Tools or Chains?

Really I just have one question for myself and for you.

Is "it" a tool or a chain?

This "it" can be many things.

It can be your house, your car, your job, your credit card.
It can be Facebook, your blog, games etc.

I just want to consider each thing in my life. Is it burdening me, is it keeping me from doing God's will, is it taking time I need to be spending somewhere else?

Or is it benefiting my family and relationships, it it drawing me closer to God and doing His will.

I truly believe things like Facebook can be used as a tool. It can help us share God's love, we can rekindle relationships and connect with many people, but it can be a chain, it can take up our time, it can open us up to things we don't need to waste our time on. It can be used to hurt others. Lets commit before Christ to only let it be used as a tool.

Another area that is heavy on my heart. Our home. I feel like I walk a tightrope between our home being a chain vs a tool. I so want it to be a tool. I want to use our home to minister to others. I want our home to be a blessing to my family and allow us to be efficient with our time, but it does seem that homes can be such a chain. When my heart begins to just long for a nice house. I get so excited to decorate a real home, but then I quickly go from being excited to being discontent in my present circumstances. Then I feel all wrapped up in my chains again. Needing again to be freed and to keep my eyes on Jesus.

I don't mean to say we can't enjoy anything or that we can't just do something for fun.

We need time of refreshment and these fun things can be tools used to build relationships and to bless our family, we just need to evaluate if it is tying us up or setting us free. Is it adding value to our life and pointing ourselves and others to Christ or is it adding stress to our lives or using up time we need to put toward other things?

Thoughts on Thursday

So here it goes, I am stealing someone else's idea and doing Thoughts on Thursday. I have too many thoughts to get it all into one post any other way.

The trip Jeromy and I went on was really a lot of fun. We did get some great pics of all of the wonderful sights; it was just more fun to post the silly ones. We were gone for a whole week. No kids and some free time to see the sights. The kids had a wonderful time with grandpas and grandmas and aunts, uncles and cousins. The girls got spoiled by gma Becky and gpa Mark, they went to a fancy dinner, got ice cream, new outfits, went out for hot chocolate and watched movies. Then the rest of the week they all got to play with their cousins, make forts, eat ice cream, make a really cool Father's Day cake and went down to Bayview to see some submarines.

While we were on our trip we found out Jeremy’s uncle Tim passed away. This was really a shock to all of us and very sad. Tim had heart trouble and had just had surgery. It seems he must have passed away a day or so after he got home. Mark and Becky have been working all week to pack up his things and set things in order. His memorial will be July 17th. Please keep Mark and Becky in your prayers.

So, Eli doesn’t sleep until after 11pm and then it is hard to wake him up in the morning. Overall I don’t think he is getting enough sleep. This affects everything and though he is generally content, he is not making any new progress that we can see. I have done some research and I am considering trying to get him into a sleep study. Some people with brain injuries do not produce enough Melatonin. I am hoping and praying that something simple like this could make a difference in his daily activities.

We finished school just before the trip and wow, it feels so good to be done. We immediately pulled the school stuff out of the bedroom and we are off to a good start on making it look more like a bedroom than a disaster zone. Goal: by next fall have the schoolroom in the new house set up.

Speaking of the new house, well we have stairs now. The progress is slow, but someday it will be done. The bigger Eli gets the more I realize how nice it will be to have a wheelchair/ hoyer lift accessible home. God knows our needs and I know it will be done in His time.

Thursday is almost over so I better call it quits before this becomes Thoughts on Friday. That just doesn't work.