Adios 2014

Whew. I can't believe another year has come and gone. Last year at this time I was reflecting back on a year that changed my whole life, 2013. I got engaged, married, graduated college. The world was at my finger tips when 2014 started and I was ready for anything!

Well the world came, and it hit hard. Can I just be honest? I'm actually really glad 2014 is over with.

It was a hard year. Don't get me wrong - I am blessed beyond measure. Amazing things happened this year.
Judson graduated from ACU

Multiple dear friends of ours got married, we got hired and started our first real life jobs, we accomplished goals, moved to a new town, stepped completely out of our comfort zone together

Went on amazing trips, our nephew Jett was born, we got our new puppy Scout, our marriage has grown to new levels, we both turned 24 years old, we celebrated our one year anniversary

But between those good moments has been some really hard stuff.

Hard things happening in our careers.
disappointment, discouragement, discontentment, learning things the hard way

Hard things happening in our families.
worry, health issues, broken hearts, distance

Hard things happening with our faith.
wandering, searching, needing

Hard things happening in our marriage.
adjustments, disagreements, miscommunications 

Hard things happening within me personally.
confusion, failures, lack of motivation, fear

Judson and I are worn down.

We're tired, stressed, and overwhelmed. We need to be refreshed.

Well, THAT WAS NEGATIVE, wasn't it!? But it's the truth, guys. And that's okay. Some years aren't years that you want to relive over and over again. Some years are years that merely needed to happen in order to make the next one even better. Hard things have to happen in order for us to truly appreciate the good stuff.

"Instead of yearning for a problem-free life, rejoice that trouble can highlight your awareness of My Presence. In the darkness of adversity, you are able to see more clearly the radiance of My Face. Accept the value of problems in this life, considering them pure joy." - Jesus Calling

I have faith that God will restore our hearts, minds, and enthusiasm as we start 2015. So let's list off some resolutions, shall we?

1. I want to be more consistent in my relationship with God. I also desperately want to find a Christian community that we can grow in. We were spoiled rotten at ACU and we need a community. Also, I want to be more verbal about glorifying God with the things He blesses me with.

2. As always, be healthier. I have said that every year I've ever made a resolution so I'll think of something more specific about it…. Hmmm.. Okay, I got it. Cook more dinners that have multiple food groups in them. Okay, okay, cook at least 3 dinners a week that have at least 3 different food groups in them. THERE.

3. Be more positive. Stop dwelling on things that go wrong, and just shake it off. shake it off.

4. Stop gossiping. I think I've blurred the line between gossiping and healthy venting. I need to STOP gossiping.

5. Believe in myself. I quit almost everything I start in fear that I will fail at it somehow. I have to start following through and believe that I CAN.

Alright, 2015. I'm READY FOR YOU.

A Day In The Life

Here it is folks, a day in the life of Elizabeth Foster. A MONDAY to be exact.

5:50 - Time to WAKE UP!

5:55 - Let my children... I mean, DOGS, out to go potty and then feed them

And then, you know, COFFEE.

6:00 - That was a lot of stuff, so I bring Judson his coffee and we both sit in bed and drink it while we watch the news. I only watch the news to know what the weather will be like because I hate everything else they have to say. And yes, I do have festive pajama pants for every holiday. NO, you aren't allowed to judge me.

6:20 - We decide we better start getting ready for the day and get up out of bed

6:45 - We have our morning devotional together

7:10 - I'm ready to go to work!

 Every day I take some sort of fruit, today it's a Bolthouse smoothie, and a granola bar. I also take with me MORE COFFEE and water in a glass bottle with lemon and peppermint essential oil in it. 

7:15 - I live approximately 30 seconds from school so after I gather all my stuff and lock the dogs up, I am almost instantly there! 

Then we have a staff meeting at 7:30 every Monday

8:00 - I make sure what we are doing today is written on the board for the kids. I teach three different classes of kids for a total of 50 kids in a day. With each group I teach a period of math and a period of technology. 

8:25 - Working, working, working

10:00 - 3rd period is my 45 minute conference so I always walk down the hall and sneak a peek at Coach Foster teaching :) After I obnoxiously make him hug me in front of his students and completely interrupt his lesson, I had to run to the post office and the grocery store. 

11:00 - 12:30 I have my second group of kids teaching a math period then a technology period exactly like I did it this morning. 

12:30 - LUNCH TIME! We always go home to eat lunch because we have 45 minutes and we live 30 seconds away

We LOVE Young Living Essential Oils and always take a shot of Ningxia Red before we head back to school for an afternoon pick-me-up.

1:15 - 2:00 - I have another 45 minute conference period OR I have to go teach P.E. somedays. Usually 2 days a week I am teaching P.E. during this time. Today, I graded papers. 

2:10 - 3:45 - My last group of kids for the day teaching a math period then a technology period

3:45 - SCHOOL'S OUT! and I have a date with the copy machine for tomorrow's things

4:30 - Bell Ringers are on desks for tomorrow morning, I have a small, but necessary for sanity, venting session with my teacher friends, and then I'm ready to go home!

