The Bad Kind of Overwhelmed

There's the good kind of overwhelmed feeling... The kind when God's grace and blessing overwhelms your life and you FEEL the presence of God. Or the kind you feel when someone throws a surprise birthday party for you. Or when you win the lottery (not that I'm speaking from personal experience... but those people look happy-overwhelmed when they get that big check).

And then there's the kind of overwhelmed that I'm feeling.

We leave in 9 days. I'm excited. But I wish I had 9 weeks instead of 9 months. I feel underprepared and under attack.

Two days after paying $100 to update my license plate stickers, my Honda decided to die. I'm not sure how dead it is yet, since it's in my garage and I can't drive it to the shop (or pay the shop). So, we're down to one car (Dave's)... which also needs it's license plate stickers updated (but is a bigger hassle, since his car is not under our name, but under his parent's)... I've already been pulled over once because of the expired plates and given a warning. (Note: drive with cute puppies at all times - cops may take pity on you...)

We're still not at 100% for our fundraising. We still have about 75% to go. This wouldn't stress me out nearly as much, but being down to one car makes it a little scary...

Work has been insane lately. I'm trying to work ahead on my freelancing and nannying hours so that I can take 11 days off to go to Czech.

It's been the busiest two weeks of the year for the children's ministry. We have "Hot U" (sort of like VBS on steroids) and it's awesome. I get to do the motions for the songs (it's like living out my dream of being a rock band performer person AND praising God... so cool). But, as a result, I've been getting up early and working every day for the past 10 days.

Dave has been honoring his commitment to his band, which means he's gone on Fridays and gets no sleep on the weekends. Bands are cool. Dave is an incredible drummer. But it is draining.

And there's a plethora of other little stressors that I could go on and on about. Family drama. Puppies who create messes. Bills. It goes on and on...

This is a gloomy post. We could use your prayers. We are not defeated. Just very overwhelmed. I'm sharing this not to complain, but because I am trying to be honest about where we are at. And at this moment we are not at a super peaceful and excited place! But we know that God has a plan and we know that spiritual attacks often come when God wants to do big work in our lives.

We covet your prayers. And we look forward to God's mercy, grace, and provision!