Almost time

We are two weeks away from sweet baby E's due date, but he's already the same size as J was when J was born. In light of all the contractions I have been having at random intervals, I am thinking E might be here ahead of schedule which is okay by me!

I finally got the hospital bag packed and my focal point finished. I decided to do something similiar to last time. A few scriptures, two pics of J, and an ultrasound pic of E in a frame. It's nice to have something to focus on when things start getting intense and between E's sweet face and J running around in some striped pjs and piggy ears, I will have all the incentive I need to push through. No pun intended.

E's baby shower is this Sunday. Between my sister's wedding, wedding showers, and this baby shower, I think my family has the streamlined approach down to perfection. We're having the shower immediately following the church service, we're serving grab and go refreshments, and we're just having the gifts displayed instead of opening everything. The only sit down and stop activity is the ABC book. We made one at J's shower and it's still my most favorite gift. Each shower guest selects a letter of the alphabet and then colors a page that represents the letter. J's book is adorable because it's a great mix of adults and kids' artwork. I can't wait to see E's when it's finished.

I have a few more household things that I need to finish up and P needs to finish remodeling the guest bath so we can prepare for the British invasions that will occur over the next couple of months, but other than that...I think we're good. :)

Home Work

After a lot of waiting and praying and waiting...MaddieLuke, LTD is officially open for business! It's been a project that has been rolling around in my brain for several years, but after "retiring" from the work world, I finally seem to have the time needed to focus on launching my own business. It's a consulting firm of which I am the sole consulter so probably just a fancy way of saying I'm self-employed, but I like it. A lot.

Since it's early days, I'm doing some pro bono projects to get some customer testimonials and work out any kinks in my standard operating procedures. One project is with a non-profit in town, one project is with a homeschooled freshman, and the last project is being a campaign advisor for a local resident planning to run for state senate. I think I'm the most excited about the last project because I love politics. It's fast paced, involved, requires a lot of research and memorization, and there is a plethora of problem solving which I enjoy doing the most.

But, the main purpose of the consulting firm is two-fold. First, act as an educational consultant for homeschooling families in the state by checking over their records and body of work to ensure they are meeting Oklahoma PASS objectives. If not, making suggestions and recommendations on how to bring their work into compliance while helping them build a transcript / portfolio / record of work. Second, act as an organizational consultant for projects and non-profits including suggesting ways to more efficiently conduct business, update policies and procedures, and brainstorming / problem solving through issues that are currently challenging the organization.

I am excited to see what comes of these things and I'm enjoying the way my day is running. I have the daytime with J, early evening with P, and then I spend the last two hours of the day working on one/all of the projects I currently have ongoing.

But, I'm being mindful that if I get overly involved (like I tend to do), I will have to be willing and able to lay it all aside considering how much the Lord has been helping me focus on my priorities over the past few months. I certainly don't want to do anything detrimental!

FALL

It is finally Fall in Oklahoma! It rained a few weeks ago for a couple of days and now everything is lush and green in our backyard. Mostly weeds at this point, but it looks pretty. The weather has cooled down to a lovely 70 degrees F during the day and almost down to freezing at night. I'm sure it will heat up again before fall officially settles in, but we are grateful for the reprieve.

Baby G #2 is a boy! We had our 5 month scan about two weeks ago and everything is where it is supposed to be and functioning as it should and we're very grateful for that news as well. We decided to name him Elliott Frederick. The cutest thing in my little home right now is sweet baby J trying to say "Elliott." It comes out "Ell-eee?"

I am finding myself much more settled /comfortable with the title of stay at home mom. I am no longer struggling with trying to figure out what my role is going to be. When I first realized that I was going to have to give up all of the board/charity work that I had been doing since J's arrival, it was a struggle. I felt lost for several weeks. But, it's because my perspective was so limited. I was only seeing what I was losing and I wasn't open to what could be gained by freeing up that time and energy. I have found my focus restored and the biggest conviction that I have pressing on me at the moment is to make good use of the time that J and I have left together before we add in Baby E's presence. There is so much for both of us to learn between now and then.


There are always new lessons to learn, old lessons to revisit, and the opportunity to improve things that haven't been quite rounded and softened out of us yet. I am finding this to be true in all areas of life and I'm having to reconsider my stance on certain situations and people especially. I'm such a black and white thinker about things. I like evaluating and making decisions and seeing the decisions through. But, in that process, I think I have given up on people or distanced myself from people who are being knit into my larger family and at the end of the day, it was never my place to say who was worth walking away from because that's not the purpose to which I have been called. I'm learning that patience, hope, love, and endurance are what is required to see things through to completion - in myself and in others. We can't do this kind of work or experience this kind of growth alone if we have set our eyes on the prize and are determined to see it through.


