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April 10
Happy Birthday to my beautiful Mom! We had fun hanging out with my Mom and Dad today. We brought over Steakout for her birthday lunch and I stopped at Target for some Key Lime Pie and Girl Scout Cookie Icecream. YUM! I am stuffed :) Inspite of the fact that this dress makes me look pregnant, (which I am not, so please do not ask! haha) this is a pretty good picture of me and my Mom.
April 9
Today we had the pleasure of hearing one of the most precious, wise and faithful ladies in our church, Mrs. Sue Sanders. She talked with us about Jochebed, who was only mentioned twice in the whole Bible. Once, as the wife of Amram, and again as the mother of Moses. Jochebed and her husband were Egytian slaves and yet they raised their children to know and love God. They weren't identified as anything/anyone significant in their own right. We can learn from Jochebed that the world doesn't revolve around us, but around God. He isn't here for us, we are here for him. Do you go through life in the princess mode -- feeling like someone else should be doing all the hard work? Jochebed didn't. She was Moses mother, and she had to completely trust God to take care of her baby, building a basket and putting him into the river and walking away. She was faithful to God, and that provided her the opportunity to raise her son, for the princess. She worked all day, and she still taught Moses the laws of God and trained him how to be a servant. We need to be striving everyday, being faithful and obedient. And we can be thankful we don't have to do what Jochebed had to do! When Moses was of age, she had to let him go to the princess. But she could do it, knowing that she had done her best to raise him right.
Leah shared something about one of my favorite verses in the Bible, today, too. She talked about how when we are discouraged, we sometimes give God the silent treatment. Jeremiah 29:11 tells us, "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future". The problem here is that's where we want to stop. We sometimes fail to read on and apply the next verses -- "Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. We just want the prosperity part, without the work of having to see the Lord to get it.
After our session this morning, we opened the floor up for testimonies and so many women shared stories about how Satan had attacked them this week and tried his best to prevent them from coming. We were all so happy that we made it there and excited to see what God was going to do in our lives from this day forward. We confessed our weaknesses to one another so that we, through the power of prayer, can make one another stronger in the Lord and be an encouragement to each other. We learned that true God-honoring faith absolutely cannot be anchored in our feelings but needs to be wholeheartedly anchored in our FAITH, and knowing that God does provide for his people, and we have the ultimate and final victory. Feelings and emotions will constantly change and control you. Faith is eternal and needs to be kept in the proper perspective.
I hope that you were able to get a couple of little nuggets (at the very least) from what I shared here over the last few days. I want to post a video of Leah's new song that was one of my favorites for today. Maybe tomorrow I can post pictures of the actual retreat. :)
Leah shared something about one of my favorite verses in the Bible, today, too. She talked about how when we are discouraged, we sometimes give God the silent treatment. Jeremiah 29:11 tells us, "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future". The problem here is that's where we want to stop. We sometimes fail to read on and apply the next verses -- "Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. We just want the prosperity part, without the work of having to see the Lord to get it.
After our session this morning, we opened the floor up for testimonies and so many women shared stories about how Satan had attacked them this week and tried his best to prevent them from coming. We were all so happy that we made it there and excited to see what God was going to do in our lives from this day forward. We confessed our weaknesses to one another so that we, through the power of prayer, can make one another stronger in the Lord and be an encouragement to each other. We learned that true God-honoring faith absolutely cannot be anchored in our feelings but needs to be wholeheartedly anchored in our FAITH, and knowing that God does provide for his people, and we have the ultimate and final victory. Feelings and emotions will constantly change and control you. Faith is eternal and needs to be kept in the proper perspective.
