Merry Christmas!

We are up in Pennsylvania celebrating Christmas with Kim's family. I always find it a struggle to mesh secular Christmas with the celebration of Christ's birth and this Christmas has been no exception. We didn't manage to make it to church yet again this year since we made it up here so late, but I would like to take the family to my sister's church Sunday morning.

I find myself a bit caught up in what I have received this year, or rather what I have not. I keep praying for God to make the true spirit of Christmas alive in my heart. I want to feel the joy over Jesus' birth and what an amazing gift God has given us. Instead I feel a bit bummed. It's been a rough season this year, I guess. I am so glad I went to RBC's Christmas worship spectacular. The music and preaching really hit the right spot for me, and I am trying to think of Pastor Minter and D.R.'s messages today.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE my Christmas jammies and Whaler's jersey from Kim and the kids. The Christmas jammies were a tradition started by my father. He gave my sisters and me fun jammies each year. Most of the time a colorful plaid which coordinated but didn't match each other. When we took a break in the middle of opening gifts (hey five kids take a long time to open presents) we would run and put on our new jammies before coming down toeat breakfast and open our stockings. Then we would finish up opening gifts and break out the Monopoly board. Then someone would get mad because the older siblings were winning and throw the board, scattering the pieces all over the family room. When I was little, it was me, then my little sister took up the torch, then finally my little brother. Ahhh the warm and fizzy memories. I miss a lot of our Persing Clan traditions.

So off I go to finish Christmas for today. Soon Kim's dad will come for a third wave of Christmas. Tomorrow more distant family is coming, and then we are driving over to Annie's house for another wave of Christmas. Hopefully I will feel Christmassy by then. Sorry for the downer of a Christmas post, but it is what it is this year. lol Merry Christmas y'all!

Today I want to give up.

I suck at life right now. I'm a horrible homemaker, and mother and wife right now. My house is ridiculously messy. Not just a little messy, or "gosh it looks like a bomb went off in here", but horrific. When my older sister told me her house was a wreck when I went there last week I was expecting something awful, but it looked as good as my house could look if I cleaned non stop for months. My messy and your messy is probably very different. And I don't like living this way. I want to give up, run away, and hide.

That is all.

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I am a girl of the digital age. I know this. Sometimes it comes in handy for work, or whatever little computer thing comes up, but today is one of those days that I am very aware of how digital my life is.

Today I downloaded 17 books for my Kindle. Ranging from fluffy romance novels, to non-fiction discussions on Christian nursing, to a Bible with concordance that may come in handy. All of them were free. This, I love. Days of reading on the Kindle for FREE! The great thing about the Kindle is it will read the book out loud in an amusing robot voice, which I plug into the car stereo while I am driving. Romance novels are a good length and style for this because they suck you right in.

But in addition to this, I also downloaded 14 sermons just from my church. It occurs to me I need to get my ipod over to my desk so I can charge and refresh it's contents. Perhaps tomorrow.

With all of the gadgetry, including my cell phone and such there never seem to be enough outlets. Oh sure the house has enough (except at Christmas) but never right by the door where my "charge it where you see it near your purse or you will have a well charged cell phone on a useless shelf at home just when you need it" philosophy plays out.

My favorite patient died today

Free of her body
and mind plagued by a disease
dancing with Jesus.

I'll miss you beautiful lady. Your wonderful and gentle spirit made me smile every day.

Seven Quick Takes

~1~

My laptop is broken. It always ran hot, and eventually the video card went kaput. It was just out of warranty when it happened, and even though it is an HP defect they won't replace it. Do until Kim gets the replacement part (which will also eventually overheat and go kaput due to the defect) I am using the desktop in the dining room. Which is why I haven't been posting as much. This chair is very uncomfortable. Maybe I should recover them and put in some extra foam. My mom did that when we lived in Connecticut and it made a huge difference. Anyhow, I miss my laptop... a lot.

2.

Julia has an admirer. And I found a note form him in her back pack mentioning dating. I do not like this. Problem is he is her only friend. What is a mom supposed to do? ack!

3.

We had Joe's parent/teacher conference this past week. he is doing well in school and his teacher thinks he is funny, smart, and delightful. I'm good with that. His only issue is that he reverses some things, but it's his idiosyncracy and we don't even notice it anymore. We are trying to notice now and make an effort for him to correct things like "I can have water?" into "Can I have water?". It'll work out.

