Motivation, Part II

I love Sally Clarkson.  Her books, her blog, her words.  She speaks my heart over and over and over again.  Her blog today fit perfectly with my post the other day about motivation.

I Heard Him Call Come Follow

“Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise, Thou my inheritance, now and always; Thou and thou only first in my heart, High king of heaven, my treasure thou art.”

Motivation

What motivates you?  What makes a person get up every day and keep going?  I recently had a day where I just had no motivation left.  I kept thinking of verses that talk about keeping our eyes on the prize, running the race, etc, but nothing.  I finally had a few moments to think about it and I realized that, in my mind, the prize we are running towards is heaven.  And frankly, I'm not too worried about getting in (no I'm not trying to be arrogant, I just know where I stand with God).  So no motivation there.  Then there's rewards in heaven - crowns, mansions, etc.  None of which I'm interested in.  Now what?  WHAT motivates me?  What has kept me going for all this time to work at my marriage, homeschool my kids, clean my house, make food, etc?

Some of you know me well enough to know the answer.  My husband knew it immediately.  Relationships.  I value real relationships more than anything in this world.  My relationship with Christ, with my husband, with my children, with my friends.  The thought of not obeying what Christ has asked of me would hurt our relationship, so I don't want to do it!

Now, can someone help me with a verse that I can put up to remind me of that motivation?

Weaning

I think I mentioned that I weaned Liza recently.  It's been a month now since she's nursed.  She and I can still have tears over it together (and separately for me).  But when I weaned her, I never filled up or felt a let-down.  Definitely nothing left.  I have been much sadder over all of this than I thought I would be.  She is 3 now and I always have another baby by now.  And while I don't really want to be pregnant ever again (I'm worn out, old, exhausted, etc), the whole thing is just making me feel OLD.  When did I get old?

I think I'll go cry now.

Arnica

Before I get into this post, I have to mention that my computer has been unable to connect to the internet for a few weeks.  Probably an easy fix, but no time.  So I've been stuck using Eric's computer which means I have no links for any blogs, including my own!!!  :-)  I'm finally making time to figure it out this morning (and I should be doing other things, but whatever).

I am accident prone these days.  Anyone else?  Last night, I was opening the door to Eric's office and smacked the side of my nose with the door.  Don't ask.  I have NO idea how I managed to accomplish such a thing.  Within about 5 minutes my nose started to swell a bit, just on the side.  Oh, and it crunched when the door hit.  I was very surprised it didn't bleed, so figured it wasn't too badly hurt.  But then I was able to SEE my nose.  Not in a mirror, just looking straight out and I could see the swelling.  I grabbed the Arnica (a homeopath for those of you who are scratching your heads) and put some on and took some.  (Eric about died laughing when I told him - he loves me, really, he does!!)  For the next 1/2 hour, I took Arnica and put some on my nose.  About an hour later, the swelling was gone and that spot wasn't blue anymore!  I love Arnica.  I have a barely noticeable spot on my nose today.  :-) 

The Best Laid Plans

My parents have been planning to take my kids camping.  The plan has been for them to take them today and come back Monday.  To some of you this might not seem like a big deal, but I have never had my kids leave the house, all of them, overnight, at the same time.  NEVER.  We did have all the kids spend one night at my sister's about 18 months ago.  One of those, leave them at 8, come back by 10 the next morning (Liza was still nursing, so I needed to not be gone long).  Prior to that, the last time Eric and I had 2 nights without kids was for Eric's class reunion when I was expecting Liza (which ended when my kids called and said Grandma was super sick, couldn't get out of bed, so we hurried home). 

Now, having nights alone hasn't been a priority for us.  We've figured out how to make our marriage work without it, we're ok, but it sure has sounded nice to be able to watch a movie, by ourselves, prior to 9 p.m.  To not have to get up early and feed kids, etc.  Maybe even lay around and read a book and not think about food.

This week there have been some enormous issues brought to light in our church.  There is a Very Important church meeting due to it.  Yep, you guessed it, tonight.  Sigh.  And now Josiah has a fever.  I do believe God is reminding me we are fine without the time off.

Pictures

I figure most people look at my pictures on Facebook.  But since some of you don't really know me and some of you *gasp* don't have Facebook (weirdos!!!!), I will post a few here!

I took this one of Eric and Liza at the beach in New Jersey.  I just love this picture!

All my kids just loved the beach.

The oldest three got to learn how to surf.  I think they are all considering moving to the beach and being surfers permanently.

This is one of my favorite ones of Abigail.

 

Josiah has such a cute grin!!

Beka and Liza.  Beka is always helping the other kids.

Don't let this picture fool you, this is a very rare, almost unseen moment in life.  We will treasure this picture always!!

I can't figure out how to space those last two pictures.  Ack.  But I did learn there is a "add a caption" thing, so whatever.  I love this picture of Beka!!

My boys and their cousin, Caleb.  Their poses crack me up!

A sweet picture of Seth and Caleb.

Allergies

The day after we got home from vacation, my allergies returned with a vengeance.  For the last 3 years, I have felt like I'm exhausted all the time.  I just assumed it had to do with getting older, 5 kids, etc.  Well, NO.  I am allergic to Colorado.  :-(  I felt much better while we were on vacation.  I'm back to wanting to stay in bed all day, feeling lazy, unmotivated, burnt out.  Sigh.  I know I can take meds for it (and am currently on Zyrtec, Benadryl and Nasal Crom - yuck).  I'm just wondering if there is anything you can do to stop having allergies.  Seems like we should have figured this out by now!!!