peeling off the layers

Today was emotional. But it was more than a a tummy ache and a mistake at work making me anxious about upsetting a boss. It was extreme heart-melting joy at something my husband did nice for me today. I am so blessed to have him in my life. As my friend. Looking out for me. It was a strong desire to really let the teller know it was alright she made a mistake. It was a struggle to look beyond the evil heart of an acquaintance and keep a positive heart. It was a push to say what I feel is right in my heart, not yeah uh-huh the ways of the world as one so highly speaks of something I know in my heart is wrong.

It was more of a tug on my heart to feel more, go deeper, look within. To what, I am not quite sure yet. Like He is pulling off the old layers, exposing the raw tree underneath. I am deeply rooted in Him, but always exposed to the ways of the world.  


So I pray on it. And I ask my Saviour what He is trying to teach me. Unveil to me. My heart is anxious and excited at the same time, wondering what is around the corner. It feels a bit unsettling, but I know that is good. For He is working. And anything He wills is good. 

I can't wait to follow what He lays out for me. 


Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. ~Romans 12:2

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

This week's Scavenger Hunt Sunday brought to you by our visit to the local pumpkin patch. 
1. Words

He had words to say, always, when I bust out the camera
2. Under

3. Orange

4. Fly

5. Always Look on the Bright Side

Seeing God in the little things

An employee at our church invites his friend to come check out a Sunday service. The friend and his wife have never been to a church, and don't have a desire to attend. Many years go by. The friends still hang out and grow their friendship. Eventually the friend's 5 year old son starts asking about God, and the friend remembers the offer to attend church.

• The man and his wife show up early one Sunday, and are greeted warmly at the welcome table. 
• The greeter sees their son and offers to walk them all over to his classroom. 
• At the classroom, the sweet volunteer welcomes the kinder kid to a bright, inviting classroom. They check him in with a secure paging system, and leave watching him sit at a table with a group of kids, smiling. 
• When they get back to the front of the worship center, they are still a few minutes early, so they wait outside. 
• A friendly church-goer walks over and introduces himself. 
• The man and his wife go inside, are handed a study guide for the service, along with a smile. 
• They take their seat and the couple in front of them says hi. 
• Then they rise to hear worship songs like they have never heard before. 
•  The pastor shares a sermon that moves their heart, is easy to understand and speaks to them. 
• They leave feeling amazed at all they just experienced, their son begs to come again, so they are excited to come back next Sunday. 
• Several weeks later they hear the sermon that changes their hearts and they decide to walk with Jesus. 
• And their lives are forever changed. 

Hearing this story on Tuesday, my eyes filled with tears. God is so amazing! And picturing all of those people contributing to the amazing experience of church to honor God, just fills me with joy.

I heard this story from my pastor, as part of my bible study about serving sacrificially. He was getting at the fact that if anyone in the story above dropped the ball with their level and commitment of service, that story most likely would have ended much differently.

To be honest, I was a little surprised that the story made me so emotional out of everything I heard that night, but it did, and I accepted the fact that I was crying in the middle of a brightly-lit bible study room.

---------------------------------------------------

Today I received a text from a friend of mine who I invited to my church awhile back. He's never been into attending church, but he openly listened whenever I spoke about Jesus. His text said that him and his wife went to my church this past Sunday, and loved it so much they are committed to attending every Sunday.

I can't wait to see what the future has in store for my friend and his wife. And I am once again amazed at how God shows me how He connects everything in life.

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit. ~Ephesians 1:13

Bigger Picture Moments: Struggling

It began with a "no snacks after school" rule some time ago, after reading Peanut Butter in My Hair's post about picky eaters. Because, ya know, I HAVE ONE.

So, yeah, it was rough for a couple of days, saying no to the constant requests for snacks between the 5 o'clock hour and the 6 o'clock hour, but we got through it and my kids ate so much more at dinner. And more variety. Avalon now eats BROCCOLI! Of course she requires 50 shreds of cheddar cheese on each bite, but I'll take it because we now have a vegetable in the mix.

But yesterday, for some reason, during school pick-up, as Avalon was eating an applesauce left over from her lunch at 5pm (school let her before I arrived), she asked for a snack. A SECOND snack, since there was already one in her hand. When I calmly replied that we don't eat snacks anymore and she mysteriously already had one in her hand, ULTIMATE MELTDOWN ENSUED.

I mean, literally, this girl melted into the backseat of the car as I drove home, and continued on for a good 1/2 hour of kicking and screaming.

I'm learning with my daughter that if she has a set plan in her head and things deviate even the slightest, she can't handle it with maturity yet. And of course that is understandable, she is FOUR. So, most times I try and either give her plenty of notice that the plans have changed or will change, or I try and be flexible with the family plans if it means we can accommodate her a bit and still keep everyone else happy.

But for something like this new no snack rule that seems to be working well for everyone, especially her, I definitely wanted to stand my ground and it was hard to foresee it coming when her tantrum hit full force in a matter of milliseconds.

I mean, really? KID, you are eating something as you ask for a 2nd snack!!! When I offered to make dinner early if she really was that hungry, she replied with I don't like dinner! So, all reasoning had gone out the window.

