We almost, almost watched a Christmas movie this weekend. Matt started to turn it on for the kids. “NOOOOOOO”, I pleaded. “Christmas is still 55 days away. I can’t do it.” Now, I love Christmas so much and I am usually the first one diving in. Our tree is up the day after Thanksgiving (Nov. 25th for my SA friends) and I just love the whole season. However, the season has come a month early this year. The stores are so desperately hoping that the Christmas season is going to save them that they just decided to go ahead and …
Yea for Vacation… But How Do I Pay For It?
There is nothing that will kill your joy and memories that you made on your vacation like coming home and having to sit and figure out what your vacation actually cost. It’s so fun while you are there, eating out, buying souvenirs, enjoying yourself, but coming home and seeing the collateral damage is no fun at all. It tends to suck the joy right out of your trip, and can even keep you from wanting to go again, or at least it makes vacation seem really difficult and unattainable. I don’t have all the answers to this little dilemma, but …
Togetherness, Togetherness, and More Togetherness
My Dad left this comment on Thursday’s blog (Designed For Rest) and I wanted to share it with you because it is so good:“Tracy, I am so glad that you are dealing with this subject. Everywhere we go to minister, we find people exhausted, on the point of burnout and, most importantly, weariness and with it physical and emotional weakness that brings vulnerability to the temptations of the enemy. Many problems with lust, impatience, irritability, anxiety and a host of other weaknesses can be directly linked to not having adequate rest. Keep plowing this ground because the ‘work ethic’ of …
Purposeful Rest
In the Old Testament when God was giving out the law to Moses, one of the things that He mandated was that every seventh year, the land was to be given a full year to rest. (Exodus 23:10-11) There is a definite theme of rest going through the Bible. God rested, Jesus rested and took time away, and throughout scripture there are encouragements to take regular rest. But what really gives me pause about this passage is, “What did the farmers do for that whole year?” They would have planned for the seventh year since it was mandated and they …
Designed for Rest
I’m back! Yea for sleeping in my own bed without three children in the room! Yea for getting back to writing! But Yea for a wonderful family vacation! We really had such a wonderful time with our kids and as a family. It takes a lot of energy to vacation with three kids, but it really was so worth the effort. I also came home with lots of blog ideas about vacation that I am going to be sharing with you for the next few days. It might help you get some ideas for your vacation, or inspire you to …
Vacation update
Just a quick note before I post my “real” blog. I am so excited to report that we are having a wonderful vacation! Matt and I are sitting here writing, with our three angelic children asleep in the room. They are so exhausted! They have played and been swimming and as Noah said, “Mommy, I am having the most wonderful vacation!” It has really been a wonderful trip so far. Thank you for your prayers for our trip. What an incredible gift it is to have children. It is really fun to just get to enjoy them like this. I …