Breakfast for Daddy

Yesterday morning I had to go into San Antonio to take a CIC exam. I had attended the class most of the week, and Saturday morning was the test. I left the house very early before anyone even woke up. When I talked to Bud after the test, he told me to stop and get eggs. I thought he had made the boys eggs for breakfast, but it turned out that they made eggs for him.

One of my proudest moments went like this:
While Bud was still sleeping, Ryan decided to make some breakfast for JD, so he made two pieces of toast with butter and served it to him on the couch. Then they both decided to make breakfast for Bud. So they cracked two eggs into a bowl, Ryan added a little milk, scrambled them up and poured them into the pan. When Bud walked into the kitchen, he found them in that exact scene, along with JD up on the counter turning on the stove (although it turned out it was the wrong burner). He helped them finish the eggs, and Ryan made some toast as well. He told me later that he wanted to make some bacon too, but he couldn't find it.

Bud was so proud and extremely impressed when he found them making him breakfast, and everything had been done correctly. Assuming JD had spearheaded the effort, he asked him "How did you know how to do all this?" JD said "I didn't know how to do it. Ryan did." Bud asked Ryan "How did you know how to do this?" And he responded "I watch mom." That just brings tears to my eyes. He loves to help me cook, and you'll usually find him sitting on the counter in the kitchen while I'm cooking. He watches and helps (and makes lots of messes), but he's taking it all in. And he proved that yesterday morning.

I'm so proud of him.
For many things.
For watching and learning, and building skills that will serve him well in life.
But having a servant's heart is what I'm proud of most.

Scrappy Weekend 2013

I know it's not news to anyone who knows me, but one of my very favorite things to do is scrapbook. And my favorite place to scrapbook is at Rockin' R Retreat Center in Temple, TX because it's just non-stop scrap booking Friday to Sunday, and other than 3 short breaks each day for meals, and very limited sleeping (about 4-5 hours a night), there are no interruptions.  I try to go at least once a year and this time it was in August. I usually go with other people (Kelli, Stacie and/or Erica), but this time I went by myself. It's not that I didn't want to go with anyone, but that I just really wanted to have some alone time. Time to do some thinking, praying, and recharging of my batteries. While doing that, I was also able to complete 53 pages, including some "fast scrap" pages, so it was a very productive weekend. I finished Ryan's 5th birthday pages, and my entire Paris and London trip from last year. Those were two big projects and I'm so happy to have them complete.

Here are some of my favorite pages from my weekend at Rockin' R:

New Job, New Chapter in Our Lives

Well it's been almost a month since Bud changed jobs. He left CPS after 12 years with the company and has gone to work in the oil industry. It wasn't an easy decision, but one we felt called to make. Anyone who really knows me knows that I've been very torn between my responsibilities at work and those I have at home. I feel guilty when I'm at work because I just want to be home with my kids. And when I'm at home, I feel like I need to be working. But if I do work at home, I feel terrible that I'm doing so and just want to give 100% to my kids instead. It's been a very difficult balance to maintain over these last few years and it has finally just become too much for me to handle. I can't be the provider and the homemaker, and be the mom my kids need me to be. It's really just way too much for me to handle. . . . at least too much for me to handle well. I've tried for years to handle it the best I could, but I've finally hit a point where it's really just too much and I can't do it anymore.

Bud and I talked about this back in July when I finally just hit rock bottom. I told him that something had to change. Our family needed it. Desperately. I was failing as a worker, as a wife, as a friend, and as a mom, and something had to change if we didn't want something else to happen. After years of talking about this, I feel like Bud finally heard me. He understood that I was at a breaking point and he felt the need to step in and make a change, even if it meant he had to sacrifice and get pushed out of his comfort zone. He agreed to consider his options and decided to look into an offer that had been made by our neighbor. Within about 3 weeks, he had been hired to work in the booming oil industry. He turned in his notice at CPS and his last day was 8/14/13. His first day at his new job was 8/15/13. No rest for the weary, right?

This new job will give him the opportunity to make more money, but it will require him to work more hours than he's used to. He won't get off at 3:45 everyday and have all afternoon and evening to spend with the boys. Instead, he'll be getting leaving at 5:30am and getting home between 7 and 9pm each night. That's a huge change for him and not an easy one. I know this job was a total sacrifice, but he is doing it and he's got a good attitude about it too. I couldn't have more respect for him for sacrificing this for us.

Ultimately, our goal is to take the pressure off of me so I can provide a better home for my family. I'm so excited about this new opportunity.

More to come on all of this later....