Hard At Work

hey hey everyone! it’s sure been a while since I’ve updated the ‘ol blogster, but I’m back in the saddle again 🙂

We’ve been enjoying this WONDERFUL Texas Fall! I hope you are too.  It’s been so nice outside.  Reynen and I are talking lots of walks and sitting on the grass outside under the trees to read.  He likes to look up at the branches with all the leaves and lay on the ground.  He’ll be a whole 4 months old tomorrow! WOW! It sure does fly by.  He’s expanding his palate as of this week…yup,  rice cereal is now on the menu for Reynen.  It’s fun to see him eat semi-solid food, and I’m looking forward to feeding him sweet potatoes, squash and all sorts of other fruits and veggies.

Andrew’s been working a lot.  Officially he has 3 jobs, and may be adding another one on next week if things pan out.  He works for both Bryan & College Station ISD during the day.  Then he works at Pizza Hut most evenings and may potentially be driving a dump truck for a homebuilder soon.  Even with him being gone quite a bit during the week, we are still able to attend New Leaders Training led by Pastor Ray (our wonderful friends are babysitting for us each Tuesday)! And we serve as homegroup servants on Thursday nights.  We also still have a weekly date night/morning too. This weekend Andrew’s working a 6PM – 1AM shift both tonight and tomorrow night.  That’s fourteen hours in just 2 days of work! He works so hard for us, and I appreciate all he puts his hands to.

On the education front, a slit possibility for us to get our teaching certification by the start of this Jan through student teaching got nixed.  So we’ll see what God has in store for the Spring.  We may be given a teaching job, and if not, Andrew plans to do student teaching in the Spring (12 weeks full-time unpaid teaching assistant).  It’s been hard to have our dreams of being a teacher taking longer to come to fruition than we expected, but I know that even though I don’t know fully why God is doing what he’s doing, I can see how God is at work in both our lives and around us for his glory. Just pray for us to respond with faith and not fear. Pray for endurance in the faith no matter what the circumstances.

As for me, I’ve been enjoying going to the Community Bible Study on Thursday mornings where we’re studying Revelation. There’s so much to learn and further understand. It’s also a refreshing 2 hours for me to be with adult ladies as we study the word together. Reynen gets to hang out with awesome Nursery workers and all their fun toys!  Thursday is also my run errand day. So I hit HEB, Goodwill, Target, Walmart, WellFargo, etc.  It’s kind of nice to have a whirlwind of a day running around, since most other days, it’s slower paced.  During the other days of the week I’m working from home and keeping up with cleaning, organizing, exercising, and most importantly taking care of sweet baby boy Reynen!

One of my goals for this year was to get down a weekly cleaning routine to keep everything working like a well oiled er…house.  It helps me to keep it on autopilot rather than doing everything in one big chunk of time.  So my goal is 15 minutes of cleaning each day.  Here’s my breakdown of weekly chores:

• Monday: Clean kitchen & bathroom countertops
• Tuesday: Clean tub & toliet
• Wednesday: Dust
• Thursday: Vacuum kitchen & living room floors
• Friday: Vacuum bedroom & bathroom floors
• Saturday: Clean stove & wipe down cabinets
• Sunday: Clear off kitchen table & declutter house items

In addition to this, I also try to do dishes daily, so they don’t pile up and become unmanageable. And I try to do other bigger items like mopping at least once a month if not more often. Believe it or not, my day is usually pretty full after chores, feeding/burping/playing/diapering Reynen, my at home job, making dinner, and everything else.  It’s my full time job.  And I love it! I really do.

Here’s a verse I have been meditating on recently: “And whatever you do, whether in word or in deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to the Father through him” (Colosians 3:17). So I pray we continue to be hard at work as unto the Lord!