A Lifetime of Weekends

Casey and I are still processing our new normal. I haven't yet had the paradigm shift from rotating days off and shift work to where Casey is now. We've had four weekends off since his job change and my brain is slowly beginning to process all the possibilities. We can committ to a weekly Bible study any night of the week, we can garage sale every Saturday morning without worrying about Casey being to work by noon, we can go to church on Sunday and participate in after church activities as a family....every Sunday, we can plan trips to the lake to camp, or as we chose this past weekend, to jetski, we can visit my family in Kansas any weekend of the month, on Friday night we can celebrate in anticipation of a weekend off, and on Sunday we can mourn together over how quickly the weekend passed, every weekend for the REST OF OUR LIVES!!

If you've never worked shift work or in retail, you cannot possibly understand the gratitude with which we accept this new freedom.  Before "family" even entered the picture we often talked about life goals for our family. At the top of the list was, and always has been to serve the Lord, in whatever capacity we can. We want to raise children who love God and want to honor Him. We want to be active in the church participating in ways that will win more souls for the Kingdom. When Casey was working his old job we were truly limited in what we could offer to our local church due to time constraints.

Of course this change did come at a price, but for right now, in this time, in this place, we are going to be grateful and we are going to work with a happy heart. We know it's important to be responsible citizens, good parents, and live according to a higher set of values while we're here on earth, but it's also important to keep in mind that we aren't working for ourselves. There's a bigger picture in mind.

Ephesians 6:7-8 (NIV)

"Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free."

It never ceases to amaze me how I sit down to write one story and another comes out. I sat down to write about what great fun we had Sunday at Copan Lake, and great fun we did have, but I first had to write about how thankful we are for the opportunity. Whatever your life circumstances, I think it's important to reflect on what you can be grateful for.

So, tomorrow I shall include fun stories and photos from our time at the lake this past weekend. And, trust me you don't want to miss out. Let's just say jetski + toddler + dog + mixed up priorities = an adventure.

Here's one photo as a sneak peek (because I did scout's honor, afterall):

Oh boy, have I got a story for you....

See you back here tomorrow!