I hope that you were able to get a couple of little nuggets (at the very least) from what I shared here over the last few days. I want to post a video of Leah's new song that was one of my favorites for today. Maybe tomorrow I can post pictures of the actual retreat. :)
April 8
Our first speaker today was Taube Lansing. She sat at our table during her time at the retreat so we all had a chance to get to know her a little during the "icebreaker" session. As much as I was trying not to focus on digital scrapbooking on this retreat, imagine my surprise when she told us how her messy handwriting was so bad even she couldn't read it sometimes. Hallelujah! Just so happens, that's exactly what I am looking for :) In fact, I liked her handwriting so much, I asked her to write out the main Bible verse of her message for me so that I could make a digital paper out of it. Keep your eyes out for it here on my blog. I will share!!! You know that just goes to show -- God cares for us even in the little things, so much that He provided that for me. I am sure no one else probably cared that she had messy handwriting, but it made my day! I know, I'm weird :)
Before I share what her message was about, I want to share one of things that God has been speaking to me about. You know how when something in your life happens, you just HAVE to tell someone about it? Sometimes they give you good advice, but sometimes they give you advice that you know you shouldn't follow? Well, this is something that I personally struggle with -- needing, or feeling like I need to talk to someone (or many someones :) depending on the circumstances) about what I am going through. I feel like God is really trying to teach me to become more dependant on Him when these issues arise in my life, and not so much on the other someone(s). Does that make sense? Well it's what Taube spoke to us about tonight so maybe it will make more sense after I explain that :)
Taube said that she had a message for the weary. Amen, sister, preach on! I need to hear a message for the weary...cause this is one weary momma! First of all, what does it mean to be weary? Weary means to be exhausted in strength, endurance, vigor, or freshness; having one's patience, tolerance, or pleasure exhausted. Yep, that's me alright. I am sure you all can relate, too! So this is a normal feeling, right? Of course! So here's how to deal with it, or rather the temptations to avoid when you are feeling weary.
1. Avoid the temptation to make your own plan. Think about Abraham, and Sarah when they wanted a baby. Instead of asking the Lord, they went to Hagar. God wanted to give them a child, but in his appointed time. When we force things by making our own plan, we only make it more complicated. Proverbs 10:22 says, "The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it." God doesn't want to give us sorrow with the blessings, we bring that on ourselves by not being patient.
2. Avoid the temptation to think that you are inadequate. What about Moses and how he said he wasn't a good speaker? Don't forget that God made you, with your inadequacies, and He can use you, inspite of them. What about the people? They complained -- the Bible likens that to hardening their hearts, and not remembering what God had done for them in the past. Moses smote the rock instead of speaking to it, as he was commanded. Numbers 20 tells us that disobedience is the same as unbelief, and Moses did something rash, based on his heightened emotional state.
3. Avoid the temptation to doubt your faith in times of darkness, forgetting what God gave you in a time of light. Job was a great example of someone who praised God even through the times of darkness in his life, and his life was definitely much darker than mine, ever! We have to be very careful who we talk to during these times of darkness in our life -- our "friends" can cause us to doubt God's provision and our faith. We have to surround ourselves with people who won't questions God's goodness and at the same time not be condemning toward us, like Job's "friends" were when they told him that he must have been a horrible sinner. Job was a great example of true patience - which in his situation can be defined as staying in the wilderness until God's appointed time, wanting nothing.
What really struck me during her message was that I don't and shouldn't need to run to everyone else with all my problems, because first of all, they can't do anything about them! God is in control of my life and he is orchestrating every circumstance within it -- my focus needs to be on Him.
We had a wonderful time of worship with some of my favorite songs. Our worship leader, Leah Taylor, shared a beautiful song called Passover with us. I can't wait until she releases that one! Anyway :) She said something that really spoke to me as well -- "Our reactions determine our reach." and "War and destruction are inevitable, but so is God's final victory." I hope that I can remember these two quotes. I wrote them on a post-it and put it out where I would see it everyday. Maybe I should do this as a word art for my digi-kit....
Our second speaker today, Heidi Nadolny, has got to be, hands-down, one of the most beautiful and godly women I have ever met. Ever. She is one of those women that you can look at, and you are just like, "Wow, I want what she has!" By that, I mean her desire to please the Lord, and the joy you can sense just by being in her presence. She has a contagious smile and such a sweet spirit. She had a powerful message to share with us, too. It was exactly what I needed this weekend. She spoke about Leah and her struggles with rejection. As uncomfortable as it is, that's something we all experience, isn't it? Rejection. From our parents, our spouses, our friends, even our children. 1 Peter 3: 12-14 tells us that we can give God our hurts and rejections because we can completely trust Him. (See also Psalm 116:1-2; Psalm 37:4; and Ephesians 4:31-32) Leah experienced some MAJOR rejection in her life, and yet she was not bitter toward the people who hurt her. She praised the Lord, and continued to focus on Him, and not was she wished she had. She had joy (Psalm 118:9) and hope (Psalm 39: 7-8). She learned that God would defend her, and exalt her. We must not do that ourselves -- Let God do it for you. (John 8:4) We have to do right, even when other people are doing wrong to us. Leah's 8th son was named Zebulon, which means honor. God will restore us from the pain of rejection if we are willing to be obedient. Job 42:10 tells us that God turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends and gave him twice as much as he had before!
