Good Timing

Here's a "Not Me! Monday" Julie style....

On a night last week when I really needed sleep, I did not sit and dink around on the internet for at least a half hour when I should have been going to bed. I always go to bed in a timely fashion, so I can be at my best for my employer and family.  When I went to get ready for bed that night, I did not waste more time closely inspecting my face for something I could pick. I'm way past that teenager stage where my parents had to yell at me, "Julie, quit picking!"

When I finally made it to bed, I did not think I heard a mouse in our house and was certainly not startled awake 30 minutes later by a mouse. That non existent mouse was not caught in a trap right under my bed! I do not have mouse traps on my floor where my baby crawls and of course I don't live in a house with a mouse. I did not refuse to take the non existent mouse out of my house, and my brave husband did not suggest we wait until morning to take it out of the house. I am not a demanding woman, so I did not demand he get it out before I went back to sleep.

My baby did not decide to wake up 60 minutes later and he had not just eaten 2 1/2 hours ago. My 10 month old always sleeps through the night. I did not make him cry for 45 minutes and then I did not give in and just feed him so he'd go back to sleep. I'm strong in my resolve to get him to learn to go back to sleep without eating.

When morning quickly came around, I did not sleep too long and I did not leave five minutes after I should have in order to safely be to work on time. That could not be me!

Thankful Thursday

As you may or may not know, we are in transition between jobs and cities. We're working on starting an electrical business in a city we don't even live in while I finish the school year with my current job. We initially figured Brad would probably need to be in Lincoln a lot while the kids and I stayed out West. It was like a reversal of last year where he commuted to farm out West and I stayed in Lincoln with a one year old and a baby on the way. We survived, but I wasn't excited about not having Brad around again.

Well, God has worked things out for us amazingly, and Brad has yet to make a trip to Lincoln without us. God has provided excellent work for Brad out here; and at the same time when jobs open up in Lincoln, Brad has almost always been able to do them on a weekend when going to Lincoln was already our plan.*

Here's the best example of this. Last weekend we had our annual March Madness vacation planned. We "vacationed" in Lincoln this year. At the beginning of the week, Brad already had two service calls** scheduled for while we were there. Then the day we left, someone we didn't know called because they had a smoking electrical panel and saw our number in the phone book! The phone book has A LOT of electricians in it. We put our number in it because we figured people who know Robertson Electric might need it to find our number sometime, and we doubted any new people would call. Someone actually did! (It was quite an exciting moment for us. It doesn't take much around here.) The point is - Brad was able to add another service call to his day while we were back and didn't have to make an extra trip. It's just one of those times where you felt like you could see God working things out nicely for us.

All of that wordiness is just to say I'm thankful that God has timed things well for us in this area so I haven't had to be running a zone defense with the kids for a long stretches of time. I know God's timing isn't always how we would like it to be, but I've really been thankful these last few months for how God has orchestrated things in a way that's encouraging to me. (Let me tell you, it doesn't always feel that way. I'm hoping to explain that all for you on Monday. It's gonna be good.)

Speaking of timing, I liked this story about God's timing in Haiti.

-----

*Now listen, if you live in Lincoln and have electrical work you'd like done, please don't be afraid to call because you think we're living out West still. Brad knows he may need to make an unplanned trip, and we have several more times when we're already planning to come to Lincoln between now and when we move back completely. We'd be more than happy to serve you and I can deal with running a zone defense every now and then!

**One of those service calls was for some very nice Bright People who are selling their home in SW Lincoln. If you're looking to buy in that area, let me know and I'll share their information with you. Their home now has a ceiling fan in the master bedroom, which is a big plus if you ask me.

Thankful Thursday

It's FINALLY nice enough to spend time outside and that makes me thankful for so many things. I'm somewhat of a nature lover so I feel a little over exuberant this time of year. I'm especially a bird lover and you would not believe all the birds we've had flying by this week! WOW!

What nice weather means is I can resume walks with my little girlfriend. She has amazing taste in clothes and shoes and is great for unlimited conversation. Her baby tends to do a lot of the same things my baby does, and she NEVER hurries.

We enjoy the wide open spaces and the nature around us,

arrive at our destination,

and turn around to walk back down the driveway.

Some days a half hour walk with a girlfriend is just what a mama needs.

This and That

I was thinking of this title this morning before I saw Lisa's blog heading. I figured since I thought of the title before I saw hers and let you know that, then I could not worry about you thinking I was a copy cat.

Since it's Thursday, I'd like you know that I'm thankful for asparagus. We love that vegetable at our house, and it was on a great sale last week.

Brad's closing out his week with some small commercial jobs. He's very capable of residential and commercial jobs if you didn't know that already.

I'm sure a lot of you have been following the Compassion Bloggers. They bring such amazing perspective to life. We are so amazingly rich and blessed, and I hope I can be even slightly responsible with all that I've been given.

I need to do something with Robertson Electric's facebook page. I'm really embarrassed about it. Brad gave me that job, so it's not his fault. It's mine. Thanks for everyone who has become a fan! Do you think I should put "enlightening" quotes on it? Talk about what electrical work he's doing? Talk

How about those 12th seeded Huskers winning yesterday?! What a great way to start March madness. Even if I only get 2 channels out here in the country that may never have basketball on them, I still love March madness.

The weather has not been kind to running outside this week. I see some treadmill miles in my future. Hopefully they can be in front of a tv with a basketball game on it.

Thankful Thursday

We are also so thankful for how God keeps providing business for Robertson Electric. Turns out there are Bright People out there!

Two of Brad's uncles/aunts are updating their homes. The one who owns this fine business will end up with fewer electrical hazards sitting around for their grandchild(ren) and a basement full of recessed lights. The one who owns this fine business and is the father of this designer is getting closer to having the second floor of his early 1900's home remodel completed. Family has sure pulled through for us, and we're more than happy to help them out!

We're more than happy to serve people who aren't related as well. Thankfully our friends the Johnson (They raise beautiful horses if you're looking.) told their relative, who owns a remodeling company, about Robertson Electric. That connection ended up providing a nice little job for Robertson Electric, and we're hopeful for more in the future. Another friend let us know about their friend who also owns a remodeling company. The guys talked and emailed and now in a couple of weeks, Mr Robertson Electric will get to do some electrical work for him, and we're also hopeful for more in the future. I love the friend of a friend connections and it seems those friends of friends could easily turn into our friends too. How happy is that?

Someday here I'm thinking I'll put the names of those fine construction businesses and other businesses that help us out on the side of my blog, but I'm just not sure how to go about that yet. I'm still pondering. If you live in the Lincoln area and are looking for someone to do some work on your home, let us know. We'd be glad to refer you to either one of them. Of course, we think they are both Bright People because they're doing business with Robertson Electric.

If you end up getting to be a Bright Person and have a blog or business then I'd love to write about you and link up, but if you don't want to be linked to, don't let that hold you back. It's purely optional. I enjoy promoting people who help us and just get a kick out of linking, as if that needed to be said.