Finding balance in life

I tend to be a driven person.  I always have a check list, while it may take me a while so far I have checked most things off.  I was seven sitting in the very front row at church the first time I ever listened to a missionary speak about living overseas and teaching other people about Jesus.  At seven I decided that's what I wanted to do when I grew up. In high school while being a missionary was always in the back of my mind, it wasn't very realistic, but I did love working in restaurants so I began dreaming and planing a way to become a manager of one someday.

Turns out I got to be a missionary overseas, but that dream for running a restaurant had morphed into not only owning a restaurant but one that would be apart of my Inn.  10 years later I have found myself running a local restaurant, but still dreaming of that Inn, and a restaurant of my very own.  As always I now have an even bigger dream one that includes all of this while living a simple life.

That's where I'm at now, trying to balance a simple life with my family while managing a whole crew of amazing people and learning all that I can still hoping for a place I can one day call mine.

As spring has arrived I can't help but think ahead to this summer when life usually feels the simplest.  A time when I garden, we fish, the birds sing and swings squeek as joy flows out of the boys through laughter.

Yes, he is wearing shorts with no shirt while there is still 3 feet of snow in the yard....Spring time in Maine.

But this year is my first summer where I'll be working full time and the fight for balance will be it's most difficult.  It's already decided there will be no veggie garden, but a wild flower garden in its place. There probably won't be much canning, but there will be lots of morning coffee on the deck while the boys play and my chicks wonder through the yard.

I'm learning again that all of life is a balance, saying yes to some things saying no to others and part of the joy is finding the way.

Gifts # 315 - 324
~ A big yard to enjoy.
~ The peeping of tiny chicks.
~ The excitement they bring the boys.
~ Warm days.
~ Finding the simple joys of life.
~ Dreams coming true.
~ Sunshine.
~ Sun kissed faces.
~ Birds singing & squirrels chattering.
~ Warm breezes & fresh air.