Courageous Joy

Thursday - Saturday

I'm trying girls....Mom and Dad.....life has hit warp speed...and every time I think it is slowing down....it doesn't. Last week I thought it would slow down but had an out of town PWOC training. This week I thought it would slow down but had United Co-op and a PWOC project night. Next week I'll have a full slate and the week after that a PWOC Planning retreat.... A huge PRAISE - we have - SEVEN - 7 - women on our board. This is huge for our small base. There was one lady leading when I got here and she was ready for me to take over. I begged off for 6 months. I've been working for 3 years to see a leadership team and I'm thrilled that God extended our assignment here a year and I can function with a board for this year. Last night one of the ladies said, "De'Etta one thing I can tell about you - you are determined." We all laughed and someone else said, "stubborn"....but it made me day to have women sitting around laughing, excited about what God is going to do on our base....such joy to savor. God has blessed us. Yeah, yeah...we're still small but we're pure gold. LOL I think by the end of May life should slow down. I pray.

Thursday - For the life of me I cannot remember why I was too busy to update the blog. I remember being busy.

Friday- Mike took the day off! This is great as he's been working real long hours (like today is a day off and he's been in 11 hours at this point). I was thrilled he took the day off.

We all took care of produce co-op.

Mike took me to lunch and we talked.

I raced to the base for PWOC project night. Unfortunately, I forgot the key to the building. Mike and Josiah RACED up to the base to let us in...it was a hot wait. ::snort:: I love these project nights. Several of our ladies weren't able to make it; but we still had 6. Rachel worked on Bible Study (but really we all talked with her and took the opportunity to get to know her more - she's a new 20 yo fresh from an assignment in Guam), Laura cross stitched, Martha sewed curtains, Sherri and I worked on photo albums, Yolanda worked on stamping cards......I love these nights. I have photos but I don't have permission to post from any of the ladies.

Sherri and I closed the building at mid-night. I got 3 more albums transferred and am now in my high school years at Faith Academy, on Luzon. I think I will start my new colorful style when I enter my college years....or maybe when Mike entered my life....seems fitting. ::snort::

Saturday - Determined to get a firm grip on Bible study for Tuesday and to get things done around the home, I skipped the gym today. It's not too bad because I know I'm over that 40 min a day "most days" mandate....I did work out every day from M-Fri.

Mike called and we had an invigorating discussion about a certain Biblical word and the strange way translators handle it. We haven't settled our discussion and he decided not to go there in his sermon tomorrow....and I emailed an author who defines this word one way and asked for sources. ::snort::

Mike fixed my grain mill and I dreamed of baking bread - but it never happened.

I spent most the day working on the bills. It's not that we have so many.....Ummm...this begins with me collecting all the reciepts I can find from the house, the dressers, my purse, his car ::snort:: and entering them into Microsoft money, then I download from the bank in AK, then I match up and figure out what we forgot we spent, THEN I can pay bills. It works. I know it sounds haphazard but most of it is bookwork as we do the whole Dave Ramsey envelope thing there isn't a great fear that we will bounce anything.....cash is cash.

I DID get laundry done.

I DID get a lot of Bible study done. I am immersed in Deborah. I can't tell you how much the book of Judges is speaking to me. I think I'll order the Precept study on Judges and work through the rest of the book....but if I do that I won't have time for that other study project that has been saved for the summer. ARGH - so much to study and so little time. ::snort::

I wanted to do a bunch of blogging things, read blogs, work on an entry for the HSBA blog, totally finish my Deborah study (though I've not felt totally prepared ANY WEEK OF THIS STUDY and yet it's been speaking to hearts), get some stuff done for the Central Region PWOC website....well the list goes on....WORK ON PHOTOS.....

BUT I determined to do "first things first", to take care of the big rocks for the day....and so here it is at 9:35 p.m. The kids are in bed. Mike is still not home. I've got the BIGGEST two rocks done....and I'll just have to trust that God knows how much time I need for this Bible study, and how busy Sunday and Monday will be.....right God???? You know. You know! I've got reams of printed commentary to take to bed and sort through.....and I still have Escape to finish, or I could go do a few photos...maybe if I did a page a day.....

Maybe it's time to change some big rocks into gravel.....or some little rocks into sand....or something.....