not waiting

It has been months since I have blogged. There has been no need to scribble to vent, or to keep my sanity. It is well in tact, and I survived the ending of a busy school year! :-)

I read YLCF's article The Joy of Waiting tonight, all the while watching Jane Austen's "Persuasion" movie. I am not sure that is was a sane combination! :-) It is my favorite JA story plot, as I identify with Anne Elliot in some ways.

I couldn't help but respond. Waiting for God to write your love story when you are young does bring anticipation and “unbridled joy.” I enjoyed those years of preparing, learning skills, homemaking, and looking forward to one day being the queen of one man’s heart and home.

But I am now almost 36, and the wait is not so joyful anymore. It is more of a reticent and quiet acceptance of what is. And what is not. And being fruitful and busy and making the wait count for eternity.

As a wise king once said, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But desire fulfilled is a tree of life.”

Keeping Up with the Joneses

This week, the Young Ladies Christian Fellowship webzine/blog is hosting a blog carnival. I participated last year and am eager to do so again this year. Great fun! The theme this year is weekly schedules and to-do lists.

I have a pretty steady schedule from week to week, so this is easy for me to look at my calendar and reveal...Keeping Up with the Joneses (for a week, that is).

Monday

Meg HATES having her pic taken!

It's 7 am. I am up before everyone else, as usual. I hurry through the early morning, chugging a cup of coffee. I gather my evening class books together, feed Meg our Welsh corgi and let her out, and finish my own quick breakfast and supplement consumption (i.e. Juice Plus, BarleyMax, enzymes, Epicore). I walk across the street to work. I am the principal and main teacher at CIAS, an umbrella school for homeschooled students. Students are sleepily waiting for their school day to begin. I start tutoring at 8 and break at 12 for lunch break. Lunch break for me included returning a phone call to one of my student's parent about a college dual enrollment schedule, checking my appointment schedule for the week, making copies of tests for afternoon students, and chatting with one of my secretaries. Back to tutoring from 1-5; that makes eight hours of teaching and supervising 15 students. I rush off to my college class, leaving my sister (and fellow teacher) Sarah to lock up. I am taking a class about exceptional learners, and have an early meeting with my study group about our project presentation on Autism next Monday. I sit through an interesting presentation on deafness, a short lecture, and a book report presentation. I am sooo tired. Driving home, I call Mom and let her know I'm on my way across town. My sister Tricia has dinner ready. Mom spends the evening reading, Tricia is studying, and I am grading my students' compositions.

Tuesday

I have a typical morning once again. Missed my coffee this morning though. :-( Several students get dropped off early at my house, so we walked to school together. I teach all morning; Tricia joins me at 10. I spend my lunch break printing my handouts and quiz papers for my afternoon writing classes. Thirty-five students are divided almost evenly into two classes. The afternoon speeds by, filled with sentence dress-ups, editing exercises, and students' oral essay presentations. I have off early this evening, so I come home and make dinner of pork sirloin and southern-style cabbage. I also try a new baked mac and 3-cheese recipe that turns out DELICIOUS! Yay! Tricia is across town at the university for an evening class. I am so proud of her, working full-time and nearing the end of a very hard-won accounting degree! We watch NCIS and NCIA-LA, two of our favorite shows. The evening is spent studying. Again.

Wednesday

Teaching all day. Have several wonderful "discipleship moments" with my students. I LOVE when they ask questions about life and the Lord!!! When I can open the Word of Life and show them that God has something to say about EVERYTHING in life, drawing a connection for them to the God of the universe. :-D I have an new student/parent interview from 5-6:30. It goes very well, and we have a new student enrollment..another middle school boy!!! I make another appointment with them for academic placement testing. I spend a half hour working on a senior's transcript for their college application and prepping for Thursday evening senior workshop. Tricia cooks dinner again; I LOVE taco salad! My sista-bestie is the bomb! :-D I eat slowly tonight. I am so sleepy, so I hit the sack early tonight.

