During the summer we overscheduled the children, swam only a handful of times, didn't see enough cousins, didn't feel quite enough sand in our toes, and could have gone to Bahama Buck's more often. Next summer will be better! The cool thing about reflection is that there are also things that went well I would like to repeat.
I was responsible for two major activities through church during the summer. One was to plan and head up a Cub Scout Two Day Camp. This required meetings, phone calls, following-ups, more phone calls, planning, etc. It was nice to pull from my archives of experience and use executive functioning skills I don't usually need as a mommy. It was a beatiful thing to see it in motion as everyone pulled together to put on special, fun days for the boys. It rocked. Not because of me, but because of the collective lot of us.
I was also responsible for Evening Entertainment for Girls Camp. This also rocked. Additionally, it took a lot of time to plan and put things together. There were days the dishes sat in the sink because I went from one thing to the next. I missed the gym for a month. My social life pretty much went on hold while every single spare minute went towards magnifying my church callings. I did this willingly, knowing it was a brief sacrifice that would be worth it.
Each night and morning I would pray for divine guidance on how to best spend my extra time each day. I knew my priority was tending to my family needs and running a household. I am so, so, so easily distracted and struggle to manage my time well. I can easily waste valuable time on things that are not uplifting or offer me zero positive input /recharge. It was important to me that I listened and tried to be in a place to be worthy of the inspiration I sought.
Shortly after these events finalized, our family thought a major change would be happening. The job we prayed for over many years to find for Mike finally presented itself (for the second time). We attended the temple and really wanted to make sure it was ideal. We took our time and gave it more thought than we initially imagined. We asked the employer a lot of questions that needed an extra week to be answered. We moved forward with the plan to accept an offer. I held my breath hoping for the best, but reminded myself to be ready for His will.
The day before the offer letter was to arrive, everything fell apart. The company was releasing all top level employees and there would be no offer letter coming in. While this sounds like devestating news, I laughed at the remarkable timing of it all. I knew we were protected from the stress unemployment. I loved that I was busy trying to get closer to my Heavenly Father and magnify my callings at a time when this happened. It helped us see the beauty of a protected situation and a chance for us to really look at how good we have it. It's not perfect, but we are working hard to lead our little family in the right direction with all our might.
We are still able (and strive moreso since that happened) to make time for family scripture with Mike on the phone and more meaningful Family Home Evenings on Sunday nights before he flies out of town. Mike holds montly PPI's with each child now and I continue to try to focus any extra time I have on something worth while and uplifting. If I could take all my happy insides and toss them into the air, it would look like all the beautiful clouds that have been in the sky this week (minus the rain ones).
Perscpective is a wonderful gift that can come wrapped in so many different kinds of packages.