So what can we do with our rejections?
1. Ephesians 4:32 tells us to Be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving one another. Just remember to ask yourself this, "Jesus died for me. Can I let this go?"
2. Matthew 5:24 tells us to love our enemies.
3. Forgive them.
4. Fellowship with Christ and his sufferings. Remember that Christ suffered and was perfect. Do you really expect not to suffer? Your sufferings are nothing that Christ Himself didn't endure.
5. 1 Peter 2: 19-21 - Ask God for healing.
Remember -- YOUR worth is not determined by what other people think of you, but by what GOD thinks of you.
I John 4:19 tells us to love because He first loved us.
Heidi asked Leah to sing this song tonight, and it was perfect for what she spoke on. Love it!
Before I share what her message was about, I want to share one of things that God has been speaking to me about. You know how when something in your life happens, you just HAVE to tell someone about it? Sometimes they give you good advice, but sometimes they give you advice that you know you shouldn't follow? Well, this is something that I personally struggle with -- needing, or feeling like I need to talk to someone (or many someones :) depending on the circumstances) about what I am going through. I feel like God is really trying to teach me to become more dependant on Him when these issues arise in my life, and not so much on the other someone(s). Does that make sense? Well it's what Taube spoke to us about tonight so maybe it will make more sense after I explain that :)
Taube said that she had a message for the weary. Amen, sister, preach on! I need to hear a message for the weary...cause this is one weary momma! First of all, what does it mean to be weary? Weary means to be exhausted in strength, endurance, vigor, or freshness; having one's patience, tolerance, or pleasure exhausted. Yep, that's me alright. I am sure you all can relate, too! So this is a normal feeling, right? Of course! So here's how to deal with it, or rather the temptations to avoid when you are feeling weary.
1. Avoid the temptation to make your own plan. Think about Abraham, and Sarah when they wanted a baby. Instead of asking the Lord, they went to Hagar. God wanted to give them a child, but in his appointed time. When we force things by making our own plan, we only make it more complicated. Proverbs 10:22 says, "The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it." God doesn't want to give us sorrow with the blessings, we bring that on ourselves by not being patient.
2. Avoid the temptation to think that you are inadequate. What about Moses and how he said he wasn't a good speaker? Don't forget that God made you, with your inadequacies, and He can use you, inspite of them. What about the people? They complained -- the Bible likens that to hardening their hearts, and not remembering what God had done for them in the past. Moses smote the rock instead of speaking to it, as he was commanded. Numbers 20 tells us that disobedience is the same as unbelief, and Moses did something rash, based on his heightened emotional state.
3. Avoid the temptation to doubt your faith in times of darkness, forgetting what God gave you in a time of light. Job was a great example of someone who praised God even through the times of darkness in his life, and his life was definitely much darker than mine, ever! We have to be very careful who we talk to during these times of darkness in our life -- our "friends" can cause us to doubt God's provision and our faith. We have to surround ourselves with people who won't questions God's goodness and at the same time not be condemning toward us, like Job's "friends" were when they told him that he must have been a horrible sinner. Job was a great example of true patience - which in his situation can be defined as staying in the wilderness until God's appointed time, wanting nothing.
What really struck me during her message was that I don't and shouldn't need to run to everyone else with all my problems, because first of all, they can't do anything about them! God is in control of my life and he is orchestrating every circumstance within it -- my focus needs to be on Him.
We had a wonderful time of worship with some of my favorite songs. Our worship leader, Leah Taylor, shared a beautiful song called Passover with us. I can't wait until she releases that one! Anyway :) She said something that really spoke to me as well -- "Our reactions determine our reach." and "War and destruction are inevitable, but so is God's final victory." I hope that I can remember these two quotes. I wrote them on a post-it and put it out where I would see it everyday. Maybe I should do this as a word art for my digi-kit....
