A lesson in worry

A friend of mine just wrote a post about this same subject & it got me thinking about our last couple weeks. You see, hubster’s car died on the way to a meeting at work one Friday. It started just fine in our driveway & then as he stopped at the end of the street it just died. Not stalled – DIED! He called me about 5 minutes after he left and told the glorious – I mean, sad – news. You see my husband got this car the Christmas after he turned 16. I have been nudging him to get rid of the thing for YEARS, but it is sentimental to him and he just can’t seem to part with it. Thus, the reason I try to restrain my JOY when things like this happen. Secretly I hope he will just say it’s not worth fixing, I’ll just get another car. But no…he doesn’t! (I should know better after 8.5 years of marriage, shouldn’t I?) It’s paid for, so that’s a bonus & we’d pay cash for another car, but he just can’t do it. Here’s why it would be good to change vehicles: 1) it’s an itty-bitty Honda Del Sol, 2) I am nearly 6’2” tall, 3) hubster is the only person who can drive it, making some days difficult w/ 4 kids, dr appointments, errands, grocery shopping, etc, 4) only 2 people can fit in it (see also #3) and 5) it stays filthy (or looks that way) because its so stinkin’ small!!! (Did I mention I’m not a fan of this car?) Anyway…back to why I started this post…

After the car died, my grandpa came & tried to jump it with no success. He brought him home & the hubster took our family van to the meeting. When the hubster was finished with his meeting, he dropped the van off in the driveway, walked back to his car & proceeded to push it home – BY HIMSELF!!! (Now do you think he’s crazy about this car??) He even asked for help from the 6yr old to release the parking brake as he pushed it over the lip of our driveway & down the slight slope. My son’s response, “That. Was. Awesome!!” REALLY??? Now we’re passing this unhealthy car-love onto him? UGH!!! Then, hubster laid down to get some more rest before his overnight shift that night. Later that afternoon, after about 3 hours of sleep, my grandparents offered their AAA towing, so we took them up on it. Apparently though, their new policy is to send out the ‘gas truck’ first. Well, after about 30 minutes of him fiddling with it & putting more gas in it (which it didn’t need), he said he would call the tow truck. So we waited some more. Finally, the tow truck arrived and we all piled into the van to follow it to the repair shop. It was around 4:30pm on Friday by this time, so needless to say it had to wait until Monday to be checked. We did not get a call on the repairs until Tuesday & found out what was wrong wouldn’t be too much (thank goodness, cause he’d already replaced the part). Then, he told us it also needed a tune-up. When we had it in for some other repairs 2 yrs ago, he noted that we needed it & we still had not done it, so hubster thought it was a good idea. So the grand total came to $467 & some change. UGH!! What a blow to the budget. We don’t just have that kind of money lying around. But, we realized that the hubster’s semi-annual bonus was coming up the first week of November, so we asked to temporarily borrow the money from his parents so he could still have a car. I went by & paid for the repairs early because I knew we’d never make the 6:00 close time. At 4:30p the shop owner called to inform us that on his “test drive” following the tune-up the car died yet again. SERIOUSLY?? He figured he knew what the problem was but wanted to replace it to be sure & he’d let us know. He called us back around 6:40p that same night and told us it was indeed the part he figured. So, now another $163 out of pocket and we’re back in business.

Having the car fixed took his entire semi-annual bonus check and then some! We definitely had other plans for that money too!! I was so unbelievably frustrated, to say the least. However, I'm going to quote what my mother & grandmothers said, "At least you had the money to fix it!" Which is absolutely true!! The more I thought about why I was upset, I realized it was because I was being selfish. We had not sought God in our decision about the semi-annual bonus usage. We were being selfish. Nothing more - just selfish. I had to do a lot of praying about this because I too was mad. I was mad that we can't get ahead for anything and I was mad that "I" couldn't do what "I" wanted with the money. Shame on me! I am working on my faith and trust in God. Not the wishy-washy faith that I often have, but the complete, full trust – no inhibition – faith that I know my Savior demands of me. It’s difficult - especially when we live in such a monetary-driven society. Its difficult not to worry about money, gas, bills, car repairs or just LIFE in general. But, I rest in the fact that MY Savior knows what I need – even before I do!!

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” –Matthew 6:25-34

Sharing...

Okay, so by now you've guessed that I'm not great at keeping my promises! Actually, I usually am...but when you have 4 kids and they ALL get sick the same week as you - well, let's just say...LIFE HAPPENS!!! Yes, you read correctly 5 of the 6 people in this house have been sick all week. BLECH!!! It started out as allergies and mine is now in the horrible morning sore throat-getting ready to lose my voice-phase. The oldest is finally getting better (his started first - lucky dog!), while the younger 3 are still struggling with a viral eye infection. My oldest girl also has an ear infection! So, here was the breakdown at the doctors office on Wednesday: 4 kids with allergies (the 2 oldest can take medication, but the 2 younger ones are still too young - BOO!); 3 kids with viral eye infection and 1 with an ear infection! WOW!! Guess I should expect this from time-to-time, but BOY HOWDY has it been crazy around here!!! I'm doing laundry on a Saturday, which rarely happens. But, we're all getting better (I hope) and we're gonna make it!! Next week will pale in comparison to this one!!

I also want to share with you an email I got from a blog I subscribe to. These two links (here and here)will take you straight to the posts. They are GREAT reminders for us Mom's that want to just let things go or get frustrated when LIFE HAPPENS!! I needed both of these today, so I figured there was at least one or two of you that needed them too! ENJOY!!!

Blessings...

Preschool & Young kids unit studies

As you know, we homeschool our oldest child. I have tried to homeschool the 2 yr old, but as of yet I have not figured out how to keep his attention for more than 10 seconds! Oh the challenges of homeschooling!!! One thing we do know, he LOVES his flash cards! That boy would sit and do flash cards all day if I let him! So, most of the time, that's what we do - flash cards. Now, don't get me wrong, he knows how to count to 10 by himself and to 20 with help and he even recognizes most of his letters, so I don't think we're too far behind. But, it would be WONDERFUL if he would just sit nicely at the table with Tyler and do his color papers! haha Guess I'm living in a DREAM WORLD to expect that from an "all-boy" 2 yr old. (But, my dream world is oh so pretty!!)

All that to say, I'm SO EXCITED about this blog I subscribe to!! I really think this week we might turn a corner!! A while back I found a blog that does unit studies & puts the reproducibles on their blog for you to download. YAY!!! I've been storing them up as they re-do them and this week their new one is PUMPKINS!!!! I can't even tell you how excited I was when I opened my email and saw they had just posted the re-vamp of their pumpkin unit! Why am I so excited? Well, we're going to the Pumpkin Patch this Thursday and now I have a unit and some papers to go with our trip!! I think this may be the turning point for lessons with our 2yo. I think we just might need something tangible to make the lessons more fun and "doable" for him. So, yeah...I'm SUPER DUPER OOPER SCHMOOPER excited (as Sid the Science Kid would say)!!!!

Here's the link to the pumpkin blog post at 2 Teaching Mommies. Take some time to look around their site and see what they have. They've got some GREAT unit studies! ENJOY!!!

Look for an update later this week on how this unit & our field trip may (or may not) have changed our schooling!

Next post: Intimacy in Marriage (a review of a study we're involved in at church)