Update

It's been such a busy summer and I haven't been great about keeping the blog up to date.  Confession:  (If you follow me regularly or via Google Reader, you already know this) I am very guilty of writing blog posts a week, two weeks, or even a month late and then back-dating them so it looks like I did it on time.  I don't do this to look like I have it all together (because trust me, I don't,) but so that our family scrapbook- AKA the blog- keeps some kind of semblance of order.

Now that summer is over, I am making an effort to get even more organized and polish our schedule a bit.  We've always been pretty structured with Emily's naptime/bedtime schedules, but I'm trying to be more disciplined for myself about going to bed on time, getting up early, and doing my best to be productive during the times Emily is asleep.  Because really, there's no other way to survive life as a stay-at-home mom/household manager/domestic engineer/housewife.  After Emily's birthday party, I experienced that first hand.  Staying up entirely too late every night for a couple of weeks, working out for an hour every weekday morning, and chasing an emerging toddler around for ten hours a day really took its toll on me.  I didn't have a choice to do anything but push through, but it was a hard two weeks.  I've finally caught up on my sleep and have been more consistent with vitamins and am finally feeling good again!  Now that I'm back and better than ever, it's time to get intentional about my new career.

Speaking of new careers, things have been CRAZY around the Takala household lately.  August was just a month of all kinds of exciting goings-on.  You already know about the birthday party, but on top of that, we had a couple other great/crazy opportunities come up.  It's not at all a stretch for me to say that never in a million years would I ever think that I'd be doing either one of these things.  Lit-rally.

Back in July we were introduced to AdvoCare and after completing the 24 Day Challenge and losing a combined 30 lbs and 16.5 inches, we decided to take the plunge and become AdvoCare Advisors and Independent Distributors.  If you've known me for awhile, you may remember the whole Arbonne debacle back around 2005ish.  It was a bad experience with direct sales/multi-level marketing and I swore I'd never do it again.  However, I left this decision up to my husband who is VERY level-headed, money-minded, and just a bit cynical.  If he was for it, I knew there was something to it.  Our new AdvoCare business just seems to be a better situation all-around.  We've already made more money than I ever saw in the other business and the products are helping us to live a much healthier lifestyle.  We're making money, which is a great bonus, but our initial intentions with AdvoCare were just to get a discount on the amazing products.  If we make money, great.  It's hard not to make money, though, when people see how great the products are.  We do want to build a business because of the great team we are on, but opportunity number two has kind of placed that one on hold for a bit. 

So what is opportunity number two?  Well, at the beginning of August, Lucas and I were asked to come on board as worship leaders at South Mac Arthur Church of Christ, the church I grew up at.  (That sentence may be confusing to some of you if you know anything about the Church of Christ.)  Although I resisted at first, it's easy to see now that Lord's hand in it.  We left The Branch in the Spring and were THIS close to placing membership at a church in Colleyville when we were approached by the pastors at South Mac to come join them in their new venture.  The church made the transition from a cappella worship to instrumental worship in January with Joseph, the youth minister, playing guitar and leading worship.  (Don't worry...there is still one a cappella service, so we may still get to Heaven by association.  I kid, I kid.)  This summer, they finally decided it was time to build up the band a bit by adding keys and a female vocalist, which is where we come in.  We have been able to relieve Joseph a bit by planning the worship sets each week and running rehearsals, but he still plays guitar and sings lead.  We've only been leading for two weeks now, but it has already been such a blessing to us.  While we were hesitant before coming on, any reservations we had based on past experiences have totally been put to rest.

Opportunity number three was presented in August as well, but that's on hold for now.  Updates on that one may be coming, too.  (And no, there's no baby number two on the horizon for those whose minds IMMEDIATELY go there. :))

It's wonderful to be at home with Emily as Autumn approaches.  God is good and life is good, too.  We are thankful and blessed.