Bad at blogging

I've been pretty bad at blogging lately. Lately I just feel pulled in a million directions. Someday, maybe someday, I will achieve "balance" in my life. Well, this post will make up for my being "bad at blogging" lately. Sit down and prepare to read for a while....

Well, Chris and I started this new 12 week study last night at Church called the "Cleansing Stream" seminar. Our Church has offered this program a few times, but I've never known much about it, so haven't thought much about attending it. Well, in the Fall I became a part of a small group called a "huddle" which is made up of some other ministry leaders in the Church in addition to 1 of our pastors. So 6 of us meet once a month at Church for a meal and the pastor leads us in a teaching time/discussion time that is helping us make sure our lives are on track spiritually and "in balance." So as I share with this group about being out of balance time & again and we get to know one another better, the Pastor as well as another individual, suggests that Chris & I sign up for the "Cleaning Stream" seminar coming up. They hyped it up big time, making it sound super-duper & life changing and absolutely necessary, as we take the next step of spiritual growth & what-not. So I became thrilled and was ready to sign up! And now here we are, the group started last night. You know, it's never good when people get you super excited about something cuz then you are sure to be let down - even in a small way, if not more. So that's where I'm at. I'm not quite thrilled about the 12 week program yet. The leaders of it are not gifted leaders - some people are meant to lead small groups and some just aren't, plain & simple. This married couple is very kind and VERY passionate about the program... but that's about it. Just as an example, they had us go around the room and in an attempt to get to know one another better, they asked us to state our favorite color & why. I thought to myself, are you kidding me? I mean there's gotta' be 101 other "ice breakers" out there that are much more interesting than what is your favorite color. And just so you know, most people don't know why blue or red or purple is their favorite color, it just IS. Yes, quite interesting. So in addition to our interesting group facilitators, we have this pastor who is the President of the Cleansing Stream Ministry and he is the one who is the featured speaker on all the dvd's we will watch. (One week we watch a dvd, the next week we have a discussion, is the format.) So anyway, this guy seems nice & knowledgeable, but he's not one of those 'dynamic' speakers that grabs your attention and holds it. You can easily find yourself with a wandering mind. And in addition to all this, it's a really intense program with lots of homework. So you can see why I'm not so sure about it. I have heard TONS of good things from others at our Church who have went through the program, and I know it has the potential to be life-changing, but I am just overwhelmed by the committment of it and all the "homework" - the workbook itself costs $35 - so we opted to share one, though I don't know how that'll work since you're supposed to journal in it & stuff. Of course Chris is less than thrilled to be doing it with me - I had to force him to go last night. I'm sure there's multiple reasons why he doesn't want to go. So, I'm feeling sorta' discouraged at the moment about the whole thing. I am glad that it's something Chris & I can do together - since we don't get alot of time just the 2 of us and we both desperately need to grow spiritually, so we really should stick with it.. but I think perhaps the devil is just discouraging me right now.

So tomorrow is Valentine's Day. I've been asked more than twice today what I'm doing - going out to dinner?? Nope.. Nothing. No babysitter, no plans. Besides, who wants to go out to dinner on such a holiday? Every restaurant will probably be packed. I still want to go though. I think I might go to Cold Stone (the fancy expensive ice cream joint) and get Chris a 6 pack of their big ice cream cupcakes for $9.99. I can justify spending $10 on that - it's a treat and it'd be super delicious. (And maybe he'd let me eat one, too.)

In other news (like this is even news) I am getting a cold. My throat is scratchy and my nose is runny/stuffy at times and I just hope & pray it doesn't turn into a real bad cold over the weekend. That makes for a crummy time for us all.

So I never shared this on here, but I did what I said I was going to a while back - I got on expedia.com and researched a family vacation. I decided to go all out and plan the Disney World vacation of my dreams. :) And I know it's been forever since my Mom's been on vacation, so I figured her into my plans as well, in case she wanted to travel to FL with us. haha. Yes, I had fun. So, in a nutshell, my fantasy itinerary included this: for $1,600 I got 3 adult & 2 kid plane tickets (round-trip and non-stop flights) 5 nights in a really nice condo.. Go here: http://www.vistacayresort.com/siesta-key-condo-rental.htm and a rental car for our entire vacation. All for $1,600. And I even planned the vacation so it would be over Chris' birthday in May, so he could go to Disney World free that day! AND Maya is young enough that she can go to Disney for free, too. So, yes, I said, sign me up, let's leave today! But no one else did. My Mom laughed, Chris laughed... They thought I was crazy pretty much. I told Chris I wouldn't take my usual $ out of my paycheck until then, to save up some money... and all sorts of stuff.. he was not keen on the idea though. Too many people owe him money - he's stressed about that... but what else is new? It hasn't stopped him from spending money in the past. :) And this would be well worth our money - a wonderful time away for us! I kept the idea in the back of mind, as if it might possibly somehow happen, until last night. We were told at our delightful Cleansing Stream study that the big retreat is going to be the weekend that I had planned on us leaving for our vacation. Yes, perhaps I could postpone our vacation for a day, but it'd just be too much in one weekend. My Mom said perhaps it's God telling us this vacation to FL is not meant to be. Well, shoot. I was ready to leave tomorrow. Now it seems I won't be leaving for anywhere.

So that's life. I better get back to my to-do list here at work. I'm gonna' pray real hard for a good weekend. We need one. :)