Thursday

I am so tired today. I can hardly muster myself out of bed this morning. Ugh. A full day of teaching, the last one for the week. I teach and supervise 15 students today, and get a little break before the seniors arrive for their one-hour meeting/workshop on college applications, record keeping, and fund raising. We have a good turn out, and it goes smoothly. I am home by 7:30. Meg is rabid for attention and wants to play (i.e me throwing her toy so she can chase and retrieve)! My arm hurts after several solid hours. :-P

Friday 

CL chasing Aunt Tricia round and round. :-)

I sleep late, praise the Lord. 9 am...wake up refreshed. I needed the extra two hours of sleep. I am administering six achievement tests this morning, and also have two appointments (one new interview and one lesson planning meeting). Sendi, my Records Clerk, and I go over phone call messages before I leave at 2. A family tradition...the Jones family attempts to meet for lunch on Fridays each week. Cori is "great with child" and is getting more and more uncomfortable, so I take lunch makings to her house: Thai coconut soup, chock full of red bell peppers, baby bella mushrooms, tofu, and chicken. Everyone converges to enjoy my first culinary attempt at one of my fav Thai dishes and give me a vote of confidence. Yes! Another great new recipe. :-) We spend some quality time with Corrie Lynn, my precious niece. She is a precocious 18 month old now, and is babbling and talking and eagerly sits still for book time. She loves for us to chase her around the living room, crying, "I'm gonna get you!" If we try to stop, she starts running the circle and yelling, "Gon get chu." She's wearing us out! So much energy; I am too old for this!!! Cori is so uncomfortable now; she is three weeks away from her due date in November; little Juliana Mae is wearing her mama out! We are eager to meet her and anticipate being new aunties to another precious soul. We have a quiet evening at home. I spend several hours reading textbooks and doing homework for my two college classes. We watch several recorded shows from the week's lineup (Tricia records them each evening, and we watch them towards the weekend). I call it a early night, and read for several hours. YLCF's Gretchen has recommended some books that I ordered last week, so I get started on The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Looks good so far!

Saturday

I am up early and down to my family's Bread of Life Bake Shop for a day of wedding I anniversary cakes. We have a pick-up cake, as well as a delivery at the NAS officer's club today. The cakes turn out wonderfully (and beautifully!), and I head home around four for an hour's nap. I brought home some cinamon rolls from the bakery freezer, so I bake them and prep mulled cider. The house smells SO GOOD!!!!! We three grab our camp chairs and drive over to Dusty and Marisa's home for a pitfire and game night with old friends. What great fun! :-D Thanks, ya'll!

Sunday

The Lord's day at our house, and our Sabbath. Oh, how we look forward all week to our day of rest and prolonged fellowship with Jesus!!! I savor every minute as it ticks by, as it does all too quickly. Sleep in late. Then I watch one of my favorite pastor's sermon podcast online (Richard Crisco); good stuff. I read the Word for an hour (the Psalms and Romans today) and turn my new-er Kari Jobe CD on in the kitchen stereo. I decide to make omelets and biscuits for brunch, then I dedicate the next several hours to studying. I have an Power Point on Autism to finish for my study group's presentation on Monday evening, so I spend several hours perfecting the last of it. We have spent so much time on this project. I know that we will get a good grade, because it is fabulous! I check my e-mails, log onto MarryWell to check to see if I have any messages, and blog for awhile. Every fall, I get into a Jane Austen movie mood, so I go online and watch the new "Northanger Abbey." I <3 it! I get to bed late...not a good start to the new week, but it's my life. I'm a Jones.

a peek

YLCF is hosting their blog carnival again; this year is "A Peek Into Your Week" theme. I plan on joining the crowd, so I will be working on a nice edited blog for it! :-P

No, really. It is fun to read everyone's posts and meet new blogging peeps.

published

Single Minded: To Glorify God 

http://ylcf.org/2010/07/single-minded-to-glorify-god/

I wrote an e-mail to YLCF awhile ago in response to their "Purposeful Singleness" series. Young single girls were writing articles about how hard it is to wait for God's will in marital issues. My thoughts were...when you are in your 20s, you have NO IDEA what being single is like, at least not until you get to the end of that decade!!! 

