I am feeling overwhelmed by the amount of commitments Jon and I currently have. This summer has flown by, and I keep wondering if we're ever going to get to slow down and just enjoy our new house, the beautiful weather, and a peaceful evening together where one of us doesn't have to rush off to a meeting, practice, class, or happy hour date.

Our kittens are coming home from the vet tomorrow - so tonight will be spent "kitten-proofing" our house. Conveniently, this is essentially the same as baby-proofing, so now we won't have to worry as much when our friends bring their small children over.

A few weeks ago, a speaker at church gave a sermon about time (our summer series is based off the popular blockbusters, so this one used Land of the Lost.) The speaker didn't say we needed to spend more time reading our bible or going to church or serving the community - he just simply said that we needed to stop spreading ourselves so thin. That it was important to recognize the most valuable commitments in your life and put those first, and consider eliminating others. After church, Jon and I sat down to talk about what had been said. Was there something we needed to consider cutting out in order to calm down? How could we reduce our stress by giving ourselves more time? We both threw around several ideas - but here's the thing, we're already committed to our commitments! How can you just up and quit something you have given your word to participate in?

At this point, I just feel at a loss for how to regain control of our life and our free time. And on top of everything else is the fact that starting next week, I'll be at SU from 8am-9pm two nights a week for class. I've considered giving up grad school in order to reduce the chaos in our life, but I love what I'm studying and it is 100% necessary if I want to continue in my line of work beyond an entry level position. I've already decided to continue as a part-time student (as opposed to full-time, which I did last quarter), but sometimes I wonder if it's going to be enough.

I know I've mentioned this before, but I am incredibly introverted. The busier our lives get the more drained, exhausted, depressed, and just completely overwhelmed I get. In my ideal world, I could be a stay at home wife/mom, and my commitments and interactions would be limited to those with my family, friends, and church - and of course sales people, neighbors, etc - but I wouldn't be working with students all day, I wouldn't be doing customer service, and I wouldn't be constantly drained by the need to be on my A game with co-workers. But... at this point in our lives, it would not be wise for me to be unemployed. I can dream though.

Anyways, I'll put up more pictures our of kittens when we get them home :)