routines

I meet with a great group of ladies every Tuesday morning for prayer. We are not allowed to pray for anything but us and our immediate family. At first, I felt sort of uncomfortable about that. But, now I understand that guideline so much better, 1. we hardly ever be totally selfish in our prayers, 2. it is not really selfish when we pray solely for our self (God wants to be included in our life even though He already knows our request) 3. it causes us to be humble and vulnerable when it is so much easier to present a request that is our neighbors request 4. cuts down on gossip through prayer requests (you know what I'm talking about) 5. the encouragement, support, and vulnerability you share with the ladies you pray with is great.
So after saying all that, my recurring request this year was that I could get my life under control. Blynn being in school really threw my routine off. It is amazing how busy life can get if you allow it. Todd and I have been very conscious of the fact that we are not going to get caught in the generation X rat race of having our children constantly enrolled in some sort of extra curricular activity, so that definitely helped when all we did this year extra (besides church and school) was soccer. But, life is still very busy, so most of this year I felt very inadequate and failing at my home management duties. So around March, I was really feeling like I was coming out of the disorganization fog. And one of the biggest things to this was to overly prepare the night before, not leaving anything for the morning that can be done the night before.
One is laying out Blynn's outfit. Oh, Blynn really got into this task and likes to include shoes, outside garments, scarfs, and accessories if she can. I think it is hilarious and so, one night, I decided to take a picture for you.


Now, my prayer group is done for the summer and Blynn is done with Kindergarten and my routine is out the window. Only to be figured out again in March 2012, so we can have 2 months of control, right before we get out for summer again. Throwing the new routine out the window again. I have a feeling this is the new normal for me.