I was so full of ideas and thoughts when I was younger too...but NOTHING can prepare you for long-term singleness as much as developing a content and peaceful heart. That needed GRACE comes every day to walk out a life pleasing to our Lord and Savior!!!

It got me to thinking...most (not all) of the single women in my acquaintance and church life has been consumed with hanging out with their friends and attending one social event after another and one singles meeting after another. So many seem self-absorbed, or in need of a reality check. Women who live immorally, and then seek God's blessing on their lives and wonder why nothing seems to go right for them. 

Then on the other extreme I know women who stay at home and do nothing but play the roles of second-mothers to their siblings, fulfilling no obedience to the Great Commission or to that great unction in 1 Corinthians 7: "The unmarried woman cares for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married cares for the things of the world, how she may please her husband." The things of the Lord would be work in the Great Harvest of souls and being FAITHFUL to do the work God has called us to (whether it be ministering to our families or to others).

I have always felt almost alone with my sisters (in the local area churches) in our pursuit of holy singleness. Last week Gretchen e-mailed me back and asked if they could publish it. I have been published many times, but it has been several years now. :-)  I pray that many girls will be encouraged to pursue God's call on their lives, especially if their single hood is stretching out long!!!

Keeping up with the Joneses

In keeping with my fellow YCLF ladies...

My Monday starts with the blaring clock alarm piercing through my foggy sleepiness at 7 am sharp. I sit on the edge of the bed, trying wake myself up from a good night's sleep. It never ceases to amaze me that I am rested when I wake, proving that Psalm 127:2 is certainly true in my life! "It is vain for you to rise up early, To retire late, To eat the bread of painful labors; For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep." (ASV)

I slog to the bathroom, tripping over shoes on my way across the room. A few moments of splashing water on my face, and I am back to change into my "teacher clothes." The house is quiet, but I can hear Meg, our adorable Welsh Corgi/red healer mix, shaking her collar to let me know that she is ready for the day. I fix my hair, slip on my flip flops, and trot across the hall to Mom's room where Meg sleeps. She is sitting there attentively waiting for me to let her off her sleeping chain. She bounds down the hall, pausing to stretch on the runner, and ends up in the kitchen, bouncing on her hind legs, waiting for breakfast. I scoop her food into her bowl and lean over to drop food into the beta bowls where Theta and Iota are still groggy. Starting a pot of coffee is next before I let Meg out into our rec room where Hershey, my English springer spaniel, has spent the night. I have to wake him up, poor fellow; he is 14 now and almost completely deaf. He bounds to the door to be let out; they both nip at each other playfully on their way out into the yard. I go back in to enjoy a bowl of Cherrios in silence. My Bible is on the table, open to my beloved Psalms. I choke down my vitamins before letting the dogs back in. I need to be leaving.

I send Meg back to lay down until the rest of the family is up for the day. I walk out the door and across the street to work...yes, it is idyllic and as my friend Kristen says, so European!). :) I run an umbrella school for 140 students, and have students arriving in a few minutes for their tutoring lessons.

It's 8 o'clock. My first two students are here. It is quiet, and since the weather is so wonderful, I leave the front door open and enjoy the birds chirping and squirrels chattering. There are many today. The red-headed woodpecker alights on the house eave for a moment, and reminds of my childhood back in Tennessee. An hour later, my secretary Aly arrives, as do the next set of students. Monday morning has begun! Between tutor lessons, phone calls, and checking e-mails, the morning flies by. I get a text from my older sister Cori. Apparently, my six-month-old niece Corrie Lynn is babbling non-stop this morning. :) Such a cute little boo. My sister Sarah arrives to teach her students; she has spent her morning slicing bread at our family's bakery in preparation for Tricia's deliveries. She may have had a cake to decorate as well. It's almost time for lunch, and the kids are growing restless. "Ms. Mary Beth, call lunch!"

