In the next two months (or 10 weeks, which is 2 months from
today), I have:
3 weddings to attend, with one as event coordinator
5 Bridal showers to attend (3 of which I am helping to host
and/or contribute to)
1 conference at church that I am helping organizing and
speaking at
1 weekend visit from Paul’s Mom and her husband
1 major holiday - Easter (meaning multiple dinners with
family and an International dinner at our house)
1 Womens Retreat, that I am helping organizing and helping
host.
That’s 7 of the 10 weekends filled straight up with the
showers scattered throughout the rest. I have one Saturday free in that time,
but it is most likely a friend’s birthday party. Not so free after all.
These things bring me such joy and I’m excited to be a part
of all of it. I love seeing the life that comes from relationship.
I also wish there was a way to announce to all my friends
that honestly, this schedule means I can’t really see any friends one-on-one
for the next two months. I work full time, I feed 6 people at home each day
(including lunches), host and feed lifegroup each week, serve on multiple
ministry areas through the week and try to spend time with my husband somewhere
in that. I love love love my friends, but in this random season of more
busyness than normal, I don’t know how to show people I love them when I know
it’s pretty impossible for me to carve out the time to see them.
And before I get a thousand comments telling me I’m doing
too much, duh! I know that. I definitely know that. You don’t need to point out
to me that I over commit. I know. I do. Over the past years I’d been getting so
much better…I’ve learned to say no! I’ve learned to do things halfway (as long
as that’s an appropriate option). But life is also out of my control and there
is no way I can or want to say no to so many of these things – if saying no to
being in my friends weddings or saying no to helping in their weddings or
declining to go to their showers meant that I’d have way more time, I still
wouldn’t do it. Relationships are what drive me.
So I am busy. I also have a God who is bigger than my little
crazy world. And I can see the ways in which I’ve taken steps back and honored
the fact that he doesn’t ask me to run at a crazy pace. I also trust that in
this next two months of a sprint he will be there with me.
I will make sure that each day I take a bit more time for
God. That’s something I always struggle with, and that is a major reason that
busyness is bad for me…it can take away from time with God. So I will commit to
taking that time in the morning before my bike ride in to work to be with God.
This will be sacred time. I’m not writing this here to somehow boast about my
plans to do this, but for accountability. Now I have to actually do it. When my
alarm goes at 6am and I think “if I skip my devotional time I can sleep until
6:30”, the next thought will be “oh crap, I told everyone online I was going to
do this”. If that isn’t motivation for holiness then I don’t know what is.
Can I tell you though, despite the busyness that I love my
life?
Friday night I got to hang out with Kathleen and Prakash on
a double date. It meant not sitting at home in my PJ’s and resting, but it also
meant a great night of good food at Caffe Barney and great conversation with
valued friends.
Saturday I woke up bright and EARLY and headed over to
Richmond to pick Lindsay up for a day of USA shopping. Yes, I was up at 6am on
a Saturday. Stupid.
But there were so
many little things to brighten up my sleepy world:
-As I drove to pick up Lindsay on came the “Thrift Shop”
song by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis which always inspires big grins, crazy
dancing and a firm thankfulness that at 6:30am no one was around to see me
grooving in my car.
-While I waited in Lindsays driveway for her arrival I
opened my glove box to get out my GPS and what did I find? An energy drink and
note from Paul; “To my little chipmunk”, wishing me safe and fun travels. Happy heart.
-Target had bright happy organization tools that will
revolutionize my command center, and they were found in the dollar section!
- Crunchwrap Supreme! Crunchwrap Supreme! Crunchwrap
Supreme! I don't even need to tell you why that makes me happy. It should be obvious, it's a Crunchwrap Supreme!
- Chatting rapid fire with Lindsay the entire way there and
back – I love a friend with instant connection who isn’t afraid to laugh out
loud at my jokes and tell me I’m hilarious. Thanks friend!
-Cheap American prices that help me feed lifegroup and my
house for reasonable amounts!
-Beautiful sights as we crossed back into Canada
And if all of that isn’t enough, I got to enjoy an evening
with John and Lindsay and Paul eating great food and playing Settlers of Catan:
Cities and Knights.
Sunday Paul joined me at Costco and Superstore for a speed
shopping time – he knew I had a long day ahead of me (3 meetings and church
where I was hosting and our lifegroup was in charge of coffee service) and
offered to come with me – to help and boost spirits. It totally worked. We
grabbed Timmies on our way and made great time through both stores. I got home
in time to shower and wash my hair, throw dinner in the crockpot and tidy the
kitchen, starting coffee and making drinks.
At 12 women started arriving for a womens ministry
meeting/lunch to plan our upcoming retreat. Not only did we cover much ground
but we had a fun time of chatting and eating.
We made it to church for 3pm for Coffee set up. We mingled
and enjoyed coffee and snacks and then everyone headed upstairs for church
where I was hosting (which I so so so love). Church was very full and it was so
fun to be all together worshipping.
After church and coffee cleanup we headed home to grab
dinner from the crockpot – only to realize the new recipe I’d tried was barely
mediocre at best, and didn’t produce nearly enough food for us all. It was
Crockpot Mac and Cheese. So I boiled up another batch of noodles and used some
ragu cheese sauce and mixed that all together with the Crockpot Mac and Cheese
and man, then it was super good. Win! I threw together a salad and made some
garlic biscuits and Ana and Josh joined us for dinner.
Ana and Josh are getting married one month from this past
weekend and one thing I like to offer my engaged friends is my services as plan
checker. So a month before weddings I like to sit down with my friends and make
sure they’ve thought of every details. I have a big ‘ole checklist that I go
over and we always unearth things that would have been forgotten. Ana and Josh
were so organized though, I have to say it was a pleasure working with them!
Plus they brought some tasty wine, so that helped the process.
After they left at 8:30 Paul cleaned the kitchen while I
made 5 lunches. We make a good team. AND at 9:30 we had a gospel weekend team meeting at our house –
the conference is next weekend so we needed to firm up the details again and go
over roles and talks and such. It was productive time and I still managed to be
in bed by 10:30.
Yes...it was a busy weekend. But I finished up the weekend feeling thankful for my friends, excited for upcoming events (weddings, showers, retreats, oh my!) and so in love with my husband, who is willing to sort through my jumble of thoughts to help me find peace and God.
It is good.
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