First Ever- WFMW- Finding Alone Time

This will be my first post for Works For Me Wednesday.  After reading through the awesome ideas for the last few months, I thought I would give it a try.  So……. here goes…..

This may be a “duh” idea, but for me as a mother of 3 small boys I crave alone time and don’t get much of it.  And I mean alone…. not alone with kiddos playing in the next room or with kids in bed and hubby and I watching tv, but really alone.   

To create this time for myself, I have found that getting up a 1/2 hour earlier everyday (my kids get up early) and going for a walk is just what I need.  I get to start out my day ALONE in a quiet, prayerful way, I get excercise, and I get to think about and plan my day.  My husband and I have worked out that he will get up with the kids, change diapers, etc. and I can have that time to get out and go for a walk.  I love this time and while some mornings I am tired and don’t want to get out of bed, all I have to do is remember how much better I feel physically, emotionally and spiritually after spending that time alone and with my Father and I am out the door in a flash.  I keep my clothes in a convenient, easy access spot, a waterbottle full next to the sink, and sleep with my watch on so I don’t have to think about anything.  I usually go for about 45 minutes and come back refreshed and ready to go.  It also helps with the extra pounds those boys have given me.

So that’s what works for me.  For more great ideas check out Works For Me Wednesdays at Rocks In My Dryer.

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The Eleventh Hour

You know how when you are at the beach or on a lake all the houses have names, The Smith Shack or the Wilson’s Hide-a-way, etc….????  You know?  Well, we landed directly into a place like that.

So we left Utah last Wednesday (see post below) fully expecting to move directly into this older farmhouse that our friends were able to get us into for a month.  We new we were going to have to move at the beginning of August and while I was thankful that we had a place for at least that long, I was dreading yet another move, that and unpacking for 4 weeks was not really something I was looking forward to.  So we reached Oregon on Thursday and on Friday my mom called with a great offer from their friends.. our families friends… friends who own the above house and view.  They offered us rooms in their house for as long as we need.  This is an fabulous house and an amazing gift to us.  The older boys have beds in a huge playroom (I didn’t need to bring in their toys) with a bathroom, we have our own room and bath and Eyob has his own bed and bath (not sure what he is going to use it for), and those are only half the rooms.  We have more than we need to be totally comfortable.  It is such a blessing to us.  Did I mention that it is right on a lake?  We have spent a couple of mornings/afternoons playing in the water and on the beach… what a great opportunity for the boys, especially after not having a yard in Utah. 

In what felt like the eleventh hour, God came through and gave me what I needed.  It isn’t my own house, but maybe for this time it is even better. It is a divine placement.  God moved us out of our own plans (pretty obviously) and into his… I have no idea what he is doing, what he has planned, why we are here (in Washington that is) other than the job, but I have no doubt that if I can cling to the Father, relax and let go of the need to know, the need to plan, and to have it all under control, then He my Father will lead us.

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Sweet Sorrow

I can still remember, like it was yesterday, the day I loaded up our suburban (with the help of my parents) said goodbye to a house we had just built, my best friends, and a town I had lived in for 17 years, the place I had spent the first 10 years of my marriage and had my first two babies… a place I never really thought I would leave.. and set off down the road on a “great adventure” to Utah, a place I had only driven through, where my husband had been for the last three months, and what would be my new home.  I never expected to like it here, but I knew that I was going to give it a good shot.  I had a chance to “reinvent” myself, a new start and I wanted to make the most of it, even though my heart felt like it was going to break and I couldn’t imagine ever feeling better.

We new that we were supossed to come here.  We needed to get away and to make it on our own as a family.  Utah has been a refuge for us. After an intense time of struggle with our church back home, it was been a safe haven for us. A place to rest, refresh, and transform.  I have learned so much being out here on “my own” away from family and all I had known for 17 years.  God has changed me, molded me and refined me into a person that is much more what I should have been and want to be.  I am so thankful for the people who have come along side me here.  Who have been my family for the last two years and who have allowed me to be who God wants me to be… so it is with much sadness (two years ago I never would have believed I would say this) I say good-bye.

Looking back on my time here, I can see how God has strategically placed people and events in my life that have radically changed who I am today.  I remember my friend Jenn told me when I left Shelton that in the first two weeks of being in Utah, I had to find a MOPs group and join.  So I did and there I met a wonderful girl named Heather (as well as lots of other great friends) who invited me to the Draper MOMS club and there I made some wonderful friends who invited me over, introduced me to fun places around the valley, had a wonderful baby shower for Eyob, brought us dinners when we got home from Ethiopia, and who continue to be a source of encouragement to me.

Who knew that that first visit would lead to me becoming one of the coordinators for our churches two MOPS groups and meeting some of my truly favorite people here in Utah.  Women who have walked beside me these last 6 months encouraging me and praying for me all while we served together. Thank you MOPS friends.  I am truly going to miss you this coming year and you will be in my prayers.

Through South Mountain Community Church, I have gone on a wonderful women’s “wild” weekend, participated in 4 life changing Bible studies and made some wonderful life long friends.  Friends who have challenged me.  Cassie and Susan I am so thankful that God brought us together that first study.  I am going to miss you sisters.

Driving away from Shelton two years ago, I never would have imagined that I would connect to a place and to the people so much in such a short amount of time, but I have and I will always be greatful for this stop in Utah along the path the Father has laid out before us.

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The Best Laid Plans..

yeah that’s right you know how it goes….

Anyway….. I think that God is teaching Brandon and me that the best laid plans are really out of our hands…. Where we are sitting right now with a house full of boxes, getting ready to move back to the Shelton, WA area is not where we had planned to be 4 weeks ago, let alone 6 months ago.  We are realizing now how little we actually have figured out.  We know that we have a job, Praise the Lord.  We know we have a place to stay for free for a month, after that who knows, especially if our house doesn’t sell.  We know that we are leaving next Wednesday and heading west.  We know that the Father loves us, and other than that we really don’t know anything.  As hard as that is, I am far more accepting of it than I would have been 2 years ago.  I am learning to trust in the Father’s love for me even when it feels like what I am experiencing is not good.  As Brandon keeps reminding me, “Don’t you think your Daddy wants to give you every good thing.” So to this I cling as we continue to put the fiishing touches on our packing, say good-bye to some great friends, whom we will really miss, and head out.

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