if they do I was anxious to look at this townhouse and see if we would like to apply for it when we are able. The thing that changed my 'just look' approach was that they have several townhouses available right now and we were encouraged to offer what we could. That got us hopeful and we figured out the most we can afford, but it wasn't enough. Now I can't stop thinking about it, hoping we will receive the money we are expecting, hoping they will still have a unit available like we looked at. But will it have all the south facing windows? Do we have to wait until January? There is no way we will be able to put up our tree for the holidays in this apartment and the children are disappointed about that. But, it would surely be worth the wait. We haven't found anything else in our price range so we will have to continue looking anyway. I am disappointed that I tell myself I will accept whatever God decides and then I don't. I am ashamed of myself and the way I keep looking for a way to make it work instead of resting in the Lord and waiting for him to open a door; I am not trusting Him to lead us. It isn't like I don't have anything else to think about; I just don't want to controll my thoughts. I want to think about what I want. Today is a new day and I am going to try harder, pray more, work on self discipline in other areas. I will let you know how things progress.

Look to the Lord

I'm really tired. My body wants to lay around for a day, or two. Swimming lessons started last week and they are great. We stay for the family swim afterwards which means I swim because Olivia is too young to be in the pool without an adult. I want to be in there with her; she is doing so well and having a great time. But, it is exhauting being in the pool for almost an hour. It is almost a mile from our home and we walk. It would be fine, even added to all the other lessons and biking, but this weekend was more busy than the week. I think I will include all the busyness on the Our Trail blog in a day or two so I'm not going to give you details. I just want to ramble about being so tired. We went to bed at a decent time last night so I got up this morning at my usual 4:30 and had my tea, read Psalm 105 and wrote in my journal. This is my preferred routine and I enjoy the quiet time to sit and pray and think (my favorite activity). Psalm 105 was a great place to read this morning in my weakened state. My verse today was 'Look to the Lord and his stregnth; seek his face always.' That will be the theme of my week.

I needed to wake the children at 6:00, but when I went in and turned on the closet light, none of them noticed and they went on sleeping. I didn't have the heart to wake them and Greg doesn't leave until after 8:00 today. So here I am rambling in a quiet home when I should be correcting math papers with the boys. It is a great advantage to homeschooling to be able to change our schedule at will. We have lightened our schedules for these four weeks of swimming lessons and a little extra sleep will help them fight off the colds coming into season.

I decided last week that I wanted to begin fasting again. I went through a time when I was fasting one day a week, but it was before Olivia and I felt I couldn't fast while preganant or nursing and then I've just never gotten back to it. This week I will, today. It will only be an approximate 24 hour fast, from dinner to dinner. It gives me ample time to suffer and pray and keeps the fasting more private. I don't need to talk about it with Greg or anyone; the children may notice, but it is a good example for them. It is a challenge to not say anything and keep it between me and God. Of course, I'm telling anyone reading this, but I'm sure there are not that many of you and I will consider it an example to you, as well. You will not have to see me irritable and complaining which avoiding those things is always the greatest challenge for me at any time, more so when I'm uncomfortable. I have many things to pray for and I desire that fasting will increase my focus on the One to whom I must look to for my strength and my needs and my wants.

I'm getting sleepy so it is time to get up and start working.

Proverbs 16:9

I was looking at the verse in my profile: "The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." I noticed an example of this in my life recently. Several weeks ago we signed the children up for various classes within the Tualatin Valley Recreation District. We wanted them all to have swimming lessons. The Beaverton Swim Center is less than a mile from our home and they allow homeschoolers in their daytime preschool classes. Their normal classes for older children are in the evenings (after school is out). We were all a little nervous on the way to the first class Tuesday. It was great. They put all four boys together with one teacher. Olivia was with three other preschoolers. Immediately after our class (10:10 - 10:40) is a Family Swim (10:45 - 11:45). The class is Tuesdays and Thursdays and so is the Family Swim. I planned our classes knowing nothing about the swim center's schedule, but God knew and he directed me to that class at that time knowing how much the children and I would enjoy the time in the pool. You may agree or disagree with my assessment of this situation and its application to this verse; I know that the experience is true and that God has often shown his lovingkindness to us, to me, in these ways of seemingly insignificant importance. These little things bring great joy and they are blessings to us for which I am grateful to Him.