Today is the DAY!!!

Yep, not putting it off any longer. We are finally going to have our long-awaited FAMILY MEETING!!! We are going to have a "come to Jesus" meeting about a lot of things (not in the literal sense, my kids are all saved and I know it) and they are good kids for the most part. But this summer I've been slacking as a mom, letting a lot of things slide and lately I've been paying the price and ultimately, so will they. Put me down as one of those "lazy" parents like my girlfriend, Laine LOL (I'm j/k Laine, you are ANYTHING BUT LAZY!). It would be so much easier and REALLY lazy to keep letting this stuff go and doing things myself. But that doesn't prepare them for the real world and that's my job as their mom. I'm not raising kids, I'm raising "adults". There are way too many grown-up "kids" running around these days as it is, I don't need to add three more to the bunch, even though I DO love spoiling them sometimes.

I have revised our chore charts and we're going to talk about not only chores but changing our lifestyle just a bit. The past month or so, we've slipped from being in major Dave Ramsey mode to "kinda sorta" Dave Ramsey mode. We gotta pull back. I'm getting stressed about finances again, even though we're okay, I just don't like worrying about it and like good ol' Dave always says, the best way to deal with money is to PLAN FOR things. I should have that down by now. We've slipped from being focused on the eternal to focused on the here and now and that is never good. We need to make more of an effort to make sure our priorities are lined up according to God's plan for our family, not what we would like to do. I always ask God everyday to direct my steps. To put in front of me the things that need my attention most and to sustain everything else until I'm able to take care of it or for Him to just handle it. And He always does so for that I'm grateful. But I know a few changes can be made and lately God's been revealing to me what those changes should be. So we're going to make them. Today. Now.

I am feeling a lot better--thank you for all the emails, kind words and prayers. They helped. I know I am in charge of my thoughts and most of the time, I'm not a big dweller on the negative. This came out of nowhere and the only reason I give it any validity is because it came in the form of a dream and I've always been very sensitive to my dreams. I don't claim to be psychic or even prophetic but looking back on the most significant dreams of my life, there HAS always been some kind of foreshadowing of events, good or bad. I just wish I could interpret them going forward instead in hindsight. Nonetheless, God always takes away the bad and I'm very grateful for that.

Everything starts back this week (almost everything)--CORE, Co-op, homeschooling, first football game, my new job, music lessons, etc. etc. Dylan started school last week and though he has a LOT of challenging classes, he seems to be excited about it.

I went to my cousin's house Friday night to look at wedding pictures that Miss Jenny took. Oh my gravy!!! There were a GOZILLION pictures (okay not really but around 1200!) and they were all fabulous! I'm going to try and get a few of those uploaded in a bit, no way my slow computer that came over on the Ark can handle all of it (plus I'm still on dial up out here in the boonies) so I'll again have the challenging task of picking out a few faves. I cannot wait for her to do our family portraits. But we are waiting on it to cool off a bit. No way I'm repeating that wedding photo session, sorry little sis! Too hot and sweatty!

And to my faithful readers, who always reply via email but never leave me any comments here--this is the last email you will be getting. I'm changing my settings because I'm afraid the emails are pestering a few people. No one has said anything but the reason I did that in the first place is because I know not all of you have a google account. Well, after today, if you want to keep up with me, you'll have to get one. It's free, it's easy and it takes all of 10 seconds. This is a private blog but you've been given permission. All you have to do is log in with your google account to view it. Sorry but since that whole experience with myspace and nosy people who don't know the meaning of Matthew 18 (which our Pastor preached on last week, by the way and all I could do is sit there and go "uh huh", "yep" and "amen"! lol), I'm not going through that again. This blog will stay private. If you didn't get your invite or know of someone who didn't, shoot me an email and I'll add you. But don't forget to create that google account! I know my life is so exciting, you won't want to miss my daily musings! (ha ha)

Blessings for a great week!