The Plan

I am a planner. I always have been. I plan my grocery trips by aisle. I plan my workouts. I planned my wedding day down to the minute. I had a plan for my life. The plan went something like this: I am going to be a great artist and never get married. I planned to adopt three children by the time I was thirty. I wanted to have it all and a house to put it in.

But let's face it, life doesn't follow plans. I am some what pleased to report that my life looks nothing like the plan I had. I fell in love with the first man I ever really dated. (We dated for four and half years before the wedding.) We were married after sophomore year of college and on our first anniversary we were blessed with our first daughter Abigail. We continued to work our way through college and the summer my husband graduated Lily was born. Maximilion came just a little over two years later. We all share a tiny two bedroom apartment and my art is little but a side note in my life. Let's face it , three children leave little time for hobbies.














The only part of the plan that looks similar to my life is the part about having three children. I can assure you that I gave birth to all three. Adopting was not in our budget. I don't regret a sinlge part of my life. There are times when I wonder if my kids have everything they need? Or if we would be happier if life were a little different? I very quickly am reminded by my children's laughter as they play together, or they way they all snuggle together under blankets on the living room floor on movie night , that they are happy and they have everything they need.

At some point we have to step back from our life and stop planning. We have to let God lead us where we need to be. We need to realize that need and want are two different things. We learn that wants will never make us happy and needs are much smaller than we anticipate. I never got everything I wanted, but I do have everything I need and I am happily learning to embrace every moment. The upside is that I can clean my entire apartment top to bottom in less than 60 minutes! Now if only I could get a dryer that I didn't have to run four times to dry my clothes.