So what is next...

This morning I had an early flight to Portland. Flying this time of year is much easier, because the sun is up and it tricks you into thinking you should be awake too. Fully charged with a cup of coffee I stared out the window and had some much needed think time.

I caught myself taking a moment for reflection. It was a “How are we doing at this game of life” inventory. This weekend we were crazy productive in the yard and got much more done than either of us thought we could accomplish. I feel like that statement needs a disclaimer. We have a large, beautiful yard that we both love, and in the beginning of the season it takes a lot of work. I am a self-prescribed yard schizophrenic. I start one thing, then glance over at another area and immediately start working over there. I’m like a spastic bee buzzing all over the yard, starting, but not solving anything. My husband loves me, but he loathes this trait in me. This year, as I buzzed away to another area, he begged me to stick with it and work together, and something crazy happened. We got shit done! A lot of things done. So, in the productivity section of the game of life inventory, we were rocking it in my assessment, all credit given to my husband for forcing me to focus.

While flying over the beautiful mountains between Washington and Oregon I thought, we’ve done a great job level setting our life. We made a huge change to focus on our kiddos and have one of us stay home with the monkeys, started a successful small business, got our health in check and changed our lifestyle habits, and of course rocked the spring yard project.

So, what is next…

While blissfully and maybe unjustly patting myself on the back, I asked the question, what were my folks doing at this age. Let's see, they had three children, Dad worked & Mom ran a small business out of our home, and oh ya, they also ran a super successful CYO (Catholic Youth Organization). They had over 100 kids in their youth group at one point.
I've been feeling good about where we are as a family. We navigated through some giant life hurdles and made it out with all of our love focused on the kids and us. That being said, I've been feeling a longing to help people, do something significant to make this world a little bit better. After all, the most impactful memories from my childhood come from when we were helping people as a family. I couldn't tell you any of my Christmas gifts as a child. I could, however, tell you about the many Christmas's our house was lined with care packages for needy families and shut ins. I feel it in my bones, I think our next chapter will be showing our kids how to get fulfillment through helping others. The only question we have to answer is, "so what is next...