A Different Easter

A dear friend wrote this after erasing every activity from their family calendar.  Every activity and holiday, but Easter.  Easter can never be erased.  "He rose, He is risen, and He will come again.  That has not changed.  He has not changed.  And maybe He wants that for all of us during this time:  To watch our plans being stripped away until only He is left.  With room to ask Him to fill all the other days with ways He want to transform us into a blessing to share that eternal hope with others." - Ali

We are all missing the traditions from years past: the matching Easter dresses, the community Easter egg hunts, gathering with family for meals, even going to Target for Easter basket gifts.  But this Easter will be different, one that we will never forget.  It's ok to mourn the loss of the ordinary and expected, but to then turn the mourning into joy!  We have been given a gift of time, time to focus on the greatest story ever told!

Here are some links to ideas on how to celebrate this Easter season with joy!

If you are local and would like one of these Easter guides, I'd be glad to drop one off!

 - A Printable 15 Day Guide for Easter that we've used in years past

 - A Printable 2 day guide for this Thursday and Friday

 - Resurrection Eggs with a printable

 - Homemade Resurrection Rolls with a great explanation

 - Resurrection Rolls (with Pillsbury crescent rolls) 

Easter baskets may or may not be feasible or doable this year for some families, but if you're searching for online ideas, these are two of my favorite bloggers with great lists.

 - Preschool Easter Basket Ideas with Naptime Kitchen

 - Easter Basket Ideas for Outdoor Imaginations 

    with Over at Alicias

May your Easter be full of hope, full of joy, and full of expectation of what's to come!

Reading through the summer

This summer has flown by (as it seems to every year)!  I had hoped to blog more, organize more, travel more...  oh well!  But one thing we did do was read more.  We didn't tour as many libraries & bookstores as I had hoped, but our weekly visits to our local libraries brought a lot of good books home, thanks to some great resources and reading guides.

This reading guide & excellent resource is simple, yet eye opening. Families are encouraged to read just one book from a certain area of the world each week.  The book gives a plethora of books to choose from and reserve from your local library, as well as printable maps, videos to watch, etc.  Some of our favorite books have been The Journey that Saved Curious George, One Hen, My Librarian is a Camel, and Adele & Simon in America.

Another incentive to encourage my growing readers was the easy summer reading program though Barnes & Nobles.  Just walking in the store gives me thrill, not sure if it's the smell of books and coffee or the memories of the many dates with Marty before kids. Only 4 books are required to be read in order for them to get a free book!  (It's not too late.  The program ends September 6th.)

A great blog that I've mentioned before is Modern Mrs. Darcy.  She puts together a great summer reading guide (for adults).  It has helped me branch back a little more into fiction as that's something I rarely read just for myself.

In the past, I've mentioned our family's love of audio books, especially in the car.  We have enjoyed almost the entire Little House series, listened to new books that I've never even heard of, laughed hysterically over Ramona the Brave, and wistfully imagined ourselves on the shores of Prince Edwards Island with Anne Shirley.  Below is a great blog post concerning audio books.

For the Love of Audio Books by Greta Eskridge

Bring on the Bucket List

Every year (especially since we started homeschooling) we plan out a bucket list for the summer.  Not sure if it's the need for change, excitement, or just the thrill of checking things off a list. Regardless of whether we accomplish everything or not, I pray for rest, for new memories, for rekindling summer traditions, and to look back with no regrets.  

Here's our 2016 Summer Bucket List!

Go:  To the Soda Shop in Pittsboro

Try:  Drive-in movie theater and $1 summer movies

Read:  At a different library or bookstore each week
Play:  At a pool or park that we've never been to
Eat:  Smores a lot!
Explore:  Two museums

Make:  Mini Water blobs
Ride:  Kayaks with Daddy

Send:  Watercolor postcards

Cook:  Healthy recipes on Thursdays 

See:  Baseball game (Mudcats or Bulls)
Create:  Canvas Art
Do:  More rollerskating and bowling (on Mondays)
Give Back:  Donate & sort books for WLFJ or Dorcas Ministries
Grow:  Flowers or herbs from seeds
Travel:  To Williamsburg & Charlotte 
Watch:  And learn about the Olympics

Even though this list was made over a month ago and it's fun to check things off, doing the impromptu or someday's nothing at all is ok too.  Water balloons & ice cream with Daddy, picking blueberries at a local farm, and day trips to the beach have already filled our summer days with memories 

 

  

It's a new year...

