Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Life Lessons....

We interrupt this regularly scheduled post for a touchy-feely-what the heck is she talking about-life lesson. Necessary? It must be. I don't want to write it, but I feel like I must. Eric and I have been taking some classes at our church off for awhile now. We took Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University- twice actually. Eric just finished the Courageous for Men series while I have been taking Courageous for Families. If you haven't seen Courageous, you should. A-MA-ZING. Just get a box of tissues first because it's a cryer. We love the classes and the people we meet.

Click the link below to catch a scene from Courageous.....
http://www.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK//video/screenplay/vi3459357721/

We have been talking about gratitude and blessings. It's so easy to get caught up in all the "if only's" in our life or the "when we have ____" things will be better (yeah, so guilty. Daily I say that about the "Tanque Verde House" as our future home will now be known as).  I know how blessed we are. I am so grateful for our family, our dogs, our friends, our house (even though it's like living in a shoebox, I am still grateful for the roof our heads), our cars (yes, even the truck), our church, Eric's job etc. But then I really think. Like, stop surfing Pinterest thinking- heavy right? I am so thankful that I have parents that I respect. Parents that growing up, I watched work hard for us, no matter what. My Dad had two jobs (granted 2 really cool jobs- being a fighter pilot and all) and my mom was ALWAYS home for us after school with snacks ready and for awhile, she taught child birth classes (much cooler when I was pregnant than when I was a teenager- always fun when you open a closet and a linen uterus falls on your face) and then later on, she was writing- which she still does now. They taught us how to respect everyone and told us we had to work for what we wanted. They never portrayed the attitude that 'society owed it to us'. If there was a problem, we were taught to evaluate it by breaking it down and finding the root of the problem, not automatically assuming it was someone else's fault.

I am so grateful for that. Our kids will learn these lessons as well. They will learn what hard work means and how to be responsible people. I am so happy that I am married to someone who feels the same. Eric works so hard to provide for his family. He goes to work at 5:30 am and gets home about 5:00 pm. Because he is a hard worker, he sometimes has side jobs he needs to do to make sure our budget works. The kids often ask me where daddy is, and I tell him he's at work and when they say, as they always do, "Again! Why?", they know the answer and lately Delaney has been answering it for me. She says, "He's at work cuz he lubs us and works hard to make sure we can eat". She knows that her daddy won't let her down. What an awesome feeling!

Another lesson that is a little tougher to swallow is "Love your neighbor". I am so great at this one. There are certain people that I just don't love... I want to, but they just make  it so difficult. When things get difficult, I often just freak out. I start yelling and turning red and ultimately the evening ends with Swiss Rolls, chocolate milk and a headache. But not anymore. If anything, the lessons that God is laying before us, is one of patience and empathy. I know now that when problems arise, we need to look within at what we are doing and how to make it better for our family. And have the empathy for the other person and pray that they can find a way to have some peace.  Having that Trust is hard, but is something that we are willing to practice.  I know this post is all over the place and I'm sorry for that.

I think about our life right now and when I feel stressed, I think about one of my best friends. She is a single mom of two kids, no dad in the picture, she works FULL TIME, takes care of her house, her car, drives her kids to soccer practice, takes them to the fair, doesn't have cable, doesn't go shopping or go out all the time, she does what she does, for her kids. She appreciates her family, budgets her money and shows her kids how to act. I admire that. I admire someone who will do anything to make a better life for her family.


I love that about Eric. I love that about my parents. I know that when our kids grow up, they will feel that way. I may not work outside the house, but I work my boo-tay off cleaning, organizing, playing, cooking, etc. I remember that about my mom  and I am a better mom and wife because of her. I want that kind of stuff to be ingrained in my kids. Furthermore, I want Brody to see that Eric does the baths.... he helps out and that makes him Da Man. Just sayin'. I will always be there for my kids, I will understand the line between "being their friend" and being their mom- that line seems to be getting smaller these days as I look around. It's so important to us to show the kids how important THEY are- and we do that by providing for them no matter what the cost.


Now back to the regular scheduled post................ *exhale*

2 comments:

  1. Boo-YAH!! Nice post, my friend. I've said it before, but your kids are lucky to have you as their mom!

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  2. Just saw this post this morning...feeling very blessed to have you as my daughter :) Thank you for all the kind words...someday, Delaney and Brody will say all those lovely things about you and Eric and you'll know all the days at home with them were SO worth it. xoxo Mom

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I totally appreciate you taking the time to comment! I love it! However, I reserve the right to delete any comment that is inappropriate or malicious. No need for that here:) Thanks in advance!

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