First Things First: Getting Back to “Normal”

21 Monday May 2012

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Devotional Time, First Things First, Foreign Service, God's Word, Moving, Prayer

Monday Morning. Again. They just keep on coming, don’t they?

Last week was our massive final push to get the house unpacked and livable. And mostly, we’ve succeeded. All the “extra” is in a storage unit (which I now am in the process of selling and purging bit by bit), the classroom is put together (well, it was before I tore it apart this morning to try a new organizational system), and we had our first dinner guests! A dear couple, who has been just a rock for us through this nonsense and their two adorable babies. I made grilled veggies, enough fruit salad for an entire army, and balsamic chicken. They brought brownies. See, didn’t I tell you they were awesome friends?

This morning, hubbie left at the crack of dawn to for another work thing, where he will be gone for six weeks. Sigh. Yup, our normal. What we didn’t want to be our normal anymore. It is what it is. So, I’ve planned six full weeks full of work, fun, and activity for both me and the girls – to keep ourselves and our minds occupied. Today, we started our normal school routine and didn’t get as far as I hoped, though we might get back to that after nap time.

In my Bible study group, we’re working through Kelly Minter’s study, “Nehemiah: a heart that can break.” It’s really interesting. I’m trying to catch up a little, since I spent the first week or so unpacking, but I’ve never really thought much about the book of Nehemiah, and am enjoying how she is tying things in and pulling new things out.

The past few days of this study, what’s been coming at me is this idea of what has God put on my heart? What is my “cup to bear” (Nehemiah was the king’s cupbearer, but he also carried a burden for the city of Jerusalem.)

In Nehemiah 3, we read about the individuals who worked on various parts of the wall – and many of them worked on the wall right in front of their own house. And Kelly brings out the point that we are called to serve God right where we are.

(Read 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 here.)

But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. — 1 Corinthians 12:18

Which of course, has me thinking about me, and our situation of being in the DC area without planning on it.

Yes, we know this is all to God’s plan in the long run, or at least mentally we do. (Not all of me has completely caught up or is solidly sold on the ideal still, I confess. I’m trying to work on it.)

But God has me right where he wants me.

I really needed to read that today. In fact, I’m going to copy that and put it up on my bulletin board. (As soon as it’s put up on the wall of course.)

God has a reason that I am here. He has a work, a serving him right in front of my home, that He is calling me to do. He has walls that need repairing, and gates that need to be fixed. There is work IN me, IN our family, and in our area of influence that He is calling us to step up and dig in and get dirty doing.

So I’m thinking this week on what is burdening my heart. What is my current cup to bear. What is my wall that I feel called to right now.

And what I plan to do about it.

First Things First: Starting Over

14 Monday May 2012

Posted by MP31W! in Uncategorized

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First Things First

Well, it’s another Monday morning, and we’re sitting in our new apartment.

We happen to be surrounded by boxes and JUNK. The amount we’ve had to purge in order to fit in the apartment is crazy. I promise we’re not hoarders, but it sure feels like it right now! But it’s all just stuff, right? STUFF. I’ve had to become quite ruthless in what we keep and quite creative in storing stuff. I’ve had to reach back in the recesses of my brain to my college days of how I used to store things in my tiny dorm room.

By the way – you can store A LOT of stuff under beds!

We have one box left that has not been touched, and other than that just lots of piles of little junk everywhere. Little piles that have to be gone through one piece at a time. I’ve had to “bin” several of those piles to get to later, unfortunately, but I didn’t want to get bogged down by papers and filing, etc. So once I get past all of this stuff, I’ll have to tackle one bin a week until it’s all gone.

THIS week, though, I am going to get this apartment to the point of living in it, versus just surviving. And then I’ve got to get back to homeschool – we’ve had way too long of a school break, and we’re dreadfully far behind. And I found several summer camp programs for the girls to participate in this summer (ballet and Spanish immersion, plus VBS) so that will put us “behind” as well. Which is fine, but it’s really time we get back to a real routine. And I need to get back to working as soon as possible.

One thing I implemented last week worked out amazingly well for us – morning bike break! As soon as we were dressed and had breakfast, I took the bikes downstairs and the girls played while I enjoyed my cup of coffee and a bit of relaxing. As soon as I find my Bible study stuff (which I assume is in a pile somewhere!) this will be a great time for me to get a little bit of devotional time in the mornings, and it also lets the girls blow off a bit of steam first thing, instead of storing it up all day long. They were much more willing to let me unpack for hours after taking thirty minutes outside each morning! So, new daily routine ready to go AND solves dilemma for me! I will really be able to put “first things first” AND wear out the girls a bit at the same time. God is good!