It's a new year...

New years resolutions, new goals, new desires, new books...

I love the reset of January 1st, looking back and learning from the previous year, yet looking forward to the upcoming one with renewed hope.  New years resolutions can get a bad reputation and honestly this year, I've wondered what's the point?  Every year I try to get to bed earlier and it never seems to happen.  Every year I try to do this and that, and it may get done until about half way through the year, if that.  

Over the past couple weeks, I've taken some time to assess my life using this printable as a guide and really seeking what the Lord would have of me this year.  I really enjoyed looking back at my favorite moments of 2015 (lot's of travel and change!) and yet was challenged by the things lacking in my life - better health and exercise! 

Some of the areas I desire to improve upon are:

 - prayer - My prayer life has been lacking for some time now.  A friend gave me a great spiral journal for my birthday and I've loved filling the front of it with prayer requests, verses on prayer, and literal prayers as I feel the need to write them out.  

- health & exercise - With traveling to two continents last year and moving houses, exercise & eating naturally were put on the back burner.  So this year, they've got to become more of a priority. Specific desires include less carbs & sugar, run two races, and more green smoothies.

 - books - I love to read!!  Yet why do I struggle to finish books? Part of the issue could be due to the fact that we read throughout the day as a homeschool family, but I think one of the biggest culprits is my phone that travels with me everywhere.  It is huge temptation for me to quickly check Instagram, spend who knows how long scrolling through Facebook, read that email really quick, and just browse Pinterest because I'm bored.  I've felt more and more convicted about this.  No concrete ways to remedy this issue yet, but where there's a will there's a way.  

Here is a Reading Challenge put out by Anne Bogel with Modern Mrs. Darcy that I hope to follow and use for accountability.

For those of you with kids, Sarah Mackenzie at Amongst Lovely Things and the Read Aloud Revival podcast has really inspired me and my girls to read aloud more during the month of January.  Just 15 minutes a day!

New books from Amazon always give me a thrill and I'm looking forward to getting to these titles over the next couple of months. 

- Fervent by Priscilla Shirer
- You and Me Forever by Francis and Lisa Chan
- The Fringe Hours by Jessica Turner 
- Finish The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
- Currently loving Simply Tuesday by Emily Freeman

Lastly, I'll leave you with the words of one of my new favorite songs, This Year by JJ Heller

This year I'm not looking back to who I was
Because I'm going to be someone I've never been
This year I'm not focused on the cracks in the walls
Not keeping tract of all the times I fall
This year
So long to last year
It's all becoming so clear
There's no use living in regret
Let's fight a good fight
Train our eyes to see the light
And make this year the best one yet
Starting right here, Happy New Year!

What I'm reading, still reading, and want to read...

Some of these books I'm still trying to finish reading (Love & Respect, Own Your Life).  Both really good books, just not something I can pick up, snuggle down and read for extended period of time (without falling asleep).  The Antelope in the Living Room is a friend's copy that I'm trying to save for bedtime reading since I could probably finish it in a day or two, especially after reading Sparkly Green Earrings.

The Fringe Hours and The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up came via Amazon last week, both books that I've seen sprinkled all over social media and many of my favorite blogs. The Fringe Hours I'm saving till I finish some of the other books I'm currently reading. But I'm excited to dive into a book designed to show women how "to take back the fringe hours - those little pockets of time you already have in your day - in order to make time for your passions and practice self-care." The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying up (the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing) is already scaring the living daylights out of me and I'm only in the third chapter.  The thought of gathering every single piece of clothing in my house, placing them on the floor, and sorting through them one by one. My worst nightmare!  No promises yet, but I'm eager to finish reading it.  We'll see...

Every Hour...

I truly am a messed up mama in need of my Savior's grace day after day, moment by moment.  I throw the mean look to the hubs in the middle of dinner, and once again forget to pay the electricity bill (the only bill I'm in charge of!).  Earlier in the day, words to my girls cut like the dirty knives sitting in the sink waiting to be washed... again! 

Kind words, where are you?  Proverbs 3:3 is supposed to be ingrained on the brain, "Do not let kindness and truth leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart."  How I wish they were bound around my neck...

I desire to encourage, not discourage...

Yet in my own strength, I can do nothing.  That's what Jesus said in John 15:5, "Apart from me you can do nothing."  There is such freedom in that!

