What's Missing?

This is just a head's up that if you are browsing around my blog and come across big white empty spaces, that is where I used to have slide shows. The program I used to make them gave me a warning 6 months ago that they were shutting down, but I thought I had plenty of time to transfer all of the pictures to something else. The other day I went on there to start that process only to discover that my 6 month time frame was up and they are all gone! Apparently 6 months is plenty of time for the average person, but for someone like me with 3 kids, a part time job, and a bad habit of watching too much tv and spending too much time on facebook, with a side of procrastination, 6 months was not enough. So sorry about the white spaces. I will somehow go back through 5 years of blogs and try to fix the issues. Some day.

Its the Little Things

As a way of trying to get myself out of the funk I've been in since the holidays, I've begun to treat myself in little ways. As a mom, I get worn out taking care of everyone else, and forget about myself. I don't do much, but sometimes its the little things that make me smile that can give me a burst of energy to get me through the day. Some examples...
Drinking a glass of ice water out of my Winnie the Pooh cup
Drinking Tea out of my grandmother's ceramic mugs

Painting my toe nails
Baking
Eating soup out of my blue and white ceramic bowls
Changing the smell in my Scentsy pot
Decorating this small table in the dining room for the month

Drinking an afternoon cup of coffee and reading the Word
Hugging one of my boys (sometimes against their will)
Vacuuming my den ;)
Reading a quick chapter from a book (or two or three)

What little things get you through the day?

Prayer Request

I had so intended on blogging a lot more this week. Those few I did in a row did indeed get my creative juices flowing. But I've been really busy this week getting the house ready for guests. All the Gadman clan came in yesterday for the week. Please be in prayer tomorrow for Jason's dad who is having open heart surgery at 8 in the morning. He could be in the hospital for 5-10 days, so we are praying for a quick 5 day recovery. I'm enjoying rocking my sweet niece Elizabeth asleep and the boys are loving playing with their cousin Luke. Hopefully the rain clears away so I can take the kids to the park tomorrow while everyone else is the hospital. Thanks for the prayers and I'll keep you posted.

Please Leave a Comment... Or Don't

I have gotten in a really bad habit of reading stories on the internet and then scrolling down to read people's comments underneath. I'm always disappointed that I did. There are so many that are mean, hateful and ugly. I'm shocked sometimes that people have a strong enough opinion about something insignificant that they feel the need to make a comment at all. Didn't everyone at one point in their lives hear "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" or was that just me? Some of the worst I read were when the Duggars had their miscarriage a few months ago. Oh my goodness, how can people be that hateful to say such horrible things when someone has lost a baby. Even if you don't agree with their lifestyle, why do you feel the need to be hateful? It was also bad last month when Paula Dean announced she had diabetes. Would people say those mean things to her face or only on the back pages of the web. I hope she doesn't read the internet. It made me realize though the sinful nature of people. Its not that I'm unaware of it, but when I live and work in a church environment, sometimes the true sinful nature of people doesn't come out so broadly, in your face. I forget. It makes me sad. Yes, Christians can be just as hateful, but most try to hide it.
Oh Lord, that your grace and mercy would come down and shine on those whose hearts are hurting so badly that they feel the need to share hate instead of love. Help me to show love to people. Help me to see people the way you see them, and to pray for those who are struggling instead of being judgmental. Forgive me when I gossip and pass judgement instead of showing love and grace. In Jesus' Name, Amen

Lent

I have never really celebrated Lent, never thought or felt led to sacrifice anything. But this year I did, so I have given up chocolate (and for those of you who know me, that's huge). I know Biblically I am not supposed to make a big deal about it and tell people, but I wanted to share my journey, because, well, that's just me to talk about it. I also decided to not completely give up facebook, but to sacrifice a lot of it by only checking it once or twice a day instead of once or twice an hour. That only lasted a day. I'm doing better on the chocolate. We have some valentine's candy left and I haven't touched it. But there was the hot chocolate I drank at a baseball game last weekend because I was freezing, and it didn't even dawn on me until the next day that it was chocolate. (The name should have given me a clue.) So it wasn't that I chose to ignore my sacrifice, I just didn't think about it. And then there was the delicious red velvet cupcake I ate on Tuesday, forgetting that there is chocolate in it. The red coloring threw me. But I do get the point. There have been moments that I have craved it majorly! But at those moments I remembered the sacrifice I was making and how small in comparison it is to the sacrifice that Christ made for me. I read somewhere that giving up something for Lent leaves space for God to come in and speak to you, and I like that. I have looked at THIS LINK a few times and read some inspiring things that God has used to speak to me. I'm really liking some quotes from St. Augustine of Hippo and want to do some more research on him. Maybe another blog post coming on that. I have also been reading through the New Testament in 40 days with our church. I'm only a day behind. Its giving me a new perspective to read it all so fast, I'm seeing the big picture and can really tell the differences in the writers when I'm reading them back to back. Some big things have jumped out at me and maybe that will be another blog too!

Some of my favorite things this week

Oh, its been so long! I've been in a funk. Maybe if I force myself to blog some, it will get my creative juices flowing and that will bleed over into the rest of my life and get me moving? We'll see.

I have some new fun things I am loving. Nothing big, but still fun. And you can go get them too!

These are some awesome storage bowls I got at Walmart for $4.50! This is my second set actually. They are great for mixing and storing. They are very durable, unless you let your nephew play drums on one of them. Hence, the second set today.

These are some storage bins I got at CVS this week, 2 for $10. They are so sturdy, with lock on lids with handles. I'm using the smaller one for my coupons and the larger ones for filing. It will be great to keep it downstairs for daily filing instead of the system I was using (or lack there of) otherwise known as piling.

This is a mini strainer spoon that my momma bought for me a while back at Bed Bath and Beyond. Its great for straining the water out of mac and cheese so I don't have to get out the big strainer.

Do you notice what my favorite color must be right now?

Campbell bought these today because he's really into blowing bubbles right now, and these are great because they have a sturdy bottom on them so they won't tip over. He can leave them on the table to dip into and no mess! They were only 97 cents at Walmart.

In action!