Substitute

I have to share this absolutely adorable thing that Tatum has been doing this week....Kellen is attending a sports camp at Maw Maw and Paw Paw's and his sister misses him terribly. So, her substitute is the Baby Jamz video that he is a part of, and we watch this over and over and over and over and over and...well, you get the idea.

"I watch Kellen on there (pointing to the computer)," and "More Kellen song," are two phrases that I have become increasingly familiar with these past few days.

It's really adorable, and it's a good thing that I can handle the songs. Really.

Project update

Just in case you're wondering how the project is going this evening...

I've gotten two additional fans cleaned, leaving a lone fan left (again, not counting the one in the living room). Since it's the one in Tatum's room and she's asleep, there is a very good possibility that it's just not getting done. Oh well!

The kitchen curtain is in the washing machine as we speak, awaiting an empty dryer. Thankfully, I was warned to check the capabilities for laundering on my curtains PRIOR to actually washing them, and am unable to launder the living and dining room curtains myself, so they'll just get dusted/vacuumed off. (Thank you, Maw Maw!!)

And completely OFF of the to-do list is polishing the wooden cabinets dispersed throughout the house. I've done the kitchen cabinets, the wet bar, both bathrooms, including the hanging storage. You know what I'm talking about, right, the cabinets above the toilet... I completely forgot about them until I was looking into the spare bathroom in wonder and amazement at the difference a little furniture polish can do and realized they were wooden cabinets too! When I finished it off, it seemed like it was a completely different bathroom!

I guess the wood was thirsty. Who knew?

Realistically, I'll get the mopping done in the kitchen and possibly the bathrooms, but will probably not get all of the baseboards/trim/walls done in all three bedrooms and in the master bath by the end of the week. The master bath stuff is a maybe. I can't do ANYTHING in Tatum's room, really, considering that very shortly after we get home, she's going to bed. So scratch anything having to do with her room off of any list.

The laundry will most likely get done, but really and truly, is laundry EVER really done? I'll say I accomplished my goal on this one (at least the washing part of the goal), since the majority of the sorting baskets in the laundry area of the garage are empty, and all of the baskets inside the house are empty. You can't wash a load with one item by itself, now can you?

Now, if I can just get it all put away.....where did I put that easy button? Oh wait...we're going for excellence, NOT perfection, and good enough is ok, right?

Great, then I'm taking a break. Blue Bell is calling.

My project...

6/16 - AM UPDATE: I feel the need to explain WHY I'm doing this project...It's actually part of Matt's fathers day present, hence the "shhh" part of the original post.

So far, I've gotten all of the baseboards and walls wiped down in the entire house, save for the 3 bedrooms and the spare bathroom (but I JUST did that when the toilet EXPLODED a couple of weeks ago with Kellen - and I was thorough, at least with the baseboards).

I've also cleaned both hallway fans, and the fan in the kitchen. I still need to do to the ones in the bedrooms, and I'm skipping the one in the living room because it's too high.

I vacuumed the front hallway, dining room and living room, but didn't do the hallway between the bedrooms or any of the bedrooms since Tatum was already asleep when I was vacuuming (I'm not COMPLETELY crazy!).

I cleaned both of the bathroom toilets and scrubbed both of the bathtubs and got two (I think) loads of laundry done and put away. I put another load in this morning before I left to take Tatum to school and come to work.

I feel like I'm on a roll...


Shhhh...don't tell Matt. (I can post this on here because he really doesn't read this blog...)

I know I just ranted about the fact that I don't clean, right? And about the fact that I'm working toward excellence and "good enough." So here's my project for the week...

I want to see just how much of the house I can get REALLY CLEAN to surprise Matt. And I'm not talking "picked up" kind of clean, I'm talking spring cleaning kind of clean.

