Enjoy THIS Season

Hello!

Last week was just awful for me (us). We had so many employees call out it was just incredible. It was seriously like everything was against us last week. We had to work everyday due to call outs (still not complaining, I love my job!). It was crazy! Employees who NEVER call out, were calling out due to things outside of their control. And then after working all week, Saturday I came down with the WORST stomach bug. I could not keep anything down and ended up at the doctors on Monday (I try to avoid the doctor due to all the fertility appts I've been too, I ended up not really liking the doctors office) so if I'm telling my hubby I need to go to the doctor, its serious! I am feeling much, much better now but still not 100%. Anyways, we are super glad to be out of last week and into a better week!

Fall is here (and leaving quickly), I love Fall but it always seems to come and go so quickly! I love the 60-70 degree weather. I love that it is cool enough for long pants and a jacket, but not so cold that I have to wear a bulky winter coat! 

Anyways, Fall is not the season I'm talking about enjoying, I'm talking about the seasons of life!
Being sick this last week, I have had A LOT of time to think. I am so quick to disregard the season of life I'm in, waiting for the next season, hoping that it will be better and I so quickly forget to enjoy the beauty of the season I'm in. I have ALWAYS done this. This last week I was thinking about when we lived in Florida. I miss that season of life. I miss being newlywed. I miss thinking that getting pregnant would be so so easy. I miss that naive person I was FIVE years ago. And that got me started thinking about now. About how I don't appreciate what I have right NOW. I'm always looking forward. Thinking about how good life will be when this happens, or that happens. When we lived in Florida, I did not enjoy that season of life. I was so ready to jump ahead to the next season, to have kids, to "start" my life. When we moved to Alabama, it was the same, I didn't enjoy what I had, I wanted to have kids, I wanted to get to that season of life. I didn't enjoy my house, my life, what I had. Anyone else like this? I am always imagining that the future will be better and I want to get there NOW. I have decided that my new goal is to enjoy the season of life I am in now, whatever that may be. There are wonderful things going on around me, things I am missing out on because I am so focused on the future. Now I'm NOT saying don't think or plan for the future but don't let the future become your obsession. Let's enjoy THIS season of life!

I want this quote to become my new mantra!

And this quote, just because God is ALWAYS there. Even if we don't see Him, or don't want to see Him, He is always there. 

xo
nikki

God's Plan

These two quotes sum up my life lately. Even when I'm not at work, or in my home office, I am ALWAYS thinking about work. What to order, where to order it from, making sure the store looks good, switching register systems, doing inventory, and on and on and on. Starting/owning/running any kind of business is NOT a get rich quick scheme. It is hard, hard work and takes lots, lots, lots of time. That being said, I still love everything I do, just that I don't have as much time as I think I do!

I have been trying to sit down and write this post for at least two weeks now. I have been wanting to write about God's plan and God's timing. We live in a society where we want things NOW. We may not be patient, or we may not trust that God has a plan. Sometimes it is REALLY hard to trust that He knows when we need things. Quite often when we are in the middle of a rough time, we cannot see that God has a plan. But after we make it through, we can see exactly how God was guiding us.

In 2012, we went to a fertility specialist for the first time. The news just went downhill from there. Bad news after bad news. My depression came back. I was living in a house with no a/c, no heat, no stove, and no hot water. I was in a neighborhood where I couldn't really walk around outside. And now I was told I had a slim to none chance of conceiving naturally. There were days, weeks, months where I didn't get out of bed. I rarely changed out of pajamas. And I would spend hours during the day praying and begging God to give me a child. I would pray and pray and pray for him to give me what I wanted. And then we were blessed. Blessed to be able to move out of that house and into a new city, new neighborhood, new house with all those crazy amenities (heat, a/c, stove, AND hot water!!) And after we moved, I could see why God hadn't given me what I wanted, how crazy I was to try to bring a baby into that house! God knew what he was doing. But I still didn't want to trust. I now spent even more time trying to convince God to give me a baby. I was living in a nice house now, in a nice neighborhood, I should have a baby now! But God still had more in plan for me. Shortly before we were blessed to move to Colorado, I decided to change my prayers. Instead of praying that God would give me what I thought I wanted, I started praying for the strength to follow whatever God's will and plan was. Everyday when I woke up, and throughout the day, I would pray for strength, strength to trust in God and to follow whatever his will was. Not long after changing my mentality and my prayers, we were blessed to move to Colorado, to be closer to family, and given the opportunity to start our own business.  I realized that God's plan was SO SO SO much better than mine. I began to realize that if I was meant to have a child, God would provide a miracle. And if I wasn't meant to have a child, then that was God's plan. I know that I can be happy either way, whether we have a child or we don't, I have already been blessed beyond measure.

It is hard when we are going through trials to see God's plan. It is hard to see His hand guiding our lives. It is REALLY hard to have faith when we are going through these trials. But God does know what he is doing! He does have a plan and he has PERFECT timing. We just have to have faith in Him and be willing to follow His plan and let Him guide our lives.

xoxo
nikki