The Mayonnaise Jar

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle,
When 24 hours in a day is not enough;
remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class
and had some items in front of him.

When the class began, wordlessly,
he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar
and started to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full.
They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured
it into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.
The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.
He then asked the students again
if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand
and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else
He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded
With a unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table
and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively
filling the empty space between the sand.
The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor, as the laughter subsided,
'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.

The golf balls are the important things - God, family,
children, health, friends and favorite passions.
Things that if everything else was lost
and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the things that matter like your job, house and car.

The sand is everything else --The small stuff.

'If you put the sand into the jar first,' he continued,
'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.
The same goes for life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff,
You will never have room for the things that are
important to you.

So...
Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Play with your children
Take time to get medical checkups.
Take your partner out to dinner.

There will always be time
to clean the house and fix the dripping tap.

'Take care of the golf balls first --
the things that really matter.
Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'


One of the students raised her hand
and inquired what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled. 'I'm glad you asked.
It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem,
there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.'

We made it...

We made it! We left Sacramento on June 29th and made it to Tulsa in 72 hrs..arriving on Saturday July 2nd..safe and sound. YAY!
The drive was pretty uneventful..Thank You Jesus! A little deal with one of the trucks, a transmission leak, an easy fix for Mr.B..about 15 minutes and a bottle of transmission fluid and we were good to go and no leaks since.
Our sweet puppy Max, did really well on the trip too..he took turns riding with us and Brad..what a character he is.
After 3 nights in motels..yuck!!..we were so glad to get 'home'. We spent our first night at Mr.B's aunt Joyce's house on an air mattress, that was funny. We woke up to hurting hips and found out the air leaked out..well what do you expect with two fluffy people sleeping on it? hahaha! Oh well, we survived.

Sunday was a full day of cleaning and more cleaning..then on to painting and more painting, we are still not done, but needing a little rest before we tackle the ceilings and baseboards..not looking forward to the baseboards at all. I learned to cut-in with a brush, and I'm pretty good at it..if I slow down and relax. If you know me, when I have a job to get done I tend to move in fast mode, not always a good thing..sigh!

We spent the evening of the fourth with Mr.B's brother, Mike and Gayla, I got my first tour of their home, they built it themselves and it is beautiful. We had a good time relaxing, visiting and eating..yum good cookin' for sure. Thanks to Mandi and Josh for the great food.

We went back to painting on Wednesday and went back to aunt Joyce's house for a dinner of leftover Cream Tacos..never had them before, but they were so good..loved them. Thank you so much for taking such good care of us, we appreciate it! And Mr.B has been able to see his granny and visit with her, she is 90! And such a memories she has to share, I just love hearing the stories.

We were finally able to do some serious unpacking on Thursday and Friday and have 'mostly' put everything in it's place..ahhhh! No more suitcases AWESOME!

The weather has been in the 100's since we have arrived so we have had a quick introduction to Oklahoma humidity..whew! It's been rough, the humidity just saps your energy, we kept saying, man why are we so tired? Just kept drinking water and staying in the a/c as much as possible.
We live about 2 blocks from the airport and when a plane is coming in for a landing it's so cool to see, almost over our heads.
Our house has been updated with new windows and doors and additional insulation so when we are indoors we don't hear the jet noise..how cool is that?

Mr.B had to work all night a few days ago and I was kinda worried about being home alone here, but everything was fine..I'm so happy about that.

I can't wait until we have the time to so sight seeing. People who live here think we're crazy for moving back, but we are happy about it..just have to get used to the pace of slower. It's all good and the journey is worth it. We still need to find a home church, since we are settled we can start visiting around to see where the Lord leads, it's THE most important thing we can do..keep us in your prayers!

Oh, I want to say a huge Thank You to our son, Brad! He moved with us and has been the biggest help, I don't know how we could've done everything without him. He has pitched in and painted and helped carry the heavy things I couldn't. And he cooks too..
I miss the other two kiddos who decided to remain in California, but they gotta do what they gotta do..and I'll keep prayin' and believin' they will miss us and come this way...SOON! :-}