My primary goals:

• wipe down all baseboards and walls (include tops of trim & doors)
• clean all fan blades (exluding the living room, since there's no way I can reach it unless I got the ladder out, and I think he might have my head if I did that)
• launder all curtains & rehang
• polish all the cabinet doors (kitchen, wetbar, bathrooms)
• all laundry done and put away
• general cleaning (bathrooms, vacuum, mop, etc)

If I have time:

• go through kids clothes that they've outgrown and package for give-a-way

So whatcha' think? Will I be able to get this done in three nights?

Pursuit of perfection

I have come to the realization that the pursuit of perfection is paralyzing. Or at least I'm trying to remind myself of this as I make a mental shift from pursuing perfection to striving for excellence.

• In the pursuit of perfection, nothing is good enough...I overanalyze to find the "perfect" way to do something. The "good enough" way is just fine and still gets the job done. For the most part, the only one that's going to know the difference between the two is me.
• In the pursuit of perfection, I constantly compare myself with others who I think have it more "together" than I do, and then feel inferior and/or guilty that I can't do what they do, how they do it. God didn't make me THEM, he made me ME. I'm not SUPPOSED to do things the way they do them per se, or live their lives the way they live it. I'm supposed to live mine the way HE WANTS ME TO, to the BEST OF MY ABILITY, allowing HIM to shine through me, ESPECIALLY in the areas of my deficiencies, so that HE is glorified.
• In the pursuit of perfection, we mask our true selves. We don't necessarily allow others to get to know us, warts and all. How can we grow, or allow ourselves to be used in others lives if we don't walk with them...through both the good and the bad? How do we know that our bad times aren't being sent for the purpose of helping a brother or sister in Christ? If we pursue perfection and mask our pain, our difficulties, our deficiencies, don't let others know what we're experiencing, how can those experiences help them?

I really think this is the area that God is working on me with right now...striving for excellence, not perfection and just doing the best that I can do without stretching myself to the point of breaking.

I'm ready to be really real. I have a full life. A really full life. I am a wife, a mom to two kids, a full-time employee (read: mom to another 300 or so students). My husband has had a crazy schedule for our entire marriage that has rarely involved working in the same town. Cleaning is a low priority. News flash...if you drop in on me, my house is probably messy, there are probably clothes on the couch. They're most likely clean and laid out, waiting to be put away, but they're there.

That isn't how I envision my house in my head. I WANT it to look like a picture out of a magazine. I WANT it to smell like the "correct" scent for whatever season it is. I WANT to have all the ingredients for homemade cookies all of the time so that I can just "pop" them in on a whim. I WANT to always have the stuff for the cutsie crafts for me and my kids to do.

But hey, that doesn't happen.

I make cupcakes from the box. We colors in coloring books. We use sidewalk chalk. Matt buys whatever scent candles he wants, because somewhere, I have a wonderful wickless candle and warmer set that hasn't been plugged back in since the move (yes, almost a year). Kids craft magazines come to my house with wonderful ideas for me, and *someday* I'll get the stuff for them and we'll do them some weekend.

Let's just get real.

Misbehavin'

Well, Kellen rounded out last week with two days of misbehaving. Arg.

Thursday he decided to reconnect with his friend from the afterschool Kids Klub. You may remember her...she's the one that the counselors had to continually separate him from and, oh yes, the very same one that professed her love for him at the beginning of the school year. Oy. Those two. The two of them got into a variety of michevious trouble...nothing too terrible, but enough that it was brought to my attention in addition to the other items to be mentioned (I informed the lead counselor that things might be better if the two of them were simply split up, if possible). He also talked another boy into holding down the flush valve on the toilet in the bathroom and creating a waterfall. Yup. That's my boy. (They did make him clean it up, which he thought was gross.) But the icing on the cake was when they told me that he ran away from the rest of the kids and the counselors. Um...no. That's a safety issue and completely NOT ok with us.

Don't get me wrong, the other issues aren't ok with us, but they're to be expected from an almost 6 year old. Safety issues; however, are in no way, shape or form tolerated in this house.

