spending my time

hello, dear ones.  

this is me, hiding behind my coffee.

i have missed chatting with you, but i can assure you, you've been on my mind a lot.  :)

this summer is challenging me in different ways than i expected.

our new home school year is right around the corner, taunting me to plan and organize it, but i'm trying to squeeze every last ounce of summer lazy that i can.

i am craving fall already, which is amazing, seeing as i feel like summer just started.

God is so amazing like that.

He knows when i need prompting and change, and somehow each season is so welcomed by me in all of it's newness and beauty.

fall means apple cider and pumpkins, tube socks and sweaters, jeans and my fave boots.

it's organized days of school, getting up on time, and feeling like we've accomplished big things.

i am sort of scared for all of the responsibility, yet excited for the push it gives me.

is this all random?

why yes, yes it is. :)

i was challenged earlier this summer by this verse.

"we spend our years as a tale that is told."

Psalm 90:9 b

i heard a sermon on this verse once, and it was so interesting to me.

we spend our time.

spend  (spnd)

v. spent (spnt), spend·ing, spends

v.tr.

1. To use up or put out; expend: spent an hour exercising.

2. To pay out (money).

3. To wear out; exhaust: The storm finally spent itself.

4. To pass (time) in a specified manner or place: spent their vacation in Paris.

5.

a. To throw away; squander: spent all their resources on futile projects.

b. To give up (one's time or efforts, for example) to a cause; sacrifice.

like i take my time and divvy it out according to importance, 

carefully counting my coins(hours) and separating them into piles, to see how much i have and how i want to spend it.

that is what we do with our time, too.

except i have been very bad at divvying out my time in the areas that it should be.

my 'time' bank account has been in the red and i have been learning more about spending my time with Him. and part of that means focusing more on them...

...being more of a 'yes' mom.

that's why i haven't been around here much.

i am not the person who is good at time management.

i am challenged to be better.

God wants my best and my family deserves it. :)

so yah.

that was a bonus for you...just something that has been on my heart.

how do you spend your time?

three of our kiddos went off to camp this summer.

for a WHOLE week!

it was super relaxing, and i was able to spend some awesome time with my youngest...just focusing on him.

it was so wonderful.

while i missed my other children, i knew they were well taken care of, and only 10 minutes away.

we went junking, ate out a LOT, went retail shopping, painted, played, and i learned a lot about that sweet little red head.

time well spent.

my mother in law hosted a family reunion at their home a few weeks back.

it was a blessing to see some of the extended family, and especially to spend time with nathan's grandparents.

his grandpa's health is declining, so the fact that they made the trip was amazing.

father daughter love right here.

time well spent.

if i've said it once, i've said it a hundred times.

my oldest is a for real teenager now.

#stopgrowingup

but i know that's not possible.

she is changing just like the seasons and she is so very beautiful, inside and out.

it stops me in my tracks some days.

time spent with her is a blessing and i love watching her blossom into a sweet, Godly young woman.

dipping my toes through the dewey grass early in the a.m. is time well spent.

battling all of the spiders that have built homes into my hydrangeas, snipping their blooms and enjoying the increase that God has blessed us with, even through a partial drought, is something i truly relish in.

chatting with the birds and hanging laundry on the line...

add a lemon verbena candle and a cup of hot coffee and i've got a perfect morning.  :)

flower picking with two of my nieces.

time well spent.

#lovethis

now i don't want to lead you all into thinking i have spent all of my time like i should, because that would be so far from the truth.

there have been wise transactions and very poor ones, but i am trying to focus on the positive, and keep pressing forward into using the time that God gives me in my day to honor Him, and not end up like a frazzled mama mess.

because that happens.

a .lot.

so, i think i'm going to keep focusing on becoming more like the definition of spend

5b:::sacrifice...i want to give up my time and efforts on the things that really matter.

so that i don't end up like 

5a:::throwing away and squandering my time with futile, unimportant things.

i want my tale to be one that is pleasing to Him.

 ^"So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom."

Psalm 90:12

xo,

mary