Thankful Thursdays

Thanks to my new friend Collette, I came across Thankful Thursdays and I wanted to participate. If you would like to also, please visit Sonya at Truth 4 the Journey and get on board. :)
The five things that I'm most thankful for today are:

1. I'm thankful that my husband has a secure job and that we have a roof over our heads. I know so many people that are going through tough times right now because of the economy and while we are definitely not living large, God has been keeping us and providing for us.
2. I'm thankful that my kids and husband are healthy.
3. I'm thankful for the buttermilk that my husband picked up at the store the other day. lol We never have buttermilk in our house but I've always wanted to make Buttermilk Pancakes and now today I can. :)
4. I'm thankful for laughter. My girls are seriously nuts and the fact that I can laugh over most of the things they do and the havoc they create is a good thing. lol
   
5. I'm thankful for God's mercy and patience. So many times we seem to take FOREVER to get our act together in some areas but He's always so patient, loving and kind with us. His mercies are new every morning and while we can be hard on ourselves at times, His love for us is unconditional.

Total Randomness

My blog got a facelift. Did you notice? I wish I could take credit for it all but thanks to some really great sites out there, I managed to spruce up my blog. The background came FREE from Aqua Poppy Designs. Me likey.

I made the header using Scrapblog. Soooooooo easy to use and it has so many great FREE graphics. :) This blog is still a work in progress............as is everything else in my life these days.

Today is one of those days where I have a bunch of thoughts bouncing around my head but can't seem to make any sense of them. Maybe I'll just be random and throw them out there.

In no particular order:

1. The girls are watching Dora and I notice that a lot of her adventures include witches. We may have to ban Dora.

2. Tonight is the last night of Bible Boot Camp (VBS) and I'm pretty excited about that. The kids had a great time and I think it was a success. A lot of time and planning went into it so I'm thankful to take a break from that.

3. I got up at 5 this morning to do the treadmill. I told Tim last night to get me up even if I put up a fuss. I only did 15 minutes but I guess that's better than the zero minutes I've been doing lately.

4. One of my prayers lately is for God to make me into a morning person. I'd so much rather sleep in than get up and do anything else. I want to be that kind of mom that gets up early, gets her quiet time with the Lord in, gets showered and ready for the day, gets the house in order and gets the kids ready for the day. Pretty much I guess I'm wanting to be that woman in Proverbs 31.

5. I'd love to be more organized and get myself (and the kids) onto some sort of schedule and routine. I hate that chaotic feeling that I often feel throughout the day when I'm looking at the laundry and the messes around the house, the bills and papers piling up, etc. Sigh.

6. I'd love to reach my Weight Watchers goal one of these days. I started this summer with a plan to lose 20 lbs in 20 weeks. That went out the door pretty quickly. I actually went in the opposite direction, which I'm not happy about. I can sit here and wallow and moan and cry the blues but I choose to start tracking my points again and look forward to Sept. 15 when Emilee and Grace will both be in school and I can actually go weigh in at Weight Watchers and stay for the meetings. 19 days to go. Hopefully I can knock off a few of these lbs before then. Tim's on a new program so it always helps when we are both on the same page. Actually, I've had Em and Grace eating better this week too. I realized that if my kids have weight issues, it will be my fault and I needed to do something about that.

7. I have a lot to do today so I better get going. :)

A Mom After God's Own Heart

I have SO much to do today because tomorrow morning we leave on a quick mini-vacation and technically I should be showering but I'm really loving blogging these days and wanted to post a little something. It's funny because I don't think many people ever read (or even know it exists)this particular blog (except for Michele lol) but I enjoy doing it so that's reason enough.


I've been reading the book A Mom After God's Own Heart for, well, forever, it seems. I keep coming back to the first few chapters. There's so many great things in there regarding parenting and raising Godly children that I keep re-reading it after I've gotten sick of myself and the Monster Mommy I find myself turning into. I'm sure we've all heard the verse in Proverbs "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it". I used to think that "train" meant taking them to church and reading them Bible stories. As my kids get older I've realized that it's really soooooo much more than that. It's teaching them scripture and reading it to them so that it gets buried deep within their little hearts. It's showing them that our relationship with God should be the most precious, most important thing in our lives. It's respecting our husbands so that they learn to respect their dad. Pretty much every things we do or say should be life lessons we pass onto our children.

One thing that Elizabeth George, the author of A Mom After God's Own Heart, talks about is reading the Word to our children. Here's an excerpt from the book that really spoke to me:
"It doesn't matter how long it's read. Even a few minutes a day will make a powerful impression on your family...................And don't worry about what your children are or are not getting out of your Bible reading times. What they do get is the firsthand experience of seeing your love for the Bible and your wholehearted commitment to God and His Son. They'll realize God's Word is important to you...therefore it will become important to them. They also get to hear scriptures. And, as the Bible teaches, "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Romans 10:17). Your family members will also receive familiarity and respect for the Bible that will help them to love and live the Word of God as they age."

I've slacked in this area but I'm glad that I keep coming back to this book to remind me of what's important.

Soft, Gentle Voice

Lately during worship at church God has been gently speaking to me about things. Last week (or the week before??) He showed me that I am bound by the fear of man. I knew I was a bit intimidated by people at time (i.e. I loathe public speaking, don't like phone calls, etc.) but I realized that it was bondage more than anything else. I've let what people think and the fear of rejection keep me from doing what God wants me to do, really what He wants us all to do and that's to preach the gospel to all people. I'm so consumed and wrapped up in my own little world (where it's safe and I don't have to put myself out) that I rarely listen to the Lord and His promptings. Something's gotta change.