Our second speaker today, Heidi Nadolny, has got to be, hands-down, one of the most beautiful and godly women I have ever met. Ever. She is one of those women that you can look at, and you are just like, "Wow, I want what she has!" By that, I mean her desire to please the Lord, and the joy you can sense just by being in her presence. She has a contagious smile and such a sweet spirit. She had a powerful message to share with us, too. It was exactly what I needed this weekend. She spoke about Leah and her struggles with rejection. As uncomfortable as it is, that's something we all experience, isn't it? Rejection. From our parents, our spouses, our friends, even our children. 1 Peter 3: 12-14 tells us that we can give God our hurts and rejections because we can completely trust Him. (See also Psalm 116:1-2; Psalm 37:4; and Ephesians 4:31-32) Leah experienced some MAJOR rejection in her life, and yet she was not bitter toward the people who hurt her. She praised the Lord, and continued to focus on Him, and not was she wished she had. She had joy (Psalm 118:9) and hope (Psalm 39: 7-8). She learned that God would defend her, and exalt her. We must not do that ourselves -- Let God do it for you. (John 8:4) We have to do right, even when other people are doing wrong to us. Leah's 8th son was named Zebulon, which means honor. God will restore us from the pain of rejection if we are willing to be obedient. Job 42:10 tells us that God turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends and gave him twice as much as he had before!
So what can we do with our rejections?
1. Ephesians 4:32 tells us to Be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving one another. Just remember to ask yourself this, "Jesus died for me. Can I let this go?"
2. Matthew 5:24 tells us to love our enemies.
3. Forgive them.
4. Fellowship with Christ and his sufferings. Remember that Christ suffered and was perfect. Do you really expect not to suffer? Your sufferings are nothing that Christ Himself didn't endure.
5. 1 Peter 2: 19-21 - Ask God for healing.
Remember -- YOUR worth is not determined by what other people think of you, but by what GOD thinks of you.
I John 4:19 tells us to love because He first loved us.
Heidi asked Leah to sing this song tonight, and it was perfect for what she spoke on. Love it!
April 7
Today was the first day of our Women's Retreat, and I must say it couldn't have been any better. I had an easy morning getting the kids ready and was fortunate to have my ever helpful mother-in-law watch the kids for me so that I could go early and carpool with my friends. I am so thankful for her! I was able to "arrive" with my friends and we picked our room and bunks and set all our stuff up together. Sometimes getting away from the comforts of your own home can be intimidating, even when you know the people you are going with :) It made me so much less anxious to not have to go through that part on my own!
I thought I would just recap what happened during the retreat on my blog if that's okay with you all :) (You know you don't really have a choice, right? haha!) Our first session started with a pajama parade after dinner. Despite my searching for hours and finding very cute pajamas and matching high heels, I was definitely out of my comfort zone when I realized that part of the pajama party was to actually parade around the meeting room. I am probably still blushing from the whole experience. Seriously! I was all too happy to start the worship/message portion of our first session :)
When I learned that the theme for the retreat was "Anchored in Faith" and that it was supposed to be about different women in the Bible, I was immediatley excited. I love learning the Bible stories about the women in the Bible and how they were able to be used of God, despite their often less than desirable circumstances. Women who trusted God, and were obedient to Him, inspite of their feelings, because of their love and faith in Him.
One of the funniest people I have ever met, Heather York, who's an English/Drama teacher for special needs high school students, was our speaker for the first session. Her stories about her students are always hilarious and I was excited to hear what she had to share with us. She is an amazing woman, whom I admire very much, not only for her faithfulness and dedication to the Lord, but also for the example and encouragement she is in my life. The woman of the Bible who she focused on was Mary, the mother of Jesus. She took us all through the story of when/how Mary found out she would be pregnant with Jesus and what her response was. She said, "Let it be unto me as you have said." and how that's the attitude that we as Christians need to develop within ourselves to be a servant of the Lord. She also spoke about what Jesus' name meant, "God with us" and how appropriate and true it was through the personal examples from her life that "God was there" with her through all the trials and the blessings in her life. She encouraged us to look for God to be there when as we experienced the changes in our lives and to welcome them the same way as Mary did, with faith and trust in the Lord, knowing that He was there, with us.
As she was sharing her stories of her own "God with us" moments, I didn't have to think very hard to remember my own. Looking back on those times when I didn't understand the why's of my circumstances, now that I can see the bigger picture, I am so much more thankful for God's hand of provision in my life. I can clearly see that "God was there" and was orchestrating the entire thing to bring us closer to Him and was constantly revealing Himself to us in those difficult moments.
I hope you enjoyed hearing a little bit of what we learned about tonight and even though I am definitely no Heather York, I do hope that my interpretation will remind you to stop and remember those moments in your past when "God was there" for you, too. I also hope that you will be able to do as Mary, and in faith, say, " Let it be unto me as you have said" the next time God asks something big of you.