Recently Hy posted a piece about being patient with her boys as they tried new things and learned their independence. Right now, it seems like it would be so much easier to stand and wait if Avalon was trying new things (as slow as she may be). But instead she is having a hard time accepting things if they are different from the plan she had imagined, and I am having a hard time foreseeing her plans in enough time to help her through it positively.

Maybe this is a growing pain she has to learn....maybe this is a growing pain I need to learn. We both seem to be strong-willed. But we're doing it together with as much love and understanding as we can. Some days are better than others.

And it is hard to see her struggle in this way.




Stop on over at Alita's place today to read other Bigger Picture Moments or to submit your own. There is definitely some great reading over there!

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

Landscape

It was impossible to go to church this morning because of a screaming toddler, so I waited until the late afternoon and went and had my own session with God, singing loud worship songs, while my toddler slept in the backseat (it's how we get her to nap on weekends).

Complementary color/Triadic color
(although, technically, I think it falls more into Tetrad harmony)

I spent 4 hours cleaning out my son's room on Saturday, so when I saw the color wheel on this
week's challenge, I instantly thought of these, since I just organized them (again).

Black and White

Awesome entrance to a house down a long driveway, spotted while driving
through the canyon, trying to get my daughter to fall asleep. 

Food

Simple dessert tonight.

Blank space

Blank space? Negative space? Off limits space? I just went with it. 

Busy being busy

Life has been busy lately, with volleyball practices, picture days, new tennis shoes, share days, award assemblies, trips to the park, celebratory Chuck E. Cheese dinners (their choice, not mine) and out of town visitors. But never so much that skies like this don't stop me in my tracks.

We plan on chillin' out at home all weekend and buying Loudoun a new desk. Ya know, for all that second grade homework he is responsible for these days. New desk = complete bedroom redesign and de-clutter, so I hope I make it out alive.

Have a nice weekend!

Who has the pause button?

Second grade seems to be the one. 

The one that catapults kids into more serious studying.
...into homework is due the next day or there are consequences.
...into upcoming tests.
...into less art projects and more paragraphs.
...into less nurturing and more "this is how it is."
...into being able to eat 2 dinners.
...into wanting skinny jeans.
...into picking the backdrop for your school pictures.
...and wanting to get a haircut the night before.

Luckily, his heart hasn't made that leap yet, and he is still my innocent baby boy.

I'm not ready for him to grow up so fast. Can someone please slow this down?

October Simple Swap: Plastic

We all want to live healthier, more intentional lives, but sometimes it seems overwhelming and daunting to take even small steps toward our ideals because there are so many steps that can be taken.


Simple Swap was born out of a desire and passion to encourage other women on journeys toward living a healthier, more inspired, intentional lifestyle through implementing one simple swap per month.

Each swap will: 
1. Take 30 minutes or less to accomplish 
2. Be inexpensive to implement or boast overall, long-haul {health} savings 
3. Focus on improving health/eco-friendliness, being good stewards of our resources and/or fostering a creative and intentional life.

Some weeks, all three will be accomplished in 30 minutes or less!

-----------------------------------------------
Plastic, it's quite convenient, isn't it? It's so easy to grab and go. It's so easy to use and toss, and not even think twice. But when Hyacynth challenged me to think about it, I realized I use way more of it than I should. Way more than the Earth would like me to use. So, it was time to make a SIMPLE SWAP change!

First I made a list of all of the plastic that bombarded my life. I came up with two categories that overwhelmed all of the others:


Plastic bags
We frequent 2 types of grocery stores. Costco and the regular ol' supermarket (friends make fun of me for using this term). Costco doesn't use plastic bags, they reuse cardboard boxes from the products they sell, so we were good there. But our family tends to visit the supermarket almost daily, racking up more and more plastic bags all the time! And while they smooth down pretty compactly, when you see them all in one cupboard it really hits home how much they must fill the landfills. 

(this cupboard goes all the way back to the shelf on the left,
completely filled with trash bags)

So, our first obvious solution was to take all of the plastic bags we acquired back to the supermarket for recycling, and gather all of the cloth bags we have around the house. Since we make more frequent, smaller trips to the supermarket, a couple of bags are plenty for our family. I decided to throw several bags in my car and 1 in my husband's car, so we are ready at any time to whisk them into the supermarket. I am excited to see how this works out, and I am super excited I gained an entire cupboard to store other things! Like crock pots, griddles and pressure cookers!

Plastic spoons
We give our kids pudding cups or fruit cups in almost every one of their school lunches, and therefore are in need of spoons almost everyday. We have typically used plastic spoons, ya know, because they are easy! But both of my kids have proved to be responsible in bringing stuff home from school, i.e. jackets, tupperware, their heads, etc. So, I thought this would be a great opportunity to introduce spoons that could be reused easily. We already have a handful of toddler colorful spoons, and I recently saw packs of 2 in the Target $ section. So, on my last trip I grabbed 3 more packages and dedicated the 6 new spoons to lunches. If they make it home, great! If not, they were only 50 cents a piece. 

We'll see how my kids do. If this plan fails, I can always reuse the throw away plastic spoons, although they seem more likely to be throw out by a 7 year old or a preschool teacher.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Wanna take this simple swap challenge and be in the running for a cool giveaway? Head on over to Hyacynth's site and link up. And while you're there, check out the other Simple Swaps people made for more ideas you can implement in your home. Have fun!