Finding Routine

For the first time in a very long time, possibly since the birth of Pepe, I feel like I have finally found routine! From June of 2002 until this past summer, I have been either pregnant or nursing. With those major events comes so much change in just myself, never mind the whole household, that I never really felt "settled". Just as I was getting used to having a child, or 2 children, or 3 children, along comes another one (and, yes, I do realize this was our choice [as much as it is our "choice" to create a human being]) While we were busy expanding the family, my husband was busy doubling the size of the hog operation he owns/manages, from 7000 to 13000! And, he choose to general contract that massive undertaking himself! He went from being the only employee, whose hours were very predictable, to having 2 full-time employees and less predictability. Talk about lack of routine! Then, in the midst of all of that, our church saw a few pastors come and go. Currently we are just at the beginning of forming a search committee for a new pastor. Major things kept happening and life felt so much like a whirlwind, like I was just holding on while life went racing past me. Not so now! Now, my days have order, routine, predictability. I am NOT pregnant. I am NOT nursing (oh, the blessing of regulated hormones!). We are NOT building more hog barns (and who would want to in this economy). We have the same interim pastor now as we did one year ago and we will have him for possibly another year. Life has found its stride. I get up at the same time, which is actually before the kids (that never used to happen as I needed all the sleep I could get), I make my bed each day, I teach school each day - well, that's about where the routine ends. Oh, and Jay comes home within the same 2 hours each day. So, yes, there are still piles of laundry to do, the kitchen counters never seem to get clean, I always have paperwork to do, my desk needs a good cleaning, I haven't figured out when to work out, I need to spend more time in quiet with Jesus, the hog industry is in crisis, this house is feeling a bit cramped, etc. Chaos is still abundant. But, somewhere in that chaos, I have found my step, my stride. I have found routine.