4.

I need to give Kim a haircut. He looks shaggy and I've been in such bad shape I haven't done it. He always looks so handsome when I am done.

5.

Trying to get back on track with weight loss. Halloween candy is not helping the cause. The Wii Fit Plus is helping a little, but it's hard to get time on the games when the kids are playing. lol

6.

Speaking of Halloween:

7.

Am motivated to clean to get ready for Christmas decos! The problem is, no one else cares.

Lately I haven't been worth CZ.

I've been in pain. Lots of pain. Actually I've been in pain most of the time since I was 13. But I did go through a really good stretch there for a while. So good, in fact, that I thought I could stop taking my medications when they ran out and be ok. I was not ok. The fatigue came back first, then each day my pain would be worse. By last Saturday I was lying on a ball on the couch with a brain splitting migraine, and muscle spasms all over. (Oh I just kind of sounded like Mrs. Bennett.) I went to see the rhumatologist on Monday, who rightly chastised me for not coming in earlier. What can I say? I was busy and I was feeling good.

This is going to take some time to recover from. When I take my meds, they aren't a magic pill that instantly makes me feel better. They have to work up levels in my system. Although the meds that help me sleep have done amazing things to help with my general pain level and sleepiness. I've been sleeping like a baby and that is the most important thing. Also exercise. I walk a lot at work, and I think that was one of the things that helped me feel so good for the past few months. Losing some weight didn't hurt either. But before I can step up the exercise again, I have got to get these daily migraines to go away.

Speaking of exercise, I want to get an accessory kit for the Wii Fit that makes the balance board a little higher so the step aerobics will be more challenging. They also have a new Fit Plus game that I might ask for as a Christmas gift. Just to change things up a bit. I wish I could be a morning person and get up to exercise then, but I value my evening time with Kim too much, and I would be forced to go to sleep quite early if I wanted to get up to exercise. So instead I try to do it when I get home from work. This does not always go well. I'm usually tired, but I just need to give myself a kick in the pants.

Before you read this next part of my post, go read the "Spoon Theory" at this link:
http://www.butyoudontlooksick.com/the_spoon_theory/

It is very hard to function as a wife and mother and employee with limited spoons. Most days I have a moderate amount of spoons, but then I give so many away at work. Climb these stairs, lift this paitient, bend over to change those sheets, turn this patient, help that patient with thier shoes... It all seems so basic and easy, but each task I do in my day takes something out of me. By the time I get home, I am lucky if I don't have a migraine (which is like a spoon buster), and can think of something to cook for dinner, let alone clean, do laundry, unload the dishes, change sheets on a bunkbed, etc. It makes me feel like a bad wife. I love my job, it's very fulfilling, but it takes a lot of my spoons away from my home life. The house is a wreck, I haven't even bought pumpkins to carve (the thought of carving pumpkins is exhausting), or decorated for Halloween. I do get points for sewing Julia's costume, zipper included. That's right, I sewed a zipper. Bask in my awesomeness. Go on, bask. Ok that's done. I still need to make the bonnet, but I can bust that out during commercials. After a week of work, when I should be figuring out how to get the house clean, I am thinking of how easy I can possibly take it while sewing the finishing touches on my kid's costume. Sounds wrong, right? But kiddos, I only have a few spoons left, and I borrowed against my spoons for the past week to make life happen. So tonight, after dinner is done, I veg. Veg as much as possible.

Ok, I feel alot better.

Kitchen clean. Spaghetti made. Kitchen cleaned after dinner. Dinner made for Leighann. Kitchen cleaned. Coffee cake made. Kitchen cleaned.

The house is still a wreck, but a bit better, and cooking always makes me feel so on the ball.

I am a slacker.

I haven't been a particularly productive wife or mother these days. The house is a wreck, I'm so disorganized and I don't feel good about it.

This morning I woke up and cleaned the kitchen, and started on spaghetti sauce for tonight. My house smells delightful as a result. Otherwise, I've been slacktastic. I've been reading Created to be His Helpmeet by Debi Pearl these days and it's making me feel very bad. I have not been making the home a priority lately and I need to get going on that. Tonight while Kim is a a soccer game, I am going to get cracking.

Thought of Little Ryan today

This scripture came to my email:

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

James 1:12

Word to your Father.

