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Authentic Sisterhood

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We are completely out of our routine this Sunday.  Cheer competition has re-routed us.  The girls had to be there by 715 a.m. with hair done, and since I promised a ride to our girl’s BFF that meant out the door by 615 so that we could get to the arena in time to do BFF’s hair (she’s at her dad’s this weekend and needed assistance) and have them on time.  There will be no sleeping in this weekend.  Cue the violins.

So, Mass will be at 6pm tonight which freed up my morning.  Which I promptly filled up with a breakfast date with one of my dearest and oldest BFFs.  (I don’t have to be at the arena until 245pm so plenty of time!)  Sometimes we walk the bridge, paddleboard (ok, that was once, but it was really fun), have sushi or in today’s case:  breakfast.

It was a great breakfast and I realized how blessed I am in my authentic sisterhood.  The kind of friends who are there for you in a snap, the ones you share TMI with, the ones who will call you on your BS and hold you accountable to life and friendship, the ones who will pray with and for you, give you tough love and give you a shoulder.  There is no judgement, only love and truth.

In this life, we have friends spread far and wide and to get to that place of honesty and authenticity takes time and effort and cultivation.  It has taken me years to figure out that sometimes friends come and go and that is just life.  I no longer try to force friendships or do all the work.  It’s mutual effort or it does’t happen and that’s ok, too.  Authentic friends are there with you over the years even if you don’t talk every day or week, maybe visits are infrequent as well, but there is effort.  There is love.  There is a mutual desire to work at the honesty and truth and love that keeps that friendship a priority.

My Hubby is my best friend, confidante and encourager and that is huge and not often the case in marriage.  However, there is something inherently different and important in girlfriends and their point of view, their confidences shared and their encouragement.  Competition has no place in an authentic friendship only shared life.

Yes.  I am blessed.  Friendship with my mom and sister.  My “sisterhood”.  My friends that I’ve had since middle school and grade school.  Friends from early marriage and motherhood from church, from playgroups.  My Christmas list is long, but my true and blessed sisterhood is far smaller, but keepers for life.

Happy Sunday, friends!  Now go make that friend date this week, your heart and soul will thank you!

Proverbs 17:17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

Do whatcha gotta do

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Phew!  Just finished a glorious 7 day stretch of working.  In a couple of weeks I’ll do it again.  Because it was available and Christmas is just around the corner!!!

As we continue along on our Dave Ramsey train, one of the most common things people do when working on paying down debt is work more.  Overtime.  Promotion.  2nd job.  Odds and ends.  You do what you have to do.  While I don’t always jump on the overtime train because I do try to blance home and work, this came at a good time.  I mentioned Christmas, but we also have a marriage conference in December and a kiddo going to Europe in June, so yeah,   Getting some of that while it works for our family!  Fortunately, I do enjoy my job and OT for me means working at the hospital and while it is tough, it’s only a few hours and I go home.  Which is great!

The only unfortunate thing is for some reason I woke up at 3 a.m. today.  Tossed and turned for about an hour and threw in the towel at 4 a.m.  Got up, did my daily readings, prayed, finished The Hobbit and about 6 a.m. fell asleep in the chair for an hour.  It was still early enough to walk the dog and get most of the grocery shopping done before I went in to work, so that worked.  Now, I will just be living off the Diet Coke caffeine until bedtime—-which will probably be somewhere around 8:30!!

The blessing is that I HAVE the opportunity to work OT.  If I do what I have to do, then God does the rest.  Consistently.  Truly.  Honestly.  Every time.

Blessings!

Failing in 7 QTs

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Friday again.  Linking it with Kelly to recap the week in 7 shorties.

  1. This week I fell down on the job at #Write31Days.  My week just overcame my writing time, however, rather than quit, I’m just going to say that HEY, out of 28 days so far, I’ve blogged 25 or 26.  Win.  I’ll finish out the best I can and go from there.
  2. Hubby and I have made it two weeks in a row of getting up and going to the gym in the a.m. on Wednesday and Fridays.  As in o dark hundred (5 am)  Today, however, the pool was closed.  So we came home and I walked the dog.  Win for the dog, win for me and Hubby gets an earlier start on the day and will get a good ride in at lunch.  Win.
  3. Paleo-ish is going mostly good.  This past week has been a struggle.  Someone brought in Halloween candy and honestly, my willpower just isn’t THERE yet. Further proof that the devil is all over Halloween.  But, I’m still eating my other meals good, so just keep on keepin’  on.  Not quitting.  So another win.
  4. Our pup has (we and the vet think) a sensitivity/allergy to grains and so we switched him several months ago to grain free food, which is working well.  First,we used the stuff the vet had, Science diet, and then after some research to Canidae–better quality and lower price.  Win.  This week, I went to buy his food and the pet store I get it from is no longer carrying it, so what they have left is marked WAY down.  Heading back today to get 2 more bags.  Win.
  5. Our good friend and former marriage counselor is putting on a marriage conference in December in Melbourne, FL.  Unveiled Marriage Conference.  We are planning on going.  Still working out the details on kid care, but this is sure to be amazing.  If you are interested in attending, click the link above and we will see you there!
  6. Almost 7 takes and it’s time to get in the shower and get the kid/breakfast train started.
  7. Point of my 7 QTs today, every FAIL can be a WIN.  It’s all how you look at it.  We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.  Romans 8:28  