So he was greeted with, "I guess you made some pretty bad choices today and we aren't going to the pool after all." And we had a stern talk-to at the house.

I apparently didn't work, as I get a phone call on Friday from Matt, who is on his way home with Kellen after he's picked him up. Kellen, the aforementioned girl, and another unnamed girl tried to sneak out of the gym.

WHAT??

So Matt dealt with him primarily Friday night, and I made a point of asking Tatum if she wanted to go to the pool near him and she and I got ready for the pool in the living room, so he could be reminded of what he was missing (again) because of his poor choices. And then Tatum and I proceeded to have a wonderful time at the pool.

I'm trying to figure out the root cause of it, and I really think that it might be a lack of quality time with both Mommy and Daddy...dunno...we'll test that theory a little to see if things get better.

Spaghetti, anyone?

I had forgotten just how much the kids like spaghetti...As I type, Kellen is on his 4th plate and Tatum is on her 5th plate of spaghetti.

Seriously...where are they PUTTING this food?

Tatum has abandonded her fork in liu of her hands in order to shovel the food in quicker. When she gets through with a plate, she asks for more and then calmly tells me that her, "...hands are yucky, Mommy."

Ya, think, dearie?

They are both piling on the parmesan cheese as well, and I'm rapidly running out of that commodity. I truly thought I made enough pasta to have leftovers for them for tomorrow night, and now I'm not so sure about that.

Growth spurts, perhaps? Hollow legs was suggested as another alternative for food storage. Hmmm...Pictures would prove that I don't starve them, but I think the camera might be covered in sauce at this point in time.

Weekend bliss...

Saturday...
Full of outside playing, naps, then to the movies to watch UP in 3-D. If you haven't seen it, take your tissues. I was bawling like a baby, but it was SO GOOD!!

Sunday...
Unfortunately, both Mommy and Daddy were a little under the weather to start the day off, so we both slept in and missed church. We recovered, had some more outside time, naps, then headed to the pool (FINALLY!!) for a while. We had to cut our pool trip a little early due to an *incident* that luckily, neither of my kids caused - the pool had to be closed for 24 hours. On the bright side, that resulted in rain checks - so it was basically a free trip to the pool! YAY!

I have a sunburn today to show for all of the weekend fun, but I did it to myself! It's not that bad, so I'm hopeful that it was tan rather than peel.

As for today, Kellen started his daycamp here in town and really seemed to like it...he has three of the same counselors, which I like very much! He was happy to see them, too! He came home just talking about all of the games that they played, and thought it was really fun that they just played all day long!

Lucky him! Tomorrow they go on their field trip for the week.

And to finish off the day, Chick-fil-A reinstated their Milkshake Mondays for June and July, so we're putting THAT back into the mix for our Monday night dinners! I mistakenly thought that 3 'milkshakes' (for each milkshake you purchase, you get a free 8 piece nugget) would be sufficient for all 4 of us, but I was sorely mistaken. I think Tatum ate 12 nuggets on her own. Uh huh. We DID share the milkshakes, but I made Daddy a few sandwiches for dinner, which he never seems to mind anyway...

Kellen's summer begins

from Maw Maw:

'Three days and nights at Mawmaw and Pawpaw's. Chocolate Chip Cookies for breakfast (but a good breakfast of some combination of toast, cereal, fruit, etc. in addition), hot dogs, two trips to the park including a great deal of squirrel chasing, snacks in the park, an Astros game, CiCi's, sword fighting, playing on the deck with dinos and zoo animals, Hungry, Hungry Hippos with Daddy and PawPaw, coloring, play doh, The Chipmunks meet Wolfman, Tarzan - whew!

Which might explain why he almost feel asleep at CiCi's tonight and was gone before we made it to Walgreens a few blocks down the road. Yes, at about 7:00 p.m.! He is in bed and hopefully will stay asleep until morning.'