Happy Birthday to Me!

I have been sick for the last few days, so I was worried I would be sick for my birthday, but I woke up feeling a ton better!

Kim and the kids bought me Beatles Rockband, and I lurve it muchly. I've been jamming out all day. Renee will be over soon, and she is going to watch the kids while Kim and I go out to a DC United game. I love Renee. She rocks. I'm trying to decide if I should cut into the birthday cake now, so the kids feel like they can eat it while we are gone. I think I should.

She is slacktastic in updating her blog, but she has fabulous weekends full of fellowship!

Ok that's not really part of Proverbs 31.

My laptop is sadly on the fritz, so Kim had to repair the desktop's numerous issues so I could go on the intertubes. He did, and I am here! since I have posted last I had two wonderful weekends. On the 17th, I drove up to my older sister's house in PA so we could go to the Women of Faith conference in Philadelphia. We had a great time, and I enjoyed meeting some more of her friends. We saw Mandisa, and Steven Curtis Chapman, ANitra Renfroe, Patsy Clairmont... it was lovely. But it was great to come home. I missed my family.

What I did not miss so much, was cleaning and taking care of the house. I have been most lazy in the past week, but I've also been busy.

This past weekend I saw Fame with my friend Renee, and we both agreed the best part of the movie was when I went over to the noisy teenagers and said "You need to be quiet now." I kind of scared them because I had to pee very bad at the time, so I was perhaps a little more insistant than usual. The good news was the were quiet for the rest of the movie. We ate at the mall's food court (mmmm lamb kabob) and went shopping with some success. I found a skirt that called my name while she was in the frustrating pursuit of Pants for the Legitimately Petite™. Although I have shopping issues of my own, I do not have this pants issue, and watching her go through it was disheartening. I am also annoyed that plus sized stores and department stores do not carry more options of petite women. It makes me want to scream. Although Lord and Taylor has some ridiculously cute suits for slim petite women. Like Susan Lucci tiny.

Sunday I went to church early, then went over to Jason and Bridget's house for our Shepherd Group feast. It's our last feast as a large group before we split into three and it was a little sad. :( It was also great to catch yup with everyone, because it seemed like so long since so many of uswere in the same room. We haven't had the entire group in one room since about a year ago, and yesterdsay we were missing once couple. They were vacationing in Hawaii, the slackers. hehe

It's like a super long weekend of fellowship since we had Shepherd Group on Friday, Renee time on Saturday, Feast on Sunday, Women's Ministry tonight, and Bible Study on Tuesday. Busy, but I love it.

She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.

I am concoting a welcome home feast for Kim. Tonight I am defrosting a turkey breast in the sink, and will make a pumpkin pie in a little bit. We'll have mashed potatoes, gravy I will make from the drippings, sauted onions, and whatever else I can whip up. Maybe corn bread and cranberry sauce. I am currently looking for crock pot recipes for the turkey breast so I can put it on in the morning before I leave for work. I will get it set up tonight and put it in the fridge then turn it on in the morning. I have found a recipe that is basically what I do in the oven, so that looks like a winner.

Update on the pie. somehow I dropped the bowl of filling into the pie shell as I was filling it. But I was watching Little Women and I said to myself "What would Marmee do?" So I cleaned it up as best I could and popped it in the oven.

So on a completely different note, I am preparing to go to the Women of Faith conference in Philadelphia with my older sister Annie (Anna to the rest of y'all). The one in DC was during our big crazy family vacation in Myrtle Beach this summer, so I noticed the closest one was in my big sister's neck of the woods and asked if she would go with me. Somehow she got roped into organizing a trip for her church, so there will be a bunch of ladies I don't know also, but I'm adaptable. I'll raise hands in front of anyone! Except when I'm driving... then I raise hand.

So I stumbled across the blog of an artist (who is, by the way RIDICULOUSLY talented) and was fascinated with how she made her list. She DREW everything out. I am very visual, so I thought I would give it a try! I may have gone a wee bit overboard, because I started to draw out which toiletries I wanted to bring. But then I realized while drawing that I had forgotten an item, so I guess that worked out well. My goal is to fit it all in a carry on sized suitcase, and my messenger bag, which has become my purse/work bag these days.

