Thoughts for Thursday

What am I cooking? Chicken Quesadillas, and on the side, B-Mama’s awesome guacamole recipe, homemade salsa, and a salad.  Yum!  And yes, you can make it all gluten free.  I use corn instead of flour tortillas for my quesadillas.

What are my weekend plans? Nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  Except maybe a soccer game, some yardwork, and Halloween, but no big trips and no weddings.  I’m pretty excited about a relaxed fall weekend in my town.

What are my prayer intentions for the day? I’m praying for my husband, my family, my 2-year old son, and a dear friend who just received some very difficult health news about her newborn baby.

What can my children do instead of watching T.V? Make a cake.  Last night Charlie and Gianna made their first cake.  Yes it was from a box, but it was gluten free, and it was delicious!

What have I done for my marriage this week? Complimented Mr. Red on his good habit of not letting personal interests distract him from his work.  For example, he didn’t leave work early for those Phillies games, but worked until his normal time and watched the game on a delay.  I need to do a better job of remembering this the next time I’m upset that he isn’t leaving work early for me.  I appreciate his responsible nature, and I know it isn’t easy to be that disciplined.  For the record, I would have left work early for the Phillies 😉

What am I reading? Very little.  I put my next book on hold because of the Phillies.  It is impossible to follow your team in playoff baseball AND read anything of substance.  There just isn’t enough free time.  Now that the Phillies are no longer playing baseball (big sigh) I’m hoping to get a new book from the library.  And have I mentioned that I’m bummed about the Phillies.

What’s challenging me lately? My almost 3 year old son Gus.  He has some special needs, he’s been sick (double ear infection, pink eye, two rounds of antibiotics), and his behavior has been really…um…difficult (and that’s putting it charitably!)  He tends to shut down when he’s not feeling well.  It takes him a long time to fully rebound and I’m certainly not as patient as I could be.  I’m praying for a lot of patience and perspective this week.  But on a more positive note, I posted a few weeks ago about my baby Claire and her refusal to nap.  I am happy to report that she has now transitioned to one nap, one beautiful long nap, and she is a very happy baby girl.  I fought her dropping a morning nap because none of my other kids dropped their morning nap this early (12 months), instead they waited until around 15-16 months.  Several weeks back we had a very busy week.  That week forced me to put Claire down for only one nap, and after 3 days she was suddenly sleeping for 3 hours, waking up happy, and sleeping for another 13 straight hours at night.  If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.  Praise God for a happy baby!

Something that made me think? A conversation I had with a friend this past week.  My friend’s husband is out of work, and she talked very personally about his struggles to find a new job, and his overall lack of peace with his unemployment and their family situation.  After the conversation I thought a lot about how much a man’s identity is linked to his work.  Considering the strong drive in a father to provide for his family, it must be incredibly humbling to be unemployed.  Earnestly looking for work, and watching your family wait would be very, very hard.  I’m praying in a special way today for all fathers without jobs.