State of the House ~ March

March...this month had good and bad and ugly. Every month does, but this one had extremes.
A big theme of the month was competition: drama and singing at Fine Arts in front of judges and peers, auditions for speaking/signing parts in our church's production, competing at the regional level of Interscholastic Equestrian Association, baseball tryouts, Bible Quiz competition.

Fear is something we talk about often, specifically not letting it be the boss of us. "Do it afraid" is a core value here. There is so much goodness and life on the other side of fear. And God has promised SO many times that he'll stay by our side...he won't leave us hanging when we step out. It was awe-inspiring to see the kids being brave, trying new things, using their gifts.

Because it was tax season, our lives were out of balance, working too much, not seeing each other enough. Its not a healthy way to live, so there is just going to be fallout from it. Somewhere in the middle of our mess, I remembered the concept I first read about in His Needs, Her Needs about an Emotional Bank Account. Maybe it resonated with me because I worked in banking at the time that I first read it.

Essentially, our relationships are like bank accounts. We need to make regular deposits into our partner's account to build up "funds" that we are withdrawing from regularly. At some point, if you are not putting into the account, your debit card will stop working. Or, in the case of relationships, partners can begin to question each other’s intentions and feel disconnected, or even lonely. So yeah, we ran the month in the red.

We stayed busy, which is good in the winter when, without activities on the calendar, I might be tempted to hibernate.

I went to a great effort to purchase and cook corned beef and cabbage for St Patricks Day dinner. The response ranged from less than enthusiastic to complaining. The box of Lucky Charms though? Huge, unanimous hit. Sign...lesson learned.