This picture of my computer is pretty representative of my brain.
I'm working on getting my neglected blog back up and running. As you can see, I have a lot of tabs open... work email, personal email, calendars, scheduling a train to NYC, articles I'm reading, maybe some "This is Us."
Feels about right. I've had a lot of tabs open in the 2.5 years (gasp!) since I've written on here.
The most significant tab: we added two more babies to our family! In February 2016, our twin daughters were born. It's an adventure, for sure. But they're now 2 years old, and we're out of [some of] the crush. I can breathe (and sleep) a little more.
Trust me ladies, this was as surprising for me as it was for you...
So that gave us 4 very small children... when people ask me how we've survived it I say: the grace of God, a strong partnership, and the good fortune to be able to afford household help (fortune indeed). I wrote an article for Motherly where I share some of what I've learned.
The WORK tab: after 7 years at my last job, I knew it was time for a change. As you've likely learned about me on this blog - I really like working. It's where I feel God has given me my strongest abilities to contribute to the world. But I had been working in a job that wasn't aligned with my natural skills and interests, and that left me with the feeling that something was missing. I started looking for a new job, but didn't want to give up 40-50 hours/week with my family. Especially when so much of a traditional work day is wasted (from 50%-60% based on various studies: meetings that don't lead to outcomes, constant interruptions, browsing espn.com or Facebook). So I launched MatchPace this past fall. At MatchPace I help organizations reimagine their workday: increase focus, cut out the waste, and give people their time back. It's a retention tool for them: there are a lot of really talented people out there who, like me, don't want to waste so much of their day on low-value activities, but still have a lot to offer. So they get to retain better people, and have improved outcomes.
The HOME tab: our little house, at 1100sqft, wasn't cutting it. While we weren't really actively looking, we bumped into an opportunity this past summer to move 3 blocks from where we lived. We love our neighborhood, so it was great to be able to stay (although we do miss our immediate neighbors so much!)
That covers the main tabs. Keeping each of those areas running require a pretty significant operating system :)
Life is full and complicated and hard and good!
