Sweet Memory

I am pretending like this is a Tuesday post and I am not posting twice in one day. I had to blog about the sweetest thing that happened this morning. Being a mom of a boy that is growing up has had some things to adjust to. After they turn 5 life changes. My oldest is 7 now and time had flown by. He is and I think always will me a mama's boy and I love that, but sometimes I think he is unsure how he relates to me. Having two little sisters and one that totally demands my time, because she is two, I think is hard for him. At one moment I think he wants to be the baby of the family and be cuddled like Madie does. Then at other times he wants to be a "man" that would rather pick at me than show me any sweetness. This is especially true when in public like dropping him off for school. Normally he will hop out of the car saying a quick goodbye and dash in the door. If I am real lucky I will get a thumbs up as I drive off. But his favorite is to stick his tongue out playfully before flashing his mischievous grin as I drive off. This is just Dalton. Always playful, and always entertaining. If he kisses it is too hard or tackles us with his hugs. But this morning he was in a great mood. He got up, got ready and it was a smooth routine of getting him to school. Now, having children who are old enough to understand what is being played on the radio has eliminated a lot of morning radio shows to listen to in the morning. K-love had nothing that we could sing along to, so I put in a worship CD and played his favorite song. There is really nothing sweeter to hear that your children's sweet voices singing praises. As we went into the line and the lady opened the door to let Dalton out and greeted him warmly. I turned to make sure he had unbuckled and gathered his backpack. As I was telling him good bye he stood up a paused. Then he turned and looked at me with his soft little brown eyes had sweetly kissed me before jumping out of the car. It totally took me by surprise but was so wonderful. "Oh thank you. You made my day." I called to him before the attendant shut the door. He flashed me a sweet smile before running into the school. I just has to share my sweet moment.

Wordless Wed.

Me & my Mini-Me

Wordless Wed.

Breaking my Silence- "Should Have Made a Left Turn at Albuquerque"

I have not posted in many months. Life has "happened" in the Koenig house hold and left me little time for blogging and my head is still spinning from all of the transition. Then I got overwhelmed with feeling like I needed to "catch up" my blog and handled that with not blogging at all. But my friend encouraged me that I just had to start somewhere. When I catch my breath or gain perspective on things maybe I can blog about the recent happenings in my life, but for now I will start with a story of my recent trip to College Station. I was going down there because I had a huge Mary Kay class booked for this last Saturday afternoon.

First, off let me tell you. I can not read a map or follow directions very well. I was a little nervous about going that way without Darin. North Texas is fine and I can get around up there, feeling confident making that trip. But getting off 35 and going in the direction of College Station is another story. I tried to rely on the correctness of map quest and that was a bust. It directed me from Kyle to Austin and then back down to College Station making an hour and half trip 3 and half hours. So without a map I set out. I knew how to get to Bastrop and was going to rely heavily on directional signs to get me to Caldwell and then on to College Station.

So I was off, running late as usual and trying to make up time. But, five minutes out I had call my brother to make sure that I was on the right road to Bastop. That should have been my first clue that I was unprepared. When I was secure that I was on the right road to Bastrop and things were looking familiar to me I set the cruise control on 80 and went zipping down the road. I got to Bastrop and breathed a sigh of relief while chatting away with a friend of mine, Jenny catching up, I raced right through the town. I got off my call and kept going about an hour down the road. I looked at the time and thought, "I should be in Caldwell by now or at least seeing signs." I then saw a sign that said Houston 53 miles. My stomach started hurting and I knew I was in the wrong place. I was in Columbus, not Caldwell. An hour out of my way! I pulled over not knowing where I had gone wrong and much less how to fix it. I called my father in a panic. He laughed, (not at me but at the situation I had gotten myself into.) "How did you end up in Columbus? Why did you not turn out side of Bastrop?" he asked. "What turn outside of Bastrop?" I replied, my stomach feeling sick. "You are an hour south of where you needed to turn and that puts you two hours away from College Station." he informed me. Panic set in as I looked at the time. 1:00 and I had to be at my friends party at 1:30 for a 2:00 appointment. "What do I do?" I pleaded. He tried to give me directions to get me where I needed to be. But he had no idea where exactly I was and we speak two different languages when it comes to directions. I speak in landmarks and he speaking in highway numbers. I sighed and decided to put the address into my Iphone GPS. I felt like Bugs Bunny when in a few of his cartoons when he pops up and says, "I shoulda have made a left turn at Albuquerque."

