Where have I been??

Our internet has been hit or miss over the past week. So I haven't been able to blog...
or read blogs...
or do anything fun online. 
I've randomly been able to check my email and load Facebook.
But, for the most part it *might* connect but wont load any pages. So, with that being said....it appears as though its working now so I will be back to blogging regularly soon! 

I have much to share including my trip to Ohio, visit to Amish country, recipe for homemade playdough.....and much more :) 

Exciting right!?

Raw{e} In Memory of Aunt Gail

 

Raw{e}

This weeks theme is.....

THIS WEEK

the photo must be something that you have taken this past weekend up until

this Friday. Options are WIDE open.

No digging through your archives...take something..

be creative.

Visit Sailor and Company for the Raw{e} theme page!

In memory of Aunt Gail.

This past weekend we went up to Columbus Ohio and participated in the Race for the Cure race up there. My closest aunt passed away from breast cancer last June after it returned for a second time. I was unable to make it to her funeral because I was so pregnant with Owen at the time. When we were up there this weekend we went to her grave to visit for the first time. I captured this shot of Owen crawling up to the tombstone. 

I'll post more about my visit later this week. For now, this is it. 

Owen Vs. Spaghetti

Wordless Wednesday

Owen vs Spaghetti

Drum Roll Please

The winner of the Going Green Giveaway is lucky #3- Kathryn!

I'll be emailing you for your mailing address and getting these {green} goodies in the mail to you soon!

My 100th Post!

This was supposed to be my post announcing the winner of the Going Green Giveaway. 
Then, I realized this would be my 100th post! 
I didn't want it to be spent on just making a giveaway announcement. {Although, Im sure you want to know who the winner is!} So, I'll post the winner in post 101 :)

For this post I thought I would do a review of the last 99 posts on this blog. 
Aren't you super excited!? *grin*

My very first post  explained the whys of this blog. Why did we start it? Why were we doing it? Why did we decide to give Christmas away this past year.

We kicked off the blog with a giveaway!

We listed different ideas and ways to give the Gift of Christmas away.
The gift of food by clicking a simple blog button.
Give a shoebox full of goodies (and the love of Jesus) to a needy child around the world.

How about giving a cup of coffee and encouraging someone else to pay it forward?

And the gift of forgiveness, prayer for our troops and a joyful noise?

What about all your excess stuff?

And giving away the simple things like a smile, good parking spot and saving a trip for the cart pusher {yeah, thats they're official title in my book!} by returning your cart.

Or baking an extra dozen to giveaway and make someones day.

How about saving all year to give something big and meaningful in Christmas 2010!

Give your kids a reality check.

We took a challenge of cooking from the pantry and not spending any money for 2 weeks!

I've been stretched and learned new tasks like baking bread from scratch,  making my own baby food and cooking a whole chicken. {that last one was traumatizing!}

Received visits from Murphy. 

Made some fun new blog friends.

Shared some lessons from our family like learning about the Trinity and a peanut butter cookie.

Purification.

Patience.

Self-control.

One word- Cleansing.

Shared some recipes I love or have recently discovered.

Crock-pot applesauce.

Crock-pot Barbecue Chicken and No Need to No knead  Rolls.

Resurrection Cookies.

Coconut flour Pancakes. (According to Hollie they're disgusting but when I was cleansing I thought they were wonderful!)

 And some ways to be Jesus to the world.

Whew!

Although that isn't an entire list of  all the posts on this blog, that sums up quite a few of them. If you're bored take a look and read some of the posts you've missed. Hopefully you'll be blessed and encouraged to give of yourself to others!

Not Me Monday- A muddy mess!

The Not Me Monday buttons are not working for me today (ha!), so to read more Not Me! posts head on over to MckMamma's blog and check them out!

Dont forget: today is the last day to enter the Going Green Giveaway. with $57 worth of green cleaning products!

This week I did not let my kids run free with the water hose on a warm day. I did not go outside to find my 5 year old,

you know the one who is certain she is going to grow up and be a real princess, 

like this.

I did not go grab my camera, snap a picture and then pretend I did not see it.

I did not walk back outside several minutes later and see this.

                                 

I did not cringe, walk away and laugh to myself at the thought of my princess girl being covered in mud. Even her teeth! Yuck!
I did not continue to let her play in the mud for a little while longer which resulted in this.

And, this.

Nope, not me!


I also did not wake Audrey up from her nap right before church on Wednesday afternoon. I would not let her sleep that late. I did not remover her diaper (from nap time) take her potty and go about getting the rest of everyone ready. She did not announce to me IN THE CHURCH PARKING LOT "mommy, I have no panties on." To which I responded "what, you have no panties on?!?!" I did not think really hard to see if I could remember putting panties on after taking her potty after her nap. 
I then did not realize I indeed did not put panties on her after taking her potty and before getting in the car! 
Nope, not me! I am far more organized than that!

What am I giving them?

{Warning: this could get lengthy. The Lord is working on me here. Proceed with time...hehe}

I have a confession to make. 

One of the first things I do in the mornings is check my email and Facebook.

I should be embarrassed to admit that. But, its true. 

I get my kids (an easy) breakfast and sit myself at the computer.

Last week, one night while nursing Owen to sleep and praying, {on a side note, I've realized that some of my best prayer time with the Lord is when I'm nursing my little guy to sleep. It's moments that I have to stop and be still. There's no other choice. So, I take advantage of that time to talk to the Lord and pray for my husband and kids} Anyways, the Lord really impressed on me that I shouldn't be making the computer one of my first stops of the day. So, I went to bed fully intending on not sitting at the computer first thing the next morning.