I read a devotional by SheReadsTruth a few weeks ago that gave the background to one of my favorite hymns and the comfort it brought was astounding.  In 1872, Annie Hawks, a wife and mother around my age, said, "I was busy with my regular household tasks when suddenly I became so filled with the sense of nearness to the Master that, wondering how one could live without Him, either in joy or pain, these words, 'I Need Thee Every Hour,' were ushered into my mind, the thought at once taking full possession of me."

She then penned these words:

I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord;

No tender voice like Thine can peace afford.

I need Thee, O I need Thee; 

Every hour I need Thee; 

O bless me now, my Savior,

I come to Thee. 

I need Thee every hour, stay Thou nearby;

Temptations lose their power when Thou art nigh.

I need Thee every hour, in joy or pain;

Come quickly and abide, or life is in vain.

I need Thee every hour; teach me Thy will;

And Thy rich promises in me fulfill.

I need Thee every hour, most Holy One;

O make me Thine indeed, Thou blessed Son.

I need Thee, O I need Thee; 

Every hour I need Thee; 

O bless me now, my Savior,

I come to Thee. 

I need You every hour, Lord, to honor and affirm the husband You have blessed me with; to fulfill the divine calling You have given me in Ephesians 5; to love and respect him without wavering; to walk beside him in the calling You have given us.

I need You every hour as I spend day after day with these amazing girls You have blessed us with.  I need Your wisdom to train them to be godly women.  I need Your grace when I mess up again and again.  I need Your strength when all the little frustrations roll into something bigger than I can handle. But then again, may it remind me that I need you every single hour, that I can't do it in my own strength.   

"There is grace that will seep into all the cracks and pained places when we don't understand.  In the places when we don't understand, we get to seek.  And how lovely is one seeking truth." - written by Kara Tippetts, a woman who lived these words to the very end, who clung to our Lord in an unbelievable way, and fully understood what it means to say, "Every hour I need Thee."

Weekend Words...

"Let's aspire to use our mouths with godly purpose.

     - to build... not to break.

     - to bless... not to badger.

     - to encourage... not to embitter.

     - to praise... not to pounce."

Words I'm reading...

- "Each day, you are writing the story that your life will tell throughout eternity.  As you recommit to God's values and priorities, every choice you make and every action you take will move you toward the exceptional life for which you were made." - Sally Clarkson, Own Your Life.

- "The key to creating fond feelings of love in a husband toward his wife is through showing him unconditional respect." - Dr. Emerson Eggerichs, Love & Respect.

- "We will pattern our lives after their poverty.  We are poor by choice.  We want to be poor like Christ, who, being rich, chose to be born and live and work among the poor." - Mother Teresa, Teresa of Calcutta

Words I'm listening to...

- Inspired to Action Podcast: Talk more, tech less (Balancing family and technology)

- Read Aloud Revival Podcast: A lifestyle of reading aloud with Melissa Wiley

- EntreFamily Podcast: Tips for traveling with kids and loving it! (I may have listened to this 3-4 times.  Inspiration!)

Random Words...

- Words written on a cow showing where we get our beef.  One of those moments, I'm thankful to be a vegetarian.

- Yet, not quite ready to be vegan as we so love our NC State ice cream...

May your weekend be full of sweet words, words that bring life, words with no regrets... "The words you speak are not neutral - they are either moving your relationships towards life or moving your relationships toward death." - Paul David Tripp

The tongue has the power of life and death, 

and those who love it will eat its fruit. Proverbs 18:21

For the Love of Snow...

For the love of snow...  I may be one of the few adults in North Carolina who truly loves the snow.  Maybe it's my childhood resurfacing, the fact that we had snow from October to April.  But today we were disappointed, waking to slushy snow/ice when they predicted 7-10 inches of snow.  No sledding or snowman making around here. Instead, I've enjoyed looking back over last week's ice/snow while enjoying my second cup of coffee.  Today will be a good day!

I'm so thankful that my girls love the snow as much as I do, but gloves do get wet and toes eventually get cold, so here are few links to help with the boredom that sets in from being stuck in the house.  
 - Ongoing education:  12 tools I really dig @ art of simple
 - Read-Aloud Revival podcasts - inspiring us moms to read more to our kids.  Helpful for enduring laundry folding too...
 - Snowflake quesadillas for lunch - thanks to Martha!
 - Winter tree silhouette craft - we'll see how this goes...

Enjoy your day whether you have a foot of snow or two inches of slush!  Enjoy the children that God has given you even if it's just snuggling up on the couch and watching Frozen for the 26th time. This is the day that He has made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it!