The current Bible study I'm doing,Brave by Angela Thomas, has a chapter about being undisciplined. I think it's a chapter that most anyone can relate to. I don't believe there is a single person whose disciplined in every area of their life. It was a chapter that really struck a chord with me, and when I completed that chapter, I sat down and made a list of 7 things that I can do during the day that will help with keeping my home and sanity in tact. I've been doing them for a few weeks now and I wanted to share them with you today. 1. Jesus Our first step, thought, action, etc should always be Jesus. Ok, I'll admit that when I open my eyes in the morning my first thought isn't about Jesus. It's usually- did I wake up before the girls. But, once I collect myself a little, I always try and pray for a few minutes. I find my courage and commit my day to God. I pray for His will to be done during the day and if that means rearranging my schedule, then so be it. When I skip this step, I usually do not have a good productive day. 2. Start Early I'm not a morning person. I've finally embraced this. I'm not the type of mom who's up before the kids, dressed, fed, and ready to go when their feet hit the floor. And that's ok. There are lots of women out there that can do that and it works well for them. It doesn't for me. But, once I'm up and going with the girls, I kill my day if I sit down right after breakfast is over. Because then I stay sitting and nothing gets done. I start on my to do list as soon as breakfast is over or as soon as we get home from dropping off at school. It gets the momentum going and I accomplish more. 3. The 10 o'clock Rule I saw this idea on another blog, and for the life of me, I have no idea which blog it was. (if you know, tell me and I'll credit this idea). If you menu plan like me, this isn't very hard to do. It's just simply knowing exactly what's for dinner by 10 am. When you do this, there's no surprises at 5pm when the meat is still frozen or you're missing a key ingredient. Also, if you're a working mom, or doing weight watchers, or counting calories, or really just want to take the stress out, I would say do this at 10pm the night before. Plan exactly what your meals will be for the next day and have things prepped and ready to go. If you pack your lunch for work or the kids lunch for school, have them partially packed and ready to go for the AM. 4. Write Stuff Down Yes, it's true. I feel so discombobulated when I know I was supposed to be doing or remember something but I have no idea what it was because I didn't write it down somewhere. I have a smartphone, but I'm an old school type of person. I have a good ole paper student planner that I use daily. But, if that's not your style, use your calendar on your phone, make notes, use smoke signals. Do something. Just write stuff down.
5. Have a Flexible Schedule We're semi scheduled during the school year just because of Emmy's school schedule. She goes to school 3 days a week, so we plan around that. But, normally we know that Wednesday is also Library day and Friday is grocery day. I schedule specific things on specific days so that life just runs more smoothly. I plan on doing this during our summer break too. Certain days will be different things- water day, library day, beach day, etc. A routine like this helps my girls too. They know exactly what's going to happen and when. Obviously, don't pin yourself down so much that you create stress with rigidity. If you have to switch things up, no big deal. This is life. It's fluid and not perfect. 6. Schedule Downtime in Your Day From 1pm-2pm there's a good chance I'm sitting in our big brown chair in the living room drinking a cup of coffee. And doing nothing except Facebook, Pinterest, or reading a book. And ya know what? That's ok. That hour and cup of coffee help me reset for the afternoon. If I take that hour to refresh then I'm good to go for the rest of the day. If your day is scheduled, work in some downtime. A few days a week I use this time as "quiet time" for my girls. I have specific toys, books, puzzles they only see during quiet time. Emmy uses this time to work on writing her letters or "homework" from school and Macie normally colors or looks at books. If I haven't worked it in earlier in the day, I use this time for my Bible study time. 7. Clean your "stress space" before bed. I HATE going to bed with a sink of dishes. My morning just runs so much more smooth when I come into a clean kitchen. When I'm trying to pull myself together for the day, it starts me off on the wrong foot when I walk into dirty clutter. So, I've been trying to make a point to get the dishes washed, the counters clear and clean, laundry off the floor (my laundry is in my kitchen), and my floors swept before I head to bed. Makes a big difference in the way my next day starts. Well, there ya have it. 7 things I do to help my most undisciplined life run more smoothly. Although, I don't want to leave this unsaid- There are areas of our life that may perhaps always be undisciplined. And discipline looks different for every person on the planet. But don't let the important things go. God gives us his strength and ability to conquer our undisciplined areas if we commit them to him. And it takes practice. We can't wake up in the morning, tell God we went to be disciplined and suddenly we are. It takes work and intention. And it's hard. But don't bypass it because it's hard. Take God's help and get victory over those areas. And I'm right there with ya. Happy Tuesday!
