Friday, May 25, 2007
If you’ve been hanging around here long enough, you know that I love rainy days and thunderstorms. I check the weather forecast daily to see if there’s any rain in the future. Lately, the whole state of Florida has joined me in wishing for rain. There is a serious drought going on and wildfires are popping up everywhere. Just this morning we opened the front door to get the paper and the smell of smoke was thick in the air. Daily we pray for rain, and it’s easy to get discouraged. The more time that passes without it, the easier it becomes to believe that our prayers are not heard, that the rain will never come.
But yesterday evening a strange thing happened. With no warning — absolutely no hint of rain in the forecast — the skies opened up and it rained for a good ten minutes. It took me completely by surprise. Naturally, I was delighted! And though it was a very brief rain, it was exactly the ammount needed for right now. Any more, and the parched earth would not have been able to absorb it all, and there would have been flooding.
I know several people who are going through difficult times right now. Troubles seem to drag on and on with no end in sight, and I know if I were them, it would be easy for me to wonder if God was hearing my prayers. But yesterday, that little bit of rain reminded me that we are never forgotten, and that sometimes God answers unexpectedly, but that He always gives us exactly what we need for our situation. We only need to keep praying for rain.
On a lighter note, here’s a layout I did the other night of Bobby and Mia. I just love these pictures. They completely capture the adoring way that Mia looks at her daddy. If there was sound to go with this, you would hear the tickled peals of laughter elicited every time he spins her around or throws her up in the air! That sound puts joy in my heart.
Click for credits.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
I was just lecturing someone I love the other day about how she needs to stop and recognize the things she does well in her life and to give herself credit for those things. She tends to overlook her own good points, and focus on the things in her life she needs to work on. I admire her desire to improve herself, but I challenged her to also recognize her own triumphs. We can learn just as much from our triumphs as we can from our mistakes. And besides, it is possible (and acceptable) to give ourselves a pat on the back every once in a while without becoming prideful. Having said that, I’m going to take my own advice, and blog a couple things I was recognized for recently.
A friend nominated this layout of mine for Best All About Me Page in DigiShopTalk’s 2007 Scrapper’s Choice Awards, and I actually won an honorable mention for it! Thank you, Ebie!
Also, my Candy Graphics line of digital scrapbooking products was Digi Pick of the Day yesterday! These are probably some of my own personal favorites, as far as my own work goes, so it was an honor to have them recognized.
In other news, today was Bobby’s birthday. He’s never been into having a big deal made of his birthday, but I’m the opposite. I think your birthday should be your special day. So even though we kept it low key, I told him I’d go out and get anything he wanted for lunch, my treat (he chose Xaxby’s), and I made him his favorite dinner with strawberry shortcake for dessert since he’s not into birthday cake. I just wanted him to feel special because he is, and he deserves it. I am a lucky, lucky girl to have him.
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Friday, May 18, 2007
Man…Haven’t updated in a while. That’s because life has been…just a lot to handle lately. Nothing bad, just a lot of normal daily things all piling up on top of each other. Kind of like the pile of clean laundry over by the dryer that needs to be folded. *sigh* I hate folding laundry. It makes my {wimpy} arms hurt.
Bobby has been cramming financial planning information into his brain for pretty much four weeks straight now. He’s been scoring really well on all his quizzes, and the people who check in on his training progress say he should have no problem passing the Series 7 (one of the major licensing tests he has to take). So that’s good. The downside is, he’s kind of getting studied out. He studies pretty much all day, and sometimes late into the night, and it’s making him a little loopy. Right now he’s in the other room singing to me, in a falsetto, some song he just made up about a monkey. He needs more sleep and less caffeine, if you ask me.
Meanwhile, I’ve had four pretty hectic days at work back-to-back, dealing with clients whose lack of knowledge (I’m trying so hard to be polite and not say “stupidity”) was driving me a little insane. Okay, a lot insane. And in the midst of work chaos, I still have to take care of my little Mia-pie, who has recently decided to assert her will on a more regular basis. Yeah, so basically I’m just feeling pretty overwhemled with everything that’s on my plate right now.
I can manage, and I know none of this is permanent. Someday in the not too distant future, Bobby’s job will be enough to sustain us so that I don’t have to work anymore, and I can just be a mommy (and a digital scrapbook designer). And my brain won’t feel so fragmented, and I won’t feel so ADD. And I won’t feel like a terrible mother who is incapable of handling another child. I really do want more kids, but right now I feel like another baby would just push me over the edge. But like I said, it won’t always be that way. I hope.
I am really looking forward to moving to Knoxville, even though we haven’t even started thinking about packing up yet, which is a huge stress (no comments, Mom–I know it needs to get done!). It will be comforting to be only a day’s drive away from family. Hopefully it will mean more frequent visits from the grandparents, more frequent visits to the grandparents. My mother-in-law is trying to sell her house in New Mexico so she can move out to Knoxville to be close to us, and even that is starting to sound good to me. To have an instant babysitter available whenever. Man. That would be nice. I think it’s been like six months since Bobby and I went out on a date together. Yeah. Anyways, it’s something I look forward to whenever I get completely frustrated with our current situation.
So, feel caught up now? That makes one of us.
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