So I feel a little behind on laundry. Honestly, I did neglect it early in the week, but now it's an issue. Normally I want lots of work hours, but I'm kind of hoping I'm out of work by noon so I can come home and finish up laundry before Kim gets home. Not to mention make sure all those little drawings I did are accurate by moving the right clothes through!

The house is clean, the dishes are done, the preparations are being made!

Ruby Rating : 4/5

Ummm, I'm not sure the turkey breast is going to fit in the crock pot!

You're the sunshine on my floor, you're the book I've halfway read.

Kim inacting one of our jokes about the potential to lose na eye on that part of the staircase.

Only one more day without Kim. What I miss about Kim isn't just the around the house stuff, and the parenting stuff, but I miss the friend stuff. I miss having someone to talk through my day with, bounce ideas off of, etc. I miss having a partner. Kim is my quiet, steady, emotional rock. I am verbal, expressive, creative, funny, scattered, slightly high strung and anxious. Kim is quiet, thoughtful, thinks before he speaks, intelligent, analytical, and diligent. He likes to see all his stuff (i.e. a bit messy), and I crave neatness, but am still messy. I am generally a positive thinker, Kim is a realist. He is the jam to my bread, the yin to my yang, he balances me. I feel most unbalanced without him.

But only today without him, and then he will be home tomorrow around 3:30. Granted I leave the next day for the weekend, but at least I know I can call him to talk whenever I want. Only a day.

Wordless Wednesdays (Shamelessly stolen from Leighann)

I am really starting to miss Kim.

My husband Kim travels several times a year, but he doesn't usually do short trips. The shortest trips are generally a week, including weekends. An average is about a week and a half. once every four years there is a month long trip, which usually involves a few two week trips in the months preceeding it.

This one is a week and half. He's in Geneva, and we generally only get to chat once a day via Skype. Which is nice because I get to see his face. It really helps the kids and Kim too. My problem is that before I go to bed, I need to verbally process my day. When I began working and started going to bed earlier than him, it was ok, but I found I wasn't sleeping as well, so I decided to start going at the same time as him again and just take a nap in the afternoon.

And today was a crazy day. I did get to talk to him about it a little, but I often lie in bed and chat until I realize he has fallen asleep, so this is going to be a rough falling asleep day. Tomorrow Renee is coming over for SYTYCD and Glee, so that will help. Thursday night is book club here, and that will also help. Friday will be Shepherd Group, but that doesn't always help because then I have new info to process. *sigh* It'll be ok and I can try and finish the book club book for Thursday. Haven't had much time to read.

Oh you earworms!! *presses play on her playlist*

Did you see the playlist? Scroll down and it will load on the right. It just came in very hand for me as Leighann posted a hit of the 1990's as her blog post title and it was stuck in my head. I Saw the Sign over and over. Chris Tomlin, much better.

Speaking of Leighann, she's unveiled Ryan's brand spanking new chest on her blog: http://marquissclan.blogspot.com/2009/09/i-opened-up-my-eyes-i-saw-sign.html Check it out, because it's pretty awe inspiring.

I decided to volunteer to work Labor Day at work because I would get paid double time. So my five hours in work pays like ten. YAY! I woke the kids up super early, but I think they thought I was kidding last night about the early wake up because they were groggy munchkins. Apparently my mom made them a hearty breakfast with bacon and eggs and sausage and they perked up. I went off to a pretty crazy day at work, because things always go wrong when there is limited staff on hand. Everything is fine but I spent half my time putting out random fires. Figurative fires.

Had a nice late lunch early dinner at my folks, then came home. Kim was on Skype, so we were able to chat for a bit, but he was tired, and went off to bed. After the video chat I relaxed for a bit, then made the kids a light dinner. We cleaned up the family room, because for some reason I thought the kids should start the first day of school with a clean family room and kitchen. Is that weird? Maybe it's just me who needs to start the year organized and non-stressed... After the kids went to bed, I vacuumed and made lunches for the kids. Hard boiled eggs, Babybel cheese, carrot sticks, juice, granola bars, and fruit snacks. They will eat some for lunch and some for snack. They just aren't sandwich kids. We tried with Julia, but they always came back smooshed and uneaten, even if she would normally eat it at home. Joe really only likes PB&J, but there are two kids in his grade with severe nut allergies, so I don't like to send it in. Hope they enjoy!

