Thanks so much to those who have so lovingly commented and left such encouraging things for me to think about today! I laughed and cried and said, “ouch” (out of conviction) as I read such wise words pointing to what really matters!
I spent the majority of the day thinking, resting (thanks for the reminder to get some rest, Amelia!), and praying….the children and I also planted some of our spring garden and spent a lot of time outside. The weather has turned so warm and nice and I noticed a lot more of my daffodils have opened up.
I am currently home with the three little ones, the others are gone to Art class and dinner at a friend’s house. Rich and I emailed back and forth a little bit today and I expect him home in about 1/2 an hour. We are going to go out for a little while with just the three children. I’m thankful it’s Friday and we have the weekend together.
Thanks again for the kind responses, I am very grateful, more than you can know. The Lord is so good, so faithful, and I know He will help me as I strive to be the best wife I can be for my husband.
Love~Shanda
Good to be Home 
Glad to hear that you are able to get out with hubby. Hope your evening and the rest of the weekend go well. Love You and much prayer! Col
i was at my cleaning job today and prayed for you when you came to mind. vacuuming is a great time to pray! “) glad to hear you’re feeling better. wishing you a wonderful wonderful weekend ahead~! just sit back. relax. and enJOY all God’s goodness.love & hugs. ~a.
I forgot to post this in the last comment…but thank you so much for being honest on your blog. That’s not easy, I know!Blessing on you dinner and weekend! Glad things are going better!
I didn’t get a chance to comment to your earlier post today (been a crazy busy day so far!!), but I have been thinking of you and praying for you. I can totally relate to your feelings, especially when Ryan used to be gone for a month+ at a time. Glad that you have been able to communicate with hubby today. Enjoy your time out this evening, and have a wonderful weekend! Much love to you!
Your children are beautiful and I’m so glad you are ready to face it all with a good and thankful attitude!!
Shanda, I am so glad you are doing well and enjoying time with your hubby and the 3 little guys. The pictures on this post are beautiful! The 3 older kids’ faces have such a warm, beautiful look. The three younger ones have more of a wide open wonder about them! That baby, I tell ya… He just really puts a happy feeling in my heart! I bet you smooch those little doll cheeks alot! Have a fabulous weekend, thriving in the warm weather! Love, GAil
Great pictures!!! Glad you’re feeling better. Have a great weekend.
I’m glad to hear that your day smoothed out some! I REALLY love that first picture 🙂
Cute pics! Hope you had a nice evening out!
Great idea for the photos of all six! Love how the focus is so on their eyes.
I too prayed for you today while off at a cleaning job ( just like Amber lol) Glad to hear you are doing better and have a nice evening ahead. Love to you dear Shanda!
Shanda- just wanted to encourage you to keep the big picture in mind and that sometimes the sacrifice to stay at home with the children comes with some strange feelings. I work part time, but it is only a few hours a day. My husband is a police officer and while he’s not actually at his regular job any more than anyone else, he does take a lot of extra off-duty jobs to get us out of debt and keep our sweet boy out of more childcare than he already is. When I get down about how much is left to do around the house and how he’s not here a lot, I just remind myself that he is sacrificing so much for us to be able to have the things we have and keep me from having to work full-time, with the goal of me not working at all. Keep praying! God will show you the attitude He desires for you and He will give you the peace your heart needs and the patience to deal with the kids day in and day out.
I just wanted to comment (since I didn’t earlier): I wonder if you talked to Rich very honestly about your feelings what could change? You know, there are many husbands who have every evening and week-end with their families but they aren’t really “there” any of the time. It seems (I don’t know because I don’t live with you) that when Rich is home, he is also “present”. I wonder if the two of you scheduled a little more time totally alone if that would help…maybe even *gasp* once a month (*grin*) maybe even 4 times a year overnight get a way just the two of you. I know you love your children dearly but it is good for them to see you loving each other (alone) too.
Maybe your hubby has some good ideas about small changes he could make too. You know he wants to, sometimes he gets a feeling of being ‘stuck’ too…my husband has a family computer business with about 40 employees. He is available 100% of the time to his clients because a lot of what he does is security based and if it is not working properly, it could be very dangerous. I do understand that but it is hard when he can not just turn off his phone, email, or computer ever. In turn though, he is able to work for home some and be with us more than a “normal” guy would. We have to always communicate and come up with creative ways to both stay plugged in. It can be difficult but the Holy Spirit will give you lots of good ideas!
Prayers and blessing to you today!
May He bless you for your effort. I’m so proud to see you wanting to try and show your honey respect and love. I wish you the best in that! Know I am praying for you guys today. I hope the business won’t last too much longer, and I’m not just hoping, but praying too. 🙂
With all my love in Christ,
~*Akarui Mitsukai*~
Isn’t the body of Christ wonderful! Jenny told me yesterday to be praying for you. Today I get the rare chance to read your site firsthand and I cry at how good God is; sage advisers and gifted encouragers surround you with their prayers. You have the blessing of volumes of evidence of God’s abiding love in your life, yet fatigue and emotions combine to assault that fact. After he had fasted in the wilderness for forty days, Christ was tested. After Adam sat in earthly paradise for an unspecified time, he was tested. All people receive trials. All people can have access to God to surmount the trials. Some trials seem comparatively minor, but they are all opportunities to confess, to celebrate God’s goodness and faithfulness. His victory is yours too.Priorities – God first, Rich second, kids third. Loving Rich and kids can demonstrate your love for God (He commands us to love others), but loving God must always come first (the greatest commandment, as you know). And all these things will be given unto you.We love you all so much. Group hugs (Is gh like lol in email/blog world?).Ice cream buckets & good memories: My mom “Nana” once gave fresh-baked cookies to our middle son, Nick, in a 5 qt ice cream bucket while he was at college. Since then, it’s become a familiar phase/request – “oooh, I’d like to get a bucket-o-cookies (pronounced quickly, like fast dropping horse hoofs) from Nana”. We also made a bean bag toss game as a gift for the boys one year. It was a bucket-o-gingerbread-boys, the bucket being the target. Simple pleasures.The couchhead pairings are fabulous!Blessings from CA and from Above. tbtg!! -Bob
Thinking and praying for you.
I do hope you had a lovely time last night. Take care.
I have a picture like just these of Bri at 11 years old with her new puppy looking over the back of our couch!Your children are so cute!