Too Busy

Those who know me well know that I thrive in busyness. I love it. I love a full calendar. I love to get out of the house often. "Go" is my middle name. But even I have to admit that it's been a little much lately. We've been a tad too busy, and I'm ready to slow it down and have a few calm days somewhere in between the crazy (although fun) ones. Ever since the week before Jonah's birthday, we have hardly stopped or spent much time at home, unless we've had others over. I've started making deliberate choices to say no to some things for next week, so I expect next week to be a little quieter around these parts.

But as far as what we've been up to this week....Joel and I went to Dallas Sunday afternoon, and my parents kept Jonah. This has been a trip I've been looking forward to for months. Joel had a conference to attend, and I was going to play my heart out for two days straight, doing fun stuff, shopping, and hanging out with some dear friends. We first went to visit our friends Holly and Shane and see their newborn, Haven, as well as her big brother Tyce. It was so much fun and brought back all kinds of memories from our first year of marriage and being friends and neighbors with this amazing couple. We would always laugh our heads off together, and it's still always really fun to spend time with them. Wish we could do it more often! So that was a huge blessing.

Then, Sunday night, my car started making a weird noise, and we took it in Monday morning to a mechanic in Euless, and they told us it would not be fixed until Wednesday. We were planning to go back to Tyler around noon on Tuesday, so that definitely changed a lot of our plans. Pretty much nothing went as planned for the trip. But it was still soooo good! When we left the car to be fixed, we walked to the Starbucks next door and were stranded there for three and a half hours until the other conference attendees from our church could drive to the Metroplex to pick us up. I can think of lots worse places to get stranded! Our Starbucks morning began of the sweetest times I'd had with the Lord in His Word, and I felt an overwhelming peace that God was absolutely involved in the details of this situation, and even though my plans had been changed, He had allowed this to happen for a very good reason. You see, I had been excitedly planning to go to IKEA on this trip and spend birthday money on a few things I'd already decided I'd wanted. No, I pretty much thought I needed them. That was one of my major objectives for the trip, and I had planned to do it as early on Monday as possible. Excited is probably not a strong enough word. I was borderline obsessed. But it was so great how the Lord completely prevented me from being able to do that. I no longer had a way to drive myself around, so I couldn't go buy the stuff I had wanted to buy. And I'm saying it was a good thing because I had such amazing time with Him and productive time spent on a writing project, and I really doubt that would have happened had I been able to shop first. I doubt I would have chosen time with Him first. Even though I had wanted to be able to do that with Him on the trip, sadly my first priority was the shopping. And I know if I'd been able to buy the stuff first, I would have been on my little "stuff high" as I call it, and there's nothing like materialism to block my focus and fellowship with the Lord. So it ended up being quite a gift for me. I spent the majority of my time at the hotel, but laying out at the pool some and hanging out in the room proved to be very restful and provided opportunities for talking on the phone to some friends I hadn't talked to in a while. One of them was my college roommate and friend since 7th grade, Amber, whom I've sadly lost a lot of contact with over the last year. It was a wonderful, sweet reunion as we were able to reconnect and hear about what the Lord has done in our lives since we last talked. I was in tears. It was such a good conversation, and I realized again how much I love her and our friendship. I've missed that girl. And what is even better is that she is coming into town this weekend, and we're planning to get together at some point, if it all works out.

One of my best friends, Megan, was able to come Monday night and pick me up from the hotel, and we hung out that evening, which was so fun and always uplifting. We ate at Panera, drove around, went to her new house, reminisced, talked a LOT, and then decided we needed more food, so we ended up at Pei Wei for lettuce wraps. We ate well that night, to say the least! It was so fun and so great to hear how the Lord has been faithful to answer her prayers and fulfill some of the deep longings she's had since I've known her. She is full of wisdom, and I love her and am so enjoying God's blessings with her. Needless to say, the crazy, frustrating car-trouble provided numerous opportunities for God to show Himself off and do sweet things for my soul. I had to hitch a ride back to Tyler with some of the others from our church that went to the conference, while Joel stayed behind an extra day to wait on the car. He just got home late last night, and it feels good to have all three of us back together again. We were also incredibly blessed in a big way concerning the car expense and God's provision once again. I am humbled by His mercy and His generosity that sometimes makes itself known through other willing vessels within the body of Christ. Oh, how we have felt God's love this week!! Have I mentioned that yet? =)

As for Jonah, he just gets funnier every day. And sweeter...I think. He is certainly testing some boundaries, but I must say that as long as we are consistent in our response to that, he really reacts well and seems to do well within the boundaries. I've seen where he is definitely starting to be motivated by praise and approval. The other day he was in the guest room playing with his new train (and it took a few days for him to figure out how to do some of the things on his own), and he came running into the room where I was, excitedly shouting, "I did the yellow one!! I did it! I did it!" It was the first time I'd seen him really proud of himself for something, but it was funny that he went across the house to find me, tell me, and see my reaction. Having no idea what he was talking about really, I congratulated him, proudly exclaiming "Good job, Jonah!" And I really saw something in him that loved my words. They affected him like I'd never seen before. Maybe he'll be a typical firstborn after all! Our main problem this week is that when he doesn't want to do something I ask him, He tells me, "No way, Jose." Seriously! What am I supposed to say to that?! It's so funny, yet naughty. Sometimes, it's "No way, Jose, Mommy!" I think we laughed at it a few too many times when he first started saying that phrase, so now we have a little problem on our hands! But he never fails to make me laugh. I may have written before that one of his new words he uses a lot is "later." Well, it was great at first, because if he really wanted to do something and I told him, "later," he was absolutely fine with it. He was content to know that he could do it sometime. I never had to give details of what I meant by that. However, now the tricky little guy has turned it back on me....When I ask him to do something, he VERY sweetly tells me, "later" as if to say, "No mommy, I don't plan to obey, but I said it sweetly and I sound like you, so let it go." It's so ugly. And entertaining at the same time.

I'm reading Potty Wise (from the authors of the Baby Wise series) and am in the preparation-mode for potty training. I don't know when we'll do it. Not anytime real soon, I don't think. But I always like feeling prepared for the next stage! I'm definitely picking the brains of every mommy I know who's done it. I know for sure that I want to wait until I'm confident he's ready, take the more aggressive approach where you drop everything and just stay at home for several consecutive days focusing on potty training, and put him in big-boy underwear more quickly, using pull-ups very little, except for nighttime and a few necessary exceptions. Those are some of the things that are important to me. So, if you have potty training ideas, suggestions, stories from experience, or training plans that fit within those criteria, PLEASE share! I'm trying to soak it all in and would love to hear anything anyone has to offer me!