Happy Friday to all and go turn those FAILS around today!

Peace

Ask, seek, knock

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With growing kids, I truly want with every fiber of my being to wrap them in bubble wrap and orchestrate their every move, always keeping them close to Jesus and to mama.  However, although I want to do EVERYTHING for them, I know that in doing EVERYTHING for them, I do them an enormous disservice, and so frequently, we step back.  Way back.  Let them go and watch them fail.  Watch them struggle.  It is a painful process to watch sometimes and an internal struggle for the Hubby and I on WHEN to step in.

It is so hard to watch your kids grow through the tough stuff. Sometimes repeatedly.  They do grow though.  So do we.

When they DO succeed, it is with immense joy and celebration and sometimes even awe that we can rejoice with them as they taste the fruits of their labor and perseverance.

I imagine that is how God views us; He lets us go and do our thing, hanging back in case we need Him.  He encourages us through our struggles and cheers our victories.

Yet, He wants us to come to Him in our struggles, to seek His guidance and wisdom to receive His strength to power us through those times of trial.  The times we seek Him out, our struggles seem less lengthy, more manageable; when we try and and tough it out and “do it ourselves”, we often have a long and weary road and our troubles persist long beyond their term.

Let us remember, Matthew 7:7, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you”.

Practical application:  19 yo loses his truck key and reaches out to the parental units for assistance, from a random neighbor of a friend because his phone is dead.  Dad brings him his spare key.  An hour away.  On a Sunday night.  No hesitation.  No grumbling.  No guilt trip.  Because he asked.

Practical application:

  • any time
  • any where
  • any thing

One day, maybe I’ll grow up to be as patient as my Hubby.  Until then, I’ll just keep asking.

 

 

Food talk

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Currently, I have been switching to a more Paleo food focus.  I started 3 weeks ago, but week 1 was rudely interrupted by a hurricane and although I still managed to lose a pound that week, it was just too much  to stick to it in the midst of evacuation, power loss, clean up, etc. etc. etc.  Hey, if you ever need a rationalization parter, look no further.  So, the past two weeks , I’ve been doing very well:  on track, planning ahead and really focusing on will power.  The Hubs and I even managed to get to the gym 2x this week for strength work, so I am plugging along.

Let’s get real now, though.  If you’ve ever read “Made to Crave” by Lysa Teurkerst  it’s a great book really delving into WHY we overeat (emotionally) and her own story of overcoming and learning to better manage life with a food crutch.  In the book, there is a part where she talks about how she cried over not being able to eat bread (or pizza or sweets–I can’t remember exactly).  As I read it, I’m thinking, oh for the love….are you kidding me?  Then I started this little baby journey of 2 weeks and several times I have foregone sweets or super carby foods and although I didn’t cry, I ABSOLUTELY now understood what she was saying.  It’s flippin’ HARD!  You do not have to think one iota about eating crappy, but if you want to eat better and avoid processed foods, you have to think.  you have to plan.  you have to abstain.  HARD. It pretty much sucks right now.  I know it will get easier, but now…right now…. it blows.

My fitness pal app is really helping me to stay on track though, as well as giving myself permission to eat something once in awhile that is not so Paleo-ISH.  For instance, this week it was a birthday and there was a truly delicious and not run-of-the-mill cake to celebrate and so I had a piece.  One piece.  It was good.  And that was it.  I ate, I enjoyed and then my stomach kind of hurt, so I guess my body was not digging it as much as my mouth was.  Another day, I had a lemon bar.  I don’t make those.  But I find them enjoyable and so I enjoyed it.  And that was it.  So, I am learning, but man…..it’s hard. Because really, I could easily push through the pain for two pieces of cake or several lemon bars; I’m an overcomer.  Those choices, however, will not get me healthier or more energetic.  Sooooooooo, I’ll keep fighting the fight.

Like so many other battles, just taking it one day at a time and go from there.

Wish me luck!