Day 12: I had the most pleasant surprise on Day 9, the morning after God opened my eyes to being transparent. At about 10:30 in the morning the kids started yelling that somebody was at the door. Turns out two of my closest friends from Alabama had drove ALL night to surprise me! Talk about being blessed :) We had a wonderful time of fellowship, miniature golf and shopping of course. Words cannot explain the joy my heart felt when I saw their smiling faces…to know that my friends sacrificed A LOT to drive across the country just to see me! I’m still in shock, LOL. My friends left at about 4 this morning and after saying our goodbyes I went back to bed for some much needed rest. Again to my two sweet friends, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. I pray you know how much you blessed me with your visit!!!

 

Life is a balancing act, whether you stay home or not. As Moms it feels as if we’re being pulled in multiple directions and still expected to keep that balance. For me those directions become magnified when DH is gone. When just a few are giving me a hearty tug I can recognize it and gently pull things back in balance. However, when they all pull at once life for me becomes a tug-of-war that I can’t win. This is where I am finding myself right now. I feel like a divided person in every aspect of my life. My beliefs are not in question, but as my stress level increases and the pulling gets stronger I have to decide where my best efforts are needed. How do you decide that when all aspects seem to carry the same importance? I am an “imperfect perfectionist.” Maybe you are too :) I will never be perfect and most of the time it doesn’t stop me from moving on, but it does make me try 110% on everything my heart desires to do. You can probably imagine how this character trait magnifies my tug-of-war. Homeschool vs. Public school, time regimented homeschool lessons vs. fun learning environment, healthy menu planning and cooking vs. quick prepared store bought foods, more rewarding of good behavior vs. more discipline of the bad behavior, teaching responsibility with kid’s chores vs. me keeping the house clean and presentable, etc. I’m sure you can add a few more, but I think the point is clear. My balance point won’t look the same as yours, God calls us to find the balance for our individual families that brings Him glory. God revealed to me today, through my most amazing sister Arissa, that when life is pulling you in every direction your only hope is to crawl onto the Rock in the middle!! He is our Rock and our Salvation! You must focus your efforts on staying on the Rock, God will help you restore that balance. My mind is always searching for the why’s and how’s to every situation, so naturally I question what caused me to fall off the Rock in the first place. The answer is always my quiet and prayer time. As soon as I let life choke out my time with my Savior, I start to slide off my Rock. It’s so slow and gradual I don’t notice it until it’s too late! The wonderful thing about God is that He doesn’t care why you fell off, he just wants you to climb back on…are your feet firmly planted on your Rock today?