The Positive & Humorous Side of Things
I realize my post yesterday ended on sort of a negative note. I do struggle with feeling overwhelmed and discouraged about these things from time to time. But generally, I find the humorous and positive side of things. So, lest you think I'm sitting here weeping in my cornflakes, I thought I'd post some of those things today.
♫ Remember our roosters? We lost 2 of them this winter. One of them got eaten by a fox or something. The other just keeled over in the coop one day. The remaining three have settled down and are pretty docile. Of course, they know instinctively that I'm nervous and follow me around like I'm their mother!
Our property butts up against the local gun club. One day I looked out the window and a pheasant was out there.
However, over the course of a week, the word has gotten out that 1) there is free food here and 2) there is no shooting over here. So now, all day long I have a flock of these pheasants out there, helping themselves to the feed. I counted 12 yesterday!
The roosters are not crazy about them and spend most of the day avoiding them, which means they are usually circling the house and crowing pitifully!
♫ Nathan got employee of the month at his job. He is doing well with it and they like him. He is working anywhere from 25-30 hours per week. He is also lieutenant of the local, volunteer fire department and that keeps him busy as well.
♫ Emily will be going back to school in September to start high school. I knew that home schooling would probably be a temporary thing. This girl has always loved everything about school - the academics, the social activities, the busyness. I really wasn't sure how she'd handle being home by herself 24/7 and sure enough, once the novelty wore off, she's been missing being around other teens.
♫ Stephen got on the Dean's List at college last semester and is doing well this semester. Some of his classes are more of a challenge, but he loves it!
♫ I've been going to the gym with Dan a few times a week. Have I lost any weight? Hah!!! I got on the scale the other day and actually gained. I like to think it's because I'm developing all these wonderful muscles that weigh more. Just let me have my delusions!
♫ Etsy shop - BLECH!!! I'm getting ready to throw in the towel. I've even paid extra for their search ads and get maybe one or two views a day and only 4 sales since January. 3 of those sales were people who know me. I'm really not an entrepreneur.
And I'd love it if you would pray with me about one more item.
♫ Our church renovated their whole facility a number of years ago before we were here to open a day care center. Long story short, the day care didn't work for a variety of reasons. So the building now has a large mortgage because of this decision. I always feel badly as I look at this beautiful facility with all kinds of equipment sitting here going unused every day.
Dan & I worked for an inner city ministry for ten years and one of the things I did was act as the assistant director of an early learning center for single mothers who needed a safe place for their children while they worked. We had 80 children, from infants and toddlers all the way through Kindergarten and the children were there from 7 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. each day.
Now, I do not want to open a day care center and spend 10 and a half hours each day there. Nor could I do it anyway with the laws the way they are. It would require me going back to school. However, I have considered opening a preschool which would be 2 1/2 hours per day.
This would not only provide us with some extra income but be a way to reach out to our community. I also am going a little stir crazy sitting in the house. My daughter is exactly like me. I thrive on being around people and keeping busy. One of the problems I've had since we moved to the parsonage is that I feel so isolated all the time. It just really sucks the energy right out of me. So much of the time I feel so down and listless and I know exactly why that is! Lack of interaction.
I keep going round and round with the idea. I do need to make up my mind one way or the other soon because this is the time of year to start advertising and promoting.
Would you pray with me about this? Thank you.
You see? There are many positive things happening here too!
♫ Remember our roosters? We lost 2 of them this winter. One of them got eaten by a fox or something. The other just keeled over in the coop one day. The remaining three have settled down and are pretty docile. Of course, they know instinctively that I'm nervous and follow me around like I'm their mother!
Our property butts up against the local gun club. One day I looked out the window and a pheasant was out there.
However, over the course of a week, the word has gotten out that 1) there is free food here and 2) there is no shooting over here. So now, all day long I have a flock of these pheasants out there, helping themselves to the feed. I counted 12 yesterday!
The roosters are not crazy about them and spend most of the day avoiding them, which means they are usually circling the house and crowing pitifully!
♫ Nathan got employee of the month at his job. He is doing well with it and they like him. He is working anywhere from 25-30 hours per week. He is also lieutenant of the local, volunteer fire department and that keeps him busy as well.
♫ Emily will be going back to school in September to start high school. I knew that home schooling would probably be a temporary thing. This girl has always loved everything about school - the academics, the social activities, the busyness. I really wasn't sure how she'd handle being home by herself 24/7 and sure enough, once the novelty wore off, she's been missing being around other teens.
♫ Stephen got on the Dean's List at college last semester and is doing well this semester. Some of his classes are more of a challenge, but he loves it!
♫ I've been going to the gym with Dan a few times a week. Have I lost any weight? Hah!!! I got on the scale the other day and actually gained. I like to think it's because I'm developing all these wonderful muscles that weigh more. Just let me have my delusions!
♫ Etsy shop - BLECH!!! I'm getting ready to throw in the towel. I've even paid extra for their search ads and get maybe one or two views a day and only 4 sales since January. 3 of those sales were people who know me. I'm really not an entrepreneur.
And I'd love it if you would pray with me about one more item.
♫ Our church renovated their whole facility a number of years ago before we were here to open a day care center. Long story short, the day care didn't work for a variety of reasons. So the building now has a large mortgage because of this decision. I always feel badly as I look at this beautiful facility with all kinds of equipment sitting here going unused every day.
Dan & I worked for an inner city ministry for ten years and one of the things I did was act as the assistant director of an early learning center for single mothers who needed a safe place for their children while they worked. We had 80 children, from infants and toddlers all the way through Kindergarten and the children were there from 7 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. each day.
Now, I do not want to open a day care center and spend 10 and a half hours each day there. Nor could I do it anyway with the laws the way they are. It would require me going back to school. However, I have considered opening a preschool which would be 2 1/2 hours per day.
This would not only provide us with some extra income but be a way to reach out to our community. I also am going a little stir crazy sitting in the house. My daughter is exactly like me. I thrive on being around people and keeping busy. One of the problems I've had since we moved to the parsonage is that I feel so isolated all the time. It just really sucks the energy right out of me. So much of the time I feel so down and listless and I know exactly why that is! Lack of interaction.
I keep going round and round with the idea. I do need to make up my mind one way or the other soon because this is the time of year to start advertising and promoting.
Would you pray with me about this? Thank you.
You see? There are many positive things happening here too!
Love you, sweetie! Thanks for sharing the wonderful things He is doing.
ReplyDeleteThose kids are amazing. What a success story for you and Dan. Boy, opening up a pre-school sounds like fun but a lot of work, Pray, pray, pray.
ReplyDeleteLove you,
Debbi
Thank you, Kate & Debbi! Love you both!
ReplyDeleteIt would be a lot of work, but it would also be very satisfying. Maybe you could get some of the church members to volunteer time with you to help out.
ReplyDeleteIn the midst of trials there is always blessings too!
ReplyDeletePraying for you! ♥
Blessings,
Nadine
Terri, I think the pre~school is an excellent idea!
ReplyDeleteI can so envisage you doing that...like Elizabeth says, you need lots of support, if that is forthcoming then it will be a blessing...will pray for this project, and the success of your writing (very exciting!)
xx
How about a co-op preschool? The parents would have to commit to helping out a certain number of hours a month. You might want to have a police check for your volunteers; to protect the kids (and yourself).
ReplyDeleteA Pre-school sounds wonderful but as the other bloggers have noted, a lot of work too! I will be praying with you about this. It would be a good use of the facilities.
ReplyDelete