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First of all, I want to take a minute to thank you all so much for your love and support. My last post was my most viewed post of all time. Either that means y'all like other people's drama or we just have lots of folks who love and care about us. I know it's the latter. We've received so many messages of encouragement, and we truly appreciate them. Ok, now on to the important stuff! It's going to be 65 degrees in Indy today. 65 DEGREES! I was losing hope that it was possible. Although, we are supposed to get snow tomorrow, but hey, let's just live in the current 65 degree moment. I'm so thinking spring. I'm ready. I know most folks are ready. This winter was brutal. I'm not doing any spring decorating because we're going to start packing and that's a bit counterproductive. I never posted a picture of my Valentine's Mantle because, well, it was a tad sub par and incomplete. Cute, but perhaps not blog post worthy. I kind of threw things together and included a few DIY projects that didn't quite turn out how I'd hoped and I wanted to add more and never got around to it. But, alas, I don't want to cheat you out the experience of viewing the mantle, so... here it is. And yes, I took this picture this morning because it's all still up. Alright, so now that that's over with, let's get on with things. SPRING! It's right around the corner and I'm so ready. I love watching trees bloom and flower blossom. The grass turning green. It's all spectacular and such a reminder of the newness that comes with the changing of seasons. A perfect picture of God's grace. Since I wont' be doing much spring decorating of my own, I figured that I'd share a few of the my favorite spring decorations from other blogs. I'm LOVING this wreath from 320 Sycamore! Very fun! I love lemons and this is perfect for spring and a classy addition to your front door. And it seems easy enough to make. How cute are the DIY mason jar candle holders from FellowFellow?! If I was doing a spring mantle, I'd include something like this! This vintage inspired spring mantle from Home Stories A to Z is breathtaking. I wish I had the space to create a mantle like this! The cool colors are calming and it represents Spring so well. This centerpiece from Hymns & Verses is brilliant. And stunning. It would be the perfect centerpiece for any spring event or just your coffee table. I think it would be pretty with Lilies of the Valley for Easter as well. Are you in the mood for spring decorating?! I know I am. If you're enjoying the warm weather today and preparing for snow tomorrow just remember, this too shall pass! Spring is coming!
Happy Tuesday! Months ago, my Pastor, said something during one of his messages that instantly struck me. In fact, on the way home from church I created a pin with the phrase. But, at the time it was one of those phrases that seemed wise and insightful, but it didn't necessarily apply to my life. Now, 8 months later, it's a phrase that's defining my life. But we'll come back to that. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.- Romans 8:28 NLT I don't feel much purpose right now. I'm a wife. A mother. Sometimes I'm a blogger. There is purpose in that. Endless purpose. But I know that God has also given me gifts and talents that are to be used outside my home and this computer screen. I know my calling. But right now, my calling feels like a deflated balloon. To refrain from being too cliche, purpose is the wind to the callings' sail and this ship is heading nowhere fast. But the truth remains. However far away I feel from my purpose, I know that the things God is leading me to and through, and away from are not meant to hurt me. Does this mean I won't feel pain? No, absolutely not. But they will not lead me to ruin. There's a difference. Pain and ruin are two very different things. And some days I forget that. The disciples thought God led Jesus to ruin by leading him to death on the cross. But, God proved otherwise. Jesus' pain didn't lead to ruin, it led to life. Now back to that phrase... The selfish side of me is tired of giving. I'm tired of giving the things God is asking for. I'm tired of walking face first into the doors he's closed. But then I'm reminded of the fact that this is what I prayed for. I prayed to become more like Christ. I've prayed to become the reflection of Jesus. That means giving. That means trusting even when things don't make sense. That means knowing that God works things together for good because he loves me. The doors he's closing, the things he's taking, the empty places he's leaving behind-
