Well, as things have started to settle back down to "normal", I have started to get the stuff out of my house again. I took 4 bags of clothes to two different charities today. One charity supports cancer patients and specializes in upscale clothing and items. I took many of my old work clothes (wool suits, office dresses, etc.) to them. I have not worked outside the home in nearly twenty years, but I was still clinging to the past. Well not any more. They are out of here. Not only will I never be that small a size again, but I have changed from that person. I am no longer the corporate ladder climber that I was before I had my kids. Nor do I want to return to that life.
That is not to say that my college education has done nothing for me. A numbers person is who I am and always will be. I run the family budget and keep everything going around here during the good times and bad. I have used a lot of what I learned from college and running a household to facilitate Financial Peace classes with my husband. I completely consult with my husband on the monthly budget, but since he is in charge of eight budgets at work, one less to worry about is wonderful for him. He knows it is my strength and that I like doing it.
Anyway, I'm not sure where I am going to purge in my house next, but look out charities more is on the way.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Returning to normal
What is normal? I do not know anymore. The last six months of my father-in-laws life was a whirlwind of activity, silence, and prayers. In the midst of his short illness (if you call 6 months short), we had so many changes within our own family.
June brought the end of our homeschooling with the "graduation" of our youngest. We have homeschooled for eleven years. This summer will not be spent gathering item to use next year, but will be spent selling and purging items we have used over the years. The floors in my house will groan with the weight that is going to be lifted off of them. Books weigh a lot!! We have shelves and rooms full of books. There is not one room that is spared from a bookshelf full of books.
Tonight is the last event for gymnastics for our son. It is an end of year banquet that is done annually for the athletes of the previous season. With this dinner, our life of gymnastics is over. Our son still works at the gym, but since he drives, he is able to get there and home on his own. My responsibility is basically over. No more weekends out of town, no more driving to the gym 6 days a week, it is simply done.
Our daughter and son made certian choices that will forever change them. Some good, some bad, but every choice anyone makes will change them. It is the free will that God has given us, even though He knows what will happen with each choice given.
Our daughter has slowly been stretching her wings. She is working and spending more time with friends. She will be transferring to a 4 year college in the fall and will most likely move out permanently in the next year or so.
Our son is working, but unsure of his future. I was always so sure of what I wanted, but then that changed too. He will find his place, I just have to remember it is in God's time, not my time, that He will show our son what his destiny will be.
So what is normal for me anymore? I'm not really sure. I still clean the house and make the meals. I attend Bible study with my husband of Tuesdays and with a group of women of Fridays. But my normal included so much with my kids and then with my father-in-law. I am floundering a little these days. After the funeral last Friday and the emotional turmoil, I am starting to know that I need to find my new normal. Life changes and life stays the same. I still have my husband of 24 years at my side. He will be retiring in the next couple of years, and then things will change again.
So I ask again, what is normal? I think it is taking each day that God gives us and being the best we can be for that day. Remembering what is important and not letting the world get the best of us. There is so much to be thankful for and I think that is the normal. Thanking God for our daily life and giving us the strength when things get tough.
May you be blessed in your daily life.
June brought the end of our homeschooling with the "graduation" of our youngest. We have homeschooled for eleven years. This summer will not be spent gathering item to use next year, but will be spent selling and purging items we have used over the years. The floors in my house will groan with the weight that is going to be lifted off of them. Books weigh a lot!! We have shelves and rooms full of books. There is not one room that is spared from a bookshelf full of books.
Tonight is the last event for gymnastics for our son. It is an end of year banquet that is done annually for the athletes of the previous season. With this dinner, our life of gymnastics is over. Our son still works at the gym, but since he drives, he is able to get there and home on his own. My responsibility is basically over. No more weekends out of town, no more driving to the gym 6 days a week, it is simply done.
Our daughter and son made certian choices that will forever change them. Some good, some bad, but every choice anyone makes will change them. It is the free will that God has given us, even though He knows what will happen with each choice given.
Our daughter has slowly been stretching her wings. She is working and spending more time with friends. She will be transferring to a 4 year college in the fall and will most likely move out permanently in the next year or so.
Our son is working, but unsure of his future. I was always so sure of what I wanted, but then that changed too. He will find his place, I just have to remember it is in God's time, not my time, that He will show our son what his destiny will be.
So what is normal for me anymore? I'm not really sure. I still clean the house and make the meals. I attend Bible study with my husband of Tuesdays and with a group of women of Fridays. But my normal included so much with my kids and then with my father-in-law. I am floundering a little these days. After the funeral last Friday and the emotional turmoil, I am starting to know that I need to find my new normal. Life changes and life stays the same. I still have my husband of 24 years at my side. He will be retiring in the next couple of years, and then things will change again.
So I ask again, what is normal? I think it is taking each day that God gives us and being the best we can be for that day. Remembering what is important and not letting the world get the best of us. There is so much to be thankful for and I think that is the normal. Thanking God for our daily life and giving us the strength when things get tough.
May you be blessed in your daily life.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
An end and a beginning
Yesterday was a day of an ending and a beginning in our family. It was filled with tears of joy and tears of sadness. Our life as we know it will forever be changed and I thank God for his wisdom and fullfilling his will for our family.
