Category: How Great is Our God

Yep. It’s been a whiiiiiiile since I’ve done a Managing My Monday post! But I’m just going to jump right in. 🙂

Doug teaches via livestream on Mondays and Wednesdays, so that leaves me here with Isaac and the 2 dogs. Normally, I wouldn’t have to include the “2 dogs” part, but when 1 of those dogs is still a puppy…well, there’s a lot to manage there. So…I included them.

LexaBelle is adorable and growing so fast! She is well over 40 pounds now and super strong for a pup. She has something to “say” about everything – whether she needs to potty, or something outside made a noise, or she can’t find her toy, or she’s hungry…or sleepy…or stuck on the bed and afraid to jump down. You get the picture…she barks at ev.er.y.thing. We’re working on it, but whew – she is so much more vocal than any other dog we’ve ever had, and it’s testing our training ability, I can assure you!

Isaac is a dream to care for. He is so well trained now and understands when I tell him he’ll have to wait for Daddy to come home for something. I can no longer move him up in the bed or change/feed him. Doug does all those tasks. So Isaac has the patience of a saint, as long as I keep the Gaither, Little Einsteins and 3-2-1-Penguins videos rolling.

Every Monday, I handle Isaac’s payroll. I have to approve hours and submit codes via a couple different web sites now. It seems like the process changes every few months. Right now, Isaac only has 2 employees – Doug and Mrs. Julie. That keeps it pretty simple. We’d like to eventually add someone else to the roster for those times when Mrs. Julie can’t make it and Doug already has plans made. It doesn’t happen often, but it’d be nice to have a backup.

Over the weekend I made a yummy, healthy trail mix. I’d been buying a keto trail mix from Wally World, but it was $5 for a small container. I bought my own nuts, included a few extra things they didn’t have and removed stuff I didn’t like. Of course you can tweak it to your preferences. It’s really delicious and keeps me from sending Doug out for chips. 😉

I included pecans and walnuts (sprayed lightly with olive oil, salted and roasted), cashews, cocktail peanuts, and pepitas. I also added Lily’s sugar-free chocolate chips and some golden raisins. I realize the raisins pull it out of “keto” range, but I like them and used them very sparingly.

Monday’s also the day I start to work on our menu and grocery lists for the week. This is a task I am so not good at, but I keep trying. Doug’s at Publix right now, picking up the fabulous BOGOs and all our meat for the week. We shop at Walmart, too, via their Grocery app and website. We splurged for a year of Walmart+, so we get free delivery of our groceries each week. I don’t know if we’ll continue it beyond this year. We’ll wait and see what this next year holds, financially, before making that decision.

I did start my Monday in the Word of God today. It’s a really good place to start. 🙂 I’m going through this book right now. It has short undated devotions, accompanied by beautiful art and painted Bible verses. I’m really enjoying it.

During the holidays, I usually change my phone ringtone to something Christmasy – usually Carol of the Bells by The Celtic Women (because it’s beautiful and tickles my funny bone every time it starts playing.)

But for the New Year, I wanted something a little more meaningful. My phone doesn’t ring often, so when it does, I pay attention. This year, I chose a song by the McKamey’s called “I Keep Praying.”

It has really been a great motivator to me so far. There is so much going on that I need to pray about – in my life, my family, my church, my nation. There are so many things I can’t do anything about – except pray. I’m so thankful I have a Heavenly Father that hears me every time I lift my heart, mind and voice to Him in praise and supplication.

He knows me. And He hears me. What a precious treasure that is – for this Monday, and for every day!

Hope your Monday goes well,

Alesha Kay