They really ARE meant to make me more like him. They really ARE meant to lead me farther down the path towards good. They really ARE meant to fill me with his purposes. They really ARE meant to lead me toward life. If you are like me, you confuse pain with ruin but you might also confuse emptiness with nothingness. Doors closing, paths changing, forking, losing what's important to you- that's not nothingness. That's emptiness. That's not ruin. That's God making room for more of himself. We have to be empty before we can be filled with His purpose. Our purposes may seem good, and right, and righteous, and valiant. And that's why losing them can be so hard. But this is when I trust that losing what I hold onto means that God is bringing about his best. Even if that means pain. Even if it means having empty hands. So, right now, I'm learning to be thankful for pain. For emptiness. Because God is not leading me to nothingness and ruin. He's leading me to purpose and life. Hopefully, in 60 years I'll be sitting on my (wrap around) front porch rocking on my rocker, reflecting on my walk with the Lord and I'll think of this time in my life as when God pulled the plug on the drain of my purposes. And I'm confident in the fact that it will be a pleasant thought. Yes, I might remember the pain, but I'll be quickly blinded by the memories of good as well. I'm remember the emptiness, but immediately recall being filled with his purpose. I'm excited for that day. No, I'm not having a baby. But we ARE moving! We have found a house that we LOVE, but, nothing is official yet. No papers signed as of now. Once things are set in stone (hopefully in the next week or two) I will have an awesome story about how God, once again, provided in His perfect timing. So that's all I'm going to say about it for now. We know for sure that whatever happens with the house, we won't be staying where we are currently. And the amature interior decorator inside me is screaming with joy. I can barely contain it. When I'm presented with a situation to redecorate, especially a blank canvas of a house, my desire is to go mad. I could take a whole week and shop until I can't see straight. Then paint, DIY, and style until I can't move. I could seriously have a decorate till I drop party. I know I have a few friends who'd willingly join me. BUT. Our budget sits back and laughs at that idea with an arrogant "let me know how that goes" type laugh. So, this will be a slow, progressive, on an extreme budget type deal. But I'm excited. My goal is to use as much of what we already have and redo things. I have big plans for our living room end tables, our bedroom furniture, and the girls iron beds. And that's just the short list. Last week, one of the blogs I follow, View Along The Way, had a post that was perfectly timed about decorating. So, I've been gleaning from her wisdom and starting with a "lead" piece instead of with a paint color like I usually do. Our couches are relatively neutral so my plan was to find a fabric I could use as throw pillows, or maybe an accent piece like an ottoman, and then bounce the rest of the room off that. And so after a few minutes searching, I found a Waverly print that I LOVE!!! and it comes in a few tones. It's called Santa Maria. This is a picture of what our couch and loveseat look like. You get the idea of the color we're working with. Our furniture is new so we won't be replacing because it's still in great shape. This was the first sample I saw. It's obviously in a deeper jewel tone. It's called Santa Maria Gem. Next to it are the Sherwin-Williams paint chip suggestions. This is my safe zone. These colors are ones that I understand. I can easy put a room together based on these. I love the bold punch of red and blue, but it's fairly sedated. This was the second one I came across. THE GAME CHANGER! It's Santa Maria Desert Flower. I am head over heels for this print. And it's way over the top for me. Like, this will take some serious brain power on my part to put a room together around this. Especially a living room! But, I just love it so much I think I might do it. I'm thinking the Curio Gray color for the walls, maybe a little red or gold chevron, and some black and white Ikat thrown in. And I've been really wanting some teal furniture in my house somewhere, so we'll see. Sounds like a hot mess right now, but it looks awesome in my head! (if that's any comfort to those reading like my husband and my mom) Which do you like better? The more sedate jewel tones or the bold, bright one? Does the idea of a new house/room/space excite your inner decorator like it does me?
