deadlines and routines

I always prided myself thinking I'm kind of a free thinking, arty person... but the older I get the more I realize I'm actually very much a box-thinking person... a person which absolutely HATES deadlines and greatly dislikes routines, BUT STILL NEEDS THE ROTTEN THINGS NONETHELESS!!!!!

When we were packing up our flat in Germany to leave for Australia I noticed again that I NEED deadlines. I don't function without them, but HATE them the same time. While the deadline is comfortably far away, I slack and dawdle away, well ...until the deadline looms right before me and all of a sudden I'm as busy and productive as a bee.

And routines... living a routine life does not sound attractive nor adventurous... but I've noticed again and again, once I get thrown out of a normal routine I limp like a three-legged dog, totally off balance... I'm not even talking about a strict routine ( I could NEVER EVER handle living like that) but just a flexible normal day-to-day routine... but be it a holiday, an injury or moving to the other side of the globe, it throws me out of balance and the limping starts.

More often than not it starts with my spiritual life, next to be affected is my exercise life closely follow by my eating habits. And sooner than you think I don't even limp no more, but just lay flat on my face, or rather sit lazily on a comfy couch, munch a bag of chips, and bar upon bar of chocolate and am bored. I've fallen in the same trap again and again, you'd think I would have learned by now, but nopp, I find myself at the bottom again, I stopped my running, I stopped not eating chocolate, I stopped making wise food choices, I stopped being productive, I stopped being creative, I stopped being a good, mother, a good wife, a good Christian.

So here I am again, picking up the pieces and starting afresh with establishing my own routines. Thankfully God is such a patient and loving God that He will help me once again to pick them up, piece by piece to make a beautiful mosaic picture which is my life.

I did start running again last week after a almost 2 months break... my breathing was all over the place, I was back to being really slow again and the next days I was in pain all over... but at least it is a start.

Tomorrow I will start with a 8 weeks "peacemaker" course at church, how to solve conflicts in a biblical way. The lady in charge called me yesterday and asked me if I'd like to do it. There is also a "book club" which I'd like to join. It isn't really a bible study, but studying a Christian book together with a couple of other mums from church, and it's on an evening which is nice. And there is bible study for mums with small kids on Wednesday mornings at church which I'm also interested to join. So that's a start. We'll go from there... luckily there isn't any chocolate around presently so I can't be tempted to eat it, so I haven't eaten chocolate in like 5 days or so, which is a start as well in making wise food choices... so we're getting there....

But life just goes on and doesn't mind my stuggles whatsoever... which is good thing I suppose. Well, we have moved yet another time and live now in a 70s style house VERY close to the beach. Ben has started on a part-time job (he's a painter now) and in the evenings when he come back from work we go for walks long the sea, Ned on his "motorbike.

He stops now and then all of a sudden, hops off his bike and collects a random stone and throws it in his "boot"... we have a whole collection of random rocks and stones by now.

We also have a bit of a garden presently which the boys enjoy a lot; Ned enjoys playing in it and Cedric enjoys eating it... whatever crosses his path goes straight in the mouth, no matter if it is a rock, grass or insect (brrrrr). Talking about Ced, he finally learnt to crawl properly... see???

seeeee??????

Ced also likes Ned's bobby car

Somehow the boys get much dirtier here than back in Germany