Just when you think you’re getting things figured out, something happens that presses a potential life “reset” button. I haven’t decided yet if this is a reminder of our lack of control, or just opportunities for those who choose to view them that way.

Four years ago we bought a new home which we love. The market crashed and things are upside down, but it doesn’t bother us as we’ve never planned on moving again. Additionally, we’ve had multiple conversations about how happy we are in our home, area, family life, jobs, etc., etc., etc. We’ve even come up with a financial plan we’re really excited about. Life is really good!

(Insert potential reset button here)

Yesterday, Blake got an email from a company in Madrid, Spain asking if he’d consider a job offer. I should preface that potential job offers and interest are a fairly frequent occurrence for him. However, this one came from some referrals at Facebook and Google, which speak to the potential level of seriousness and scope on this one. It’s too early to tell if it will be a viable offer, but it’s sure brought some distraction the past 48 hours. The last time I felt like this was when I started the wheels turning for a job in April, and as I’ve now been working there for 3 months we know how that one worked out. It’s a good anxiety, but it is anxiety. Either way, the consideration of a major life reset is a good thing. It makes you think of things you hadn’t and other things you have in new ways.

Wonder what I’ll be thinking next week?!

I’m sitting here reflecting on how much can happen in such little time. In just the past six months our family got a dog, my daughter cut 6 inches off her hair and got braces, I got a new calling at church and a job, and I’m having to cut off all my son’s long pants into shorts because he’s gotten so tall. As I sat here going through pictures I thought these comparisons would be a fun way to share my point:

That’s the same dog, same strawberry box, same pool and even the same me with yet another long to short hair change! Who knows what six more months will bring?!

Well, it’s official. I took an offer yesterday to return to the working world. I’ll go in a few hours this week and start on Monday.

Don’t feel left out, this was really out of the blue for me too. Suffice it to say, I wasn’t looking for work. The possibility landed in my lap and after exploring it, everything just feels right, so I’m taking the leap. The people are top notch, the opportunity is high and the skill set is right up my alley. All that office administration, organizing, computing, etc., etc., etc.

It’s not like I need more to do, but I swear the stars were just lining up for this and in a time when so many I know and love are struggling to find jobs, keep jobs, or change jobs I just can’t walk away from an amazing opportunity. Now that the shock is over I’m really excited to dig in!

I’m hoping that my new schedule will help me be even more productive with my time. I haven’t had to balance these scales of activity for some 15 years so it will take some time, but I think it’s going to be really great. Taylor isn’t quite on board yet, but he’s going to have to experience it before he can comprehend it. His reaction was less than optimal with a few tears and response that I couldn’t go to work because I needed to be just his mom. We’ve tried to explain that my hours fit within his schools schedule so outside of summer he’ll never even know I’m gone, but he’ll have none of it yet. I think once he can experience it he’ll be able to understand that I can go to work and still be his mom too. Cidnie was a little resistant at first but got right on board with a little explanation and is excited for me. She asked me every day last week if I’d gotten the job and when I did if she could tell people.

So a new adventure begins.

Life finds a lot of parallels in daily events. Sometimes you find yourself up, other times down. They say the see-saw effect is a requirement to appreciate the meaning of both sides. I’m sure that’s true and likely the knowledge that there is an up for the down is what pulls us through. Often, you have to get through a period of things being much worse before they get better. This is definitely true of big projects; you end up making a bigger mess to tear something up in preparation for replacement or repair. I suppose you could say the same is true of us as humans; so often we end up making a bigger mess before learning from and enhancing that area of our lives. The goal in the end is always to find that other side of the see-saw.

This week we’ve been working on our pool. We’d pushed the limit for maintenance and it was time to do things right. The salt cell system that generates the chlorine for the pool started going on the blitz last summer. We’re learning it’s a lot like computers today, the system we have is now outdated and not supported for repairs. We’ll be installing a new system in a few days. Experience tells us how the ends justify the means, which believe me, is all that’s gotten us through this project. First, I have to deal with my personal heart murmur over the cost of the new system. Then it’s on to the physical labor portion of the project.

Step #1 drain the pool:

This is done by having a friend who lets you borrow their pump, and running said pump for about 12 hours:

Step #1.5 manually drain the final amount the pump can’t:

This part truly sucked, not just because all the grime and filth was concentrated, but because that small puddle was very deceptive. Those final 3-4 inches were another 350ish gallons of water. I know this because I manually filled and lifted out a 6 gallon shop vac 60 times.

