"Failing to plan is planning to fail." This quote has never been LESS true to me. Preparing for this last week has been a month in the making. Christian and I were having our first company since moving to Iowa and I had BIG plans. It was Halloween week so trips to the pumpkin farm, trick-or-treating, and sight seeing were all on the list. I had worked my butt off getting the house ready, making costumes, mapping routes for Bailey to walk, and how I would ration her insane amounts of candy.
I truly believed that if I planned well, then I could control whatever came my way...
HA!
Christian's parents arrived late Tuesday night and Bailey was up until midnight. With so much movement in the house that morning she woke early and we began my clearly laid out itinerary...
First up was Bloomsbury Farm. I had taken her once but was super excited for Christian to see her there and his parents. That was BUST no. 1.
It was FREEZING and the wind was gusting at like 20 mph - none of us brought coats - WTH! and Bailey was MISERABLE! As we are walking around, I just kept positive - "Let's go over here - Let's do this..." Everyone was looking at me like I was nuts! I had to maintain my
illusion of control. I had planned this and it was going to happen. But, after about 30 minutes, I surrendered. Bailey was turning purple, Christian was pissed, and I think his parents were probably thinking I was crazy.
We headed home to prepare for an AWESOME night of trick-or-treating - BUST no. 2.
Bailey did not take a nap that day and had been running on only 7 hours of sleep from the night before so needless to say, she hated her costume, would not walk, insisted on being held, and was generally miserable. It was fantastic ;-/
We went to 2 houses - she got like 4 treats and that quickly foiled my need for a candy rationing plan.
What happened? I planned like a maniac and everything was a FAIL.
That night I got into bed and began to reflect. I looked for some scripture and came upon this:
"For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength." 1 Corinthians 1:25
My illusion of control was not fooling anyone - I could imagine God looking at me and laughing much in the same way Christian and his family were... I was not in control, and rarely am. I think every once in a while God allows my plans to happen but most of the time they fail. I was foolish.
The next morning I awoke with a new spirit. Who cares if the day didn't go as planned - who was I planning for anyway? Me or Bailey? I think that sometimes I get so caught up on wanting Bailey to have the best of everything that I forget to just have fun because I am so worried about my plans. My illusion on control begins to fail, and everything falls apart. I am only happy with my path when I realize that I am not in control of it and that God is.
For the rest of the week, we had a great time. I stopped planning and threw out my itinerary :)
Bailey had a blast and LOVED being with her Boppy and Poppy (Christian's parents). That weekend, Christian's brother Ryan (who is also Bailey's godfather) and his gorgeous fiancé Jen came from Chicago to visit.
We all had so much fun and I can honestly say that my face still hurts from laughing and smiling so much!
A little word of advice... as the holidays approach, bag up your plans... you aren't in control anyway :)
xoxo
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Christian's parents at Bloomsbury... it was so cold that they
probably wished this was real... |
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| Boppy and Bailey |
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| Poppy and Bailey |
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Poppy and Boppy
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It was too cold to take your hands out of your pockets
and feed the animals... poor goat. |
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| Getting ready to Trick-or-Treat |
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| Finally a SMILE! |
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| Happy with candy... |
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| First house! |
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Knock Knock!
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Bailey was invited to her friend Genevieve's 3rd birthday party -
it was also a costume party... We won best dressed! Yay!
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| Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe |
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| Group Picture |
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| Walking in the Parade |
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| Another pic :) |
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| Rrrrrreeerrrrrr! |
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| Catch a Lion by the Tail ;0 |
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| Me and B :) |
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| Bailey LOVED this costume :) |
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| Casting Spells |
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Another Good pic
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A US Coast Guard Helicopter flew from NC to Christian's work - his company provides the computer equipment on board... He really wanted me to bring Bailey but it was 40 degrees, windy, and raining... I drove by and decided to go for it! I knew he would be so disappointed if we didn't - Bailey got to get in and play with the screens and buttons...
I on the other hand got a good look at some Coast Guard hotties!!!! HOLLA!
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| I was a little shy ;) |
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| Inside! |
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| Playing with the GPS |
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| Bailey LOVES pressing buttons... |
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| Back |
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| Going in! |
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just as enamored as I was about how good looking all
those guys were! |
