Lemonade for 25 Cents!

One lazy afternoon during Spring Break, Princess had the great idea to have a lemonade stand with her cousins. Luckily, I had a can of frozen lemonade in the freezer. We set up a little table at the end of our culdesac, Princess made a sign, and I made some lemonade. A few minutes later, we had our first customer. We went through a little slow spell and the girls started yelling at everyone who drove by or walked down the street, "Lemonade for 25 cents!!" They were very persistent and recruited a couple more customers. We sold our whole pitcher of lemonade and the girls made $4.75. It was a fun, spontaneous, profitable venture.

Wines, War and a Long Weekend

A couple of weekends ago, my mom and sister and I took a few days and went to Fredericksburg, a cute little town in Texas wine country for a girls' weekend. We had a really great time visiting wineries, poking around the shops on Main Street, relaxing, and enjoying each other's company.

We found a great little olive oil and balsamic vinegar shop where we tasted some pure goodness. I bought a balsamic vinegar that was good enough to drink! (small amounts of course)

The bed and breakfast we stayed at had several sheep who had just given birth about a week earlier. The little black lambs were so cute!!

Our last morning in Fredericksburg we tried to tackle the National Museum of the Pacific War (a 3-7 hour museum according to the guide) in about 90 minutes. Needless to say, we were unable to see much of the museum, but we decided we'll just have to make sure we give ourselves plenty of time when we come back next year. I sure hope we can make that happen.

Have You Ever Seen a Cuter Face?

Heidi had her first grooming appointment the other day. When I picked her up, she had bows in her hair! I thought I would not ever want bows in her hair because I don't want a prissy dog, but she looked so cute, I just couldn't take them out. I hope Drummer Boy is not too embarrassed to walk such a fabulous dog down the street!

My Last Day Until...

Today is my last day of work. My last day at Cy-Fair Medical Center and my last day to be a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner. Maybe forever. Maybe not. I'm not sure about that. What I am sure about is that my most important job is being a mother, and I need to put as much time and energy into that job as I can.

This all came about after the Mom Heart conference I attended in February. While reflecting on the things I heard and learned and the things I felt that God showed me at the conference, I realized that my current job really didn't fit into my vision for my family, for several reasons. My job is very stressful and besides being physically away from my family on the days and nights that I work, I am also usually emotionally and mentally checked out the next day because I am exhausted. I realized that my family is being sacrificed for this job, and I don't even enjoy the job! That doesn't make sense. Why am I doing that to my family?

I took the job 1 1/2 years ago because I wanted to keep my skills sharp and my knowledge current so that when the girls were older, I could go back to work easily. Again, I realized that just doesn't make sense. I'm working part-time now and not enjoying it so that later I can work full-time and really, really not enjoy it? What was I thinking? I realized that I was holding onto this job because I wasn't trusting God with my future. I wasn't trusting that if I went away from the field for 2 or 4 or 8 years, that God would still be able to provide the right job for me. I hate when I realize that I'm not trusting God with my future because I feel so stupid. Who else can I trust with my future? Myself? Not hardly!!

So, after much prayer and a few discussions, I turned in my resignation. And once I did that, I couldn't wait to be done. I am positive that this is what God wants for me and my family right now. And that feels really good. I am a little sad to be leaving the nurses here because they are good nurses and really great people. I'm also a little nervous because the future is uncertain. I don't know if I'll ever do this kind of work again, and I know I will miss it. But I am trusting that God has a plan for me and whether it includes working as a nurse or nurse practitioner, or teaching, or running a bed and breakfast, or just being a mom, it is the best plan for my life. I choose to have faith in that. I'm so happy and I'm really looking forward to having a little more freedom and a little less stress in my life for a while. Yippee!