Happy Thursday! It's Christmas time! It's my favorite time of year. Most of the time. This year I've had a really hard time getting into the "Christmas Spirit". Growing up, my Christmas season was all about church programs and parties. I come from a pretty large family and we had set traditions. I just knew how it was going to be. I could count on pretty cool gifts under the Christmas tree and nacho dip at the family party. We had movies we watched on certain days at certain times. Christmas was Christmas. It was the same, and I loved it. I'm normally the type of person who's got our Christmas tree up pretty early in November. I listen to Christmas music before Halloween. I'm even ok with snow until the day after Christmas. But this year, I just couldn't seem to get my heart into it. Then I realized something. My Christmas season wasn't about me. It's not about the traditions I create with my own family. It's about Jesus. It's about sacrifice. It's about showing up. I think sometimes we get so caught up in the cuteness of the nativity story. Who doesn't love a newborn baby? And maybe not everyone thinks about this (but I'm a hopeless romantic, so I do) but seriously, the love story between Mary and Joseph. Maybe not that they were pining for each other and gazing lovingly into each others eyes, but that they chose each other. They chose to model love to each other. Love that they hadn't even really seen yet. Man, that's good stuff. When Jesus came into our world, he came knowing he had a death sentence. He lived for 33 years knowing what was going to happen, and still he chose us. He chose to come. He chose his situation and circumstance. He chose to be part of a low, struggling, broken people. He chose sacrifice- sacrificing himself, ultimately (and thankfully not permanently) sacrificing his relationship with his father. Thinking of all that, it kind of makes my Christmas traditions seem silly. Yeah, Christmas caroling and nacho dip are great, but what's the point? Is the point of Christmas to create new traditions with my kids that involve Church programs and family parties and gives me the warm fuzzies? No. It's not. Those things are great and our family and our church are both gifts God has given us. But I suppose THAT'S the point. God gave us a gift. Not a gift we open and shove in a drawer to keep forever, but, a gift that we have to keep giving. This Christmas I'm choosing sacrifice. I'm choosing to show up in the lives of others. I want to teach my kids that Christmas isn't about gifts, or traditions, or parties. It's about loving others so deeply that we are willing to give the gift of Jesus. I want my kids to say, yeah, we had parties and nacho dip, but man did we give. And love. And give. And love. We showed up to be Jesus, and to gift love when people needed it most. Thankfully, the Lord revealed all of this to me at the beginning of our Christmas season. As I sit down and organize our holiday calendar, I have the opportunity to make it look a little different this year. And I'm honestly so excited! THIS is what's Christmas spirit is! Would you consider doing it with us? Consider how you can show up in someone elses life this Christmas and give the gift of Jesus. I made this to hang up by our front door to remind us everytime we leave the house that our goal is to give the gift of Jesus. It's free to download here. Happy Tuesday!
When I sat down and opened my Bible and journal this afternoon to continue to study this portion of verse 3 of 1st Thessalonians, I cringed. Just the topic- loving deeds, was enough to hit rewind on my day and I saw how I'd spent most of the morning and early afternoon doing everything but loving deeds. I suppose I should have done this study in the morning. It probably would have changed the course of my morning. BUT, that's the cool thing about grace. I asked for forgiveness for my chaos this morning and it's over with now. So, anyways, back to the study...
I started the same way this time as I did yesterday- with the definitions of the two words- Loving- adj., feeling or showing love, warmly affectionate, fond. Deeds- noun, an act or gesture, especially as illustrative of intentions, one's character, or the like. So, loving deeds are affectionate acts or gestures that illustrate my intentions and character. Ok, so honestly, once I came up with that definition I thought... Oh, great. I get a little tense when the words character and intention are thrown around. I mean, those aren't words to take lightly. My next question was what are my daily intentions? What do I hope to accomplish (from an eternal perspective) on a daily basis. This was my list: 1. To instruct my children with biblical wisdom and point them to Jesus. 2. To live a life that points anyone I come in contact with to Jesus. 