I thought I would just recap what happened during the retreat on my blog if that's okay with you all :) (You know you don't really have a choice, right? haha!) Our first session started with a pajama parade after dinner. Despite my searching for hours and finding very cute pajamas and matching high heels, I was definitely out of my comfort zone when I realized that part of the pajama party was to actually parade around the meeting room. I am probably still blushing from the whole experience. Seriously! I was all too happy to start the worship/message portion of our first session :)
When I learned that the theme for the retreat was "Anchored in Faith" and that it was supposed to be about different women in the Bible, I was immediatley excited. I love learning the Bible stories about the women in the Bible and how they were able to be used of God, despite their often less than desirable circumstances. Women who trusted God, and were obedient to Him, inspite of their feelings, because of their love and faith in Him.
One of the funniest people I have ever met, Heather York, who's an English/Drama teacher for special needs high school students, was our speaker for the first session. Her stories about her students are always hilarious and I was excited to hear what she had to share with us. She is an amazing woman, whom I admire very much, not only for her faithfulness and dedication to the Lord, but also for the example and encouragement she is in my life. The woman of the Bible who she focused on was Mary, the mother of Jesus. She took us all through the story of when/how Mary found out she would be pregnant with Jesus and what her response was. She said, "Let it be unto me as you have said." and how that's the attitude that we as Christians need to develop within ourselves to be a servant of the Lord. She also spoke about what Jesus' name meant, "God with us" and how appropriate and true it was through the personal examples from her life that "God was there" with her through all the trials and the blessings in her life. She encouraged us to look for God to be there when as we experienced the changes in our lives and to welcome them the same way as Mary did, with faith and trust in the Lord, knowing that He was there, with us.
As she was sharing her stories of her own "God with us" moments, I didn't have to think very hard to remember my own. Looking back on those times when I didn't understand the why's of my circumstances, now that I can see the bigger picture, I am so much more thankful for God's hand of provision in my life. I can clearly see that "God was there" and was orchestrating the entire thing to bring us closer to Him and was constantly revealing Himself to us in those difficult moments.
I hope you enjoyed hearing a little bit of what we learned about tonight and even though I am definitely no Heather York, I do hope that my interpretation will remind you to stop and remember those moments in your past when "God was there" for you, too. I also hope that you will be able to do as Mary, and in faith, say, " Let it be unto me as you have said" the next time God asks something big of you.
Here's one of the songs we sang today. I don't think I have ever heard this one before, and I loved it. I hope that it blesses your heart, too.
April 6
I am so looking forward to going away to the Women's Retreat this weekend! I leave tomorrow :) I have been packed since Sunday if that's any inclination of my level of excitement. So instead of cleaning the house and cooking and catching up on laundry again, I made another layout this afternoon. It's from Halloween, which I know, is SO not on your mind right now, but I love layouts like this with room for so many pictures and I had a lot of really good ones from Halloween.
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| Click on the image to see it larger in another window. Supplies: Jessica Sprague Template; Echo Park Apothecary Collection |
April 5
I love how this layout turned out. It really shows Kalyn & Caleb's personalities well! The colors are great, too. Hope you like it!
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| Template Tuesday #10 - I used Crystal Wilkerson's Me & My Baby Brother's Collection to make this layout. |
April 4
Okay, I have gotten a couple of weeks behind on my Template Tuesday layouts at Jessica Sprague. I am all caught up now though, and I am planning to share the layouts over the next few days. Today I cleaned the house and caught up on laundry so that my family would have clean clothes while I am gone. Wasn't that nice of me? :)
Have you ever been scared in bad weather? I don't mean a hurricane or tsunami or tornado bad weather, but just your regular thunder and lightning storm. Well, I can honestly say that I have never experienced a tsunami, but I have seen a couple of tornados, up close in person, and I have certainly experienced a BAD hurricane (inside the safety of the barely standing walls of my roofless church while I was nine months pregnant -- but that's a whole other story for a whole other post!), but I have never been shaken to the core with fear like I was tonight. I *don't know why* I went to Walmart tonight, after 10 o'clock, right before a storm rolled in, but I did. It started pouring down rain while I was at the checkout, with the S L O W E S T cashier ever, and by the time I got to the doors to leave, the manager had locked the main doors because the wind was blowing so hard that there was a LOT of water on the floor inside the entrance. It was ankle deep, people! I had $140 worth of groceries that were about to get soaked. I was wearing flip flops, which are always a terrible idea when you have to run in water-filled parking lot, but I had been standing there, by the side door, sipping my cold Diet Mt. Dew and waiting patiently for about 15 minutes, watching the rain and wind, while all of my frozen items were melting. Thanks again, S L O W E S T Walmart cashier ever! So I thought I would just have to make a run for it. As soon as I opened those doors, it was like the bottom fell out. Thunder crashing, lightning striking, horizontally raining, and wind blowing so hard it will make you fall down and flip the buggy into a puddle, almost make you pee your pants. Loud & scary. And that my friends, was no exaggeration. But God is good all the time. All the time God is good. Not quite sure how I made it home tonight, without being struck by lightning, or getting into an accident since the wind literally blew my contact right out while I was dashing (oh yeah, I meant swimming) through the flooded Walmart parking lot. What. was. I. thinking?