****************

And she neglected to indicate that he threw up last night because, in his words, he "ate too much junk." Now, I have NO idea if that is accurate or not, but it was an interesting way to start off my morning as I was driving to work and trying to get the play-by-play of the 'Stros game.

He is, according to him, missing his sister, as he wanted me to pass the phone to her so that he could talk with her, and then when I couldn't do that (I WAS driving, after all), he accepted speakerphone so that he could talk with her. He also passed a hug through the phone to me for her.

Now isn't that just precious?

Happy Birthday!

...Cute things Tatum has done today...I need to tell the Happy Birthday story...

Today is Grandma Gerren's birthday (Happy Birthday, Mom!!!), so on the way home, I told Tatum that we needed to call and sing Happy Birthday to Grandma. Well, she proceeded to do so the ENTIRE way home. I actually lost count of how many times she sang the song, and we don't live that far away from where I pick her up AND the college students aren't here, meaning the traffic isn't that bad...

And as soon as we walked in the door she was crying to call Grandma so that she could sing to her on the phone. So we called, we get Grandma on the phone and she proceeds to sing the Happy Birthday song to her grandma, and yes, it's every bit as precious as it sounds.

Well, Grandpa gets on the phone and she gets excited, says hi, but then oh-so-clearly makes sure that he knows it's 'not your happy birthday, grandpa...it's happy birthday grandma, not grandpa, oookkkaayy?'

But then she clearly followed that up with "I love you's" all the way around, just to make sure no one got their feelings hurt because it wasn't their birthday.

What a precious and sweet little girl. I am so blessed to get to spend some one-on-one time with her this week and am just enjoying it tremendously!

Hmmm....

Interesting fact about Tatum.

She has reserved Eskimo kisses SOLELY for her Daddy. Yup. They're HIS and HIS alone.

I made the mistake of trying to give her some tonight before bed and boy-oh-boy...did I get a look.

(And I should know the look...I frequently give a much perfected, similar one, myself).

Then she ever so clearly corrected me by stating that, "Eskimo kisses are Daddy. NOT Mommy. Not yours. OoooKaaaayyyy?"

'Yes Dear. Thank you. I understand.'

Growth spurt, anyone?

I'm wondering exactly how much food that Kellen can actually consume.....he's really going to town over here! For the past couple of weeks, he's eaten nonstop for dinner from about 6-8 PM. And I pretty much mean nonstop.

Take tonight for instance...

We got home and he was hungry, so while I was getting things warmed up, he ate a banana. I finished warming dinner up and he ate dinner (about half of a VERY LARGE sausage dog, corn and green beans). He and Tatum got a bath, then he told me he was still hungry. So he ate an apple, then another banana, then another apple. He's now eating a bowl of grapes.

So he's pretty much been eating continuously since 6 or so, save for the short time he was in the bath. And this has been our pattern for the last two or so weeks.

Whoa, buddy! I'm just waiting for him to shoot out and up. Really. I'm expecting to go into his room one morning and to have him have sprouted overnight. At least I'm trying to prepare for it, anyway.

New 'do

While I'm updating...(and going in reverse order) I should make a note about my haircut.


I got my haircut last Wednesday. Really cut.


As in really short.


Really.


Way shorter than the picture I took as the 'model' for Valerie. I think she was just overly excited because it was obvious my normal rules were out of the window. And this is what I ended up with after she was through.







This is the original picture of the 'model' that was to be used for the cut...Slight difference, don't you think? (Julie, the link is just for you!)


I fix it a little differently, but since everyone (but Kellen) seems to like it, we'll call it a success. And since Matt thinks it's the best haircut he's EVER seen on me, and he's known me since '96 and his opinion should be the one that matters most (other than mine, of course), I think that's a pretty good sign, don't you?


Kellen originally told me that he liked me, but not my hair. When I asked him why, he indicated that it was because it stuck out and was spikey. He's now changing his tune and told me this morning that he liked it. I guess he's gotten used to it.


