Time Flies when life is a big ball of Chaos!

I had every intention of keeping up with this blog and then life happened to fly a bit out of control. The good news... I survived...

 My first semester of college was a success with a few hiccups that I will go into detail in another post later. The Semester started off well and then my mom went into the hospital. Uncontrolled diabetes is no joke. Threat of amputation and many days in the hospital and she is now taking her medical issues seriously. It has been a journey of many years trying to get to this point. I am glad I did not give up on her and I am glad that she is taking care of herself finally.

  I also went on my trip to Florida that I earned back in May and it was nothing short of amazing and just what I needed. Here are a few of our highlights... Home office tour, shopping in the gallery store at headquarters, dinner by Oceanside, dinner at the port and an air boat ride and dinner at one of the Tupperware executives homes. Fabulous. We also got gifts from Pattie everyday. The weather was post card perfect, 20 minutes of rain the first night while at dinner then 80 and sunshine the entire rest of our trip. It was a much needed break away for sure, it gave me time to refocus where my energy needs to be spent and come back rejuvenated and ready to take on the world.

  The next week was studying for finals and then Auntie went into the hospital, she was having seizures. That rocked my world even more. I cannot imagine the thought of going through another loss. not this soon and not her. She is my rock. she is my cheerleader and she understands and gets me and all that I am going through. I simply cannot imagine doing life without her now or ever. Thankfully she was only in a few days and was home in time for Christmas celebrations. She is my inspiration. When I feel like throwing the towel in I think of all that she has gone through in the last two years and I wipe away my tears and Thank GOD for all I have.

So back to school... Finals went well and I got 3 A's and one A-, for a GPA of 3.925, not too shabby for a first semester back after 23 years. The boys all got A's as well. I am so proud of them and we helped keep each other motivated through the entire semester. There was a little healthy competition in the classes that we each shared, Taylor and I both had nutrition on campus and Alyx and I both had Psych online. It sure kept me on my toes.

 I am all signed up for the upcoming semester that starts January 8th, I have another full course load but only 1 online class at the first half and one online the 2nd half the others are all full 16 week classes on campus, between two different locations. This should be interesting. Books are all ordered and we will be heading to the book store next Wednesday to pick them up. Let me just say there is a huge racket with textbooks. Especially now with the online access component. We were unable to sell back any of our books from the first semester as they are only sold new with the online access code.
They wonder why college kids are poor. Good Grief.
I have many goals for the new year, one of which is to blog at least weekly. I have much to say but sometimes I struggle with how to convey them to you all.

 I am working on my word or words of focus for the new year and I know one that is on my list is GRACE! Do you choose a word or words to focus on each year? I would love to hear them if you do. I will be writing more soon as I am going to take advantage of my time off to do what I love most, spend time with my family, read some books and write.

I survived!!

   SO... It has been an entire first week since starting college. There has been coffee, tears, excitement, pride and more coffee. Now a week may not seem like much, but technically it is two weeks, you see these late start classes are a full 16 week course crammed into 8 weeks. So each week it is like doing 8 classes of work instead of 4. I may have bitten off slightly more than I can chew but I am determined and so far I have all A's. I am enjoying the little bit of healthy competition with the boys that I share a class with. It keeps me on my toes for sure.

   So far my Stress Management class seems to be stressing me out the most, ironic huh? It is only a two credit course but I seem to have the most work from it. Go figure. I also managed to hold 3 Tupperware parties last week, one of them being a $1000 party with 5 bookings. I was ecstatic. The other two are closing tomorrow and I have one this coming friday. I was also proud that I finished all my schoolwork by Friday so I did not have to have it on my mind over the weekend and I got to relax and enjoy myself, what a concept. Saturday I went with Alyx and Shelby to Dayton, OH for a CAP field trip to the National Museum of the Air Force. A ton of walking and driving, but so worth it, I truly enjoyed myself and I know the kids did too.

  I am determined to find a healthy balance in my life, school, work, my businesses and my social life as well as time with the kids. I am realizing my time with them is running short as they will soon be flying from my nest. Now, as far as I know they are not leaving anytime soon, but it just seems like time is slipping by faster than I can grab onto. I am truly enjoying the time Taylor and I get on Monday and Wednesdays since we go to campus for our class, we grab a cheap bite to eat afterwards and just chat, about our class or anything else that comes to mind. I am thankful for every last second.

  Tomorrow I am attending an on campus event that will earn me extra credit in my sociology class. I am intrigued as well as apprehensive, some of you may not realize that I have a bit of social anxiety, as much as I am an extrovert I am also an introvert. Pray for me as I step out of my bubble and go to this event alone, not knowing a single sole. This is hard for me. I tend to take someone with me anywhere I go especially for the first time. This is so out of my comfort zone.

   I am anxiously counting down the days until I leave for my Florida trip I earned back in May from our Tupperware business leaders, 5 days in the Sunshine State. I cannot wait. 1 month, 4 days, 16 hours and 00 minutes and 06 seconds.

  Well that is all I have to share for this week, I am sure I will have plenty to say next week.

Who's really in Control?

 Way back when... You know when, when I was young and thought I had life all figured out! I had a plan! Guess what? My plan was not my plan at all, you see God is the one in control and he has the Ultimate plan, we just need to learn to trust his plan. I was young, I was naive and I was in love... Fast forward a couple years and I was married and had 3 kids at 23 years old. Yep, MY plan did not end the way I had envisioned. I had done a year of college half heartedly when I graduated from high school, met my husband in January of that year and was married by June the year I turned 19.

  SO the new plan was to be a SAHM, take care of the kids and then go back to school when they started full day school. Sounds like a plan right? WRONG! By that point my Grandma had moved in with us and was mentally failing by the year. So she really couldn't be left alone all day for me to go to school. Online school wasn't a thought or maybe it wasn't even a thing back in 2003. SO my new plan was to take care of Grandma and go back to school eventually. Little did I know that God's plan was going to have me Homeschooling my two youngest boys come 2010, along with Grandma still with us. Grandma passed the year Alyx graduated and by this point we only had one more year of homeschooling as Taylor was set to graduate the very next year. At this point returning to school was not even a thought in my head anymore.

   So my new plan was to graduate Taylor and take some time for me, you know to not take care of anyone but me. Still had not figured out that no matter what my plan, GOD makes the final decision and has the Ultimate plan. Oh I forgot to mention 2 years ago this January I also began taking care of my Auntie who was diagnosed with Brain Cancer and had a stroke. Still doing that and I would not trade that for anything.

  Now this Summer came and went and my two younger boys were not to eager to start up classes, but me, I had an itch, you see homeschooling the boys gave me a love for learning that I never had as well as an eagerness to finish my degree so that I could be a teacher. Yes, after all those years of homeschooling, I missed teaching so much. SO I looked into going back to school and wouldn't you know it that suddenly sparked the boys to enroll as well! So here we are back to learning right along side each other, we are all going to college together. See God had a plan, and while it was kind of my plan, it just wasn't my timing. He had other plans for me first and now that those are finished I can finish the rest of my plan.

  So starting tomorrow I am officially a FULL TIME college student, along with being a wife, a mom and a caregiver, a small business owner and a back to blogging as well. You see Blogging is a way for me to vent frustrations, think things out and share to show others they are not the only crazy lady in town. SO kick back, grab a cup of coffee, or two or three and join me on my new journey, amidst the chaos and enjoy the conversation and some reviews and giveaways too.

  I hope you will help encourage me as much as I hope to encourage you. What we both need to keep in mind is that GOD is in control and we need to trust his PLAN!