Lesson learned...

The mister left around 4:30 this morning to go on a mission trip to Guatamala with our church.  He will be gone all week, getting home next Saturday evening.  I'm really glad he gets to go.  I can't wait to hear all about it.  However, he had only been home 8 days before he left.  That trip was for business... ping-ponging around Europe for 12 days.  It's really hard when he's gone, both for us and for him.  For me, it's just hard to be the only parent.  It's exhausting, truly.  With two girls in elementary school and an 18-month-old, we split the responsibilities every day.  I help with homework while he entertains the dude.  I take the dude outside to play while he cooks dinner.  But when it's just me, it's hard.

So this morning, I was going through my mental to-do list:

• chores (this will be hard b/c usually the mister entertains the dude while I clean and keep the sisters on track)
• laundry (5 loads at least)
• errands (need to go to HobLob and maybe Target to finish the Halloween costumes)
• Candypalooza 4-6 p.m. (carnival hosted by our student ministry at church)
• and the dude needs to nap at least once, if not twice to make him a happy camper

I was dreading the day... thinking we will not get it all done... especially with the mister gone.  And then it dawned on me... service for God is not supposed to be convenient.  It's supposed to be a sacrifice.  If it's something we can do from our La-Z-boy, is it service?  I don't think so.  It is a sacrifice on the mister's part to go to Guatamala (he's using 1 week of vacation).  It's a sacrifice on our part for him to be gone for a week.  Service for God is supposed to stretch us, bend us, make us feel a little (or a lot) uncomfortable.  

Now, it's the end of the day, and amazingly enough, the day was extremely successful.  We got ALL the chores done.  I need to fold 1 load of laundry and put away (tomorrow after church).  We only had to go to HobLob to finish the costumes for tomorrow.  Candypalooza was succussful.  The dude got 2 naps.  Amazing.  Thank you, Lord.