Random Facts about Me.

I love The Big Bang Theory. For the LONGEST time I would sit next to my husband pretending I hated it, while secretly laughing uncontrollably inside, then one day, the laugh came out. 

I'm a nerd. I love reading. 

I keep a random basket of socks that we dig through because mating socks is insane. We were wearing mismatched socks before it became "popular." 

When I moved out at 21 all I could cook was ramen noodles and mac-n-cheese! I'm really not sure how we survived. 

Before becoming a SAHM, I held 5 different postions at the SAME company. 

I have a freckle on the bottom/center of my right foot. 

I've encouraged my mom and aunt to both eat Wasabi, proclaiming "It's very good" (though they never saw me eat it ... dummies ;) ) and they took a little more than desired. It called for a good laugh.

I'm very shy which comes across as snobby, and I don't mean for it to. 

When I was a teenager, I broke my pinky in my sleep at summer camp. 

I met my love at the same camp. 

Media and Marriage

Today I'm linking up with Courtney at Women Living Well to discuss how media has affected my marriage. (I'm actually a day late, but it's better late than never right?!?) ;) 

First off, if you haven't read her book Women Living Well I ENCOURAGE you (for the second time) to pick it up at your local bookstore or get it on Amazon. I read the book in one weekend, and it's simple truth that sometimes we can neglect. You won't be sorry if you read it!

Earlier this month I blogged on how I deleted my Facebook. Why? Because it was affecting my marriage, my family, my being. I just had wool over my eyes and didn't want to admit it. I believe in marriages, that husbands are to be the leaders (both spiritual and physical) and we as wives are suppose to be his helper. So, if something is laid on my husband's heart, then I should be willing to follow his leading. Well, my husband deleted his Facebook in early November and he asked me to join him. I didn't. I was disrespecting his leadership and guidance. 

He knew it was affecting us. Over the past year I've spent waaaaay too many hours on there. I would look at other people's marriages and think "man, how did they get so perfect." I would look at the huge ring someones husband bought them "just because" and wonder "why can't my husband do that?" I was beginning to feel discontent. 

Then it hit me, the funny thing about Facebook, Instagram,  Pinterest, Twitter, and Blogs is that we can shield the public from the nastiness of our everyday lives. We can showcase a picture of us and our husbands all cuddled up on the couch with a hot cup of coffee all in love, but we don't have to showcase the argument we just had ten minutes ago. We can showcase the lavish things he buys us, but we don't have to show the fact that finances are at an all time low and he really didn't have the money to buy that thing. We can show him playing and goofing off with the kids, but we don't show that moments before he overreacted to a spilled cup of juice. 

Another  step we made this week is that we've turned off our cable TV. Why? Because it's ugly. It was a conviction we felt and answered it. If you watch the news in our area it's thirty minutes of defeat. Thirty minutes where people have let the devil take priority in their lives. It's heart-breaking and leaves you empty. Kids TV is even ridiculous. I blocked more shows on our networks that our children were not allowed to watch than ones they actually could. Why? Because of the fighting, the sassy-ness, the disrespect to each other and adults. Even "family-friendly" sometimes isn't so family orieneted or friendly for that matter. Last year alone there were multiple TV shows that praised divorce and adulteress men and women. Y'all that's as far from truth as we can get. Yet, we DIG into it. 

Media has had a negative role on our marriage, and we've begin to take the appropriate steps (for us) to fix it. I'm not saying that our marriage was falling apart or anywhere close, but we just want to invest that time that we were spending on various media outlets into each other, into our children, but most importantly into our time with God.

"In the world of reality television and reality blogging, we can miss the reality of God's truth. The reality is we are sinners who married sinners, and that really makes marriage hard. In the world of images, the image of biblical marriage has been severely distorted. Together, let's make Scripture a springboard for our actions and reactions in marriages." - Courtney Joseph, Women Living Well. 

Snow day.

Yesterday it snowed in Mississippi and all the boys and girls, men and women, FREAKED out! It only happens every two to three years if we they are lucky. (I haaaate cold.) So the kiddos were out of school yesterday and again today and I watched from inside as they had fun with the cold, white stuff they call snow. 

(Our house. Yes, that's my Christmas wreath STILL up, don't judge!)

