If you are a fellow SoundClick-er who has accidentally run across my blog, I want you to know that I'm still around, but I'm on my own site, now. You can find me at www.4IAMPersuaded.com. Feel free come by and have a cup of coffee with me... message me if you like! I'd love to share with you!

Holidays are bittersweet when you work in healthcare. For the most part, you cannot expect to get an ENTIRE holdiay off. For instance, we are concluding Thanksgiving week, so most night-shift nurses would expect to work the night before the holiday or the night of the holiday. Rarely would we expect to have a four-day holiday like the rest of the 9-5 world. In fact, this week I worked a four-in-a-row beginning Thursday night and that is brutal for anyone. I just know that Monday's a-comin-- a fact that usually finds me with a chore list a mile long. This Monday is going to be different, though. I woke up this afternoon to find that my husband decided to speak my Love Language, which is "Acts of Service." He rallied my two little love bugs and the three of them did almost ALL of the laundry, made their beds, cleaned their rooms (the kids' rooms, not mine-- I was sleeping!), tidied the living room, dining room AND kitchen, ran the dishwasher at least twice AND unloaded it, swept the floors and vacuumed! WOW! Friends, this is the secret to a loving, lasting relationship. No, not slaving around the house for one another, but understanding your spouse's love language and speaking it often. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out the book, The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. It changed my life! My languages are "acts of service" and "quality time" while my husband's are "touch" and "quality time." When you can tell your spouse that you love them by speaking the language that they understand, you will not believe what happens between the two of you! I thought it was interesting when we were talking just before I headed off to work. When I asked him why he did all of that for me, he said that he thought I needed it (probably right). Then he added, "You know, it made me feel pretty good, too!" Funny how that happens, isn't it? People noticed at work, too. It was fun to tell the girls what my sweet husband had done to show me how much he cares!

The other day I ran across this amazing opportunity! It is the She Speaks conference sponsored by Proverbs 31 Ministries. I sat my husband down and explained to him that I simply MUST go-- though I had no idea when it would be held in 2011. It turns out that it is the last weekend in July and I'm going! Well, at least I plan to go-- registration isn't open, yet! The big question is whether or not to do the writer's track or the speaker's track. One of the women associated with P31 Ministries suggested that people usually get more speaking committments after their books are published, so that might be the first one to focus on... I'm going to have to give that question a little more thought and prayer before I decide. I am so excited about what God is doing to open this new chapter in my life. In hindsight I can see His hand through this move to put me in a position where I would actually step out in faith on something like this. I might not have been as open to doing this before the move. What I have learned is this: He IS faithful and can be trusted with my life and the well-being of my family. I don't have to always be in control. What I have to do is obey. I'm working on it!

This morning a friend posted that her favorite part of the day is when the mail comes. I think that for most of us these days, the mail drop is one of the more dreaded. This has changed lately in our home. My first-grader was inspired by her brother to begin a collection. She settled on post cards. We couldn't have known what fun her choice would bring! At first, her father picked up cards here and there in airports. She was interested, but not fascinated. Then he got the bright idea to turn to our Facebook friends. He posted (then I reposted to catch those friends not in common) and asked them to drop a postcard to her from their vacation spots. We have great friends. She has received posts from California to Florida. Yesterday, she ran out to the mailbox and found a note from the sister of a friend of a friend in Edinborough, Scottland! How amazing that this little girl in Texas is hearing from precious strangers halfway around the world! Now, instead of dreading the mail drop with it's never-ending onslaught of bills and junk, we look forward to seeing that square white truck. It might bring a greeting from who-knows-where! What a great idea this has turned out to be!

I remember every year about this time, there used to be a commercial for one of the office supply stores. There was a particular christmas song playing in the background and the parent was dancing down the isles picking out school supplies while the children stood and scowled. I AM that mom... I plie and twirl and I am so excited that school is starting on Monday I can hardly stand it! Oddly, though, my kids aren't scowling. They're pretty excited, too. We went to meet the teachers on Friday. Both kids have friends in their classes and neither got that one dreaded teacher that every grade has. It really is all good. Summer was fun, but it is time for it to be over. We've gone to the pool, brought home our sunburns. We've gone on vacation and we've been to the waterpark. We've moved on to 4-hour stints playing on Webkinz and watching enough Zach and Cody to make me want to scream! (They've actually been grounded from all Disney teen shows because I can't stand the sarcasm and attitude that goes along with.) They barely remember what it's like to go 10 minutes without bickering. It's time. It's time for new experiences and new challenges. It's time for a schedule and accountability from someone other than me. It's time to see all of the friends they haven't seen in two and a half months. It's time for packed lunches, spelling tests, dictation and surprisingly good parent-teacher conferences. As in, "Really? Are we talking about the same child?! You mean she/he's helpful and follows direction with a happy heart? Wow." Okay... I'm also looking forward to catching up with other moms that have school-aged kids. I'm looking forward to having a converstion that is only interrupted with, "Can I get you anything else?" I'm looking forward to a solitary cup of coffee and free reign of my laptop. I'm also looking forward to getting back to the book that I abandoned almost a year ago. I haven't been writing and it is high time I resume my efforts. I love Fall. If that makes me a bad mom... I guess the shoe fits. Ooh, I forgot about shoe shopping!!