Home Life...

It's been almost a month since I've posted anything on this blog and it's hard to tell where to begin...

Our vacation in California turned out to be everything we didn't expect. On the plane ride there DearHubby excitedly said the one thing he looked forward to was the opportunity to ask my parents to watch the girls while we take some time to rest, maybe go out on a date, and have some time to nurture our own relationship. I agreed.

Our time in California turned out to be quite a stressful time, at least for me.

- My parents' home has been under renovation for the past 3 or 4 years and since the start of their renovations we have always stayed with my sister. However, my sister's in-laws were with them this year and my parents had to make room for us to stay with them. Though I am grateful for the hard work my parents put into clearing out the clutter from the renovation work, the house was still very dirty and not very child proof. In addition, because my parents have been empty nesters for several years now, there were no toys in the house and I asked my parents not to buy the girls any toys for Christmas because I didn't want to transport them home. Every day that we were at my parents' home it was a constant struggle watching over the girls to keep them out of things. I also spent about $60 in toys and activities just to keep them occupied (I am so glad for after Christmas sales as I was able to get all the toys on clearance from Target).

- My parents' vehicles were in poor condition and DearHubby spent the first half of our first week helping my dad fix the cars. We took a vacation in California in 2006 and most of that time there, DearHubby helped my dad install new flooring in their home. Since we were staying with my sister at that time, who lives an hour away from my parents, I hardly saw my DearHubby at all during that vacation. When I discovered that my dad needed help with the work on the cars, I got really frustrated because I wanted time with my DearHubby as I hardly have time with him here at home and I didn't want this vacation time to be just like it was in 2006.

- DearHubby got a tooth infection which caused him to be bedridden for a couple of days. DearHubby had to see a dentist and an endontist. He was given 2 anti-biotics and Vicodin for pain. He missed out on our New Year's Eve celebration and we even postponed our trip to southern California.

- With DearHubby helping my dad and being bedridden, I watched the girls like I normally do here at home. This frustrated me as I felt like we wasted our money flying out to California for doing what I do here at home.

- When we finally did go to Southern California, DearHubby and I offered to pay for things, but my mom insisted that we not pay for anything because she budgeted a certain amount of cash for the trip. At the end of the trip, my mom made a few comments towards me which expressed some resentment about how we spent their money, which made me feel indebted towards their "generous" giving.

- My mom didn't like the way we disciplined our children and approached me about it. When I tried to explain to her that we discipline our children according to the way we believe Scripture prescribes she made a comment that just made me cry afterwards because she made me feel like we were bad parents and that the method of discipline we are implementing is ineffective, "Your children are always disobedient!" The temptation there was for me to just slam my mom about her parenting, but I thank God for allowing me to keep my composure and respond to her with words from the Scripture and I encouraged her to find out what Scripture says about discipline.

- DearDaughter2 cried on the plane about 80% of the time to and from California.

Despite the list of stressful times there are lots to be thankful for and I think the thankful list trumps all the stressful times:

- My mom did give me a break from housework and I didn't have to worry about cooking and cleaning for 2 whole weeks. Since I had some "spare" time, I was able to get a good laundry routine going while in California which I took back with me. I do miss having food at the table waiting for us and I do miss not having to run to the grocery store.

- Although my parents have a lot of their old ways in them, they have also changed a lot because of their growing love for Jesus Christ. They are very involved in sharing the gospel with others and being a light for him. They are purposeful in much of their lifestyle to do things for His glory and that was very comforting!

- My parents did pay for most of our stay in California and we didn't have to spend money we didn't have.

- The weather and the sights in California were beautiful and by them we were reminded of God's wondrous power as our creator and His sovereignty!

- I love filipino food and there was an abundance of it!

- It was a joy to visit with my sister and her children again, to see my mom's sister and her family, and to see my dad's sister and parents (my grandparents) and even celebrate their 57th wedding anniversary with them!

- We went to Disneyland and the San Diego Zoo, and stayed in a beautiful resort for free, thanks to my parents!

- I had time to read the book I gave to my dad for Christmas, The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges. Good book! I'm planning to get it for our family, some time.

- DearHubby and I did go out to see a movie, Yes Man starring Jim Carey.

- And the list can go on...

Since we've been back, I've been trying to get back into a normal routine.

One of the areas I've been working on, especially, has been paper clutter. One of my greatest weaknesses is keeping paper clutter and though I am an organized person, I still have paper clutter tucked away. One thing I usually do is keep paperwork before I address them, thinking I'd get back to them later, so that the paper clutter isn't in our living space. Well, the saying "out of sight, out of mind" then applies because when it does go out of my sight, then later never comes because I usually forget about what I kept and some things never get addressed. So, one of the things I've been working on since we've been home is addressing paperwork/mail, the day we receive it. I've been trying not to put anything away until it is addressed and since I don't like paper clutter in my sight, that's been motivation for me to address the paperwork.

However, I'm finding that keeping up with all that paperwork IS very time consuming and now I'm trying to work out how to streamline the process to make it less time consuming.

I've also been able to hit some sales at Target, The Children's Place, and Borders. I've gotten some good buys at 75% off!!! These CLEARANCE racks at the end of Christmas and the beginning of the year is GREAT!!!

I took my glucose tolerance test and had my 27th week OB appointment. There is a little bit of a concern that the baby is too big. My uterus measured 32 weeks when I am only 27. We're waiting for the glucose test results to see if I have gestational diabetes. If the baby has macrosomia, the doctors will encourage a C-section, and I'd prefer another VBAC.

The girls have also been sick and I seemed to have come down with a cold too, so we've just been taking it easy here at home.

Well, the girls are waiting on their lunch. I thought I'd just catch up a little.

In Pusuit Of His Call