Routine

I was enlightened to write a post like this by my new blogger friend over at TV's Take, and her post about Routine. (check it out). I have loved reading more about her, and her posts always make you think about life in a different way, and not just go through the motions of life.

Anyways - I consider myself a very "routine" person. I do the same things the exact same order EVERY day, if I can help it. I get ready the same way, I go to bed the same way, I make my bed every day, I shower in the same order every time, dry off, and apply make -up etc, you get the idea. I am always amazed when my husband didn't realize I was going to do something right then, and i tell him, don't I always do it the same way/order every day???? (and I'm not necessarily going to write about this in this post, but, Richard is not routine in any way, and does things as random as possible every single day, and hates monotony. Has caused lots of "conversations" in our household) hahahaha

In the same respect, I also plan my days, and weeks, and have certain expectations of when/how things will get acomplished. i would never consider myself SUPER organized or extremely tied to a schedule (b/c I do a lot of social activities last minute pretty easily) but in my mind I like certain things to get accomplished during the week, and it throws me off when stuff happens that affects that.

So, the hard part about my life is Richard works for a 24/7 emergency response job. It's a little confusing and people always ask me what he does. it's complicated, but in short - he worts for a water/fire damage, mold remediation restoration company. It's a small company, that services damage in homes for Insurance companies. They do anything from pipes leaking, storm damage, sewer leaks/backups, and remodeling. He has normal hours that he works, but any given day can be out until who knows when. Now he can ask for time off, and if there is something urgent that he needs to attend, he can get off. But overall - any night is subject to him not coming home. Very rarely is he called out in the middle of the night - it's usually jobs coming in late in the afternoon, and then working until all hours at night. So he can leave in the AM and I always have to keep in mind that i don't know exactly when he will be home. he is very good at telling me as soon as he knows what's going on, or updating me, or working fast to get home as soon as he can - but it's hard on me.

I don't want to complain - or sound like I'm complaining. This job God has used to provide for us monetarily everything we need each month, and also has the perks of bringing home items that the people are getting rid of, and I will admit, that we have a lot of stuff in our house that his job has provided for, that we did not have to purchase ourselves.

But it's hard when I have a menu planned for the week, the day i want to go grocery shopping when he gets home, nights I have worked out to run with a friend, or things at the seminary for the wives . . . countless nights of plans getting changed, re-arranged, dinners turned to left overs or cereal night for us, making our last week's groceries last one more day b/c I'm not mentally prepared to head out to the grocery store with both boys, or throw the kids in the car with me b/c now I have to take them with me to wherever I was going to go.

Flexibility is something I have come to learn. And although some days I do not respond correctly (ok, lets' be honest, it's really really hard to be content when plans get messed up, and I'm not good at it at all), I have grown in my ability to look at the big scheme of life, understand that it's not his fault, be thankful for the work he does have, and remember that God ordained even this small event in my life that I can use to bring Glory to Him. I'm a work in progress. . .