Unfortunately, I seem to be the one that it taking the most time to get used to it! And I'm immensely frustrated that I cannot find my pommade that I like anywhere...I've had the stuff for, like, 5 years or so now (probably longer, truth be told), and NOW...when I really need it for styling, I can't find it anywhere. Grrr....

My birthday weekend

Considering the weekend I had, I have to entitle this my birthday weekend rather than my birthday...simply because the celebration lasted all weekend long!

It was such a wonderfully full, but relaxing weekend!

Friday night started with Kellen's last t-ball game of the season (*sniff*), then my parents and brother came over for the weekend to celebrate my birthday, my dad's birthday and my mom's birthday.

Saturday my dad cooked breakfast (YUMMY!) and I took my mom and Kellen to get me a birthday present, then I had a baby shower to go to, and when I got back, we hung out a little and Matt cooked steaks on the grill (oh my..so VERY YUMMY!!! I could eat steaks like that so very often, but it would be oh-so-bad if I did)

Sunday Matt and I went to church, and came back to my parents and brother cleaning up the house as a surprise for me...my brother vacuumed, they cleaned up all their stuff, made all of the beds, cleaned both of the kids rooms (which, of course, only stay clean for about five minutes), cleaned the kitchen, you name it...then Matt cooked sausage dogs on the grill and we had lunch, cake and ice cream and our birthday celebration. Then they had to leave...the kids went down for their nap and then I went down for mine. And my Maw Maw was on her way over.

I woke up from my nap...



wait for it...





4 hours later!!!!

to an empty house.

15 or so minutes later, I heard them all pull up, then saw Matt running to the backyard with something in his hands. My MIL and the kids came in, and a few minutes later Matt came in and found a reason to ask me to go out to the backyard, where he had put together a HAMMOCK STAND for me!!!!! We've had a hammock for years, but I've never had it up....and I have it now!! I'm thrilled beyond belief!!

I, of course, immediately went and laid on it, and then had two munchkins join me, and Matt pulled another HUGE box from the side of the house....it was another present from Maw Maw and Paw Paw...a storage unit/seat bench for the deck...and he started putting it together. So, now all of the kids toys have a place to go on the deck, AND it can double as seating! I LOVE IT!

Maw Maw wanted to take us out to eat, but I said I would rather have her watch the kids and let Matt and I go on a date...so we went and watched Wolverine! It was GREAT!

Then today my office had a small party for me this afternoon (cake and ice cream)...so I feel totally spoiled right now!!

But...today is Daddy's day......sooooooooooo

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DADDY!!!

It finally happened...

I'll update on my wonderful birthday later, but for now...some grossness...

It finally happened...After almost 4 months to the date from my half marathon...one of my toenails fell off today. And surprisingly, it came off all in one piece. Odd.

Another interesting fact...it had already grown 1/3 or so of the way back underneath the other (dead) toenail. And there's a thin psuedo nail covering the rest of what should be my nail...so I was actually able to paint my toenail to disguise the ugliness that now is my toe.

Hahaha

Details about my lovely birthday to come...I must go eat some of the left-over steak...YUMMY!!

Why is it...

...that chaos ensues in this house when Daddy is gone? Now this isn't necessarily to say that chaoes doesn't occur when he's here, 'cause, hey...it's Daddy we're talking about. The walking embodiement of Murphy's Law.

But really...

Last night:
How many times can a toilet explode in one night? And at the EXACT moment when I'm trying to put Tatum to bed? And try as I might, neither my Wonder Woman bracelets, nor my Super Woman cape saved me from the mess that my slow response time created. And let me remind some of you that I was a sprinter in high school (i.e., I don't have THAT slow of a response time). However, in the amount of time it takes for Kellen to yell for me, and the amount of time it takes for me to realize that he's screaming for me because the toilet is exploding, for me to run in there, get him out of the way (which wasn't too hard considering he was trying his darnest to get to the highest point possible so as not to get ANY liquid on him), and to reach around the aforementioned exploding toilet to turn the valve OFF, it had managed to overflow (it types out much longer than it actually was). And wow, it overflows quickly, just in case you were wondering.

