Over the years I have fought against change and tried to have a tight grasp on my day, only to come to the realization that I cannot control EVERYTHING. I've also come to find that the more I try to hold onto my schedule, the easier it falls away from me and the more I miss out on the actual experience of living. My life has slowly transitioned from one long "To Do" list into that of "here's a general idea of what I want to happen, but I have to be open to how things get there." I think I'm FINALLY growing up. Just in time, too...
This morning I woke up at 5am, played on the computer for an hour. Went back to sleep and snuggled with Tony until 7:30 when I had to get up, go to the bathroom, have breakfast, and get ready for church. I left to help set up the sanctuary for service and then taught Sunday school. To say that these kids have a lot of energy and a lot to say is an understatement. My plans were immediately altered when Lori informed me that about 45minutes of the class would now be used to practice for their Christmas program. The attention span and energy levels of the nine children this morning also led me to re-think my lesson for the day. The theme was serving GOD by serving others. I think that the general idea was reached but not in the original structure I had set for myself. I had some fun props to help demonstrate serving (a tennis racket and balls, a game, a worksheet, some analogies, a story, trivia game, snack, etc.) and things need to be changed on the spot to accommodate the "climate" of the room. Either way, it was a nice way to meet the children and parents of youth in the church, to serve my church, to teach about how we help serve our purpose, and despite the cold weather, to have some fun. I think I will volunteer to help about once a month, but I am sure glad that Corinthia was there to help with crowd control. Today was challenging in a good way. It challenged me to be adaptable and to change what I am doing to be more effective, rather than simply sticking to a plan out of principle.
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| even have a stocking for you, baby girl! xoxox |
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| ...thanks, Mom, for all of the blue ornaments!... |
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| this is my favorite part of decorating the tree every year! |
After I got home from church, I made Tony and I a bacon and turkey sandwich, grapes, and chips for a quick lunch. We pulled down the holiday decorations from the attic and I couldn't resist the urge to get to work on decorating the house. I hung the wreath on the front door, hung some bells on the doors in the house, decorated the mantle and hung our stockings above the fireplace, and hung another wreath in the front room while Tony assembled the tree. There is some dining table festive pieces I intend to use for Christmas dinner, but I am not going to put those out until the week of Christmas. I asked Tony if he'd hang one strand of lights (on the pre-hung hooks) along the roof line on the front of the house and he said absolutely not. I guess he is not a fan of outdoor displays of holiday spirit. Although I tried every trick I know (bribery, flattery, eye-batting, begging, etc.) to get him to hop on that ladder and string the lights, I failed. Another year, I will try again or do it myself, but this year, I give up. I settled for the fact that this year I get to have "MY" blue tree and that tomorrow when it is light out, I can hang some garland around the front porch railings. Oh well, I think it will still be nice!!! It was fun taking out all of the ornaments and lighting the tree as darkness fell across the Sierras! I'm so excited for this Christmas, Monkey~I wonder if you'll be here early to share it with us...
For dinner I made a cheesy, bacon-y, ranch-y chicken recipe that my cousin Mandy had passed along to me a week or two ago. It was super tasty (we ate it with mashed potatoes and corn)...thanks for the yummy suggestion, MSJ! We'll definitely be making this again...I did add one thing to make it "my own"...I added sauteed mushrooms with the bacon and cheese...next time I'll try and remember to take pictures of how it turns out...we ate it before I remembered to do that this time!
Now Tony is out in the living room playing his video games while I play a few games of solitaire and wheel of fortune on the computer while listening to music on Youtube.com
Tomorrow I plan on hanging around the house in the morning because a lady should be stopping by to fix the recessed light in the kitchen, dropping off a necklace I broke to Darcie so it can be sent in and fixed, decorating the front porch with garland, reading in my 40 days of purpose book for small group, writing in my belly book-as I forgot to do that on Thursday, and packing my suitcase to have my items ready should I go into labor.
Hope you are all enjoying this last stretch before the new year! Peyton is definitely still active and growing bigger by the day (as evidenced by my completely stretched and active belly). Wish I could spend the holidays with everyone back in Wisconsin, but am glad that our little girl is growing healthy and happy and that she will be worth not being able to fly these next couple of weeks!
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