That's right. I wasn't thinking. I wasn't thinking I would get caught in the longest line ever with the S L O W E S T Walmart cashier ever! But I did. I was so worked up about the whole trip I decided to stay up late and do a new layout. My cure-all, stress relief :)
Have you ever been scared in bad weather? I don't mean a hurricane or tsunami or tornado bad weather, but just your regular thunder and lightning storm. Well, I can honestly say that I have never experienced a tsunami, but I have seen a couple of tornados, up close in person, and I have certainly experienced a BAD hurricane (inside the safety of the barely standing walls of my roofless church while I was nine months pregnant -- but that's a whole other story for a whole other post!), but I have never been shaken to the core with fear like I was tonight. I *don't know why* I went to Walmart tonight, after 10 o'clock, right before a storm rolled in, but I did. It started pouring down rain while I was at the checkout, with the S L O W E S T cashier ever, and by the time I got to the doors to leave, the manager had locked the main doors because the wind was blowing so hard that there was a LOT of water on the floor inside the entrance. It was ankle deep, people! I had $140 worth of groceries that were about to get soaked. I was wearing flip flops, which are always a terrible idea when you have to run in water-filled parking lot, but I had been standing there, by the side door, sipping my cold Diet Mt. Dew and waiting patiently for about 15 minutes, watching the rain and wind, while all of my frozen items were melting. Thanks again, S L O W E S T Walmart cashier ever! So I thought I would just have to make a run for it. As soon as I opened those doors, it was like the bottom fell out. Thunder crashing, lightning striking, horizontally raining, and wind blowing so hard it will make you fall down and flip the buggy into a puddle, almost make you pee your pants. Loud & scary. And that my friends, was no exaggeration. But God is good all the time. All the time God is good. Not quite sure how I made it home tonight, without being struck by lightning, or getting into an accident since the wind literally blew my contact right out while I was dashing (oh yeah, I meant swimming) through the flooded Walmart parking lot. What. was. I. thinking?
That's right. I wasn't thinking. I wasn't thinking I would get caught in the longest line ever with the S L O W E S T Walmart cashier ever! But I did. I was so worked up about the whole trip I decided to stay up late and do a new layout. My cure-all, stress relief :)
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| Click on the picture to see it larger in another window. Supplies: Template Tuesday #9; Echo Park's Be Mine Collection |
April 3
Today we went on a walk around the block with the kids and I was able to take some pictures. Yay!!! I don't have a lot of time for chattiness today since I am getting ready for our church's Women's Retreat next week so I'll just make this a quick post :)
Yall please pray for my sweet husband. Next weekend it's him and five kids for three days. Without me or a housekeeper or a babysitter. Bless his precious heart! I hope they aren't as mean to him as they are to me :) hehehe! Or maybe I do, so he'll understand why I am so tired by the time he gets home in the afternoon. Haha! Of course, I am just kidding. He will LAY DOWN THE LAW and he's the fun one. Do you think they'll miss me? Yeah, probably when they are hungry and the house is dirty :) I am full of jokes today. Seriously.
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| I made this with one of Crystal Wilkerson's 5x7 Templates. |
April 2
My wonderful husband arranged for a babysitter today so that we could spend almost the entire day together. It was so much fun to hang out with him, doing what we both love, shopping and eating, without having to take turns going into the stores seperately, or sharing our meal with five never completely satisfied children. Wow, that was a mouthful!
