I head out again tomorrow - last seminar of the year. I was not sure if I would need to cancel as it was less than 5 women for awhile, but then a few more women signed up and I'm up to 7. Believe it or not, now I hope no one else signs up! One of the reasons I was worried about running these seminars is because I have to buy so much inventory. I can't just purchase the exact number of books I need. I have to buy large numbers of books in bulk in order to get a good rate and save on shipping, etc. I never know how many people will come so I'm always guessing at how many to buy. This last series of seminars I didn't order any books. I figured I would take the risk and just try to sell what I had on hand. Each time I ran a seminar I never was certain I would have enough books. Turns out the low numbers meant I always had enough, but this latest seminar was the kicker. Now I was really down to the final few.....I was willing to order if I had to of course, but it was a huge upfront cost that I couldn't cover. What was I going to do if a lot of women signed up?!
Then, yesterday, I went through all those who had signed up and checked one more time at the inventory of books. To my amazement I have the exact number of books for those who are registered. And the exact number of photocopies for each woman, which may seem like a simple thing, but that also means I don't have to pay for more photocopying nor do I have to make the time it takes to get them printed at the nearest print shop, so that's really a little miracle for me. God took care of every detail from the number of books to the papers I hand out. I cannot tell you the relief.
On another note, whenever we start to notice an issue in our family with a child's behaviour or certain habits we're not so sure we like, they start to meet with Dad in his office, kind of like going to the principal's office for a few days. We've done it with the older children, but hadn't really done it with the younger ones. I had been trying to deal with issues that came up on my own and then calling Dad in when necessary, but lately, the younger ones have been going at it with one another in such a way that I had to call in the big guns.
I have to say, it has been so funny, though it's meant to be quite serious! I told the younger 3, ages 3-7, "Ok, today, you are meeting with Dad in his office for Bible Study." The 5 year old got so excited (you're not supposed to be excited to meet with Dad....you're in trouble....), "Oh! Are we in Bible Quizzing!" "Well, not exactly, but I do want Dad to give you a verse to memorize." "Great! When can we start quizzing!" "Uh, 7 years?" "Ok! Let's go to Dad's office!" Totally missing the point.....
They were not supposed to be excited to go to Dad's office! But they were, so we went with it and tried to make it a great thing to look forward to! So the last 3 days, off they go to Dad's office around 9 am for a quick Bible study on being brothers and sisters who love each other instead of fighting all the time. He's been using the passage in Genesis on Joseph. The brothers sold their youngest brother into slavery and RM has been telling them that when they fight that is what they are doing, selling one another into slavery....how sad is that?! They come back each time able to explain to me what they've learned and quite solemn until they see a snack on the table.......then everything they've learned goes out the window and they push each other out of the way! It has been quite funny to watch. I'm sure they're learning something!!!! Maybe when they're 40 they'll remember what it is.
So parenting is a lot of work. I always tell the kids, "I've never had 8 kids before! In fact I only just became a mom of 8 three years ago, give me a break!" I think they get it. They see it's hard.
We got the bill for the car my daughter hit the other day...yikes. More than we thought. But we prayed, grateful for the challenge because it's God's deal. We left it in His hands. The same day we got the email with the bill, RM got confirmation to go ahead on a new contract.....coincidence? I know we'll be able to cover it somehow. Truth is, it wouldn't have mattered how much it cost, God would have provided a way somehow....He always does.
My kids write this funny little series of signs on their wrists all the time....kind of looks like a tattoo. I yelled out, "What is that?!" It was a picture of a cross, followed by a "greater than" sign, then an arrow sign up and an arrow sign down. "Mom! It means Christ is greater than my ups and downs!" "Oh, ha, ha....that's great." Lesson learned.
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