How sweet it is

     Pondering the past is not something I enjoy doing.  I made many mistakes in my past,

Why I like routine

1.   gives me boundaries
2.   helps me to be productive and efficient with my time
3.   helps me to get important daily tasks accomplished
4.   allows me to understand what discretionary time I actually have available
5.   brings order to our ever morphing family
6.   helps me to get enough sleep (or almost enough)
7.   separates mental clutter and distraction from important data
8.   is a catalyst for creativity
9.   maintains a level of cleanliness in our home within which I can function peacefully
10. gives me somewhere to start while I prayerfully ponder where I am going

[Is is obvious that I am looking forward to a "down" week in terms of activity level?]

Back on-line

Hooray for the satellite repairman!  The culprits were:  deterioration of a part, which allowed a wasp to build a nest where it didn't belong and water to pool where it didn't belong.  I am so thankful it's fixed, although I have to put in a good word for Starbucks and McDonald's and their free wi-fi that allowed me to check email every day. 

This week is full again, so here's what I have been up to or will be doing:

1. Dropping off some of our kids to summer camp
2. Driving a child to work daily
3. Sewing costumes for skits we will do in Texas (including researching, shopping for materials, washing and cutting out fabric)
4. Running every other day
5. Household routine daily
6. Hosting our outreach team overnight one night
7. Attending a youth conference
8. Picking up campers; LAUNDRY
9. Packing for our Texas trip
10. Hosting some favorite camp families for supper
11. Possible trip to collect items to pack in trailor for Texas trip
12. Sleep

Temporarily out of commission

Our satellite dish is temporarily out of commission, so the blog posts will be even more sporadic than usual until that is fixed.  Come back and visit soon!

What’s been up during the past 5 days?

C  A community service cup stacking event with our King’s Kids Go-Network team in northern Indiana

C  Spending time with some of our extended family

C  An American English concert

C  The All American Lumberjack Show and Kids Sports Camp

C  An extremely impressive fireworks display

C  Eating “fair food” – deep fried brownies are incredible!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Cedar-Lake-Summerfest/176581698481

Transforming Mom - Love and Self-Control

“When someone is driving erratically and cuts you off, the first thing you think of is probably not warm and loving thoughts.  But what if the people in the car were on the way to the hospital because a family member was dying?  Wow, that will change your view.  I try to give people the benefit of the doubt.

“Then again there are still mean people out there.  They are usually just hurting, angry and frustrated with their own life, so they take it out on the rest of us.  I usually say a prayer for people like that and try my best not to get caught up in their whirlwind of negativity.  Be sure to not let someone else take your peace away.”[i]