Deep Cleaning

So my son and husband left yesterday for a men's retreat in Yosemite.  It is strange in a couple of ways.  First, the fact that my son is actually an adult male that can go on a men's retreat.  Second, that fact that there are no men in the house.  It is not that there are always a male here, but while they may have been out at during the day working or such, they were here at night.

Anyway, with everyone gone, I decided that I should do some cleaning.  I started on my kitchen and cleaned half of my wood cabinets, wiped down counters and backsplash, washed dishes, rearranged things on the walls, and inside some of the cabinets.  I put some caulking stuff in the casement window that I don't open to help with air leaks.  There is so much more that I want to do in there. The problem is I don't have a direction.

So here is a list of things I want to do in there:

• Inventory pantry items
• Clean out all the drawers
• Clean cabinets out and get rid of excess items
• Clean the carpet
• Clean the other half of the cabinets on the outside
• Clean the oven
• Clean the stovetop
• Clean all the windows and window sills
• Put up new items on the walls

For bigger projects:

• Put in new flooring (which would include a hallway, laundry, and bathroom too)
• Paint walls
• Put up new curtains
• Replace windows
• Re-do counter tops
• Refinish cabinets and drawers
• Get a new dishwasher

Each room in my house is the same way.  Having an older home has such charm, but there is so much that needs to be done.  I know just owning a home there are things to be done, but having lived here for 16 years and some of these projects were things we were going to do a year or two after moving in.  Well, I'm really ready to start now.

Tomorrow is church and then in the afternoon I will tackle more of my kitchen.  I plan on wiping down the rest of the cabinets, cleaning the stove and oven, and rearranging what is out on the counters.  It seems like every horizontal surface tends to gather stuff.  The only way to keep this from happening is to get out of the habit of saying I'll put something away later.  I need to just put things away when they come into the house.  If it doesn't have a place then I need to make one or not keep it at all.

My goal is to clean the carpets sometime this next week.  And then start on the office/dining room area.  Wonder if I will actually be able to do it.

Growing Up

Life just seems to be happening before my eyes.  Our son turned 18 on the 3rd.  He will always be our baby boy, but wow, he is 18!!  When we brought him home from the hospital he weighed 4 pounds and 2 ounces and I never could even dream of a time when he would be a legal adult, but it has happened.  Our daughter will be 20 next month and officially out of the teen years.  Where did the time fly?

I am so very lucky to have my family.  I praise God for them, even if I have had some heartache concerning them.  My life would not be where it is today without them.  I thank God for bringing my husband and then my children into my life.

I attend a Bible Study on Friday mornings and we just started the book of Ephesians.  All we talked about today was the first chapter.  For two hours we talked and could of talked more.  God has given us so much already, we just need to take the time to realize it and to allow Him to work through us.  He is so powerful and could do it all, but He wants us to feel that power too.  What a powerful message that first chapter has. 

I am growing up in my relationship with my heavenly father.  I know he wants the best for us and has promised that to us.  What a way to see everyday, as a gift and a promise.  A promise that we have been redeemed and that what we see here on earth is only a glimpse of His glory.

Where does the time go?

So another month seems to have just flown by.  Last month was filled with the regular daily activities, a trip to Stanford for my husband's health, and buying a new to us car.

Daily activities seem to change daily, but there are so many things that are just routine.  I do not even think about them, just do them.  Straightening up messes, cooking meals, and the never ending pile of dishes that I think breed when I'm not looking.  I can wash every dish that I can find in the house and within 30 minutes there is a glass or spoon or plate or all 3 in the sink again waiting for my next round of dishwashing.  An amazing fact of life.

Our Stanford trip was eventful in that we now know what is going on with hubby and what they want to do to help him.  He has always been a person who snores, but it has gotten worse and put that with his asthma, he is a walking miracle.  Apparently the part of his anatomy where air goes in and out is about the size of a drinking straw.  Put that with the genetic fact of him having a small jaw, throat, and all the structures around that area, the doctor wants to perform 2 different surgeries.  They are major surgeries that I won't go into detail about, but the recovery period of the first is 6 months to a year.  And that is the "easy" surgery.  The second one involves the breaking of bones and adding titanium to lengthen out his jaws.  The recovery period of that one is at least a year.  Not at all what we were expecting.  We pray that the surgeries do what the doctors say and he can breath again and not be at such a high risk of heart attack or stroke.

The new to us car was totally unexpected.  We have been putting money aside for a couple of years to replace our 1997 Plymouth Voyager.  Well, our son was driving our 2004 Prius when it overheated.  This car has been a money pit for us since we got it.  We repaired it again, to the tune of another $500, and then decided we needed to start looking to replace the newer car.  So we went out after hubby got off work and looked at a couple of places.  I was not expecting to buy anything, but we came home with a 2007 Lexus RX 350.  We got it for $12,000 off their asking price and paid cash with the money we have been saving.  It is a type of car I never ever considered owning, much less paying cash for it.  Makes me so very thankful for following Dave Ramsey and his teaching for financial peace. 

I bought Dave Ramey's book in the fall of 2007.  We started following it in October 2007.  We are now out of all consumer debt and have 4 months worth of expenses saved in an emergeny fund.  We are saving for retirement, helping our daughter with college, and paying off our house as fast as we can.  We still have a ways to go with the house, but we're making progress.

I need to be better about posting on my blog.  I also need to get back to clearing out my house of clutter.  I have a bag in my room ready to go and a few things stacked, but also ready to go out the door. 

Today I will plan my week and start the ball rolling again on the simplifying road again.  There are going to be changes in the plan, there always are, but moving forward is always a good thing.

What next!!

For nearly two years my husband has been going to the doctor for asthma and breathing problems.  He has had asthma since he was a child, but his breathing has gotten a lot worse.  Well, about two months ago, his pulmonologist said he wanted to send him for additional tests.  What he said is that he has extra structures in his throat.  So what does that mean? 

We will be heading out of town on Friday to go to Stanford Medical Center in California.  Our doctor informed us that they had lots of new technology and can really see what is going on before any surgery is done.  What kind of surgery we do not know.  My husband teaches for a living.  One concern that we have is that the surgery will cause problems with his ability to speak very loudly.  That would cause major problems as a lot of his teaching is done out of doors.  I guess we will just have to see what the doctors say and what kind of treatment is suggested.

I just do not know what is going to happen next.  It seems like there is no just normal week or even day around here.  I know that God never gives you more than you can handle, so we just have to pray for guidance and accept God's plan for our lives.  We do not know what it is, but he will be there with us through it all.

Simplifying again

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.

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.

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.”