Good day, but a tiring day. I'm glad I get the extra hour and a half of sleep!

Ruby Rating: 4/5

She makes coverings for her bed; she is clothed in fine linen and purple

I have this dress I bought at Target a few years back. I bought it thinking it was a blouse, but when I put it on, I felt it was just a bit too long for a blouse, and too short for a dress. But since the fit was pretty good, I thought I would shorten it... one of these days. I wore it once or twice with pants, but always felt it didn't look right.

Today I decied to shorten it, since Kim left for Geneva and I wanted to get my mind on something else. It had a lining, which to be honest, I just hacked off high enough where it wouldn't affect the waistline, but not so short that it would look funny. I might tack it down later. Then I took a DVD case and took it up by that amount all around the hem. What can I say, I was too lazy to find the solitary measuring tape in the house. Note to self: Get another tape measure. After a hairy moment when I thought I messed up, but realized the hem was lower in front to compensate for the bust, it was a pretty straightforward process. I am quite pleased with the result, so much so I am going to wear it to church tomorrow.

Speaking of church, Julia is so excited because this year sixth graders will go to Jr. high ministry at "The Gap". The Gap is our church's auxillary site across from the McTaco Hut, about a mile away from church. Tomorrow they will take all the rising sixth graders to The Gap for an orientation. Afterwards, I will pick her up and then we will go to church together for the first time in a long time. :)

P.S. the blouse does have some purple in it.

This is on a plaque at work at the front entrance.

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8

It showed up in my daily Bible verse email, and I wanted to put it somewhere to remember. Because it's not like I can remember "Micah 6:8" for the length of the walk between the front entrance and my desk. Seriously.

It was a very "If You Give a Pig a Pancake" day.

I did not have the most productive day today. ok it was productive in that I got up and went to work, came home and took the kids to open house at school, then took them to McDonald's for lunch. I came home and vegged. I began to wonder where my Kindle charger was, since it's dead and all. Then the searching began. I don't like searching for things. I am generally very good at it (so much so that Kim is always asking me to find his lost things), but I don't like it. Especially when I can't find the item within five minutes. Then I get annoyed. And cranky.

I decided to put in the hannah Montana Movie for julia and I to watch, and tried to forget about the charger. But periodically I would get up and check another place. I started texting Renee who was at my house to help clean last week to ask if she remembered my putting it someplace. I even appealed to my Facebook friends list "If you were my Kindle charger, where would you be?" Then Kim came home and helped me look.

Finally I asked myself the question I should have asked myself second (after where did you see it last?): Where did I normally put it before the big clean and why isn't it there now? I put it in the blue container under my end table but I put those.... AHA!!!! I found it.

But now my day is wasted. Kim is kindly cooking dinner before he goes out of town for a week and a half. I feel like today was an epic fail. I didn't do anything particularly bad, and I know I should be resting because my fibromyalgia gets worse if I don't, but i feel bad when I rest. What's up with that? I do ENJOY the resting while I do it, but there is always guilt.

Ruby Rating for today: 2/5 So very sad.

She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.

Is this not the scariest, yet funniest thing you have seen all day? I never knew an ostrich's mouth looked so much like a monkey's. *shiver*

She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls.

I wish I had servant girls!

Can I tell you how much I hate pork right now? I pulled out pork chops (albeit gigantic pork chops) from the freezer a little after noon to defrost, and they are still hard as a rock! Plan B anyone? Well I guess this is why we have those jars of pasta sauce around, but I think I will jazz the jar suce up with a little onion, garlic, and maybe some carrot. Sneaky mom, putting carrots in the sauce. I'll chop them up small and they will never know.

I did not get up before dark today, but I was scheduled for a slightly later shift than usual. I like getting up and leaving the house before dark though. It just feels nice and peaceful in the car, and it also reminds me of freshman year of highschool when we had swim practice before school in the next town over. I dislocated my shoulder pretty early in the season, but I got up every morning for practice, just because I enjoyed the time in the car with the other girls. Except waiting for that girl who took forever to get out of the house. My parents were friends with her parents, so I couldn't be too grmpy with her in the morning without them finding out. Darn you small town parental networks!

I came home from work today, cleaned the kitchen, swept the floors, and got a bee in my bonnet. I wanted to vacuum the stairs and the basement. Partly I wanted to use this carpet spray that Renee left at my house. Now my house smells delightful, and I got rid of the cobwebs too!

