Thanksgiving week Part 2

6:30 am Happy Thanksgiving it is turning out to be a good week was able to get most of my plans done. I was even able to do some power shopping. Return a Christmas gift at one store to purchase it at another $20 cheaper, $5 jeans and get another gift. Woo Hoo.

Have a great Thanksgiving. I am looking forward to all the good food and family.

Thanksgiving week plans and realities part 1

Do you have a list of things you are planning on doing this week of Thanksgiving well yeah, me too.

Here is what I had planned.

Sunday - get up and look at newspaper to plan some shopping trips and/or look for coupons. Church -  Sunday School and my turn in the Preschool Department during Worship time, Drive home, make lunch, clean pot shelves and fans then reverse the fans.Put up Christmas tree (at least part of the way) make dinner, put children to bed, have time with hubby, sleep til 6am.

This is what really happened - no newspaper but the rest was all flowing smoothly (with even a lunch out with my brother and sister in law til 1:30am my oldest woke us up with the sound of vomit. Now maybe you don't know this about me but if I smell it then I do it too. UGH! But since I have the best husband in the world (with a cast iron stomach) he got up and cleaned up that boys bedroom floor, yep couldn't make it to the toilet. Thank goodness I got a REAL good deal on a new Bissell Steam cleaner just five days ago. So I made sure everyone was fine and snuggled back in bed with my littlest. 4am again this time right outside my bedroom door. Yes, hubby took care of that too. He had just laid down to try and sleep. I think he only got about 3 hours sleep.

Monday - get boys ready for school, pick up brother at automotive repair shop, take boys to school, get some groceries, do some laundry, put the rest of tree up, go to work, pick up brother to get his car back, help at littlest ones school, get littlest, pick up oldest from band practice, take friend home, help with homework, get dinner ready, go to sister in law's to meet with dietician for mom in law, get home, help boys put up their trees, get ready for bed, sleep til 6am.

This is what's happened so far - stumble out of bed at 6am ask hubby how oldest is doing, get directions on what hubby was unable to do, look for yesterday's paper - still not here, check email, play Gardens of Time (my guilty pleasure), put fresh sheets on oldest's bed (he's sleeping in littlest's bed so can't do laundry yet), get phone call from brother (oops I forgot, that's what happens to the sleep deprived), go get brother in pajamas and robe (no one will see me), after picking him up unlock gates at mom in law's (hubby's daily routine), take brother home, get call from oldest "Can I lay in your bed" "No, lay in your own I put fresh sheets on, figure out which blankets are not icky and put them on", go home, start to have coffee, start load of laundry, get littlest ready for school, put on warm up suit over pajamas, grab grocery ad, take littlest to school and while there scan ad and write a list of things to get (need that cheap turkey), see teacher she says she has some more things for me to cut, follow students in and get those items to take home and cut, tell her I'm planning on helping this pm as planned but oldest is sick, she says I can stay home (whew), go to store score $8 butterball turkey and some other good deals while texting hubby to find out what he wants for dinner 'cause I need meat if he doesn't want what I have in freezer, get home check on oldest, wash more laundry, finish coffee, clean up kitchen, take shower, check on oldest he has a fever now, give him several things to drink while I'm at work, grab all fliers and coupons from the HUGE pile on my counter to sort at work, get to mom in law's to make sure trash gets out, scrounge something to eat from leftovers, get to work, write blog. It is only 11:45am, I am ready for a nap.

Tuesday - Get up, take boys to school, get mom, go do big grocery shopping, drop off some groceries at mom in law's, go to work, help in littlest's other teacher's class, get home with littlest, do some more decorating, make dinner, get ready for bed, start packing for staying at mom in law's on Wed and Thurs nights, sleep til 6am.

Wednesday - Get up, take boys to school, finish packing for mom in law's, get things over to mom in law's, go to work, go to mom in law's in time for occupational therapist, pick up boys from school, practice and take friend home, get home, have boys pack for grandma's, go to grandma's, make cranberry relish for Thanksgiving, make dinner, get ready for bed, sleep till 5:30am.

Thursday - Happy Thanksgiving, get up, do morning routine, watch Macy's Thanksgiving day parade, make mac and cheese, green bean casserole and cherry pie. Spend Thanksgiving at sister in law's have a good time. Get back to mom in law's and get ready for bed, sleep till 5:30am.

Friday - Get up, do morning routine, decorate mom in law's, get home about 4:30, have some quality family time, go to bed, sleep til 6am.

Saturday - Get up, more family quality time, haven't been home on a Saturday in a few months not sure what we will do.

Hopefully my Tues - Sat will turn out the way I planned. I do not want to miss Thanksgiving because one or more of us is sick. Hope you have a great Thanksgiving.

May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. Psalm 20:4

Blessings and Priorities

Do I expect to be blessed because I care for my mother in law? No, I am already blessed. If the groundwork was not already laid out (prayers and life situations) this living in the middle would not work well at all. Do not get me wrong, it has been a HUGE adjustment these past 6 months. We all want what is best for everyone. Right now that means living half the time at my home and half the time at my mother in law’s home. It means I cannot go to or host the home parties I would like to (Pampered Chef, Tastefully Simple, Tupperware, Lia Sophia, Premier Jewelry just to name a few.) It means trying to go on a weekly DQ date with my hubby (and sometimes kids too) instead of doing laundry. It means my kids get to see their grandmother every week and have a sleepover with her (the little one’s fave). It means that the plans I had to “get my house clean” once the kids went back to school are not happening. It means that my Black Friday will be spent decorating my mother in law’s house not my own (hope to get that done before Thanksgiving). It means coordinating my own mother’s doctor’s appointments around my hubby’s mother’s and hair appointments. It means our monthly sister lunch is spent making sure the next month is coordinated so we all get to get out of town once in a while and/or are able to go to the special events happening in our lives. It means that the time we have left with her is precious and every day is a blessing.

Book of Ruth

But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”  Ruth 1:16 & 17

The book of Ruth is my favorite in the Bible. I love the story of sacrificial love for one’s mother in law and the great blessing from doing it. (Ruth is the grandmother of King David. See Ruth 4:13-22) Part of the reason I love that book is that I have the same kind of love for my mother in law. You see I was not raised in a Christian home. My parents did the best they could and I know that they believe in God but it was hard for them to model it when they were not taught what it means to be a Christian. My husband’s family was similar yet different. Although they did not consistently go to church, the grandchildren were taught the basics of being a Christian by their grandparents and their mother has always been a believer.

I have heard and seen from others that my relationship with my mother in law is a rarity. Here are a few reasons that we have a good one:

1)      My mother models always getting along with others no matter what and I try to be that way too. She works hard to show love to everyone in her and my dad’s family. Even after my parents divorced she maintained a relationship with his parents.

2)      My husband started praying about me way before we met for he had heard Billy Graham say be specific in your prayers.

3)      I wanted my kids to know and spend time with their grandparents because I spent time with mine.

4)      My mother in law enjoys being involved in her children’s and grand children’s lives.

Like all relationships we have our moments of misunderstanding and/or rubbing each other the wrong way but we always go back to love.

Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs. Proverbs 10:12