3. To display grace and live in obedience to scripture. After all this I decided that I was feeling like a lot of this was just words on a page. I wasn't really feel like God was revealing his true application for my life through just the lists I was making. I stopped what I was doing and started praying again, in honesty, that I felt muddled. And because God is faithful, it didn't take long and this is what He gave me. Loving deeds are the practical steps to faithful work. Faithful work is the sign on the building, the loving deeds run the business. I can't have successful faithful work without loving deeds. Once I got that down I asked myself- What does this look like in my life? - By knowing what love looks like- learning God's character. The more I study something, the better I know it. The better I know it, the easier it is to emulate it. The more I emulate it the easier it becomes to do it naturally. - By training/exercising love in my own life. Everything takes work. I mean seriously, everything. If it doesn't take work it's probably too good to be true. And loving deeds are no different. You just have to keep doing it. Keep working at it. Keep doing it. Keep working at it. The more you do it, the easier it will become. - By searching out opportunities to exercise love. In the literal sense of the word exercise, it normally doesn't happen naturally. You have to make time to run, to go to the gym, to do zumba. Same thing with loving deeds. Always be looking for a way to show Christ's love to someone. -Listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. And this is where I scored a big fat zero this morning. In the middle of being all bent out of shape with my kids, I was hearing the Holy Spirit say... Jessica, there's a better way to handle this. Jessica, Jessica, Jessica. But, I was frustrated enough, upset enough, mad enough that I brushed it aside and justified my anger. DON'T DO THAT. Listen for that prompting. AND OBEY IT! - Setting myself aside. This should actually be #1. Because this is the root of the problem. I can't have truely loving deeds towards others when I'm focused on myself. Are you loving deeds setting up shop under your Faithful Work sign or is there and empty building that needs a business running inside it? The last and final phrase from verse 3 that stuck out to me was "Enduring Hope". I believe that Faithful Work is the business name, Loving Deeds is the work, and Enduring Hope is the outcome. But, you can't have one without the others. I'll touch on enduring hope next, but until then, I'm going to make a point to get my business of loving deeds running smoothly under may faithful works sign! Happy Thursday! Our Women's Bible Study at church is going through the book Stronger by Angela Thomas. Again, it's right what I needed when I needed it. God is good like that. Anyways, today, I wanted to share with you a few key things out of the book that really struck me. The specific week theme is God is stronger than my overwhelming life. The day subject is Unrealistic Expectations- Mine and Theirs. She starts out by describing her perfect picture of life then asks "Do you have a magazine dream?" I almost laughed at that question. It took me about .5 seconds to answer it and describe in detail my answer. Then, she asks "Does any of this resemble dreams you have or still hold onto?" Of course, my answer was yes. Here's her response... If we take all our dreamy, unrealistic expectations and add the unrealistic expectations from the people we love, we create a dangerous concoction: a recipe for an overwhelming, disappointing life. After all, burnout comes not from work, but from not achieving expectations. (pg 102) Ouch. Double Ouch. And basically the last year of my life in 2 sentences. Aaron and I are about to enter our 6th year of marriage. I can honestly say that I spent year 1-5.2 expecting my magazine life. I held (and still do) hold Aaron to an expectation of creating my happiness. Because of that, I let bitterness and discouragement destroy my marriage. I have set a standard for my kids that's unrealistic and because of that, I have been a hard and angry mother. Angela goes onto to say... Have you expected too much of yourself- to be the best mom, best daughter, best wife, best student, best friend, best employee, best follower of Christ? Amen to that! Romans 12:2 tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. We have to renew our expectations and our standards with the fact that- Only God is perfect. No other person or myself can be or do what we need God to do in our life. And the truth of this is... God has already done what we need. When he died on the cross, he offered us salvation. Grace that covered our shortcomings, our faults, our unrealistic expectations. If we allow that truth to renew our mind, we will be set free of living a life measured by our expectations. Angela challenges us with this... Who needs to be let off the hook today? Your husband? A wayward child? You and your high expectations? Make a list of the names. Now make this declaration for each name you have written: Man, making that list for me was mentally and emotionally exhausting. Not because I had to come up with names for the list, but because my list ended up being a lot longer than I thought it would be. Once I started thinking, I came up with quite a few people that I've held to a higher standard that I should have been. And the truth is, it's easy to recite that declaration. It's easy to say those words- It's the action behind those words that is hard.