At 12:33pm yesterday, my father-in-law took his last breath on this earth. My husband, his son, was holding his hand, my mother-in-law was holding his other hand, and my sister-in-law was standing at the foot of his bed. Our minister was saying a prayer when he took his last breath. He went peacefully and calmly from this life into the next.
Our children and I had gone over earlier in the morning knowing that the end was near. His temperature had spiked up to 105 and hospice told us this was end stage and to be prepared for him leaving us soon. We were able to say our goodbyes and talked him through a video that we had made for our son who was graduating high school later in the day.
At 2pm yesterday, our son graduated high school. We have homeschooled and put together a small, but very nice graduation for him and another family who homeschooled. We had videos of the kids and the other graduate did a song to sign language. The youth minister said a short message and then our children were given the charge of learning to pray and keep God as their own.
Our son was unaware until after the graduation that his grandfather had passed on from this world. He was glad that we waited to tell him, but thankful that he saw him earlier in the day.
A short biography was read about our son at the graduation. Below is his biography and Bible verse that was read just before he graduated.
Michael was born August 3, 1992 weighing a whopping 3 pounds 10 ounces. He came home to his adoptive parents, David and Suzie, at two weeks of age with the expectation that he would someday learn to rollover. Learning to walk just before he turned two years old was nothing short of a miracle. His mom enrolled him in gymnastics the month he turned four just to “get some of his energy out.” That was the beginning of years of gymnastics including being a competitor in the Junior Nationals in 2006 and a member of the Southern California State team in 2008. After 10 years of competitions, traveling from Hawaii to Michigan, he finished his competitive career as a Level 10 gymnast in April 2010 in San Diego at the Region 1 Men’s Gymnastics Association competition. He will continue to be involved with gymnastics as a coach.
Michael attended the Marine Corp Devil Pup program at Camp Pendleton in August of 2009. His proudest moment was making it to the top of “Ol’ Smokey” and receiving his Devil Pup Challenge Coin.
Michael enjoys video recording and editing, skateboarding, playing guitar and drums, and spending time with friends, family, and especially his sister, Tricia.
He is inspired by Philippians 3:12-14.
“I do not mean that I am already as God wants me to be. I have not yet reached that goal, but I continue trying to reach it and to make it mine. Christ wants me to do that, which is the reason he made me his. Brothers and sisters, I know that I have not yet reached that goal, but there is one thing I always do. Forgetting the past and straining toward what is ahead, I keep trying to reach the goal and get the prize for which God called me through Christ to the life above.”
At 12:33pm yesterday, my father-in-law took his last breath on this earth. My husband, his son, was holding his hand, my mother-in-law was holding his other hand, and my sister-in-law was standing at the foot of his bed. Our minister was saying a prayer when he took his last breath. He went peacefully and calmly from this life into the next.
Our children and I had gone over earlier in the morning knowing that the end was near. His temperature had spiked up to 105 and hospice told us this was end stage and to be prepared for him leaving us soon. We were able to say our goodbyes and talked him through a video that we had made for our son who was graduating high school later in the day.
At 2pm yesterday, our son graduated high school. We have homeschooled and put together a small, but very nice graduation for him and another family who homeschooled. We had videos of the kids and the other graduate did a song to sign language. The youth minister said a short message and then our children were given the charge of learning to pray and keep God as their own.
Our son was unaware until after the graduation that his grandfather had passed on from this world. He was glad that we waited to tell him, but thankful that he saw him earlier in the day.
A short biography was read about our son at the graduation. Below is his biography and Bible verse that was read just before he graduated.
Michael was born August 3, 1992 weighing a whopping 3 pounds 10 ounces. He came home to his adoptive parents, David and Suzie, at two weeks of age with the expectation that he would someday learn to rollover. Learning to walk just before he turned two years old was nothing short of a miracle. His mom enrolled him in gymnastics the month he turned four just to “get some of his energy out.” That was the beginning of years of gymnastics including being a competitor in the Junior Nationals in 2006 and a member of the Southern California State team in 2008. After 10 years of competitions, traveling from Hawaii to Michigan, he finished his competitive career as a Level 10 gymnast in April 2010 in San Diego at the Region 1 Men’s Gymnastics Association competition. He will continue to be involved with gymnastics as a coach.
Michael attended the Marine Corp Devil Pup program at Camp Pendleton in August of 2009. His proudest moment was making it to the top of “Ol’ Smokey” and receiving his Devil Pup Challenge Coin.
Michael enjoys video recording and editing, skateboarding, playing guitar and drums, and spending time with friends, family, and especially his sister, Tricia.
He is inspired by Philippians 3:12-14.
“I do not mean that I am already as God wants me to be. I have not yet reached that goal, but I continue trying to reach it and to make it mine. Christ wants me to do that, which is the reason he made me his. Brothers and sisters, I know that I have not yet reached that goal, but there is one thing I always do. Forgetting the past and straining toward what is ahead, I keep trying to reach the goal and get the prize for which God called me through Christ to the life above.”
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