(The dog, Latte', experiencing the snow for the first time)

(Kids trying to throw snowballs, but it was too dry)

(The husband cheated and got a bucket from the back to put snow in)

(K: What's the big deal, I got your face!!)

(And he thought it was funny to throw snow at the door, too bad it was shut, hahaha)

(And look at this cuteness!!!)

Friday Five.

These are a few of my favorite things! (this week)

1. International Delight's ColdStone Creamery - Sweet cream coffee creamer. A little sweetness never hurt anything. Yuuuum. 

2. I love all things morning TV. It starts at 7AM and ends at 11AM. I'm all over Good Morning America, Rachel Ray, and Kathie Lee and Hoda. There is nothing better than a good cup of coffee and these people that invade my home every morning. They are like family, y'all. 

3. I've loved Parenthood from season one, but this season has drawn me in even more. It's been so emotional. I also hate it because every Thursday night it leaves me wanting.so.much.more! 

4. I started an on-line Bible study with Good Morning Girls this week and it has been off to a great start! The study is called "Intentionally Focused" and it's making the most of each day and area of our lives and being intentional with it. Not just "going through the motions." So, if your looking for a group of on-line women to get engaged with and share life with consider joining Good Morning Girls. It's officially too late to sign up for the study, but if you subscribe to their blog you can get the resources and do it on your own. You will not be sorry if you do!

5. Finally, I'm thankful for my kids teachers. Monday my kids were out of school, and by lunch time I was ready to lock them in the backyard, but it was too cold. (I love my kids, I really do). But those teachers put up with my child and 22 others every.single.day. God Bless Them! 

Thankful Thursday.

Today, I am thankful for coffee. I'm not in the best of moods before I've had my first cup of joe. I have my coffee pot set to go off ten minutes before I get up so I can run there as soon as my feet hit the floor. I then make my cup and get the kids up. There is something about the warm fuzzy feeling it gives you (especially when you've had below average temperatures, that I despise). 

Intentionally Focused - Imitators of God.

Today I join thousands of others in an online Bible Study hosted by Good Morning Girls called Intentionally Focused. It's goal is to be intentional in every.single.part of our lives while drawing us closer to Christ. Over the next eight weeks we will be focusing on eight parts of our lives: 

1. Being Intentionally Focused
2. Your Spiritual Life
3. Your Mind
4. Marriage
5. Friendships
6. Children
7. Ministry
8. Health

I cannot explain how excited I am to start this process. I often have good intentions that seem to go bad, especially when it comes to my quiet time each day. Too often I find myself putting it on the back burner to tend to the house, the husband, the kids, or watch TV. It's too often a sad reality, and I want to change that. As long as I have accountability I'm all geared up and ready, but once the accountability is gone, so is my routine. (sigh) So, my ULTIMATE goal the next eight weeks is to go BEYOND the eight week mark and make my quiet time my first priority. 

Intentionally Focused

6:00-6:30 AM @ my kitchen table

Today's focus is on Ephesians 5:1 "Therefore, be imitators of God as dear children."

 I remember when I was younger I took a picture of MaryKate Olsen to the hair salon and I wanted my hair to be cut just like hers! (I wanted to be JUST.LIKE.HER) It was shoulder length and it had a lot of layers and volume. I was so excited, I had been waiting for weeks to finally get it done. The day came, and I went to the salon. As the lady was cutting my hair I noticed it getting shorter, and shorter, and shorter. I didn't say anything because she was the stylist right, and she was suppose to know what she was doing, right. Well, my thirteen year old heart got broke that day. I left the salon in tears and didn't want to go in public because what was suppose to be MaryKate's haircut on me turned out to be a nightmare. It was HORRIBLE. I STILL cringe thinking about it. Y'all I was a thirteen year old with a new MULLET ... ahhhhh!!! 

God calls us to imitate HIM, but often we imitate the world. The world tells us skinny is in and if we are 5lbs overweight it's a big deal. The world tells us that sex sells. The world tells us we have to have the biggest house and the fanciest cars. We are fixated on being imitators of 'The Jones'." 

I think imitating God means loving every.single.person with selfless love. It means we put aside our own needs to meet the needs of others. I think imitating God means the things of this world that are not Godly, break our hearts. I think imitating God means we are more concerned with the heart of people, rather than the appearance of people. It means denying ourselves, carrying our cross, and following Christ in everything that we say and do. 