Step #2 Scrub down the walls with a chlorine solution and the calcium build up on the tile with a pumice stone:

Step #3 Admire the work of a completely cleaned pool as you massage raw feet and burning muscles:

Step #4 Start the refill:

This is after about 14 hours. I’m guessing it will take about 36 hours to fill. Did I mention how big this pool is?!

I’m going to enjoy our pool this summer so much more than I ever have before, even with the deck in need of repair. And so you know, I’ve already looked into that as a do it yourself project and it’s a no go. I’ll definitely have to fork over a lot of pennies to have new kool deck put down. I’ll appreciate that more when it’s done too.

While I was working on removing the last few inches of pool water, Blake was working on a project with the help of a good friend. Our grill is almost back in working order. As we dug out the old line (or what’s left of it) we felt a new gratitude for getting the gas line turned off a year and a half ago!

We’ve now got the new line put down and hooked up ready for inspection to turn the gas line back on. We opted NOT to put it right under the electrical line against the house like the former pipe ran.

What gets drained, gets filled back up. What gets dirty can be cleaned. There’s a life parallel there.

I’ve been hit lately with the recognition and importance of good things. I’ve always known that negative screams, it’s why we tend to notice it most, but the positive is always there waiting patiently and quietly to be found. Here’s some I found lurking amongst my “negatives” today:

Weeds: So they’re all over my backyard reminding me of how much work there is to do, but they personify determination and a free spirit and when they’re gone I’ll have the satisfaction of knowing a job has been done.

Stunted: These little flowers made it out of the ground, even blossomed but they’re only a few inches tall and the flowers are about the size of my thumbnail. What a reminder of how important nourishment is. It’s so easy to stunt ourselves and our growth, I wonder what I’m holding onto that I need to let go of and what things I need to be embracing more to nourish myself?

Bare: My new trees are budding but still look so bare, yet the promise that sings from those little budding leaves is amazing!

Too Late: I didn’t get some of my broccoli stocks cut before they began to flower, now I can’t eat them but boy they look pretty, big and strong. Maybe the late bloomer is stronger and prettier for the delay?

Influence: “Bloom where you’re planted” came to mind as I looked at these flowers planted side by side at the same time. I wonder what made one take off and the other not? Am I blooming?

Sideways Volunteer: First the picture is sideways, just like I feel somedays! Second this is a volunteer tree or shrub, it’s finding it’s way without any direct help or nourishment from me…..hmmmmmm

Unglued: Ug, this is the face of my pool cool deck, it’s literally coming unglued everywhere and chipping like crazy. I guess the upside is change is imminent and won’t it look nice and be appreciated when it’s redone?!

Dirty: Two pool steps, one got cleaned off when my son tested the water temperature this week, the next step remains neglected and dirty as the vacuum doesn’t climb stairs. I wonder what I’m neglecting because it’s a little harder to get to? The clean sure looks nice!

Cycles: Death is unavoidable, yet new growth is always there to replenish.

Singed: Some of these tomato plant leaves were singed by frost and cold, yet they didn’t let that stop their growth. There’s a lesson or two in there somewhere.

Clean Up: It’s too heavy to lift now, but it indicates progress don’t you think?

I think I’m really struck with the reality of how our perceptions paint our reality. I know so many people who find a blame or excuse for everything, including making good things look bad. But the reality is, there’s good in almost everything. You just have to look for it to see it. I hope I’m the kind of person that encourages good things with those that associate with me. I hope I’m a lifter and not a leaner, at least not all the time!

So what’s good in your life?

This morning I took a moment to walk through my yard and enjoy the simple pleasures; to appreciate newness, marvel at the wonder of creation and drink in the goodness of a new day. Here’s some of what I saw:

Over the years, I’ve learned the value of blogging a few things - things that I think I’ll remember but find the details got hazy. Some of my best recipe creations have been lost to the haze, but as soon as I started blogging some of my successes I’ve been able to go back and find them. Technology can be a helpful and beautiful thing. Another benefit for me personally is the way it helps me track progress on goals. I love seeing posts and pictures from big projects from beginnings to end. They say a target to be hit must first be seen, well for me the motivation to keep working on those targets comes from visually being able to view and comprehend my progress. It is literally my fuel for success. So this post starts the first of many on recording my progress toward my goal of true self reliance through the principles of Family Home Storage.