When I tried to type in her address in the GPS I could not exactly use it because I had no idea where I was at to, get directions to where I needed to be. I was feeling the pressure to make up lost time but, I had no direction to run yet. By this time I was mentally talking my self down from a full blown panic attack. I HATE being late. I mean if I am running late even to a movie I literally have to tell myself I am just missing the previews. I called my appointment to apologize and tell her I would be late. Ellen is one of the most gracious people I know, and she kindly talked me down. Her sweet voice said, "Take a deep breath, Nocona. It is going to be fine. We will start when you get here. Now lets get you going in the right direction." She pulled out a map and gave my next step directions. Then said, "Call me back and I will get you to the next place you will need to go." I got going in the right direction and called her at the first three land marks. She was giving me directions in a way that I could understand. I could not go very fast down these back country roads and through the towns because I was afraid I would miss my next turn. I opened up the GPS on my phone and saw that is was totally tracking where I was at and giving me the next step directions so I was not having to call Ellen so often. This allowed me to pick up speed. I have had the phone since February and I had no idea I had a tool that would be so helpful. Ellen checked in every 30 minutes or so to reassure me and check on my progress. I made it to her house at three and we were able to start the party by 3:30. Then before I left she wrote me out directions to get me home. When I got to Bastrop I was so frustrated when I got the place where I missed my turn and realized how far I had gone out of my way. My gas gage was showing that time was not the only thing I had wasted that day. By the time I got home I was worn out from my misadventure. On the way home I had plenty of time to think about things and I thought that my mistake taught me things about life. There is a lesson that can me taken here. In my Mary Kay world and spiritual one.

In Mary Kay we want all of the things that this career has to offer and we set out running to get it. With out a clear cut plan or map to get there. We end up wasting time and resources ending up frustrated. Then we have to take the time to stop. Don't keep doing the same things you have always done and expect different results. If I had not taken the time to pull off the highway I would have only ended up racing on further and further away from my goal and I would have totally missed my party. How many times to we do this and then give up totally on our goals because we are so far away from them and we are frustrated. If I had just pulled off the highway and cried when I called my dad that would have jeopardized the success of my party. If I had been frustrated and just turned around to go back home, thinking "God must have not wanted me to make it to my party. It was just meant to be." I would have missed out on seeing my friend Ellen and having a $350 party. The whole trip would have been a complete waste. Instead I took a deep breath, got control of my emotions and assessed where I was. Then recharted a path to help me get to where I needed to go and got started on my way. I called Ellen who played the role of my director. She gave me step by step directions. She got me to my next small destination and when I got there she gave me the directions to my next one. As I got further down the road and more confident in that I knew where I was going, I was able to move faster and pick up my speed. I eventually got to where I needed to be.

My Spiritual revelation was a this. I think that is how we live our life, a day late and dollar short running 90 to nothing trying to catch up. We end up wasting more time and resources if we would have just taken then time to consult with God before we "head out" in life. Looking at a map and really making sure I knew where I was going would have saved me so much time. In life praying, seeking God and wise counsel before running off on a track could really save us a lot of heart ache. My second lesson learned is once we know we are lost we have to admit where we are before, we can get on the right track to where we need to be. If I had not taken the time to realize I was on the complete wrong highway I would have ended up in Houston and completely missed my party. Or if I had not stopped right then when I realized I was going in the wrong direction and fix my mistake getting on the right road I would have wasted even more time and had to back track even further. Same thing is our Christian walk. When he reveals to us that we are not on the right path, confessing and moving onto the right one is as simple as making the Uturn and getting on the right track. Also, I got on the right road quicker and fixed the situation by not pulling over having a huge condemnation party. I could have totally ruined the Mary Kay appointment. I made a mistake, realized it, corrected it and got on the right path. God is often like my friend Ellen. He guides us in each of our lives one step at a time. He gets us to the next destination and then gives us the next step to take. Like finding the tool that I had on my phone we have the bible. It has a map that helps on our destinations. Sometimes we forget it is there or we never realized it full power to helping us.

So that is my story and what I learned from it. I would love to hear your comments or lessons that you can pull from my experience that I may have missed.