Are you imitating God or the world? 

Soccer Mom.

The time is here for registration for Spring Soccer. Saturday is actually the last day to sign-up. Our sweet son LOVES to play soccer, and he has been bugging me since Fall season ended if it was time for registration for the Spring. I kept telling him, "Soon." but never actually looked up the date! Well, I looked last night and aaahhh it's a good thing I did or I would have had one disappointed little boy and that's not good. 

I adore watching my child play soccer. Though he is only six I'm the mom that comes out of her seat when he is kicking the ball to the other teams goal, instead of his own and everyone is like "look at the crazy mom." I'm the mom that yells when they forget they are playing soccer and decide it's a game of chase, again I'm the crazy mom. 

However, I really dislike Spring seasons. (shh, don't tell him that) It gets dark before practice is even over, and game days are either freezing or raining. You have to take bed linens to stay warm and the water bottles are too cold to the kids hands to drink during breaks, but if you give them hot cocoa they will surely barf in the field. It's nonsense I tell you. 

But for this kid, I'll do anything! 

Thankful Thursday.

Today I am thankful a place to call home. It may not be perfect, but it is what I have been blessed with and for that I am thankful. March 1st we will start our 6th year in our humble abode. We've hand many, many meals around our table with family and friends. We've had up's and down's. We welcomed people to stay with us for periods of time. Memories have been made. Love has been shared. Tears have been shed. Sickness has been healed. Grace has been offered. God has prevailed. 

The Lord Bless our Home!

(not a recent photo, we currently do not have snow. ha)

Favorite Quote: "Your Home is your First Ministry."

Back in 2010 I quite my job in ministry to stay home with my kiddos. I LOVED my job! I loved seeing the impact that I was having on the people I was serving. I loved having people trust me with their heart as they would ask me to pray for a certain situation or whatever it was they were going through. I loved spending weeks/months to plan an outreach event and watching it be executed perfectly the day it took place. I was in my element. The last few weeks of my job I would go in crying and come home crying because I really didn't want it to come to an end, but for that season in my life it was needed. 

I struggled staying home the first year. My kids were three and five at the time and they were very demanding. I would get frustrated constantly picking up my house and five minutes later it would look like a tornado came through again. I was always cleaning up spilled juice and dropped food. The laundry seemed to never end. I wanted every.single.day. to be back working, serving, leading people to the King. 

One day I was surfing the web and came across this quote:

"Your HOME is your FIRST ministry."

I quickly printed it out and placed it around my house. This was when I began to embrace the Stay-At-Home Mom/Wife thing. Not one time in that first year did I ever think of my home as my ministry, honestly, I felt it as a burden. From that moment on I knew I had to make a change in my life. I knew I needed to embrace my home as ministry, just as I did my job.

 The Bible tells us in Ephesians 5 that husbands are to love their wives as Christ loves the church (5:25) and wives are to respect her husband (5:33). I had to figure out what that looked like for me. And for ME that means: I serve my husband his food and drink. I keep my home as tidy as I can without putting too much pressure on myself for perfection so he doesn't have to worry about it. I make sure he has clean clothes to wear, his favorite shampoo and bodywash. I try very hard not to ask my husband to do anything around our house that I can handle myself. I feel if I can make our home stress free for him, I should do that, especially since he works hard outside of our home to provide for us. 

As for my children, the Bible says in Proverbs "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." The way I act in my home is my ministry toward them. I'm teaching my daughter the importance of serving her home. I'm training her and teaching her how to be a wife/mom. She is seeing the respect and love she should have for her spouse. She is learning how to comfort and be present with her children. For my son, he is watching how I respond to his daddy. He is learning how to treat his future spouse and that he shouldn't settle for anyone that doesn't respect him. We lead our children in prayer and devotion time. We are giving them a foundation that is built on Christ, so they world doesn't give them another foundation. I'm showing them how to respond in love to the messiness of life. They are learning that the way we act in private is no different from the way we should act in public. 

My home is my safe haven. I take pride in it being my ministry. I pray over my home multiple times a day and I refuse to let anything in that doesn't glorify God, my marriage, or my children.

Friday Five.

It's Friday. Another week has come and gone. Y'all time is flying on by! I've never linked up to a blog for one of these post, but I thought it may be fun! 

