A weekend in The Netherlands

Today is April 7, 2018. It is 1500 and 67 degrees outside. I am waiting in the car with Livvy, Griffin, and Lilly while Alex and David go get Popeyes at the post exchange. It's going to be a picnic lunch and then some time at the playground while David gets the groceries.

It was going to be a trip to a castle, but Lilly has been wreaking havoc on me and I'm quite tired. She's so close to being in her crib, maybe because I am close to having her there!

This is going to be a great year, God willing. (I really hope He does!) I'm excited about the Netherlands this month, and about all the wonderful company I'm having this year. So many people have already bought their plane tickets and that's wonderful! I'm excited about starting up my business, too. I read something on Facebook that one of the members on the team wrote. "Sales is a great profession to be in." I never expected this of myself, but I agree! It's good for me because I like talking to people. I enjoy the random stranger and getting their story. I haven't done a whole lot of that yet since I've been away so much recently, but I intend to! It's good for me because I also like a challenge. I'm not normally an in-your-face type of person. Well, am I? Maybe about Jesus sometimes, but that's usually about it. (I hope!)

I don't know, though. I'm thinking this is going to be quite a year for us. In a good way. We'll see I guess!

Just like that, it is April 24, 2018. The Netherlands was awesome! We stayed in a cute house in the northern part.  We didn't go to Amsterdam.  It took us 7 hours to get to where we were going, and the next day, we were all pretty pooped.  So we took it easy.  Saw some tulips. Saw a couple of windmills, but didn't go to the main place, and that was okay with me.  Sometimes, you just need to take it easy.  And that's what we did.

We had BEAUTIFUL weather while we were there. What a blessing!

Why does God care about where I work?

Have you ever wondered if God cares about where you work? Have you already come to the conclusion that He does?

God definitely cares about where you work.

2 Corinthians 5:19-21 says:

Namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.  Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:19‭-‬21 NASB)

This tells us that God is calling other men through us. So I would suggest to you that God cares about where we work specifically because He would be able to match us up with our non-Christian co-workers in a way that we might be able to witness to them, whether in words or deeds. But not just non-Christians. Because I can tell you that the Christian friends I've met through my work have been invaluable resources to me to lift me up when I've needed it most, in a way that pleases God and honors my husband.

We also read this in Thessalonians:

But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another. We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. (1 Thessalonians 5:12‭-‬14 NASB)

The first sentence here tells us to appreciate our coworkers and our supervisors, and to "esteem them very highly in love." Then, it basically goes on to tell us to be the kind of peace-making team members who help people.

Here is a link to a 1-minute video that's worth watching to remind us to demonstrate love at work: https://youtu.be/0DcYVFJNUn0

I've been learning a lot at work in my current position. I know I don't talk about it much. (Check out this link to see what I've been involved in recently: https://www.defense.gov/News/Article/Article/1472543/joint-us-israel-exercise-juniper-cobra-2018-concludes/)  I've definitely enjoyed many aspects of my job, and all in all, I'm so thrilled to be able to work where I do. I'm learning SO much.  But at the same time, some of the people (one in particular), and many of the processes are so frustrating to me that I actually look forward to going back to where I work in MD, when the time comes.  How hard can it be to rent a stupid car for travel?!  (Trust me, they can make it VERY difficult.)  So I remind myself of what we are told in Philippians:

Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world... (Philippians 2:14‭-‬15 NASB)

Anyone want to tell me that it's easy to appear as a light to the world? I can think of some people who make it seem easy, but I am not one of them! But I can tell you that there have been times when I've known that my colleagues have needed an extra dose of light. Recently, even.

Usually we don't know what kind of impact (if any) we have on our team members as far as being ambassadors for Christ and lights in the world is concerned. Sometimes, I'll be honest, I forget these are my top priorities at work, and I get caught up in the hustle and bustle and forget to think about the people.  I'm working on this more lately. I've had occasion to work on it while I've been here. I just need to remember Who I'm working for.

We went to church!!

I'm so happy we finally made it to church again. It took Easter Sunday, but we did it. And I'm so glad we did.

Not that I got to hear the sermon, mind you. Lilly wouldn't sit for two seconds, so we went up and down some stairs about 50 times. But that's okay, because sometimes I listen to my brother's sermons (http://www.tlcchurchronan.com/site/audiodownloads.asp?sec_id=180014575), and I read a lot, too. But we really needed it. My kids needed it because we haven't been doing a very good job about prioritizing our faith for them. I needed it because it always does me good no matter what. It was good to see a roomful of other Christians, too, since I haven't seen that and known it since last August. Shameful.

But it was a good day. I pretty much neglected the essential duties of playing EB. It was a very austere Easter for my children. They found four eggs and had the most meager baskets I've ever seen. They didn't even get any Kinder surprise eggs! I'm glad. Honestly, they're much too spoiled. And only Griffin was disappointed. And I think he was disappointed because he wanted to find more eggs, not necessarily because he wanted more candy. (I could be wrong about that though.)

David made us hot sausage sandwiches for dinner. We had a ham in the fridge, but I'm pretty much the only person in the family who eats ham, and it was too big to cook for just me when I didn't want to mess with the leftovers (ham soup, ham loaf, ham sandwiches, ham and macaroni and cheese, you know).

The most exciting news ever: I know I'm getting my hopes up too early, but I can't help it. Lilly is in her crib. This is the second night I put her in her crib, but last night I picked her back up and brought her to my bed again. I NEVER wanted to cosleep. Have I publicly ranted about this yet? I am not against it for other people. I even think it might be good for the kids. But I've never been good being sleep deprived, and I've been sleep deprived for six years as it is! Sleeping with the baby is almost like not sleeping at all. Right now, Lilly is thumping in her crib. How long will she thump? What will she do when she's done thumping?

I remember sleep training Alex. Oh, he was hard. So hard! But we got through it. I DON'T remember sleep training the twins. Lol. Either I was just a zombie, or they had each other and didn't really need it. The latter is possible. One woman I met had twins and then a single, and she told me if she'd known how hard singles are, she'd have never gotten pregnant a second time. But I was pretty certain she had forgotten how hard that first year and a half with twins was. (I'm pretty certain I'll never forget!)

If we can get Lilly sleeping on her own, it could potentially make our travel significantly easier this year. That would be nice!! I want her and Livvy to share a room soon, but first I have to be confident that Lilly won't keep Livvy awake, and also that if Lilly leaves the room, she won't fall down the steps. I'm not there with her for either of those things just yet.

Uh oh. Lilly just said Daddy and Mommy. Now she's talking more loudly and saying no. Perhaps tonight is not the night.

I'm patient though. She's my last baby and I'll miss the baby stage, even though the next stage will be great, too (and probably easier, at least for a while).

Happy Easter everyone!

... Wasn't that wishful thinking?! I laugh at myself for even getting my hopes up. But she's close! Right now she climbed into Livvy's bed and let me put a blanket on her. She thinks she's one of the big kids, and that's just fine with me! She'll come around at some point, possibly sooner rather than later!

I already posted on Facebook, but we went to Rothenburg ob der Tauber yesterday. It was absolutely lovely!!