summer 2011

summer 2011

Paul and I, all 16 kids and Ashley, Benjamin's wife...Christmas 2012

Paul and I, all 16 kids and Ashley, Benjamin's wife...Christmas 2012
family

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

a trip to costco??!!!!

Yes, don't mind if I do! Emily renewed our joint membership and wished me a Merry Christmas. She had yesterday off, my sweet nurse practitioner daughter. Can you tell I'm so proud of her? She's worked very hard to get where she is, and I think she's happy. She certainly liked finding this cider yesterday...


We brought Jonny along too, and he found new snow pants. There are just too many good things at Costco. We browsed the home section, and the bathroom faucets! The flooring! Emily found a decent shoe shelf, which she didn't realize how much she needed until she found it. I bought a 12 pack of croissants, Camille loves them...only 3 or 4 were eaten, and the dogs finished them off during the night, oops, they weren't put up high enough. Bad puppies. They usually sleep in Char and Cam's room, but Lydia is spending the night, and Danielle...

Anyway, we had enough fun in Costco, buying some food for the wedding and trying a few samples.

We had lunch at MesaGrande. Who doesn't love a little chipotle seasoned grilled chicken with lettuce, rice, cilantro, homemade salsa...? Nothing fried, no carb overload. I ate half, and took the rest home to Sonja K., for a happy after school snack.

The search for a decent dress to wear to the wedding continues. I am not particularly picky, it's just that for my size and body type, I can't just wear anything. I found a dress in Burlington that I liked but it was hot, and uncomfy, and I looked like an old lady. Mrs. Roper from "Three's Company". I found one last night at Kohl's, it was the right color, style, and price (an online return!), but it was a few sizes too big, which is nice, ha, but it was baggy and I looked just sorry in it.

I have one to wear, but it's loud, and clingy, and I don't love it. I like quiet and billowy, but slimming, and it has to be cheap and understated. Wait, maybe I am a little picky.

Anyway. Three days to the wedding. And today, I have Anne coming over, and Lydia is here. It's challenging to do school lessons, but we work hard at it. I think you can spend so much time in life trying to pave the way for smooth sailing, instead of learning to sail around things, work with the things that come up, and do what you can.


Went shopping with these girls the other night...sometimes I wish I had all the money in the world to get them everything they want, but of course that wouldn't be good either. But they tried on these dresses, and I thought they looked so nice!

"Oh, get them!", I said, not considering that perhaps they were trying on expensive dresses just BECAUSE. My girls are cost conscious, and I assumed these were on sale or clearance, but oops, $40 each, um, then Charlotte asked, "Why on earth would you even try them on?" I did consider, but it's just a lot.


It was a beautiful night. We stopped at McDonalds for some dollar menu food, I had four or five nuggets, two fries, and a diet Coke. We haven't been there in ages, and they really liked it.

Tomorrow, I plan to do most of the food shopping, then bake the cookies for the wedding. Friday is for last minute shopping, the fresh stuff for the salad, ect. Saturday morning early, we'll be in the kitchen at the church, putting the pork roast and beef brisket in the oven, making the macaroni and cheese recipe X ten, cutting up the salad veggies, tidying and organizing and cleaning and setting up. The wedding is in the afternoon, the ceremony outside, and the forecast is beautiful: 67 and sunny. What a nice first day of fall, what nice weather for a wedding!

I am thankful for today. I can't throw anyone under the bus and blab on here about specific trials, but I think we can all agree that even on the best of days, most of us are tempted to feel sorry for ourselves a bit here and there. Maybe we try really hard and aren't appreciated, maybe we're on a different wavelength than our husband half the time, maybe we're a day late and a dollar short and perpetually looking for where we put things. Maybe our knees ache and we can't lose that last fifty pounds and our feet hurt. We all have our things. But when I believe with all of my heart that God works all things together for my good, how does that change things? My feet don't stop hurting, and my kids don't stop saying that Mom drives like a grandma, and it doesn't stop the five cent cans from being bagged with the recycleables, or the towels on the front of the stove from being left all willy-nilly. It doesn't put the shoes neatly on the shelf near the door instead of having them flung all over, and it there will still be a milk jug in the refrigerator with one eighth of an ounce in it because someone didn't feel like rinsing it and putting it in the recycleable bin, which is NOT where the five cent cans go.

The circumstances vary, and sometimes it seems silly how the whole of them can add up and make life seem gloomy. But God doesn't make mistakes, and when we look up, and pray for help, and listen to Him, there is so much to learn! He wants us to get victory, and to endure in temptation, and have peace. It's SO easy to see how someone else should behave, but salvation has to do with ME, and how I take things. Being a mom is a tricky one, because I HAVE to chasten, guide, encourage, and sometimes put my foot down, because I care about my kids and have a responsibility to raise them right, not because I'm irritated or annoyed.

Anyway, I am thankful for the trials too.


Anne just turned two, Lydia just turned three...they keep me hopping.



3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm so thankful for your words today, just the reminder I needed.
"God works all things together for my good"
the way you describe your life on a day to day basis is a testimony of your faith.
Your are doing the best mission work without knowing...Thanks

Anonymous said...

Wise words..it's the drudgery of the everyday. Being aware is half the battle though.
Gorgeous girls, big and small!

Simone

16 blessings'mom said...

You know, when I sit here and write, I just let my mind wander and write, it's so therapeutic, and it straightens things out for me, puts things in perspective. Simone, thank you, my girls are blessings...ha, trials AND blessings. :)