A Little Inconvenience

These past two weeks have been a whirlwind.  We are a pretty "on-the-go" kind of family, but even I am having a hard time keeping up with us lately.  For the most part our busyness has been due to fun things, like birthday parties, dinners with friends, and trips home to visit family.  I do believe you can get yourself too busy, though.  And lately, I feel like we are right on the cusp of that. 

Oh Lord, please keep my focus on you in the busyness of life.  May I not get myself so distracted that I lose sight of your purposes and your glory.

And for those of you keeping score, we are now in our sixth week of having only one car.  We have had to be pretty creative and very trusting in God's provisions.   We have had to be flexible and willing to be inconvenienced.  We have had to even ask for...gulp...help.  Yes, for two people who can get a little prideful in their independence, that can sometimes be the hardest part.  But help we have asked for and help is what God has sent our way.  God has indeed provided for us and made a way for us each and every day, mainly through generous friends, who have been willing to be a little inconvenienced, too.  So, for the most part, we have been able to get everyone where they need to be, when they need to be there, which has been nothing short of God's awesome grace and covering.  Praise you, Jesus!

Our car situation is still up in the air.  This is something that normally would have had me completely undone. But God has given both Eric and I a peace in the midst of all of this.  We are unsure if this is a GIGANTIC test of patience or if there is some other lesson in all of this that we are suppose to learn.  Or maybe there are multiple lessons that we just need a refresher course in, like learning to lay down our pride, learning to be flexible, learning to rely fully on our Creator, and learning to keep a right perspective during a trial. Yes, I have still had my freak out moments from time to time, but I have been trying to keep the perspective that even though being down a vehicle is an inconvenience for us, it is certainly not the hardest thing we will ever walk through. Praise you Jesus, that we are not dealing with a sick child or something worse than doing without a material possession for a time. 

We just had lunch today with my beautiful friend, Karalee and her husband, Derek.  Many of you know that Karalee was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer a year and a half ago.  After much prayer, chemotherapy, and radiation, Karalee is now cancer-free.  It was such a blessing today to sit with her and Derek and discuss "normal" things like potty training and preschool.  Conversations that may seem a little mundane, but after her battle (and it was a battle), it was so refreshing!  I was just so thankful that today those were the most pressing topics on their minds.  Praise you, Jesus!

God, thank you for when you inconvenience us to teach us something.  Thank you for taking us out of our comfort zone, so that we can truly meet you and learn to know you better.  Thank you for showing us that we need to be living outside of our comfort zone more often than not.  And bringing us to those places so that we can truly get a Kingdom perspective on life.  

Whether it is potty training, car woes, or cancer...life is full of twists and turns.  Some are simply inconveninces, while others are life-altering situations.  No matter what trial we may be walking through at any given time, there is always an opportunity for growth and learning through the adversity.  And more importantly, an opportunity to let God meet us where we are and grow us.  May we always walk through it in your grace, Jesus!

God, you are GOOD!

Out of the Mouth of Sethie...

Special note:  He will not touch a banana.

Working Out

It is always nice to have a workout partner.

And sometimes you are blessed enough to get two of them.

Seth stuck around for about five minutes, but Biz really gave it a go.  About ten minutes in, he shedded his shirt.  Then a couple of minutes later, he ran into the living room so that I could feel how fast his heart was beating.  He was so proud that he could actually feel it pounding "through his skin".

All in all, I think they had quite a workout.

True Romance

True romance is when on the only day of the week that you actually have to sleep in, you wake up early to take your boys out for donuts and a little Valentine shopping for your wife (when you aren't even suppose to be exchanging gifts), and let her sleep in instead.

True romance is when you sneak in a new set of kitchen knives that your wife has been eyeing for over a month, because you know that it is what she really wants.

True romance is knowing that a practical gift will mean more to your wife than a froo froo gift. It shows that you truly know her.
 

Yes, the meaning of romance has changed for me over the years.  But so has the meaning of other words like contentment, success, and love.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." 
1 Corinthians 3:4-7

Thank you, my love, for showing me Christ daily in how well you love. 

And thank you for how well you love my other two little Valentines.

I am blessed beyond words and so very grateful for the life we share.

Like a Man

Caleb fell and scrapped his knee while running on the track at school.

I asked him if it hurt and he said, "Yes, but I cried like a man, like this...."

Then he grunted. 

Like a man.

Decisions and Donuts

As I have mentioned before, we have been working a lot lately on getting Seth to make his OWN decisions and not just take on his brother's.  It is a process, but we are getting there.

A couple of Saturdays ago, Eric took the boys out for a donut breakfast...in their pjs.  (Because everybody knows that donuts taste better in pjs.)  We had already prepped Caleb to make sure that Seth chose his donut first and then for big brother to praise him a bit for making his own decision.  Yes, good decision making needs some encouragment and Caleb is quite the encourager.  Most days.

Well, before they could get out of the door, Seth had a decision to make...what shoes to wear.  We hadn't even considered this to be a big choice making opportunity.  Eric just nonchalantly asked Seth to get a pair of shoes from his closet and put them on,  so they could head out.  We expected him to put on either crocs or tennis shoes, like always.  But to our surprise, Seth took this opportunity to unexpectantly exercise his decision-making abilities.

Eric and I both started to protest, but quickly caught ourselves.  After all, our little Sethie had done what was asked of him.  And the decision was obviously his own.  So, Eric and I got to practice a little parental restraint, while Seth got to practice a little decision making.  WIN/WIN!

Plus, We Workmans are not necessarily known for our fashion savviness.  But Seth certainly thought he looked pretty snazzy.  So, it was all good.

 

And the donuts were pretty good, too!

Road Trip

To Eric's delight, he has gotten to attend three UK games this season.  To his dismay, although he showed up in Mississippi a couple of weeks ago, the Wildcats really didn't.  

Oh well.

Losing to Ole Miss was quite a shock and definitely a downer for the Big Blue Nation, but I think the road trip was definitely still worth it for the Workman boys.  Gary, Drew, and Eric had a great time traveling down to Oxford, Mississippi together.  It did make for a late night and a lot of traveling, but I don't think any of them really minded.  They got to see their beloved Cats play in person with a couple of their favorite people.

Can't really call THAT a loss, can you?

Plus the little Workman boys got to wake up to their Pepaw being here. 

That is always a bonus! 

A Big Day

Today was Caleb's 100th day of Kindergarten!

So, his class had a big celebration with games, special snacks, and lots of counting to one hundred!  And what celebration is complete without getting to wear your pjs to school and getting to wear cool "100" goggles?  In your favorite color, I might add.

Seth had a big day, too.  He made his bed by himself for the first time...without being asked. 

If you know me very well at all, you know that he learned this task from his daddy.  I still struggle with remembering to make my own bed every day, so I have not yet made this a requirement for the boys.  But this weekend, Eric got Seth involved in the bed making process and he took right to it!  Today, he insisted on helping me make my bed and even gave me some pointers along the way. Yes, he even corrected me a time or two on proper pillow placement and at what point in the bed making process that you put the pillows back on the bed. 

I lost track of him for a bit, but when I caught up with him, this is what he had been up to:

Very nice job!

Breakfast in Bed

On Saturday night, as I was tucking Biz into bed, he made a special request that he had never made before.  After I finished singing to him, he gave me a hug and in a very sleepy voice said, "Mommy, will you bring me breakfast in bed tomorrow morning?"

It is the simple pleasures...

Just Like Daddy