Julia's room has been a mess, so i made her go up and clean it a bit after she played outside for 5 hours. She wasn't so thrilled with me, and ended up throwing it all in the closet. *slaps forehead* So we spent some time working on that. I'm trying to teach her to clean more methodically, we will see how that goes.

I've been reading Lisa Whelchel's (yes Blair from Facts of Life) book "Taking Care of the Mommy in Me" which has excellent tips on working prayer, scripture, worship and praise into your everyday life. I've been enjoying it a lot and would pass my copy on, except, it's autographed by Lisa herself. When Kim gets back from Geneva I am going to drive up the next day to attend the women of Faith conference with my older sister Annie. Lisa's speaking at the conference and i am very excited to see her speak. I love the way she conveys ideas; her riding style is very conversational and easy to read. I hope I enjoy her speaking style as much.

Today's Ruby Rating: 4/5 Not so bad!

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. Prov 15:1

In our shepherd group we are finishing up a study of Ephesians. Last week instead of focusing on the relationship between parents and children (which we kind of felt we had down) we chose to focus on the "master/servant" relationship, i.e. boss/employee in modern times. I'm lucky in that I have a really excellent and noble reason for going to work. More than bringing in a little extra money for the family, I honestly feel like I am working in a place where my passion and gift from God (helping people) intersects with God's need for me (to help people). Even though I don't love waking up early, I never feel like I am dreading work like I have in past jobs. I love going to work. When I get in an elevator, half the time I am grinning like a fool because I enjoy working with my patients just that much. I have to perform unpleasant tasks, and deal with some cranky people, but it generally just doesn't bother me. I acknowledge that this is pretty awesome. Because my motivation for working is noble, it really bothers me that I don't treat my boss with the utmost respect when she isn't around. She is new, and it is taking a while for her to get the hang of the job. And that bothers me. I like her, she's dry, but I'm ok with that. But I've noticed I have a tendency to... complain (thanks to Renee for making me super aware of complaining!) about her when I am on breaks or at home. I am perfectly respectful to her face... ordinarily.

Today, I had a moment. In my frustration over my lack of hours, I addressed her in a tone that I do not consider respectful. It was not particularly mean, but it was a little rude and abrupt, and that's not being an employee who obeys as they would Christ. It's not just the act of obeying, it's the heart attitude that goes along with it. And my heart attitude kind of stunk today.

Apologies are in order.

I like to start with a whimper.

Day One: Rose before the sun shined to get ready for work. I spent too much time on makeup, and ended up leaving the house late. Made it to work on time due to a wee bit of speeding on the toll road. Did my job with excellence, and come home to the kids play Wii on the new TV. Kim left for work. I made a PB&J for myself, but the kids weren't hungry. Ate lunch, then took a two hour nap. could stand to do some dishes, and clean up the living room a bit. Haven't done anything crafty today, let alone spin flax.

I could knit with some flax when Renee comes over later. We are going to watch the So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD) favorite dances show, eat tacos, and talk about which Bible study we want to do, even though we already chose. Kim will be at a DC United game, so we can be goofy, making up new words like "schnoozeling", and do some fake shopping online.

Today Baby Ryan had his plastics surgery to put his omphalocele and heart back into his chest. it turns out his diaphragm did not need repairs. God is the amazing physician!

My ruby rating for the day? A lame 2/5

What's all this stuff about rubies?

The Bible talks of this mega-wife and mother, known in modern times as "The Proverbs 31 Woman".

Epilogue: The Wife of Noble Character

¹⁰ A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. ¹¹ Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. ¹² She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. ¹³ She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands. ¹⁴She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. ¹⁵ She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls. ¹⁶ She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard. ¹⁷ She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks. ¹⁸ She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night. ¹⁹ In her hand she holds the distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers. ²⁰She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.²¹ When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet. ²² She makes coverings for her bed; she is clothed in fine linen and purple. ²³ Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land. ²⁴She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes. ²⁵ She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. ²⁶ She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. ²⁷ She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. ²⁸ Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: ²⁹ "Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all." ³⁰Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. ³¹ Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

I am Maggie, a wife and mom from the Northern Virginia area, also working as a Certified Nurse's Aide. I fail miserably at being the Proverbs 31 woman, but I will keep trying.