For me, that's a declaration I will have to make a few times a day, every day, until my mind is renewed in the truth that only God is perfect and no other person on this planet, including myself, will live up to my perfect expectation. And what does that mean for my life? It means this... When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.- Luke 12:48b We are given grace freely, which means that we need to extend grace in return. Obviously, God does not need our grace, but others do. If you've followed my blog for a time, you know that over the last 10 months, God has revealed more to me about His grace than ever before. And the more I realize how God's grace applies to my life, I realize that if I'm going to live Christlike, I have to live out grace to others. Today, let's make a point to let others off the hook. Let's let ourselves off the hook. And let's let our minds be transformed. Only God is perfect. And because He's extended undeserved grace to us, we need to live a life of extended grace to others! It's been a long time since I've blogged! It hasn't seemed like that long, but wow! We had a great week or so with my folks and a quick weekend getaway for me and the postman! We had a great time relaxing in Amish country in Northern Indiana! It was so nice to have time away. We haven't taken a trip together alone since we've had kids (over 4 yrs). We've gone on trips with the youth groups we were working with, but that technically doesn't count. This was just us, with absolutely no agenda. And it was awesome. Hard to come home. So thankful for the work God has done in our marriage. A year ago, a trip like this would have been unheard of. Not because we couldn't, but because we wouldn't have wanted to! Now I'm ready to pack up and do it again this weekend! And on another note, my big girl turned 4! It's honestly been the 4 fastest years of my life! And she finished her first year of preschool. Where does the time go!? So, last Friday marked the start of our summer vacation. This week was somewhat eaten up by the holiday and family still here. Our first free days was yesterday and we spent the day relaxing and, well, napping... Summer Break is hard! But with the beginning of summer comes a great opportunity to set some goals for the next few months! So, here are a few of the goals I've set for myself and our family for Summer break!
- Paint my bedroom furniture. I've been thinking about this for some time and I just need to pull the trigger on it. Our bedroom furniture is a hodge podge of wood colors and types, so I'm going all white. Nice and crisp and uniform. Adding the same hardware to everything will help too! - Make better use of our family zoo passes. My parents got us zoo passes for the year as a part of the girls birthday gifts. Last year they did the same and we went about 5 times. I plan to go much more often this year. - Organize and edit every room. I've been saying for a while that we don't have much to sell in a upcoming family garage sale, but I'm pretty sure if I was honest and adopted a little more of a simplistic view (especially in my kitchen) I'd be able to find plenty of stuff. So, over the next few weeks I'm planning on going through our entire house and getting rid of stuff I've held onto for way too long! - Send out more greeting cards. Years ago when I was a teenager and in college, my friends and I sent each other lots of cards. I loved the feeling of getting something hand written in the mail. I don't do it enough now. I'm going to try and send out at least 2 cards a week this summer. - Read 5 books. I LOVE to read. To the point that I have a hard time putting a book down and end up staying up most of the night to finish it type love. But, I have a harder time reading non fiction books. I know there are so many good ones out there (we own lots of them) so my plan is to read at least 3 non fiction books and 2 fiction books this summer. - 2 TV free nights a week. This is more specifically for Aaron and I. It's easy for us to plop on the couch after a long day and tune out. But, now that it's warmer out, it would be so easy for us to plop down outside and spend time together actually conversing instead of staring at the tv. - Memorize more scripture. I want to do 3 verses with my girls. One a month. And I want to memorize 12 new verses. I've slacked off over the last few weeks, so next week, I'm back at it! So, that's my short list. I'm sure I'll come up with more. What are some of your goals for this summer? Ok, so I don't think I have to do a true confession for you. It's pretty obvious that my week gets away from me. Before I know it things get crazy and I've only posted once or twice in a week. It's not my intention, trust me. I just need to work out a little better schedule in the day so I can get a blog post typed up. Anyways, back to My Favorite Fridays.... 1. Aaron and I were able to go to Emmy's Christmas party at school yesterday. She loved having us there and we loved being there. She was excited to show us everything. They played games, made some crafts, read some books, had a snack, at attempted playing musical chairs. A great time had by all! I'm so thankful that we've found a school that Emmy loves and that Emmy loves in return. She loves her teacher, Mrs. Kelley. It made me a little sad knowing that Mrs. Kelley wouldn't be her teacher next year. I told myself not to think too far ahead, there's still half a year to enjoy this class. And I'm positive that next year will be just as good. And next year we'll have 2 kids there instead of 1! 