Turning it Over...

Saint Padre Pio, with all his wisdom said, "Pray, hope and don't worry. Worry is useless." Words I find myself repeating over and over.

During a recent homily at church a visiting priest said, "What a terrible insult to Jesus to worry." "Live in Jesus not in worry." Ouch! that hit home.

God is constantly reminding me!

However, genetically, I am predestined to worry!! A definite flaw in my makeup! I come from a LONG line of anxious people. Which is why at 3:00 o'clock in the morning I find myself up blogging and not sleeping!

Tomorrow (okay really today in a couple of hours) I take Mike in for his elbow surgery. And instead of sleeping I'm awake thinking and what ifing myself crazy!

So, I'm going to head to bed. Offer up my prayers. Tell satan to take a flying leap and leave me alone, I'm turning it all over to God. God ALWAYS takes care of us! He's proven it to me over and over again. (Not that He even needs to!)

Trust in God

My hard working husband has had elbows that look like this for some time:

They had never caused him a lot of pain. Only when bumped.

Several years ago a doctor diagnosed him with bone spurs. Not an uncommon ailment. We knew the only way to correct it however was surgery. The only problem would be that he needed to schedule his vacation for the time of the surgery because he is our sole provider and we really can't manage without his income for any length of time. With his elbows never being painful and him always being able to continue working with them vacation was always spent for other reasons and he never had the surgery.

Last month the pain he was in with the left elbow became unbearable and constant. He made an appointment and met with an orthopedic surgeon a few weeks ago to find out what had changed. The doctor discovered the left elbow bone spur actually was cracked. Thus, surgery can not be put off any longer!!

Now we prepare for his vacation to co-ordinate with his surgery and get ourselves prepared financially to handle him being out of work for longer than 2 weeks in case the healing doesn't go as planned.

I'm praying hard and trusting in God!! But I must admit that this is a lot harder for my human flawed self to do than I care to say.

The other morning I had a dream my father was riding in a car with me while I drove and he was holding my hand. He didn't speak, but I saw his hand and his face and knew he was there. Do you think this may be God's way of letting me know He's hearing my prayers? And I need to just trust?

It Can't Always Be Done My Way

Not every day can be picture perfect when home schooling, or in the world of stay-at-home moms in general.

Our kids don't work the same way we do and this can sometimes cause frustration. I like to sit and get all my work done. I also like to plan and spread my work load oat if I have a big project to do. My kids do NOT work like me! This makes me stop and wonder... Was I always this diligent about my work, or did I procrastinate too at their age?

Here is Faith this morning doing her handwriting page. Some pages have 2 sides to do and some only one. Today was a 2 sided day, causing her to be unhappy. We discussed wasting energy on complaining about the work load, and just get it done. She did! And is now a happy girl again! Lesson learned? Maybe? Time will tell.

As Jacob gets older and finds other things to fill his time, such as telephone, texting, and facebook, his skills of procrastination have gone to an all new level! Thankfully Mike and I have been able to control some of this with rules and guidelines, but he still works at a different pace and method than I would.

Haley hasn't quite reached the level of social life Jacob has, but she would much rather not work as a general rule. Just how her personality is. She has a book to read and a report to write on it. I don't think she has even cracked the book open yet. However, she has gotten 100% on the last 3 reports she has written so I can't say there is anything really wrong with her methods. It just isn't how I would do it.

Today God I pray for patience and understanding. They are individuals who have their own system of accomplishing the work, and it isn't always going to be the way I would do things. Is it okay to let them go and do it their way, and if they fail just pick up the pieces?

Simple but True

Being a stay-at-home mom who home schools is wonderful! There are some days that are a real challenge, but I prefer to look at those as opportunities to draw me closer to God in prayer.

I love taking care of my husband, because he works so hard in order for me to be at home with our kids. Having a single income isn't always easy again allowing me to draw closer to God in prayer for guidance, and control of financial anxieties.

Thank you God for this opportunity, I pray what I do everyday brings you glory.