4:35 - I have exactly two priorities when I get home from work. 1. Let my dogs go outside. 2. Get my work clothes off and comfy clothes on IMMEDIATELY.

4:45 - 6:00 REST. Watch Modern Family. Pretend there aren't chores to be done. I used to go running during this time period… I'll get back into it…

6:00 - No longer able to deny the chores so I vacuum some rooms and do all our dishes by hand. We don't have a dishwasher. I live in a 1930's cottage. Seriously.

6:30 - Start cooking dinner

7:00 - JUDSON'S HOME FROM FOOTBALL PRACTICE!

We all REALLY miss him when he's gone

7:30 - The cowboys AND colt are playing so on this couch we will sit for the remainder of the night

I will go take a shower in about an hour and be in bed by 9:15.

And there you have it. PRETTY GLAMOROUS. 

Oh, responsibility? No thanks.

Let me give you some visual representations of what "ohmygoshimsobusyidontevenknowwhoiamanymore" looks like:

This was my desk when I was setting up my classroom. So neat. So organized. Such an empty calendar.

Here is my desk now and this my desk now and it's not even a realistic picture because my laptop is sitting in my chair and I barely showed the amount of clutter that is ungraded papers, workbooks, lunch counts, saltine crackers (aka breakfast), dirty coffee cups, inclusion papers I need to sign, expo markers, sweet notes from my students… need I go on?

Here is what my sunroom looked like this summer. So clean. So vacuumed. My favorite place to drink coffee in the mornings for as long as I wanted to.

Here is what my sunroom looks like now. It is the result of, "Crap, we need to do laundry because we need this shirt to wear tomorrow." and "All these other clothes are stupid and I'm tired so I'm not going to put them away." to "Where are my brown work pants? Oh, here they are with all these other piles of clothes that aren't where they go." *grabs pants that are needed and has no intention of putting the rest away* And there are my 16 days early birthday presents and I can't explain the rest because I'm tired just looking at it. 

Here is what our new puppy Scout looked like before school started. So tiny. Can't even hold his ears up himself. So shy.

Here is what Scout looks like now. Still tiny but double the size he used to be. So hyper. So vocal. Those ears hear everything.

HOW IS THAT THE SAME DOG!?

Here's the deal about my dogs, y'all. I know I'm not a mom. I know that. But I'm also not NOT a mom. I get woken up in the middle of the night from crying barks if they are hungry or need to pee. I've cleaned up more poop and urine from our floors than anyone ever should, honestly I WISH I could expect it to be in a diaper attached to there butts instead of a sleepy walk to the bathroom in the night and… squish.. "SCOOOOUUTTT!! NO POOPING IN THE HOUSE!!!!!!" My nice things are chewed up. My house isn't as clean as it could be (not sure if the dogs are at fault here).

Sure, unlike a human baby I can just put them outside for a couple of hours and not have CPS called on me. And I love them. I DO. I love them so much, but guys… I'm not NOT a mom.

Getting this new puppy right in the thick of us starting a career probably not the smartest thing we've ever done. But here we are - a new "baby", a new career, and EXHAUSTED.

I love my job. I love my 51 kids. My goodness, it is not easy though. I work hours before and past "work time" and then in my head for hours when I should be sleeping. Sometimes when my alarm rings in the morning or when I work all day and still have so much work to do I'm like

My drawn out point being - it's really easy to be selfish when you're so worn out.

When I first read that I thought to myself, "Ah, crap. I do that."

Most of us are so guilty of wishing and waiting for things to be easier. We keep waiting and waiting and then all the sudden our life has passed us by. I can't believe that I used to think life was hard when I was 20 years old and in college. I can't believe that I used to think student teaching was so hard. I know someday when I am really a mom to a human baby I will kick myself for thinking having a PUPPY was hard.

Bottom line - I don't want to wait anymore for my life to turn into whatever image I have in my head that it will be. The truth is I have a BILLION things I love about my life. It's okay that it isn't always comfortable or easy.

My antidote for the selfish pity party problems I have, is to try and do things that are completely selfless.

Whenever I feel the human impulse of "wahhhhh poor me!!" I want fill it with, "what could I do to help people around me?"

Today I gave my co-workers some encouraging goodie bags to start off our second 6 weeks, and guess what!? I'M the one who had an amazing day. This week I had the privilege of organizing a fund raiser for nephew Hayes, and it rewarded ME so much more than I ever thought it would to be able to see God's people rally together and support a family in need.

Life is hard. It JUST is. It looks different to all of us, but we all feel it. The grind. The responsibilities. The pressures. The burden of it ALL. You're not in it alone. Call me, we can vent about it all.
And sometimes you just need to…

This post was inspired by my amazing husband who works twice as hard as a I do and encourages me daily.