Manic Mornings

I am not what one would call a morning person.

Most mornings I get up and enjoy a few minutes of quiet time with God's word and a cup of creamer with a little coffee. I like routine. Not in everything. But in most things and this is one of those things. I know exactly how many times I can hit snooze, how long my shower should be and how long I have to watch the weather and pray for a school delay before I have to begin my day. I like being the first one awake and I like only having one lamp on as I listen to my family breathing in the other rooms.

So you can imagine my dismay when Chris began a job that requires him to be at work an hour earlier than normal. This means he has to get up earlier because he also has a much longer commute. (Let me remind you that I'm 7 and a half months pregnant.) This means that I have to get up an hour earlier if I still want to enjoy my quiet time. (Again, 7.5 mths preggers. Losing an hour of sleep is like letting my paycheck blow away in the wind.)

The first week was not good. You must know that my husband is the def.i.nition of morning person. He's a turn-on-every-light in the house, bang-around-and-make-as-much-noise-as-humanly-possible kinda guy. He's a sing-songy rise & shine kinda guy. Ugh.

Needless to say, my quiet time has been shot to pieces. But after a blow up last Wednesday that resulted in a craptastic entire day....I'm learning the importance of that quiet time. I need that time in the morning. Why not the evening you might ask? Cause teaching 5th graders all day and coming home to dinner and housecleaning and kindergarten homework and quality time with the kids and hubs....my brain is pretty much mush. So that leaves the mornings. Wish me luck.

lots going on

There are lots of big changes going on around here these days.

Chris started a new job and is still doing his old job...which makes for interesting days of earlier & later hours and more stress rather than less...which is of course the ultimate goal.

We're car shopping....ugh. Fun and notfunatall all in the same.

We're having a baby in 10 weeks. (Ask me how ready we are for that? hahahahaha) You don't even want to see my to do list to get ready....

Today I looked at a dog for Eli. Cause he's DYING to get one. Every stinking kid in his class has brought their pet in for show & tell on leader day. (Including a girl with a sheep in a diaper.) And no we don't have to keep up with everyone...but you should his sad, pitiful eyes. Breaks my heart.

On a better note....I think...we decided to take our house off the market for a little while. Cause let's face it, the chaos of a new job and my current job and kindergarten and preschool and a new baby and a new car and possibly a dog....yeah that's MORE than enough for ANYONE...let alone trying to keep our house show ready everysingleminute.

Here are some things I've learned these past few weeks:

• paper plates are terrible for the environment, but keep me from straight up insanity on a day when I've worked my tail off and Daddy's working late again


• day old hair stays in an updo much better than clean hair


• beds do NOT have to be made every.single.day and life will still go on


• no snow days is not ALL bad when it means a longer summer break


• mommy melt downs are not the end of the world and pancakes make lots of things better


• kids feel stress....so it's best to just roll with it and go through the drive thru than to take out my ican'tdoitall frustrations on my darlings


• bribes can work wonders

Here's to blessings in the day to day and being thankful for the more challenging times!

Happy Valentine's Day

There's a beautiful post on Living Loved on Renee's blog today.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Facing Fear

I love to sing.

Show choir in high school was one of my favorite things. (I totally get Glee.)

I love singing in our church's choir twice a week. The hour of choir practice is honestly one my favorite times all week. Learning the notes, the melodies, the harmonies (alto is my favorite!), hearing it all come together.

A good base lead....mmmm....those deep rich voices. A strong tenor part...there's something about a man who can sing higher than me (my dad sings tenor.) And oh who doesn't love a good alto lead in an old gospel song....warms my heart! Learning the songs out of the old red book that I know my granny knows by heart.

In our home we sing a lot.

My iPod dock is in the kitchen and it's almost always on. Luci told me Friday in the most amazed voice that Ms. Judy does not have music in her kitchen....can you believe it?! Her face was true surprise. Who would've thought?

Music moves us, shapes us. We recently found Seeds of Faith worship music which puts Bible verses to music. Our kids love it!(And I must admit it's helping my memorization skills too!)