Seriously, people, with five kids come some major stress and trying of your patience, character and devotion. To them and to one another as a couple. I can seriously get why some moms and dads go off the proverbial deep end, because believe me, this momma has been there and done that, and now I am refreshed :)
We went to Shark Fin for a late lunch and then shopped until we dropped. After our checkbook and our feet could take no more, we ate again at Applebee's for probably the best meal we've had at a restaurant (other than Shark Fin) in a long time. When we came home, we stayed up until 2 in the morning just talking about life and our hopes, dreams and goals for our family.
Do you and your husbands ever do this? I highly recommend it :) It's good for you to get away for a little while to have fun together and reconnect in a way that has nothing to do with your kids or even your friends and other family. Time for just you and your spouse to share life together without the responsibilities of daily life bogging you down. It does wonders for your relationship. Promise!
I know I should have taken a picture today but I forgot. Again. I've been really forgetful about that lately. Maybe I need to revisit my purpose/goal on the photo a day thing because I am just ending up with a bunch of random pictures clogging up my computer. Maybe tomorrow I will get a chance to take pictures...
Seriously, people, with five kids come some major stress and trying of your patience, character and devotion. To them and to one another as a couple. I can seriously get why some moms and dads go off the proverbial deep end, because believe me, this momma has been there and done that, and now I am refreshed :)
We went to Shark Fin for a late lunch and then shopped until we dropped. After our checkbook and our feet could take no more, we ate again at Applebee's for probably the best meal we've had at a restaurant (other than Shark Fin) in a long time. When we came home, we stayed up until 2 in the morning just talking about life and our hopes, dreams and goals for our family.
Do you and your husbands ever do this? I highly recommend it :) It's good for you to get away for a little while to have fun together and reconnect in a way that has nothing to do with your kids or even your friends and other family. Time for just you and your spouse to share life together without the responsibilities of daily life bogging you down. It does wonders for your relationship. Promise!
I know I should have taken a picture today but I forgot. Again. I've been really forgetful about that lately. Maybe I need to revisit my purpose/goal on the photo a day thing because I am just ending up with a bunch of random pictures clogging up my computer. Maybe tomorrow I will get a chance to take pictures...
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| This has absolutely nothing to do with my post, but I have been desperately trying to figure out how to make patterned papers and I made this a couple of days ago in one of my many attempts. I used elements from one of Cosmo Cricket's kits called Mr. Campy. |
April 1
Happy April Fool's Day everyone! Did you get someone today? I did...my sister. Okay, well she is super gullable, and it wasn't entirely my idea :) My hubby is usually the prankster, not me. But he got me and the kids really good this morning. Wanna hear all about it? Good! It's pretty funny, I promise!
So I stayed up until about 3:00 in the morning last night (darn you, Jessica Sprague!) and I was half asleep when I heard Jonathan telling my daughter that he had a job offer in North Carolina, and we'd probably move there VERY soon. Of all the things to be worried about, you know what she was concerned about? How we would get her new trundle bed there? Well, first of all, this trundle bed was bought at a salvage store and spray painted black. It's pressed wood, people. Nothing to be upset over. But to her, it's special and the only thing she doesn't share with one of four siblings. Okay, maybe it is kind of a big deal. :) Caleb, also concerned about the bedding situation is already putting in for a set of bunkbeds so that he doesn't have to share his twin size bed with his four year old brother. Yeah, we are kinda crowded in this house :) But only when we sleep. Sorry for the rabbit trail, back to the story now! So he's telling her all about this granite shop in North Carolina and how the owner really wants him to come up there and work. He will guarantee us $2000 a week (which is equivalent to "we can have whatever we want" in kid lingo), pay the moving expenses, help us sell our house here, etc. etc. and he has to make a decision by the end of the day. Then he comes upstairs, and stands over me while I pretend to be asleep, and completely not aware of the fact that today is April Fools Day. He makes a bunch a racket to try to wake me -- like I don't know what he's trying to do -- so I nonchalantly roll over and ask him why Kalyn is worried about moving her trundle bed and why Caleb is begging for him to build a bunkbed. In my zombie like state, he sits down on the edge of the bed and proceeds to tell me that our life is about to dramatically change. He has received an offer he can't justify refusing, and all the blah, blah blah I just told you about :) So, now my mind is fully engaged and I jump out of bed and get in the shower. Immediately my mind has at least 150+ questions running through so I start spouting them off. He shows me that he got a voicemail from the weird number that called us at a ridiculous hour last night, and he had called him back this morning. Jonathan held up his hand and said, "See, here's his number. What do you think?" And I am like, "Really, what do I think? Hmmm, do you really want to know what I think? I think "you're absolutely out of your mind and you're not taking me with you (wink, wink!)". But, I did what any loving, respectful wife should do, and I turned it back on him saying in as nice of a tone as I could, "What do you think, Dear? Okay, well thank goodness he started busting out laughing at this point because I am just not sure if I could have taken any more :) So we decided to keep the kids thinking it all day, and that went well, until Kalyn came upstairs and started crying about having to leave everyone that she loves behind, like both her Mimi's, and my sister, who in her words "would never come to visit us if we lived that far away". So I told her it was all a joke, and calmed her down. Then we called Brandy :) Ring, Ring, gullable sister answers the phone...I start to spill the beans about Jonathan's plan, and get her input, after making sure she was in front of her computer. She's discussing all of the possibilities about selling our house, renting, moving a large family so quickly, etc. when I tell her to go check the company's website. "It's w w w dot a p r i l s f o o l s dot com. She is thinking for a few seconds, and then starts laughing, too :) We got her good! She actually thought we were serious! Yay for April Fool's joke success!
