the other side of perfect

I am not perfect. I once thought I wanted to be perfect, but many years of self-evaluation, prayer, and various forms of talk therapy later, I recognize the futility of believing I will ever achieve perfection. That said, there is no excuse to not try harder and be better. Yet I fail often and miserably. My biggest problem stems from allowing words to leave my mouth before they've been processed by my head. Sigh. This almost happened this morning -- unfortunately, my means of avoiding it entailed leaving a "discussion" without completing it. While I may have succeeded in not saying something I both would regret and, in truth, would have been motivated by hurt rather than by what is in my heart, leaving the room doesn't make it any better.

In any event, the rest of the day seems to have been full of blessings for all four of us. Tom was able to participate in a series of church meetings all day (he's still not home) -- he hasn't been able to do this for over 10 years and I know both that he's missed the fellowship, worship, and preaching and that these meetings fill his heart with joy. I am so thankful that he was able to participate! And I believe the girls will accompany him to more in the morning, which will be even more of a blessing for Tom.

For the three of us today, we were able to complete many items on the to-do lists. Maggie has grown over the summer -- we were able to find 2 pairs of jeans and one pair of dressy shoes today (whew!). She's at those weird sizes where the girls' are just to small, but the figure hasn't caught up to adults. She's also a bit more curvy than the "junior" sizes, so I'm pleased we were able to find 2 pairs that fit after trying on about a dozen. Meanwhile, Abby was quite patient with the process and has matured beyond the "what are you buying for me" stage. That finished, we were able to go to an early piano lesson, the library, and Walgreen's (yep, ANOTHER trip to the drug-store). Home about 2:30pm. I was able to watch the Saints trounce the Raiders while finishing many other to-do items including wrapping b-day presents and labeling and putting photos into the photo book. Meanwhile Maggie quite diligently worked on studying History and working on English homework (they pile it on even more than I remember!) while Abby cleaned up after the tornado that hit her room.

Tomorrow I hope will be more relaxing. I picked up 5 books that were on reserve at the library, so I hope to have time to read after church. Other than that, continue to strive to improve!