But, last night was a cleaning night for me, and it simply added to my to-do list. And now the bathroom is REALLY clean...nice clean floors, clean baseboards, clean toilet, the works...'cause if I was cleaning up after that I might as well make it worth it, right?

And as if last night wasn't enough, here's tonight:
Kellen was cleaning his room, after Caleb and he had a wonderful time playing in there (it wasn't nice and orderly before they played, and was in dire need of a picking up and cleaning anyway). So I decided to have him clean up his room and treat him when he was through to a 'special' night...our code for movie night. A short while later he runs out crying, holding his hand to me, asking for a band-aid. He had apparently burned his hand on his lightbulb in his lamp on his nightstand...and he burned a little smaller than a dime size area on his thumb. And he was HURTING!

So I had him run to the bathroom and run cool water over it while I called Matt to see if we had any burn ointment in the house, which we didn't have. So I loaded both the kids up and off to Walgreens we went for burn ointment and 'cool' band-aids. (We ended up getting camo!) The line was long, and he was in so much pain that I put the medicine on him in line. Here's the even sadder part...he was worried about me getting in trouble because I opened up the medicine and band-aids before I paid for them to put them on him! Oh my goodness what a sweetie I have in that little boy!

And back to the house we went...for what I am determined to make into a relaxing night. He asked for cereal for dinner. I obliged. And he and Tatum are now watching Wall-E.

As promised...

Here are some pictures of the Mommy Make-over. They are the fruits of Kellen's labor, the after shots of his make up efforts. I didn't think to take a picture of my manicure and pretty purple nails, and didn't get any shots of him during the process, since I was unable to take pictures of myself and all of the other adults were in the middle of their make-overs as well.





This was such a cute idea and Kellen was still talking about how glad he was that I came to his school at various points in time today!

Mommy Make-over

Kellen's class had a Mommy Make-over today...and I walked into his room, which had been transformed into a spa. This morning, before I left for work, I asked him what he wanted me to bring for the make-over.

My list was as follows: make-up, fingernail polish in red, green and blue (yes, he specified those colors), and lotion. My ACTUAL items taken included my make-up, fingernail polish in light purple (sorry, I just didn't have all of the specified colors), fingernail polish remover, cotton balls, lotion, and a LARGE junk towel.

I walked in, was greeted enthusiastically by Kellen, given a bottle of water and offered a cookie, then escorted to my seat. He proceeded to paint my nails, then gave me an arm massage with lotion (which, is actually VERY nice...have one of your kids try this at home). He then went to work on my make-up, and did a nice job! I have pictures to prove it and will post later. He ended my pamper session with a back rub and scratching, which I absolutely adore! We had to cut that short for our parade.

Yes, we had a parade through the school to show off our kiddos efforts. Picture a bunch of kindergarden mommies walking through the school wearing the fruit of their kids efforts, to the theme song of Pretty Woman, no less. We were the highlight of the day!

He was having a very 'exclusive' day, as many of his friends wanted to assist him in his make-over efforts with me, and he was having none of it. I did finally move him from saying something along the lines of 'go away!' to 'I want to be the only person helping my mommy, please go away.'

I took him home with me, and on the way to the car, he told me how much he enjoyed me coming to his school and spending time with him. I'm pretty sure his main love language is quality time.

Things I've learned...

Things I've learned since becoming a Mommy...(watch out, these are really random, and in no apparent order!)

1. Poop can defy gravity...and go all the way UP a baby's back while they're sitting upright. Don't ask me how, but I know it's true. And if you're reading this and you're a parent, you know I'm right.

2. Bodily fluids can go a L-O-N-G way coming from a baby...pee, poo, spit up, throw up. It's amazing how far some of those things can travel. There should be an Olympic sport, and it could be judged on both distance and force. My kids would, at the very least, medal.