First a little history to understand my perspective. I grew up hearing the importance of self-reliance and preparedness. The wise counsel of preparation has been ever present in my life, although I readily admit that I’ve been only partially vigilant in following the counsel. Instead of a full year’s supply of emergency food storage, I had a couple month’s worth. Instead of financial freedom I convinced myself I was doing great because we were always paying more than minimum on our debts as well as putting money away in several different savings and investment plans. If anyone had asked me how I felt about things at that time my story would have been laced with illusions of grandeur through rose colored glasses. My wake up call came when disaster struck in 2001 and I learned the valuable lesson of direct correlation between our level of vigilance and our survival/recovery. The good news is that we survived a serious blow of six months with no income without declaring bankruptcy. The bad news is that we only barely survived and our recovery was monumental. I seriously underestimated how quickly all those reserves would go when used. We incurred increased consumer debt used to float us through the gap of my husband securing employment. There are not words to express the feelings of helplessness, frustration and entrapment which followed the many months later as we struggled under a mountain of debt and limited resources. Looking back, I see how our partial attention to self reliance played a critical role in our surviving our own emergency, but I can also see how full attention would have provided full benefit. Things would have been different. Things would have been better.

In September I helped organize and present an evening of instruction on the very topic of Family Home Storage. Through the process, I was able to identify several things I still haven’t and should be doing for my own success in this area. The first was moving my knowledge of what I had from my cluttered head to an easier and more tangible system. So this week I took my own advice and went through all my food storage to make an inventory. I pulled things off the shelves, wrote down what I had, reorganized my supplies and then moved all that wonderful information into a spreadsheet.

While I haven’t perfected my system, I now have a start. I organized my list into a column for checking when the item has met my 100% goal, a column for the item description followed by two columns one for “have” and the other for “need.” My goal was to quickly identify in the first column how complete my goal is, the purpose of the last column was to help me quickly determine items needing to be added to a shopping list. I broke the list out into sections that included my pantry, freezer, long term food storage and non perishable items. The goal for food is to get three months worth of usable storage and one year of long term/emergency basic food storage.

Yesterday I put my list on the door of my pantry. I added a checklist for myself and family members to write down when items are pulled and used so I know what needs replaced. I just used a large white mailing envelope to hold my list and attached a checklist on the front and a pencil.

I’ve got a good start to my three month supply and a decent beginning to my long term storage, but I am totally lacking in drinking water and a few other non-perishables. It is recommended to have two weeks worth of drinking water for each family member. The suggestion is 3 cases of individual drinking water bottles per person for that time. That means I should have 12 cases of water bottles, I have one. So my immediate goal is to add one case of water and one package of toilet paper to each shopping trip. In our last home, I’d get caught with my pants down several times when the complex had to turn our water off for repairs. Sometimes it would last a good half to full day. I was so grateful for the inspiration to fill my empty canning bottles with water. The number of times I had to run down to my storage room to get a pint of water was many! I know the value of having usable water available.

My next immediate goal is to start tracking how quickly I use the items in my pantry. That way I’ll know what a three month supply means for me and my family. Right now it would be pure guesswork. I will also start adding that step by step application of one extra can of something here, a few pennies in the jar there, etc. I look forward to sharing photo updates of my progress on my goal. I wonder if it will look anything like the picture in my head?

Lately my husband and I have been having a great deal of conversation on the importance and learning curve of finding one’s balance with regards to the many options for using our time in today’s world. Many of our friends are venturing into online activities for the first time and they’re in the spiral of recognizing for themselves the need to establish balance. We’ve been involved for so long that we’ve almost forgot what it was like when everything was new and how easy it is to become unbalanced. And we’re not perfect at it, we’ve just had a lot of practice. *wink*

One thing I keep hearing in conversations and discussions is the extreme view that recent technologies are either evil or good. It’s a silly case because as with all things they’re both because the potential lies with the user and their agency. Some will use it for good, others for evil. In my humble opinion, I think it’s supremely important to remain an active force for good. Which is why I smile inside knowing how many of my younger friends on Facebook may be thinking twice before they post or share something just knowing that I may see it. *giggle*