I was looking through some old pictures and I found this one of me and the hubby. Kalyn took it for us a couple of months ago and it never made it to the blog so it's my picture of the day :)
So I stayed up until about 3:00 in the morning last night (darn you, Jessica Sprague!) and I was half asleep when I heard Jonathan telling my daughter that he had a job offer in North Carolina, and we'd probably move there VERY soon. Of all the things to be worried about, you know what she was concerned about? How we would get her new trundle bed there? Well, first of all, this trundle bed was bought at a salvage store and spray painted black. It's pressed wood, people. Nothing to be upset over. But to her, it's special and the only thing she doesn't share with one of four siblings. Okay, maybe it is kind of a big deal. :) Caleb, also concerned about the bedding situation is already putting in for a set of bunkbeds so that he doesn't have to share his twin size bed with his four year old brother. Yeah, we are kinda crowded in this house :) But only when we sleep. Sorry for the rabbit trail, back to the story now! So he's telling her all about this granite shop in North Carolina and how the owner really wants him to come up there and work. He will guarantee us $2000 a week (which is equivalent to "we can have whatever we want" in kid lingo), pay the moving expenses, help us sell our house here, etc. etc. and he has to make a decision by the end of the day. Then he comes upstairs, and stands over me while I pretend to be asleep, and completely not aware of the fact that today is April Fools Day. He makes a bunch a racket to try to wake me -- like I don't know what he's trying to do -- so I nonchalantly roll over and ask him why Kalyn is worried about moving her trundle bed and why Caleb is begging for him to build a bunkbed. In my zombie like state, he sits down on the edge of the bed and proceeds to tell me that our life is about to dramatically change. He has received an offer he can't justify refusing, and all the blah, blah blah I just told you about :) So, now my mind is fully engaged and I jump out of bed and get in the shower. Immediately my mind has at least 150+ questions running through so I start spouting them off. He shows me that he got a voicemail from the weird number that called us at a ridiculous hour last night, and he had called him back this morning. Jonathan held up his hand and said, "See, here's his number. What do you think?" And I am like, "Really, what do I think? Hmmm, do you really want to know what I think? I think "you're absolutely out of your mind and you're not taking me with you (wink, wink!)". But, I did what any loving, respectful wife should do, and I turned it back on him saying in as nice of a tone as I could, "What do you think, Dear? Okay, well thank goodness he started busting out laughing at this point because I am just not sure if I could have taken any more :) So we decided to keep the kids thinking it all day, and that went well, until Kalyn came upstairs and started crying about having to leave everyone that she loves behind, like both her Mimi's, and my sister, who in her words "would never come to visit us if we lived that far away". So I told her it was all a joke, and calmed her down. Then we called Brandy :) Ring, Ring, gullable sister answers the phone...I start to spill the beans about Jonathan's plan, and get her input, after making sure she was in front of her computer. She's discussing all of the possibilities about selling our house, renting, moving a large family so quickly, etc. when I tell her to go check the company's website. "It's w w w dot a p r i l s f o o l s dot com. She is thinking for a few seconds, and then starts laughing, too :) We got her good! She actually thought we were serious! Yay for April Fool's joke success!
I was looking through some old pictures and I found this one of me and the hubby. Kalyn took it for us a couple of months ago and it never made it to the blog so it's my picture of the day :)
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