2. I read a short devotional early in December this year about complicating Christmas. We often say Jesus is the Reason for the Season, but that never seems to keep us from packing our schedules full, traveling cross country, buying stuff we don't need, and stressing every minute about every detail. I knew we didn't have travel plans this year for Christmas, or many plans at all to be honest, and I purposed that this Christmas would be a simple one. Simple in many ways. Low stress, more time making memories than making plans, and being an open example to my kids about what the miracle of Jesus birth is really about. And I can sit here right now and say in honesty that I'm so happy with how the last few weeks have been. Last night we were able to STRESS FREE walk through the mall and enjoy the holiday cheer and being together. We've had the opportunity to sit and watch Christmas movies together as a family and eat popcorn and snuggle. We've been able to pile in the van and just spend some time enjoying Christmas lights a few times just this week. It's been one of my favorite Christmas Seasons to date. At least in the 5 yr history of our little family. 3. Aaron started his new job this week! He had two and a half days of training at the begining of the week. He seems pretty excited to get started and I'm so thankful he's got something to be excited about again! He starts back on the 26th. I know he's glad to have some time off, but he's also ready to get things going. 4. This last Tuesday we had our Women's Christmas Tea for Church. This was our third year doing it and our first year hosting it on our own. It's one of my favorite events that we do at Church and I was so excited about it again this year. The last 2 years we've LOVED going to some nearby Tea Rooms, but we knew we'd be able to do it a little more inexpensively this year. Due to the nasty flu that's going around, it was rescheduled once and the location was moved last minute but it still turned out great. I'm planning on doing a bonus post with more pictures today or on Monday. We had a great time and the food was excellent! 5. One of the best things about this week is that the flu is over!!! It's finally out of our house and the house is clean and degermed! Here's to hoping we're protected from it for the rest of the season! My prayer for you over the last few days of this Christmas season is that in the rush and craziness of the last minute, that you would stop and take some time to reflect on what Jesus coming to this earth, taking on flesh, living, and then dying -for you- means to you right now. At this point in your life, whenever you are in your marriage, your situation with your kids, your relationship with your friends and family, whatever your struggle, hurt, or pain is... What does the birth of that baby mean to you?
Consider it. Write a few things down. Post them somewhere. That way when the craziness of the next few days peaks and your mind is going a mile a minute and wrapping paper is coming out of your ears, you have a reminder right in front of you of your specific "reason for the season"! For the first 10 years of my life, Thanksgiving and Christmas were exactly the same. We traveled to North Carolina to celebrate Thanksgiving with my Dad's side of the family. Then about a week before Christmas, a big group of women from my family would get together and bake as many cookies and brownies and candies and all things sweet as we could in a 12 hr period. School would get out, I'd have a great time enjoying that freedom.
On Christmas Eve, our stockings would appear under the tree right before our big night of celebration began. After enjoying our stocking loot, we'd head out to my Aunt E's and Papa Cliff's house (my dad's sister and bro in law) where my dad's immediate family would get together and we'd eat and open gifts. And most of the time it included some cheesy 3 person Christmas pagent put on by my cousins and I. After we were done with that Christmas celebration, we'd head out to meet my mom's side of the family, which happened to be much more extensive. We'd play games, eat some more, open gifts. And I do remember a Christmas show or two during these parties as well. We'd head home late at night on Christmas Eve then wake up in the morning and open gifts as a family. Then the feast preperation would begin. We always had family over. There was turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, corn, pound cake, pie, and cookies. Oh man... we would EAT! And every year it was like that. It was exactly like that long enough into my life that I remember starting to feel a little sense of loss when things started changing. When I had my own children I really struggled with wanting to create tradition for them. I wanted them to have the same type of happiness I had knowing exactly what was going to happen during the Christmas season. And I wanted it to be exactly like what I had growing up. But I've come to realize this.... it wasn't the schedule that created the happiness- it was the people. It was the love. It was the family. Don't get caught up in making a routine and finding happiness in that. Don't get frustrated when things don't happen exactly like you want them to. Don't feel dissapointed when tradition isn't exactly like what you hoped. Instead, find ways to love others in a new way. Think of a way to serve with your family this year. It's funny how as an adult, I see the value in things I did as a kid that I didn't like doing. When I was young, every year our kids group at church would go sing Christmas songs at a retirement home around the corner from our church. I'll be honest and say that it was NOT my favorite thing to do. But now, as an adult I know that maybe that was the only Christmas gift some of those folks got. This year, pass that message onto your family. I got so caught up in making my children happy by doing things for them that I lost sight of the fact that doing things for others would make me AND my kids happy too (even if they don't understand it now). There's always ways to serve around the holidays. I challenge you to find something that everyone in your family can take part in, even if it's as small as donating toys. Nothing small is too small! |
HEY, I'M JESSICA!
Christian. Wife. Mommy. Daughter. Pastor. Friend. Saved.Redeemed. Beloved.
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