My first learning curve came in 1999. I was the mother of a beautiful little toddler and an active advocate for adoption. Online activities were starting a real upswing then and I became involved in many boards and forum discussions on the topic of adoption. I entered my first chat room on an adoption website and met a wonderful group of friends, some of whom I remain in contact with today. We were exposed to extreme anti-adoption personalities on the site that would come to stir up a great storm of mud and ugly. I didn’t like it at all, and sometimes it made me sick to my stomach - made me want to run away and hide from it all. But then that rebellious spirit kicked in and I knew I wanted to fight back for good. I started posting more actively on some of the discussions, especially those that were trying to undermine the potential positives of adoption. It was here that I began to cultivate a necessary and wonderful skill of really thinking through what I shared, of being extremely careful of my wording and my shares so they could not be misconstrued. This is doubly important because with text communication there is no body language, facial expression or voice inflection to get your point across or clarify your intent. It was also during this time that I recognized the dangers of being involved in something so interactive. While a TV can keep you entertained for a while, a chat room could get you addicted with a need and desire to come back often and to put off other things because it was interactive; in this relationship you were getting something back for your time making it far too easy to spend too much of it online. I believe it was the day my toddler buttered our Yorkie pup that I realized other duties might be slipping for my time spend visiting online with other adoptive and hopeful adoptive moms. (I fully expect a comment on this from Pookie’s mom!) But it was the day I caught myself telling her “Just one more Elmo” for the 3rd time in a row that I recognized I needed to fix something. I had to step back and begin to limit my time spent interacting with all these wonderful people who shared interests from adoption to religious beliefs and more so I could balance my time spent in the “real” world with my family, neighbors and friends. It was a fantastic and eye-opening learning curve for me and a lesson I’ve never forgotten.

So when blogging hit the scene, I found it much easier to enjoy it without letting it take over my time. I’d already had the learning curve on website forums and chat rooms as well as e-mail groups to help prepare me. Although, it still took some adjusting as it was too easy to spend hours reading other people’s blogs and getting caught up in how many would come read my own. For a while in the beginning it was delightful to see a Technorati rating run up and blogging awards find their way to you. It was easy to lose focus on both my purpose and my time spent there. Again, I met many wonderful friends, many of whom I remain in contact with on a regular basis. My learning curve expanded. So when Facebook exploded I had the advantage of all this learning behind me. It wasn’t a temptation to get involved in quizzes and games that seems to suck away the sands of time from my daily hourglass. I’d already done that with all the blogging memes when they first surfaced. It was a fun way to reconnect with people I grew up with and I dearly love that ability. While some people complain about not caring about what someone is doing, I find it an easy and fast way to interact with them. People who I would not normally run up to and have a conversation because of geographic or time gaps get a simple thumbs up from me or a comment that I hope they’re feeling better if they shared they’ve got a headache - both things that I was unable to do a few years ago. It doesn’t take as much time as e-mail or reading a blog and I like that ability. It is also a great way to develop and extend new friendships with others. Just this past weekend I was able to easily strike up a conversation with someone I’ve never spoken to face to face before simply because I’ve commented and interacted with her on some status updates on Facebook. It melted that first and awkward barrier and the result was wonderful.

All this said, I know many who are currently struggling with their own learning curves. For many of my friends tools like Facebook are their first venture into the online world. It has all the elements of everything I’ve experienced slowly to this point in one place. It is chatting, gaming, socializing and sharing and consequently I hear many friends express shame or worry over how much time they spend there. Each time I tell them the same thing. I tell them of my own experience and how natural it is to have to find your own balance with these modern technologies, but if they are diligent it will come. The first and most important step is simply realizing you’re out of balance because a problem to be fixed must first be seen.

I do worry for our youth who are growing up with all these tools and digital technologies as part of every day life. Their adjustments will be different because there’s no “new” element for them, it’s just life as they know it. I worry that they will sacrifice the blessings that come from personal interaction and service because it’s more comfortable to sit and text or visit online. I worry that they seem to be missing important lessons such as not sharing or posting information that doesn’t belong to you be it news or photos. I worry that they won’t be able to see the long term impact of sharing something silly when they’re mad or just feeling silly. I worry that they don’t understand what it means to “share” in today’s world; that they are providing proof for anyone to use for or against them. And I worry most because I see their parents struggling to learn these same lessons. My husband keeps telling me it’s time to expand my charm school training into an e-etiquette course! Maybe he’s right. *smirk*

So for all the positive, there is equal negative. It was ever thus. I just feel a need to share that it is what we make it. A private family blog can be the most wonderful and easy way to retain valuable communication and record family histories. It’s the best of both worlds because journaling and scrapbooking can be combined. Now you can even click on an option to have your entire blog published into a beautiful hardback book. These tools can make important things easier and within the reach of everyone. That same blog can also be a source of hurt and exclusion if what is shared is not done with care.

