Get your act together, It's FEBRUARY already!!!

Oh my...it seems time just flies by. I can't believe that it is February when just "yesterday" I was making Christmas photos. In the past several weeks, our septic tank has backed up (oh crap!), our frig and freezer have gone on the fritz (they're in a union, you know), the hot water heater quit...heating, and we sprung a delightful leak in our foundation in the bedroom. The frig and freezer are repaired, we're limping the septic tank along, two new heating elements in the hot water tank make for nice hot showers, and now the leak is fixed, albeit there is still no carpet in my bedroom. Life just rolls, doesn't it? God is in control even of this. As I dealt with the many challenges that arose during the week of preparation for Mary's Sweet Sixteen party, I had to just laugh at each of them. "Can it get worse?" I continued to think, always to be corrected, by YES! It could get worse. So, I chose to handle all the little bumps in my plans with as much grace as I could muster. (Yes, I did cry when there was a great possibility that the leak was under our hardwood floor; but I got past that, too.) I tend to let the little things get to me. A crabby person a Wal-Mart (and there's always at least one!), a bad driver pulling out at an in opportune time, an unknown charge on my credit card bill...all these things I could really let eat me up (and sometimes do). BUT! That's not what God wants us to do. He wants us to take it all in stride, knowing that His hand is on even this. He's been with me as I've gone through my pregnancies (including 2 losses); He's been with me as I've watched my precious sister struggle with a chronically ill child, He's been with us as we've closed our business and had to say good-bye to wonderful people whom I love dearly and have sacrificed greatly to try to keep things going. EMMANUEL. God with us. Always.

All in all, I lead a wonderful, privileged life. Not in material things, although there is plenty of that, too, but the privilege of having Jesus Christ as my Savior. The privilege of being born in this free nation. The privilege of health and a marriage that is approaching 18 years. The privilege of knowing some of the most amazing people that God has placed on this earth.

I am privileged, so I will NOT let the little things get me down. And I will do my best to not let the time be taken for granted. I will cherish the little ones in my home and appreciate the teenagers. I've only got 11 months of 2009 left! So I'd better get my act together!