Korean 'son' #3

We welcomed Sang Kim into our home this evening! He's exhausted and had probably the most blood shot eyes I had ever seen, but he's here & sleeping.

It'll be an interesting few weeks as we adjust to one another, school begins for Marc & Sang, ministries at church kick off and we fully get the fall underway.

We have a pretty big decision to make in the next few weeks as well. We've realized that Marc either needs to cut back on work or on school. There are a lot of financial implications either way, so we need a lot of wisdom to figure out what is best for our family. Prayers would be appreciated!

Sabbath in marriage - thoughts from Mark Driscoll

Marriage is an illustration of Christ & the church.

We are meant to take a sabbath from our work to have time with God.

Translate into marriage: We are meant to take a sabbath from our work and have time with our spouse.

If you don't take a sabbath with your spouse, your relationship will suffer. You need to have a 'marital sabbath'.

Obviously this is not something new I've just discovered, but something I needed to hear, especially as the fall draws near.

Okay, another cool idea I just heard: A babysitting co-op. A bunch of church families take turns every Friday or Saturday night hosting all the kids at their house. That means you have 3 date nights a month & 1 night a month with the chaos of little ones at your house. Anyone interested???

Today is a day where I want to be a stay at home mom. I don't want to think about recruiting leaders, planning curriculum, laying out calendars and planning events. Please don't misunderstand - I love what I do, but right now I want to take a nap and then have a stress free day playing with my son outside. I hate that when he wakes up soon, I will need to try to keep him busy while I finish up my work for the day rather than just putting on our shoes & going to the park across the street.

I think about this time every year I get a little overwhelmed. I start getting anxious as I think about Marc going back to full time school + 5 hours a week of teacher aiding + 40 hours of work + me starting a seminary class + full time work + Isaac + 2 exchange students. Most of the time I can handle it. Not today.

Well, enough blogging. The more work I get done now, the more play time when Isaac wakes up.

The Ragamuffin Gospel - quote

"When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes.
I believe and I doubt, I hope and I get discouraged, I love and I hate, I feel bad about feeling good, I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. I am trusting and suspicious. I am honest and I still play games. Aristotle said I am a rational animal; I say I am an angel with an incredible capacity for beer."

Brennan Manning
The Ragamuffin Gospel

Garage Sale

I am having a garage sale this week Thurday and Friday from 8am-5pm each day.

There are about 7 or 8 people contributing to the sale, so there should be lots of goodies.

Come on by to shop & say hello!

Meal Planning Glory!!!

One of the best (worst if you ask Marc) things about not having a full house during the summer is that it somewhat relieves my obligation to cook meals each night. I don't mind doing it, but I always feel like I'm making the same things over and over.

My bright idea for this coming fall was to sit down one night & come up with 8-12 weeks of meal plans, including corresponding grocery lists. I figured that way, I elimiate the stress of meal planning each week and can just refer to "week 1" or "week 10". Great idea, right?

Guess what - I found someone to do it for me!!!

I happen to be browsing a friends blog (hi Tera!) and she had a website listed. I went there & found another site listed called "Stolen Moments Menu Planning". I was intrigued. I went, I read & I bought.

For $7.95 I have purchased a month long menu plan including grocery lists. Oh, and my menu will include no mushrooms, some vegetarian options, some Korean or asian recipes and will be low-fat. This woman is amazing! I also told her our monthly grocery budget, which she will stick within. She caters to all of your needs. I bought the basic plan, but you can buy the complete plan which includes bfast & lunch as well.

Another cool thing about this website is that you can give a gift subscription. So, if you have a sister, friend, mother, etc who is a very busy woman, this could be a great gift idea!
http://stolenmomentsmenuplanning.com/

Okay - can you tell I'm excited!?! Stay tuned for a menu planning review in a few weeks!

On Friday I took a group of students up North a bit to go on a Dune Buggy ride. I typically don't take Isaac to many events - especially if Marc isn't there, but I thought he could handle it. He did incredibly well and conquered his fear of sand and some of his fear of water.

On Saturday morning, we packed up the van and headed to Wheaton to visit our good friends George & Melissa. They have Hannah & Dylan who are about 2 months older than Isaac, and Ella who is 6 months. We took a little trip to a local 'zoo' which was filled with farm animals and plenty of paths for the kids to run on.

How cute!

On Sunday we walked into town to get coffee and along the railroad tracks to a little park. All the kids had a lot of fun and required a bath that evening. I bet this photo shows up in wedding slide shows 25...or 30 years from now!

On our way home, Marc and I started the oh so fun conversation of where we'll look for teaching jobs a year from now for him. It's scary to think/talk about. One of my many limitations I've placed on this whole search is that it must be within a 10 hour drive from GR. I want to be able to drive home and not have to fly, and I also want other people to be able to visit without flying. Our favorite so far is Rochester, NY, however I heard today they have horrible winters. Not so sure I'm excited about that. Do you have any ideas for us?