Randomness and Some Prayer Requests

I rarely post just random stuff, but today I'm feeling random.

~I went for an eye exam last week and should have new glasses by the end of next week. I have an astigmatism and have had glasses for many years, but mostly they were for only when I needed the. They were much more important when I was in school looking at the board or working on a computer all day. Well now that I'm back to working on the computer so much, I knew I needed to go back in. Turns out my eyes are worse (seems like I'm even more aware of it since my check up) and I will need to wear glasses all the time. I think the new ones are cute and kind of trendy, but I can't really see myself wearing them all the time, so I may head back in the next month or so to get contacts, we'll see. Right now though I can't wait for my glasses to come in, I'm tired of this annoying blurriness.

~All of the crazy sickness and medical stuff we had to deal with last year and the travelling put me really behind on most of the other stuff in my life. Especially my work, so I'm working to get all of that caught up, then try to come up with more of a system to make all that I have going on mesh better together. Right now it looks like this will be the last co-op we participate in for a while. Kind of sad, but a relief at the same time.

~My step-son is in Army Basic Training. He left on January 5th and we've yet to hear from him. I knew we wouldn't get to talk to him, but I'm ready at least to get an address so we can send letters and such. With only an hour of free time a day I'm sure it's tough for him to write to everyone. He also has a long time girlfriend and everyone knows the girlfriend trumps the parents in letter writing. Makes it even harder for him that his parents are divorced. Anyway, I can't wait to hear how he is. We miss him terribly.

~We've decided that a theme for our family this year is going to be gratitude. I'm working on coming up with creative ways to teach that. Not that my kids are extremely ungrateful, but as Americans with so much, it's hard to be as grateful as we should be. I know we are planning to help feed the needy and donate some of our things to worthy causes. I think I will also try to teach them about other countries and how other people live (especially the Haitians). Don't know what else, I'm sure I'll get more ideas as the year progresses.

~I'm hoping to do a major cleaning out of this house. I've decided that with the amount of time we spend cleaning every day we should have an immaculate house, so we obviously have too much stuff. I talked to everyone about that last night. Needless to say no one was thrilled. I told them all that if they didn't LOVE it or absolutely NEED it then it had to go. My requirement is that when we are finished they will have room in their closets and dressers and no more toys than can fit in one toy box or toy bucket. I'm going to be adhering to that as well, if we don't have the storage space for it, it can't stay. I read on another blog the other day that a woman was cleaning out her closets and as she got to each one she would pray that God would show her what things needed to go, then when she was done she prayed again that He would open her eyes to anything she missed. She said it went better than it ever had. So we will be trying that as well.

~I have cabbage beef soup (minus the beef, haha) on the stove and I'm excited about it. I wanted something different and remembered that my Mom makes this and it's yummy. We are trying to cut back on meat. We love it, but it's pricey and we have realized that there are some things that we don't miss it in. Stir fry is a good example of that. When we have stir fry we only have veggies and rice and we do not miss the meat at all. I'm just saying that it isn't totally necessary to have meat every night and I've finally convinced my family of that. I'm thinking that I may start making a huge pot of soup at the beginning of every week and having that for lunch each day. I love homemade soup and I don't mind eating it over and over again if it's one that I really like.

~No secret that I need to lose weight, but it's more obvious to me every day, as much in the way I feel as they way I look. I'm just trying to figure out what to do that I would be more apt to stick to and would be a more gradual, permanent weight loss. I'm leaning toward little things right now, like making a list of low fat, low cal breakfasts that I enjoy and allowing myself only one serving of those each morning, trying to keep more fruits and healthy snacks in the house, healthy soups for lunch, more water, more exercise. You know just a healthier lifestyle without a diet plan. We'll see.

~I'm feeling a bit of an overhaul coming on this year. Like this is the year that things are going to really be ironed out. Our home in order, a healthier lifestyle, more productive schedule, more time in the Word as a family. Lots of little things like that. We're already seeing some of that happening and hubby and I are planning to sit down tonight to work on our budget and some scheduling changes. I'm praying it all comes to fruition, I'm not looking for perfection, just a lifestyle that is more manageable to keep up with.

PRAYER REQUESTS:
~My Pappaw is almost 95 years old and has been on a slow decline for years. He is not doing well at all and they are suggesting that the family try to visit with him this weekend as they are unsure how much longer he will live. I have been so blessed to have him this long and couldn't have asked for a much better Pappaw. Please pray for peace and comfort for him and the family

~My husband also went to the eye doctor this week and found out that he has cataracts in both eyes. He is only 44 years old. These are not the kind of cataracts that you get from age, so there is an underlying cause. Some of those causes can be smoking (he did for 20 years, but quit 7 years ago), sunlight, eye injury, diabetes. So he will be going to the family doctor in a couple of weeks and they will have to do blood work to make sure he is not diabetic. He has always had a hard time with his sugar getting low, so who knows......The eye doctor expects the cataracts to grow and in a year or so suspects Patrick will have to have surgery to replace the lens in his eyes.

~I have the opportunity to share or disciple a young woman. She did not grow up in a Christian home and only went to church when someone would invite her or for VBS, etc. She says she was saved when she was young, but has no idea what she believes, no clue what denomination she would consider herself, etc. She is very open and wants any info I can share with her. Please pray that I will share the right things in a way that is eye opening, but not overwhelming to her. She has an almost one year old and wants to raise her right, but doesn't really know where to begin when it comes to the Word and church. I'm very excited for the opportunity and would love your prayers.