{in}consistency

Greetings from the infrequent and inconsistent blogger! I am well on track to getting one post per month which, actually, would be an improvement over last year. Those of you whom I've met IRL know that I'm never short on words. What is it that keeps me from writing here? I suppose it's the fact that this has not become habit. I'm hoping to change that as I so enjoy getting words to screen/paper and the exercise it affords my brain.

Habits. I'm realizing that the lack of overall routine in my life has prevented me from developing good habits in some areas and encouraged the growth of some less favourable ones. I love structure and routine but this year has derailed me and I'm feeling the weight of the absence of good habits. I recently completed our homeschooling annual reports and submitted them to the school board. While we definitely made progress over the academic year, there were definitely some circumstances and events that affected me/us profoundly. Broken bones, sugery, illnesses. Difficult family relationships, stresses of ministry, struggling with forgiveness, severed relationships. Depression, renovations and good ol' fashioned lack of gumption. None of these things could have been avoided but the overall affect on the tone of our home could have been minimized by clinging to routine and falling back on good habits.

So, what am I going to do about it? A good and honest confession to my Father is the first step. One habit that hasn't fallen by the wayside is being in Scripture and clinging to the promises of the Word of God. I feel a tremendous need for cleansing. Commitment to pray for God to order my days is in order. Second, I need to get rid of some of the physical clutter that contributes to that overall feeling of life being too full. Third, a season of rest and rejuvenation, which is possible during the summer months, will benefit all of us. For this to work we need to deliberately choose to say yes to those things which will promote healing and no to the things that pull us away from priority. Fourth, I truly need to extend grace to those around me and receive grace from my Father. Some good habits to work on, no?

I thoroughly enjoyed being away on vacation with my family. I treasure my husband and our four children and the time we spent together exploring Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois. Our time in Chicago was exactly what we had hoped for. The five days we spent with my grandparents in small-town Illinois truly blessed us and, I trust, them as well. I don't have any scientific documentation to back this up, but my family truly rocks! I'll leave you with a pic from downtown Chicago, we felt like we lived there!