I grab a bottle of ice-cold water and settle at my desk in the office for 10 minutes to catch my breath. Log in to Facebook for a minute to update. I hear kids getting too loud in the backyard. I open the french door in my office and lean out. All is well. The kids are just swinging on the tree swing and laughing about someone's sleep over last night. I spend ten minutes praying for my students by name; does anyone else pray for them? I know the Lord will answer the cry of my heart...for them to be saved and live useful lives for Jesus! My just-younger sister Tricia pops in for a few minutes. "I am done delivering bread. What do you want for lunch? Mom and I are headed to McDonalds." Um, a fish sandwich sounds nice. One o'clock comes all too quickly. Back to teaching. I call "Lunch is over. Everyone back to your books!" Groans all around. By now there are 12 or so students absorbed either in a game of Monopoly or looking through the Class of 2009's photo album.

Getting them back to school takes a little while, but not too long. Everyone is obedient today! :) The afternoon student crew has settled in after 30 minutes or so. One of my rather talkative boy students is yabbering on about what he did over the weekend. I tell him, once again, to be quiet. It doesn't work. I promise, I have always had the world's most communicative boys as students!!! :D So untypical, I am told. I get to witness to several of my students at least four different times today, sharing the light of Jesus' saving power. I have a blessed job!
The fair is in town, so everyone is making plans to go. One boy says, "I have never been to the fair." What?!? Come on. You've got to go this year. Tricia and I have arranged to meet up with our sister-in-law Rachel to go on Thursday night. Fun-ness! I am a ferris wheel junkie. :P

Five o'clock comes rather slowly. The kids are picked up, and the tables are a mess. The phone messages are piling up, but I am so tired. I leave earlier than I planned. The office work will be here tomorrow. I clean up quickly and trot across the street after turning the AC down and locking up. Meg meets me at the door (on a side-snote, I love the new Benjamin Moore Classic Burgundy door color. I just painted it over the weekend...the last of my Fall Break.). Cute dog...about 6 pm, she starts waiting by the door for me to come home. She has chosen me as her human; it still puzzles me why. Have dinner to finish. Yesterday I had pre-soaked giant limas. Just need to mix up some cornbread and finish cooking the limas. Add some sea salt and fresh ground pepper and let it simmer...good southern eating! The smell is invigorating. I settle in the den with a laptop. Mom and Tricia are here, reading and studying, respectively. Meg wants to play toss with her rope; she could go on for hours, silly girl! Mom asks me about my day; she loves to hear about everything going on. I log into my online classes and check the student lounge area. No one has asked questions that I can answer. I crack my Nutrition textbook. I study for an hour before Tricia, pops out from under her earphones with "Okay! I'm ready to watch our shows!" First comes CSI Miami, one of my favorites. It is a good plot tonight, so we don't have to turn it off. Yay! :) Tricia mutes the commercials so we can study in between. The kitchen timer goes off...cornbread is ready. Boy, do we enjoy dinner! It reminds me of Daddy, who LOVED my lima bean soup. I know he is enjoying Jesus' presence in heaven, but I look over at his lazy-boy chair and miss him tonight. The show is back on. I change into my jammies during the next break, and turn on the fan. The leather couches sure do get hot fast! Hershey is needs to be fed, which is a long process; he is not hungry anymore, so I have to hand-feed him, which he LOVES! Eww. :(

Two hours, two shows, and 40 pages later, I am ready to call it a night. I look over at the clock. Yikes! I hustle to brush my teeth, and let the dogs out for the last time. I sit on the patio for a few minutes and look up at the clear sky. The stars are bright tonight. I spend a few more minutes, praying. I can think so clearly out here at night. Finally, I whistle and take the dogs in, tell Mom and Tricia that I love them, and close the door of my room. It's been a long day. A few minutes of K-Love on the radio and reading Elisabeth Elliot and the Proverb for the day, and I am off in lalaland. Goodnight, Monday. Goodnight, Jesus...and Daddy. I love you both so much.