One thing I don't do though....sing alone, out loud, in front of people. But last night, at an in house singing service at my church....armed with James 17:7, I did. I won't lie and say that I wasn't nervous. I won't tell you that I didn't hang on to the mic with both hands to control the shaking. I won't bring up that my eyes never left the words that lay on the pulpit in front of me. But putting all confidence in God....I did it.

Here's to learning to have a confident heart.

Learning to have A Confident Heart

I've joined an online Bible study at www.reneeswope.com. (Check out the link in my sidebar.) I mentioned her book on here once before and decided what better way to finish reading it than to read along with her and a few others ( or 8500). We're just starting on chapter 2 tomorrow so if you want to join in, please do. It is such an amazing book with a gracious message about trusting in the Lord and really BELIEVING HIM, not just believing in Him.

Here again is my favorite verse on this topic: "Blessed is the (wo)man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him." Jeremiah 17:7

Last week we looked back at the verses that lead up to this verse. Verse 5 says "cursed is the man who trusts in man..." and that little part has spoken to me all week. Where am I putting my trust...really? I'd much rather be blessed than cursed. Wouldn't you?

(in)spired deals & a GIVEAWAY

After reading this post over at incourage....I was a little dumbstruck.

Can a card really do all that?

So I began to ponder that thought.

The idea that a small piece of paper, either received face-to-face or through the mail, can change your life.

I think yeah, it can.

A card can change your life....maybe in a small change-your-day-kinda way at first, but then couldn't that day lead to a better day tomorrow?

Therefore changing your life....even if in the tiniest way.

A year ago, I was going through a rough time at work. A close friend and co-worker dropped a sweet encouraging card on my desk that made me cry and hope. Her sweet words and the fact that she'd thought to write them...meant more than anything in that moment. I kept that card near my desk for months to come, rereading it when I needed a reminder that I was just where I was supposed to be.

One of my oldest and dearest friends lives hours away and there have been many times when a card from her has shown up in my mailbox unexpectedly (Thank you Jesus for mail that is more than bills!) and immediately my mood was changed.

My precious husband, who is a man a few words will often pour his heart out in a card.

(I've kept them all....even the ones from when we first met 15 years ago.)

So...yes, a card can be a hug, a laugh, a sweet message, just when you need it.

Although, I'm not a huge fan of resolutions, I do like goals. One goal I set for myself this year was to send birthday cards to my close friends and family. The first week of January, I sat down with my box of cards and calendar and wrote out all the birthday cards for January. I have them ready to go on the desk near the door.

Just a day or so later, I came across that post.

Why not go one step further?

The fabulous folks over at incourage sent me a pack of Peanuts Encouragement cards (& a pack of Peanuts Thank You cards) to review.

Here are 5 of the enouragement cards:

{aren't they cute!}

Here are the other 5:

{I especially love the feel of the cards...their thick and sturdy and textured (fun!)}

Here are the thank you cards:

{Eli's already claimed one to write a thank you to Papaw for taking us to the waterpark for Christmas--love the lesson he's learning!}

My first card was sent to a sweet friend who's going through a very trying time personally right now. I pray that little Snoopy brightened her day (or at least her moment).

And because they're SOOOO awesome...Dayspring is letting me offer a special

$20 giveaway to use at Dayspring!

(The $20 must be before shipping, winner will be required to pay shipping.)

Here are the details for how to enter:

1. Tell me about a time when you've received a card that encouraged you.

2. Go to Dayspring and tell me what you would get with your $20.

(You MUST do 1 or 2 before you can do the others!)

3. Follow my blog (or let me know that you already do)

4. Follow me on twitter (or let me know that you already do)

So that's 4 ways to enter! GOOD LUCK!

Giveaway will end January 31st.

A winner will be chosen with random.org.

Thanks for participating!

The folks at incourage & Dayspring sent me this free product to review.

All opinions stated in this post are just that...MY OPINIONS.

An Few Inspiring Thoughts on Resolutions

Seeing as that it's January, resolutions have been on the brain. I've never been a big fan of resolutions....they just feel like I'm setting myself up for failure. I love what these two ladies have to say about resolutions and success.

Mary over at Incourage

&

Jess over at Allora Handmade

Happy Tuesday!