occupy halloween monday.

My Monday was hard to occupy with a joyful, celebratory attitude, so week one (although not a complete failure) was most definitely a challenge.

First of all, in order for me to celebrate my Mondays (in the same way I cherish my Fridays,) I have to look good. Seriously - there is something so mind-altering about doing your hair and makeup, and the way that it affects your day is magical. Better yet - as my roommate Bridgett would say, when your nails are painted, you automatically feel like a "10" no matter the actual outfit/situation/what-have-you. (You better believe I painted those puppies. With this preggo belly how it is, I can't bank on actually looking good [not having the belly look a baby rather than like a sack of extra weight.] So I always keep my nails painted as a back-up plan.)

So, Monday morning my alarm goes off at 5:25. Ouch. Other than my dad, I don't know anyone who effortlessly wakes up at that hour. Although it's only 10 minutes before my normal alarm - I'll gladly cherishingly snooze through those 10 minutes. So I'm up and at 'em: shower, hair, makeup, outfit (last minute change since I realized pastel floral was not at all saying "Today is Halloween" but quite the opposite,) make lunches, and out the door, thinking 'Good start to a good day. Maybe those extra 10 minutes are already worth it.'

Then I got to work and found out that family I nanny for is moving hours away... and I'm out of a job in a few weeks. Ouch. Ouch-ouch-ouch. I believe that after they left for work I cried for about an hour straight. Not only do I love my job (please tell me why it took 6 months for me to realize that,) but umm... we're having a baby. And this job was going to accommodate that fact, letting me bring Cubbie to work, but finding another job like this... so, so unlikely. Reminder: we are also a family of one (measly) income: mine. So panic, fear, worry, sadness... all started to set in, but I knew I was supposed to embrace this Monday business.

It took a while, like hours, to come even an inch out of this funk of fear I was in, but I had family and friends messaging me with their sympathy and support, and it was so good. I chose to say immediately after finding out the news a little phrase that I love, stolen from Angie Smith, "My God is the same God now as He was when I walked in that door." I literally said it out loud to remind myself - He is in control, and we are in His hands.

He is good. He is faithful. My brother and sister-in-law and their family are a true testament to His provision and faithfulness when situations seem rough impossible. I've seen His faithfulness even in the past few months, and Mr. Allen and I will stand firm in that.

My day with Henry went well. He's so cute; did I mention that?! And he's completely stolen my heart... which he'll need to give back before he moves out of the state. Mr. Allen came over after classes, and I spent some time looking for jobs online. We went to Taco Bell for dinner. Is Taco Bell the answer to all of life's problems? ...or is that ice cream? (Side note: remind me to tell you about my 3 favorite foods sometime. You'll probably be disgusted and shocked.) Taco Bell sure helped me enjoy and occupy my Monday.

Then we headed north of the city to join some (new-ish) friends and their kids for a trunk-or-treat. Mr. Allen and I were costume-less and childless (minus baby bump,) so we kind of didn't belong, but that was kind of okay. Spending an hour looking at kids in adorable or ridiculously-sweet costumes is on our activities-for-a-perfect-evening-list. (It can also be found on super creepy men's activities list. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that we like to watch kids. It makes us a bunch of weirdos.)

Afterward we went back to our friends' home and got to know them and their 4 boys better. (4 boys - a perfect number of what?! ... maybe plus 13 girls. :] Oh yeah, I've never mentioned on here my obsession of wanting 17 kids. I'll talk about it sometime. I need to make a non-mental-but-actually-physical list of all these "I will talk about that later" post ideas.) The family was so much fun and made a perfect ending to a long, badly-initiated Monday.

My keys to success for Occupy Monday (a sort of to-do list for next week):
- hair and makeup done (which means waking up a bit early)
- painted nails (can be done on Sunday like this week)
- make special plans for Monday night (to really celebrate the whole day)
- read my Bible (I missed this yesterday unfortunately)
- workout (also missed this yesterday)
- have a special treat (like Halloween candy... or a yummy, steamy drink)
- remember your purpose all day long (embracing and celebrating/occupying Monday until it becomes a natural joy)

Thanks for reading my long and dreadful post. Thank you even more to those of you who joined Occupy Monday yesterday. We'd love to have you join us next Monday - to change the view of Mondays, because it is a [day that the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it!] (Psalm 118:24)

with joy. (even amidst this trial... can I get a "Praise God"?!)