I was doing good until Elisa told me someone was talking to me through Google chat. So, instead of ignoring them, I sat down to answer the question and chat. The conversation quickly went downhill and I had a choice to make. A) Continue in the conversation and let it ruin my morning or B) draw the line and walk away from the conversation. I chose option B because I could see exactly what was happening. I had purposed to skip the computer that morning, therefore giving that time time undivided to my kids, but instead the enemy used my weakness to try and steal that time away. I should have never sat down and once I realized what I had done I took the steps to obey what the Lord was prompting me to do. {On another side note, once our master bedroom addition is complete the computer will be moved into our bedroom and out of the dining room. Therefore making this MUCH less of a temptation!} 

Fast forward to today. 

Today we celebrated Mothers Day with my husbands family (mom, dad, brother, sister and her family). Last year my mother in law ended up helping my husband cook part of the dinner. This year I told him he really needed to try and make sure she didn't do that. He needed to encourage his dad and brother to help out so she didn't feel the need to. Needless to say, my husband cooked our dinner today.

He also cleaned my kitchen, but thats for another post. 

While I saw my husband so selflessly and joyfully serving me, his mother and sister through cooking a dinner in honor of our holiday I realized something. 

I am so blessed with this life the Lord has given me.

Without a second thought this man goes to work at the crack of dawn everyday to make a living for our family. He works over-time and handles stress all so that I can stay home to be with our babies. He comes home from work and plays with our kids and gushes about what a good dinner I made.

A dinner that I haven't always put much thought into making for him after he's spent the day working hard for me.

No matter how tired he is he still helps me bathe the littles and lead our family in devotions. He patiently {well,  most of the time!} sits and listens when a 5 year old wants to pray but can't think of what to say. He comes back downstairs from putting the girls to sleep and instead of wanting to veg out in front of the TV or play some video game system to "unwind" he just wants me to come sit with him on the couch and tell him about our day.

When I saw my husband gladly cooking our dinner today my little life flashed before my eyes. Although this motherhood journey did not start out how either Derek or I had envisioned, here we are. And, I wouldn't trade this for anything. 

 This Mothers Day I am so grateful for the fact that I get to be these kids mommy. And that I get to be this mans wife.

Then, as I was sitting here at the computer {do you see a problem here??} I ran across this (click that) blog. And, the Lord reminded me of what He was impressing on me last week. 

Am I giving my family table scraps? Am I joyfully and selflessly giving my all in serving them? Or, are they getting my left overs? 

To be continued......

The Tongue

{...for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. Luke 6:45}

I'm emotional today.

I've come a long way, climbing up out of the muck and myer, to be here.

A place where I have left a grumbling heart behind and try daily to embrace all that brings glory and honor to my King.

Today I grieve for something I believe grieves the heart of God.

The tongue. The all powerful tongue.

It can be sweeter than honey or dripping with poison.

{but no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of dealy poison. James 3:8}

It holds the power of life or death. 

{Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits. Proverbs 18:21}
{a gentle tongue is a tree of life, but the perverseness in it breaks the spirit. Proverbs 15:4} 


And yet, we, as believers, don't tame our tongues. 

{If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but decieves hi heart, this person's religion is worthless. James 1:26} 

We let them go without a thought. 

Without caution. 

Without thinking of consequences. 


{So also the tongue is a small member, yet is boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! The tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life and set on fire by hell.....but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. James 3:5-9}

With the same mouths we sing praises, raise prayers and bless others we bring forth death. 


{From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers (and sisters!) these things ought not be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water. James 3:10-12}

This ought not be so. 

My heart aches when I hear other believers tearing down sisters and brothers with their words, thoughts and hearts. 
I am not exempt. I still fall victim to this sin. But, I put forth a strong effort to keep my tongue pure. Bringing forth life. Not death. 

This isn't some 'cant we all get along' plee. 
If I think myself religious {God loving} but do not control my tongue then my religion is worthless.

Worthless.


Wow.

Lord, please help me to rise above. Help me to be a tree that brings forth Life.




 


 

WW- I have a boy.

Wordless Wednesday

I have a boy.

Sometimes I can't believe we actually have a boy now.

Then, we let him roam around the yard and he plays in the dirt and mud and tries to to climb up the slide.

Then, we remember, we really have a boy!

Dont forget to enter the Going Green Giveaway! $57 worth of Shaklee cleaning products!

How About a Jewelry Giveaway!?

My friend Stephany, at The Mommy Place, has a wonderful giveaway going on. 
And, just in time for Mothers Day. {Think of it as a present for yourself ;)}

Hop on over to her blog and check out what you can win from Screaming Mimi'z!

  
And, dont forget to enter my Going Green Giveaway for a chance to win $57 worth of Shaklee products!

Raw{e} Running

This weeks Raw{e} theme over at Sailor & Company is running. Rules: Show us your best "RUNNING" straight out of the camera shot.

Now, I will say, this isn't the best picture by any means. But, I love it none-the-less! I know this is a photo contest and so this wouldn't win the prize but....it makes me smile because,through the picture, you can see the fun these kids were having. We went on a field trip, with a group of moms and kiddos from church, to a local farm and I captured this picture.

Some of the kids had run up ahead of the group and for some reason turned around and all together started running back. 

I don't think the size of this picture really does it justice because you can't quite grasp the looks on all their little faces!