Then this morning at church we got a word about how the status quo is no longer acceptable. That God wants more. That got me thinking. I've been a Martha for a long time when really my heart is to be a Mary. I want to be at the feet of Jesus, loving on Him, seeking His face, falling more in love with Him. That's kind of hard to do when I'm on Facebook more than I read the Bible or pray; when I'm working on things that God has not called me to do; when I'm more interested in the latest "scoop" than I am about getting the heart of God.


So, I'm working on working those things out. Setting my priorities in order and putting the things of this world aside to set my affections more on the Lord. I love the gentle voice of the Lord.

{Way too long since last post}

So, it's obvious that this blog has fallen to the wayside. Of course it has, with my addiction to Facebook these days. lol Who needs a blog when I plaster my life's happenings all over Facebook. Well, I think I'm going to start blogging here more often. Let's start today.

Last night the house was very quiet. I had a productive day cleaning, disciplining the kids, running some errands and avoiding fast food. By 9:40pm I was realizing that throughout my day I had not spent much time with the Lord. In fact lately, my quiet time has been slim to none. I always say a few things to God before bed each night, usually asking Him to help me do better the next day. Asking Him to forgive me for the ways I had let Him (and my family) down that day. That has been the extent of things lately. How sad. I decided that I would take advantage of the quiet and just put on some worship music and try and reconnect with my Savior. Throughout the songs I would offer up some prayers. One thing I remember praying was for God to remove the plank out of my own eye and to help me to stop pointing out the specs in other people's eyes. Somewhere along the line I had picked up this little self-righteous attitude. Somehow pointing out other people's sins (even if it's only in my head and heart) seemed to become a part of me lately. Ugh, how gross. We all sin. We all have our issues, our areas that we struggle with. I should stop focusing on the things i don't like in others and start looking into my own heart to see where I need to repent.

In my efforts to try to get myself back on track with the Lord I decided to pick up my "Starting Your Day Right" devo and read today's passage. The devo was taken out of Matthew 7 and talking about wide is the gate that leads to destruction............ As a rule, I usually take whatever chapter in the Bible the devo was coming from and read the whole thing. Lo and behold what did I find?

Matthew 7: 3-5

"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attenion to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother 'Let me take the speck out of your eye', when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

Whoa! Okay, Lord. Point taken. I didn't feel condemned by this. I didn't feel like I had been reprimanded. In fact I was happy that I was convicted of something last night and God confirmed it this morning, in the subtle way that He so often does. Will I never focus on someone else's flaw? No. But you can bet that I'll be trying hard not to.

Thank you, Lord for speaking to me.

Emilee's Birthday Invite - Not an Actual Post - Sorry

Good-Bye Summer!!!!!!!!!!!

So, the summer is basically over and I could not be happier. I mean, this summer actually was pretty enjoyable compared to recent years but I'm really not a hot weather kind of person. I LOVE vactioning somewhere tropical and enjoy the beach when I can just hang out and not have to worry about any little people. lol But, it's been oh about 7 years since I had that kind of summer vacation.

Anyhow, I'm looking forward to the fall season. It's my favorite. I love wearing sweaters and jeans and boots and all that fun stuff.

Emilee starts Pre-k next week. I can't believe it. She's going to a Christian/Lutheran church and they call it Jr.Kindergarten. Isn't that adorable? I don't know who's more excited, her or me! ha ha I'm excited for several reasons. One being I think it will be good for her to have some classroom structure other than Sunday School. She is soooooooo smart but LOVES to talk and do her own thing - very independent - so I think this will be great for her. The second reason is I will get a bit of a break. I know, I know, what a bad mommy I am. Not bad, honest. lol It is hard work being a stay at home mom of 2 rambunxious little girls (yes, Gracie is a busy little girl too). We don't have any family up here and no real baby sitter close by so it's just me and them, all the time. I'm very thankful for being able to stay home and raise my girls - I would not have it any other way - but it's hard work and I'm also thankful for the break. Now, before I go on, I just have to say this. Tim is GREAT! He really helps out sooooo much. After a hard day at work, he'll come home and help out with dinner and dishes or just hanging with the girls. He's always willing to give me a break when I need one and has on many, many occasions taken over to give me some time to myself. I really could not ask for better. :)

My third reason for being excited about Jr. Kindergarten is being able to spend some time with Gracie. I've never had any time alone with her really since she was born and I'm looking forward to it. I missed this age with Emi b/c I was working full time so I'm really happy about being able to be with Gracie during this time.

My last reason for being excited about JK is that I'm hoping to get to the gym a few mornings a week to use the gym membership I've been paying for. lol They have daycare and there will be just enough time for me to do a quick workout, go home, shower and then pick Emilee up.

Did I mention that I've lost 60 lbs so far? Well technically 58.6 but I weigh in tomorrow at Weight Watchers and I KNOW I'll pass the 60 pound mark this week. Yay! I've been doing Weight Watchers since the end of March and I could not be happier with the results. It's been a real lifestyle change for me and I'm in it for the long haul. I'm not brave enough to post any progress pictures yet but soon. ;)

I think that sums it up for now. I've been a big time blog slacker this summer. All my blogs have been suffering. Well, not ALL of them. I started a new blog called Sass n Scrap Designs because i have FINALLY figured out how to design digital scrapbook kits. So I've been creating about a kit a week to giveaway as a Freebie until I can team up with an online store and sell my designs. Go me. :)