The Saturday 7

I have entered "busy season." I told the girls yesterday that the next few weeks are going to be crazy, then I got out my calendar and said, "Actually, the next few months are going to be crazy." Haha. So here's a glimpse at some of the crazy . . .

1. Justin wrapped up his soccer season with a three day tournament in Ohio. Levi has been really involved with this year's team. He tags along to a lot of the practices, and serves as the ball-boy during home games. So when he started begging to go to the tournament, we decided he's finally old enough to go. They left Tuesday after school and didn't get home until 12:30 this morning! The girls and I had a very quiet week! Levi lived his best life, constantly surrounded by people to entertain him (Justin's dad went as well, and he's just a big kid), eating tons of candy and chips and fast food, and getting to skip three days of school! The girls and I were responsible and went to school, but we also got fast food for dinner each night. It's only fair. 😂 After birthday week and soccer tournament week, getting back to reality next week is going to be rough. We're gonna have to eat rice and beans every night to make up for all that restaurant spending. Haha. It will be nice to have Justin home, though. He's been doing nightly practices since the middle of August!

2. Last weekend I spent nine hours working in the church library. I did some major rearranging to make room for our scads of books! And then I was sore for days afterward. 🙄 (#thisis40) I actually took a fiction book home to read for pleasure (The Peasant King by Tessa Afshar). I've missed fiction! That started me on a fiction binge, and I ended up reading 3 more in the Kindle app: Uneasy Street by Becky Wade, and then Rules for Ruin and The Muse of Maiden Lane by Mimi Matthews. She's becoming one of my favorites. She doesn't write from a Christian perspective, but her books are clean and so well done. I'm up to 57 books for the year. Ask me how I know . . .

My cousin got me this for my birthday. Isn't it the cutest?!

3. I probably won't have much time for reading over the next couple of weeks, because it is auction season at school. The fall auction is one of our biggest fundraisers, and because of my new role this year, I'm technically in charge of it. I say "technically" because I've only ever attended one auction in my life - years ago, and we have an auction committee that is much more capable as I. I'm trying to learn the ropes from them, but it is a daunting endeavor. There are SO MANY moving parts. It reminds me a little bit of Soccer Camp - the last couple of weeks before the event are all-consuming no matter how well prepared you are. At least I'm getting paid for my work with the auction! Haha. Although a lot more is riding on it than Soccer Camp. No one's going bankrupt if there's not a good turnout for a free soccer camp . . . Lol. The school isn't going to go bankrupt, but I feel a lot of pressure for the auction to do well. That said, I'm still accepting donations of gift cards or items to auction off if you're feeling generous and can get it to me by Wednesday! 😁 

4. Our Mexico trip is shortly after the auction and I'm going to need it to recover! It's going to be a little stressful to jump into vacation so soon afterward because I won't have a lot of free time to pack or prepare my kids/house for my mom to take over while we're gone. But I actually think it will be a good thing. I won't have time to dwell on all my worries about dying in a fiery plane crash or getting kidnapped by the cartel and leaving my kids orphans. I've had this feeling of dread for a few weeks that I'm going to face some kind of major suffering in the near future. My life has been too easy for 40 years. I've never really suffered, so I just feel like it's coming for me. Especially after reading all those nonfiction books - like God's been preparing me to suffer. . . . . Or I just have anxiety. I believe those aforementioned worries are called "intrusive thoughts." Lol. 

5. Another thing keeping me busy recently was planning a baby shower I helped throw for Justin's brother and his wife! I was in charge of games and food, while my co-hosts handled decorations, tableware, and dessert. I think I definitely had the easiest role. Look how much work they did to make everything so adorable:

Can you even imagine being so talented?

I was excited to plan games for a shower on Justin's side of the family because I was able to re-use a couple I've made up for my side of the family over the years. I have lots of siblings and nieces, so I've thrown my fair share of showers. Haha. For this one, I did "The Book Game" and Baby Shower Apples to Apples. 

A good time was had by all, and I'm so excited to have a baby in the family again!

6. After my failed Keto-venture, I decided to try intermittent fasting, and I've been so shocked by how easy it's been! Well, the first week I had a headache every day. But by week two it started getting much easier. Basically, I try not to eat after 8:00 pm or before noon. I do have coffee with sugar-free creamer in the morning. It contains calories, so I'm not truly fasting. But when I tried it this week, I was amazed that I didn't feel hungry. On Wednesday I was super busy at work. So I had coffee at home in the morning, then another cup at school because I was freezing and needed something to warm me up. But I worked through lunch, came home and fell asleep on the couch, woke up at 5:30 and realized I hadn't eaten all day! Usually, if I eat breakfast, my stomach is audibly growling by 10:00 a.m. The same thing happened on Thursday. On Friday I ate trail mix and had a real Dr Pepper at lunch time, but I got full fast and didn't eat again until dinner. If you remember, though, we went out for dinner every night this week. Lol. So even though I wasn't eating as much as usual, I was still eating too many calories. I'm going to try being more diligent between now and Mexico. We'll see if I actually lose any weight, or if the beach will get whatever body I give it. 😂

7. Pics and memes:

Justin and Levi got to go to a Michigan State game a couple weeks ago

We finally started having some real fall weather. Levi is not prepared.

Neither am I. 😭

I asked ChatGPT what Stella would look like as a human . . .

I have no idea why she's so religious. 🤔😂

While the girls and I were at the shower today, my sisters took Levi to five different Trunk or Treats! His candy bucket is already full before we even get to Halloween!

I remember reading a devotional one time for moms who felt like their menial tasks weren't worth anything. The author pointed out that the mother who packed the little boy's lunch that day probably felt the same way, and look what God did with her simple faithfulness. 

Preach!