Repetition is my biggest lesson with J in this season. Constant review and interaction and encouragement and reminders which pay off in a big way because at some point in the repetition, something clicks and HE GETS IT. Repetition is something good for my life as well because it's exactly the same. When good things are being put in steadily, constantly, and consistently and my heart dwells on them, at some point in the repetition, something clicks and I GET IT. So, I am reminding myself for myself and reminding myself for J, continue in the good way. Don't grow weary in well doing. Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together. Walk in love. As HE is in this world, so are we.

Sunday

Life has been crazy over the past month. P's work, my projects, family life, activities with friends...it's honestly been one thing after another. And while I have enjoyed so much of this over the past month, I realized today as I was listening to words of the sermon, I have inadvertently allowed my old nemesis, Distraction, to sneak back in and steal my peace in so many situations.

Reflecting on the past month, I had not realized how many nights I was laying in bed, unable to sleep because I had so many things running through my brain. I LOVE problem solving and processing through things and while this can be a really good quality, I can see where I wasn't closely monitoring some situations that I've encountered and as a result, this good quality turned into a processing overdrive that consumed a lot of time and lot of brain space.

J has spent more time with my family in the past month than he has in several months. This is a really good thing because they love him and he loves them...but what prompted him spending so much time with them is me stacking my day to day schedule with SO many activities and meetings and appointments that he couldn't attend. Is this bad? I'm not sure if it qualifies as bad...but it certainly defeated the purpose of me resigning from a job I loved to stay home with my beautiful boy.

I have also involved myself in things that are truly beyond the scope of what I can do to fix it. And, I'm almost ashamed to admit that in my zeal for fixing things, I've said things to several people in the process that have caused hurt feelings and friction. I realized that I STILL haven't learned that telling the truth doesn't mean telling everything you know.

I was convicted this morning of not investing enough time in people and in things that matter in the long run. I have been too focused on the details and I've been missing the big picture. I'm not abandoning anything by any means. I'm seeing my projects through to finish and I'm going to continue seeing family and friends. But, I'm resolving to be much more discerning in situations and to practice being reserved in what I say about situations. And once this round of projects is completed, I need to take a HUGE step back and regroup before I say "yes" to anything new.

Too busy....

But, it's not a bad thing. At all. J is now completely mobile and army crawling all over the place. I thought I was busy before, but my goodness! I have really had to ramp up the vaccuming and keeping everything picked up just to make sure J doesn't get into anything he shouldn't. I still haven't figured out a good way to stay on top of Luke's excessive amount of dog hair. Since the weather has been fluxuating so much these past few weeks, he's shedding like crazy. If anyone ever tries to tell you that beagles "don't shed that much" kick them in the shins and run away because they are being dishonest with you!

It's a busy time of year for the boards that I am currently working with so I've been spending a lot of time in meetings and reviewing paperwork. I am enjoying the challenges and the interactions with people that I don't get to see on a regular basis. It's been nice to do some problem solving / critical thinking that doesn't relate to any of my bedroom closets or kitchen cabinets.

I have also spending a lot of time with my mother which I have loved. We have been going through her house like an organizing whirlwind and I'm so proud of her for parting with some of her beloved books and homeschooling materials from 15 years ago. She has been saving them for us to use if we decided to homeschool and I think she realized that the history and science are pretty outdated. She singlehandedly pared down to her most favorite books from each subject area and tomorrow we will put them away under the stairs so they are easier for her to get to when she needs them again. We are also tackling the under the stairs storage area tomorrow as well as the laundry room and closets.

We are both utilizing some of the new(ish) consignment shops in town as we're sorting through and getting rid of things. New2You Boutique at 9th & Main is currently accepting name brand women and girl's clothing, shoes, and accessories. Ecelctic Echo is accepting home decor, furniture, and other home goods. It's a nice way to make some spending money without having to hassle with eBay. I'm hoping to make enough this summer to pay for my vintage pin up (classy, not trashy) photo shoot that is scheduled for the end of September.

And, I'm making more effort to spend quality time pursuing things that are important and essential to me. My walk with the Lord, my relationship with my husband and son, my time with my family, my time with my friends, and improving my health are taking up most of my day. And I think this is great. In addition to all of the obvious positives, it has really reduced the potential negatives that were always looming in the background, waiting to pull me under.