3. Girls can projectile pee too. Seriously, this one threw me for a loop. I didn't know it was physically possible, but it is.

4. The person who invented the saying, "Don't cry over spilled milk" didn't breastfeed their child. They would understand the value of that stuff and cry if it got spilled, too!

5. 12 pounds was heavy when I was in my 20's and working out with it...another rep sometimes seemed impossible. Now, "more" is sometimes the phrase of the moment and my kids weigh MUCH more than 12 pounds. I should cut myself some slack on the 'official' part of working out and simply play with them more often.

6. Sometimes a kiss and a hug really DOES fix everything.

7. Boo boo ice solves mystery illnesses, random bumps, and other assorted owies.

8. Love buckets need to be filled the most when those that need the filling seem the least lovable.

9. Taking a deep breath is good. Taking five or ten is better.

10. 'I help you' - Letting your kids help can actually be productive, so long as you don't expect them to live up to unrealistic expectations, and don't set them for yourself either. (I'm still trying to live this one out, especially the last part of this one...)

Back on...

So I went for my first jog since the half today. Here are my thoughts...

1. It's been too long since I have run and I've missed it.
2. It's been too long since I have run and my body can tell. :)
3. Even a quick (my words, not actually quick by anyone's standards) 2 mile jog can feel GREAT and hurt at the same time. Interesting.
4. I should probably run in the mornings, because running at 8:30 PM has given me a slight energy burst, but I actually need to go to bed.

From Purpose Driven Connection, Daily Devotional...


Margin Comes From Managing Your Time
by Rick Warren

In our Devotionals series, Pastor Rick Warren discusses the Bible passages that inspire him the most. Today's Devotional is based on this passage:

"Then Jesus said, 'Let's get away from the crowds for a while and rest.' There were so many people coming and going that Jesus and His apostles didn't even have time to eat" (Mark 6:31 NLT).

Jesus experienced enormous stress and pressure, yet it didn't seem to disturb His peace of mind. In spite of opposition, constant demands, and little privacy, His life reflected a calm sense of balance.

What was His secret?

1. Identification: Know who you are (John 8:12). Eighteen times Jesus publicly defined Himself. There was no doubt in His mind as to who He was. If you are unsure of your identity, you'll allow others to pressure you into their molds. Trying to be someone you're not causes stress!

2. Dedication: Know who you want to please (John 5:30). You can't please everyone. Even God can't! Just about the time you get "Crowd A" happy, "Crowd B" will be upset with you. Jesus never let the fear of rejection manipulate Him. No one can pressure you without your permission.

3. Organization: Set clear goals (John 8:14). Jesus said, "I know where I came from and where I am going." Preparation prevents pressure but procrastination produces it. You work by either priorities or pressures.

4. Concentration: Focus on one thing at a time (Luke 4:42-44). You can't chase two rabbits at the same time! Jesus knew how to handle interruptions without being distracted from His primary goal.

5. Delegation: Don't try to do everything yourself (Mark 3:14). We get tense when we feel it all depends on us. Jesus enlisted twelve disciples. Don't allow the fear that others may not do as good a job as you, or that they may do a better job than you, to keep you from asking for help.

6. Meditation: Make a habit of prayer (Mark 1:35). No matter how busy Jesus got, He found time to get alone to pray every day. A daily quiet time is a great stress decompression chamber. Use this time to talk to God about your pressures and problems, evaluate your priorities, and discover the rules for successful living by reading the Bible.

7. Relaxation: Take time to enjoy life (Mark 6:30-31). Balance is the key to stress management. Work must be balanced with fun and worship.

********************************
I keep seeing things about 'margin' and it reminds me to STOP, THINK and PRAY about things and opportunities before I immediately say, "Yes," which is my natural tendency. Why is "No" such a hard word to say when we're adults? Is it the fear of disappointing someone? And if so, shouldn't we fear more disappointing God by not doing what HE wants us to do?

Just my musings for the morning...