1. My sweet daughter and I went to SAM's Club yesterday evening while the hubs and son raked leaves.

 Mistake #1 We went BEFORE dinner. 

Mistake #2 We HAD to try EVERY.SINGLE.sample.

Mistake #3 I saw this delicious goodness and I couldn't resist, besides I AAADORE all things S'Mores!

So go to your local SAM's or whatever you have and get yourself some! You will thank me later! ;) 

2. This is my ALL time FAVORITE coffee (or should I say CREAMER with a little coffee cup) cup.  Every time I drink out of it I say a sweet little prayer for the husband and our marriage. It's the little things. 

3. Here in Mississippi it was way TOO cold this week. I thought I was going to die. Seriously. For over 72 hours it was below freezing. Y'all this is unheard of and I hated it. I like sunshine and warmth. I'm so over winter. Spring/Summer CAN NOT come fast enough! 

4. So, I'm a SAHM and one income is tight. I've been spending way too much money($36) on facial moisturizer the past few years and went on a search to find one that wouldn't make my skin oily, but would get rid of the dryness in the dreaded t-zone. So a friend recommended Clean and Clear. Y'all I thought I was beyond Clean and Clear. Isn't that stuff for teens with acne? I'm not a teen and I don't suffer from acne, but I took her word (because she has perfect skin and bought this stuff). It smells great and for less than $6, I can take the other $30 I was spending and put it somewhere useful. Oh, and it works! 

5. Finally, I read this book in like 3 days. Women Living Well. Courtney has such great advice on finding joy in our everyday lives. It was a great inspiration. So, if your a looking for a good, easy read.. Check it out. 

Thankful Thursday.

Today I am thankful for my husband, Andy. He is pretty much amazing. We've been married seven years, and he still gives me butterflies. He is always showering me with hugs and kisses, and he makes me laugh even when I don't want to. He is an amazing daddy to our wonderful kids. He loves the Lord with all his heart and it always leading our family towards the King. He is a keeper. 

Bring it on 2014!

2013: 

1. We celebrated 7 years of marriage. 

2. Our son started Kindergarten. (I cried like a baby)

3. Our daughter broke her arm and had to wear a cast for 90% of the summer.

4. My husband and I left our childhood church (one of the hardest things I've EVER done) and found an great church where God has been doing AMAZING things in our marriage and family.

5. God blessed us more than we ever deserved.

Now three days into the New Year and I'm beyond THRILLED to see what is in store for us. May God be glorified in everything we say and do. If 2014 is ONLY half as good as 2013 was, I know it will be great! 

Bring it on 2014!

Today I delete Facebook.

Today is the day I delete Facebook. This is a BIG deal. I'm a Facebook junkie. (sigh) I spend entirely too much time on it, and my husband has been trying to get me to notice for awhile now, but I didn't want to. I didn't think it was an issue, but let me be honest, it was. 

I'm the mom who would get frustrated with her kids because they needed a drink while I browsed my News Feed. 

I'm the wife who looked at other wives who were showering and loving their husbands, but neglecting the fact that my own husband two feet away needed a simple hug and truth spoken to him. 

I'm the granddaughter who would sit hours with my grandma, barely talking, but instead engaging on my tablet/phone and every once in a while truthfully acknowledging what she would say. 

I'm the daughter who lost a mom and looked to social media for condolences. 

I'm the friend who gets jealous when another "friend" doesn't comment on my post, but will comment on all of her other friends post. I had like 500 friends on Facebook, and yes, I know all of them, but I'm a really friends with them ... No. 

I'm the Christian who would attempt to read my Bible, yet 5 minutes later I would shut it and look to Facebook for community and spiritual growth. I even joined devotional groups and accountability groups. 

I can go on and on about my bad habits. 

Truth is I want to turn that time that I was wasting into time that I'm engaged with my husband and my children. I don't want my husband to feel neglected because of social media. I don't want my kids to remember me as a mom who is constantly staring at a screen instead of properly responding and meeting their needs. I want my quiet time to just be me and God and Him speaking to me. 

So, I'm going to be recording my journey here so I can see how different my life is. I know it's going to be great. I know God is going to bless me and show his favor upon me. I know my marriage is going to be stronger than ever, and I know my kids are going to feel honored and loved even more. I'm actually (kinda) excited for this journey. It's a long awaited one.