Although there are times when many of us would love nothing more than to be separated from this crazy world we live in, we are not here to be excluded. We are here to learn how to live in this world and grow, how to develop self control and positive traits, in short to learn how to become better people. It’s not easy, but it can be done. Balance can be found if it is sought after. Life is rich when it is obtained. Our ancestors have all experienced it. I’m sure the radio was an addiction in its day the same as TV and every other enhancement and advancement that’s come along. In so many ways striking balance is at the heart of our feeling successful and satisfied. As long as we don’t lose sight of that every tool that comes down the pike will be an advantage for us.

There’s a lot to be said for comfort zones, both for and against them. On one hand they’re our adult security blanket that can help us feel secure and safe. On the other, they can become a barrier and stunt growth.

Several years ago, my husband and I made a painful (and previously yo-yo process) decision to move to Fort Collins, CO for a job possibility. I say painful, because we weren’t looking for it and in some ways felt pressured into it. Once we realized that we were waiting for the impossible scenario that the decision would make itself because the salary and benefits offered would make it easy to decide to move, we were able to realistically look at the opportunity and make the decision ourselves. We learned many things from our 3 months there but the lesson at the top of the list was how comfortable we’d grown being uncomfortable.

I know that sounds contradictory, but it was true. It’s not that we weren’t happy where we were before, but until we moved out of that comfort zone we couldn’t have realized how comfortable we had grown with our own mediocrity. That push caused us to identify and reach new horizons - a pattern that has since repeated itself over and over as we’ve learned to seize opportunities when they surface.

Lately, I’ve had a lot of discussions with friends and family about the value of being friendly. It strikes me that too often we can come across as unfriendly to those we meet or run into simply because we’re “comfortable” with our existing friends, etc. We don’t mean to appear exclusive or uninterested, some of us just require a little nudge out of our comfort zones.

So lately, I’ve been on the lookout in my own life for the times when I start to justify or rationalize not doing something. I’m beginning to catch myself and address this ‘knee jerk reaction’ and I’m amazed at the results. It’s just like retraining myself to tell my kids yes more than no - another comfort zone that seems to sneak up on you.

I’m finding this is a lot like exercising. When I feel those sore muscles that cause discomfort I can’t help but smile because I know that by working them positive things are happening. It’s rarely easy, never convenient and always requires sacrifice but the results are always worth it.

I wonder why it’s so easy to establish comfort zones about the silliest things; why it’s so easy to give ourselves ample excuses and reasons to stay there. Now that I say that, I do understand the primary reason because if I apply this to my ability/desire to get out of bed in the morning I totally get it. I don’t want to because I love that warm comfortable spot and the ability to do nothing but sleep!

So what do you do to help you identify and stretch your comfort zones?

This morning I sat down to my computer and found a welcome surprise; a note in my inbox indicating to me that something simple I shared here helped someone else.

“HI
I don’t know you from anyone and neither you me, but I just wanted to say we have a common friend, Jesus, who knew I needed some info on hooking my RO system to my fridge and led me right to your blog. Can I just say I’ve be looking online for hours trying to figure this out. So funny how posting something like that can help a total stranger in CA.

“I don’t know that I’ll be back but blessings just the same! and thanks for the detailed post!
Ally”

I wish Ally could know how much it meant to me that she’d take the time to leave me these thoughts and let me know that our paths crossed. It seemed so trivial at the time I posted it, so off the mark of much of what I share here that I had really questioned that post. Now I know if for no other reason, the Lord knew why.

I did actually come back and reference this post myself a few weeks ago when we thought the ice maker was acting up again so I guess you never really know do you? It tells me I should be a bit more vigilant about these “little” things.

I am convinced that we are the messengers in the Lord’s hands. He doesn’t often send us choirs of angels when we call, He sends us one another. How happy I am this morning to know that I crossed paths with a stranger, now friend in CA. Ally, I hope you’re having a wonderful day - you sure made mine.