Archive for December, 2009

Just in time for Christmas, my computer decided to end its life.  OK, it’s not actually dead just yet, but it’s well on the way.  If it were human, the family would have been called in.  It kept getting slower and slower.  My husband checked it out, being the wonderful IT guy that he is, and found the processor is going bad.  Unfortunately we were unable to buy a new processor.

So, after doing some research online and in person, we found a good deal and purchased a new laptop last week.  I realize during times like these how much I rely on technology.  I know I’ve written about this a time or two before, but I had to again.  The last week I’ve been in transition from one computer to the other.  Right now, my Outlook, which organizes my entire life, is still not moved over to the new computer.  So for e-mail and calendar functions, I pull out the old slow computer.  For just about everything else, I’m using the new one.

The transition should be complete within the next couple of days.  Then I’ll have a whole new issue to face — saying goodbye to the old computer.  Every time I get a new computer, I cry over the old one.  It’s insane, I know.  I just get attached and think of all we’ve been through together.  First it was classes we went through together.  Then it was writing my thesis.  Then it was starting my business.  You get the idea.  I have resolved not to cry this time around, but I do that every time.

I do, perhaps, rely too much on technology, but I’m not sure I have too much choice in this day and age.  I know my business wouldn’t be successful without it.  And so I mourn the loss of an old friend and look forward to getting to know a new one!

Bear with me as I go off topic from writing in this blog post, but I have something on my heart I must share.

As I write this with Christmas just days away, I am struck by the difference I feel this Christmas.  I have had Christmases that were different before.  There were two Christmases that were difficult after losing a loved one.  There was a Christmas spent in the hospital waiting to see if another loved one would pull through — and by the grace of God she did.

This Christmas is different in a better way, though.  This Christmas I have a daughter.  This Christmas I understand parental love.  I have always marveled at God sending His Son, knowing that He would have to die for our sins.  And I would think how I couldn’t imagine giving up a loved one like that.  I struggled to imagine even giving my beloved dog for that reason.  Now I look at my daughter’s precious face, and I know I couldn’t do it.  I don’t have that kind of love in me like God does.

I think about Mary and how she spent hours feeding baby Jesus and changing his diapers, just as I am doing with my daughter now, and I am breathless to think how she must have felt to see him hanging on the cross.

And I think about the cross.  I have always been grateful for Jesus’ sacrifice.  I have always been thankful for God’s faithfulness and love even when I fall so short.  But I am so much more grateful that He did those things for my daughter.  I want only the best for her.  I know He is the best, and I am so thankful that He was willing to give Himself for her.  I am awestruck that He loves her even more than I do.  I don’t think it’s possible, and yet I know it is because He is God.

So this Christmas will be different.  I will enjoy time with family.  I will enjoy giving and receiving gifts.  I will enjoy good food.  I will especially enjoy holding my baby girl.  But more than anything, I will be more thankful for the ultimate gift given to us in God’s Son.

May you have a joyous Christmas!

So, it’s been a couple of months since my last blog post.  I took some time off to have a baby.  Our baby girl is the first child for my husband and me.  Now I’m easing my way back into work — and working is a bit different.

I have always thought that working from home would be great whenever we decided to start a family.  And while it is great, it is also teaching me a few lessons along the way.  Those lessons will most assuredly pop up in this blog.

The first one I have to start with now is flexibility.  I have always thought that I am flexible with my work.  If someone needed to change an interview time at the last minute, I was fine with that.  If I had a big deadline and needed to work on an evening or weekend, I was also fine with that.  I am having to hone my flexibility skills of not being able to plan everyday quite as stringently as I used to.  Now I work around feedings that take longer than usual, dirty diapers and fussiness that just happens for no apparent reason.

I’ve gotten creative about when I get my work done.  The typical business hours aren’t really a factor any more.  I have become flexible.  I figure if I get through the day and have completed my work tasks and have a happy baby with a full belly and clean diaper, then I am OK.  So far, it’s worked, but I’ve only been at this for a week and a half.

I’ll continue to share tips and lessons along the way of what I learn about how to best maintain a home office while also “maintaining” a baby!