What I'm Loving Wednesday

I'm loving . . .. that it is going to be cooler by the weekend (how's that for not complaining about really  hot and humid days?)

I'm loving . . . that the 21 day Challenge from Warrier Prayers started today - nothing better than praying for my boys!

I'm loving . . . .checking out books from the library!!  The boys love the variety and I love the savings (I used to think I had to buy every book for them . . . )

I'm loving . . . .that I got my little garden planted.  We'll see how it goes . ..

I'm loving . . . I'm little family of three - they are so much fun!!!!

What are you loving today? 

21 Days of Prayer Challenge - Day 1 - Obedience

Today begins day one of the 21 Days of prayer for our boys!  Whether you are a mom of a boy or a grandma praying for your grandsons, this will be a powerful tool for both you and those boys. 

To begin with I would like to share a little about myself so that you understand where my heart is and why I feel this is important.  I have two boys - one is 2 1/2 and the other is 1 1/2.  They are active, busy little boys!  My husband and I have been married almost 10 years and, when we got married were told more than once that we would never have children.  We had more than accepted that, actually, and were enjoying traveling, spoiling nieces and nephews, and pretty much doing what we wanted.  That all changed when we found out we were expecting - even the doctor was surprised (his words were" Wow, I guess that is just a reminder that I'm not God and He can do anything" LOL)   As I watch this two adorable little guys grow, I've been burdened with how I can do more to impact their heart - their spiritual well being - even at this very young age.  I get discouraged with what is offered in church for the little ones (yes, they can still learn songs and love hearing stories) but I also understand that the nursery workers rotate and no one is planning anything for that age.  Besides, in reality, the responsibility fully falls on our shoulders as their parents - no one else has that responsibility.  Someone had mentioned this book at a workshop I attended back in February - I wrote it down and put it on a list to do in the future but, when I saw the Challenge pop up, I felt God pulling my heart to do this now. 

How will this work?  As a leader, I will be posting daily - my goal is to have this post go up by 12:00 AM each morning.   That way, the challenge for the day is up and ready for you to read first thing.  I also have other posts that I do each day so if you happen to check in later, make sure you scroll down if needed to get to this post.  Within the daily challenge, I'll offer a little encouragement (hopefully it will encourage!), let you know what the challenge is and maybe offer a little more insight. 

I have decided not to do a linky party but will leave commenting totally up to you.  If you want the accountability, post a comment when you have finished the challenge; write a comment about how you are being impacted by this (because you realize that you will be impacted just as much as your boys will be, right?) or leave a comment talking about how your family is being impacted - what ever you are feel led to do is fine with me.  If you write a post about what you are doing, either mention that we should check out your post or live a link within your comment.  I will try to link those into the next days post too so that others can check out your blog as well and read your full post.  Make sure and check out the comments each day so you can read what others are doing as well! 

Now, on to day one and the first challenge (in the future, the posts will be smaller and too the point) - Obedience!!! (Don't we ALL want that from our kids???)

First, I want to share the section from the Leaders Guide where Brooke (the author) hands out some encouragement.  I was going to try and paraphrase it but she states it so well, I'm just going to copy her words here:

"I don’t think there is another issue in my parenting that causes me as much stress as getting my children to obey me. I know it’s a vitally important concept to teach them. In fact, I’ve heard it said that if a man can’t submit to Jesus, he will never be able to lead a woman (Tommy Nelson, Love & Romance Conference). No pressure, right moms?

Depending on what methods we use, we CAN make our sons obey. We can MAKE them obey us. But at the risk of sounding a little lazier than I really am as a parent I would submit this:

Obeying God is intimately linked to loving Him. If we focus too much on forcing our boys to change their outward behavior, and forget to hold out the great depth of love that sent a Savior to the cross, we’re running the risk of raising little Pharisees."

Today, I challenge you to commit to praying the ten prayers in the obedience chapter of the book during day one.  Here are some differant ways to incorrporate this challenge into your daily routine:

1. Get up early and bathe your sons in prayer first thing in the morning.

2. Pray the prayers one at a time throughout the day

3. Make the prayers a part of their family devotion time, praying the prayers out loud over your sons

4. Spend some time in concentrated prayer late at night, around bedtime.

If you are a mom whose boys have left home or a grandma whose grandsons don't live in your home, consider writing a note to send once a day with the prayers you have prayed for your sons/grandsons.  What an encouragement it would be to receive a note a day from mom (or grandma) with specific prayers. 

One last side note:  If you haven't purchased the Warrior Prayers book/ebooknecessisity - the main goal over the next 21 days is to just pray - so feel free to skip all of the reading and save it to focus on after the challenge!!)  I will be doing this right along with you so lets commit to pray also for each other over the next 21 days; I will be praying for each of you in this group as well.

Too Cute Not To Toot!

First up is something from one of my favorites - Oopsey Daisy  She is hosting "Summer Camp" every Friday all based around books.  There have been some really cute ideas - make sure and click below to see what posts have been done and to follow along throughout the summer. 




I saw this idea for an outdoor caddy over at Increasingly Domestic and fell in love with it.  When the boys and I go outside, it takes forever and I always have my pockets stuffed full of things like my camera and my phone.  I love that I can keep this on a shelf on my drop cabinet and have it ready - filled with some magazines, bubbles, sun screen, off, baby hats, and a place to put something to drink and the camera. 

This is a really cute idea of 4th of July from over at Simply Designing.

Ok, how sad is this weeks post? LOL  This is 100% my fault - I totally missed  some linky parties this week plus when I sat down to do this on Monday night the blogger picture tool was down so it kinda defeated my purpose! 

Hopefully I'll be back on track with some more great ideas next week :-)

Crafty Crafty - Graduation Albums

As my oldest nephew was reaching the time of his graduation from high school, I started to think about we could as something special for him from the entire family.  I was, at the time, really just getting into Scrapbooking full force so, creating a Graduation Album was the perfect idea.  Since that time, I've made 4 more, including two this year.  I thought I would share the basics of what I do to create this wonderful gift.  Obviously, the first one, was a surprise, but since than, the nieces and nephews all expect these and even offer advice on what color album they want :-) 

The first step in creating the album is to get the info out to all of the family members.  Normally, somewhere during the month of February of the year of graduation, I will send a litter to my brothers and parents which includes the following: Instructions, due dates, blank scrapbook pages.  I ship this off with hopes of getting them back on time ha!!  Each family is "required" to create their own scrapbook pages which include a family picture (or pictures), and than a letter written by each family member to the graduate.  This letter can include memories, funny stories or just advice for the graduate.  For the youngest members, they can make pictures (this year, since my boys are so young, I actually traced each of the boys handprints to put in the book.)  The family also decorates the pages as they wish.  They return them to me and I add them into the final book . Originally, they only had to send the letters and I created all of the pages but one year, my sister-in-law, Nora, send back full pages and I realized how special those pages really were and therefore, changed what I did!

While the family is working on their pages, I am pulling all the pictures I can find of that person with family members.  Some are easier than others based on how closely we lived to each other but I'm always amazed at the number of pictures I'm able to gather.  I also ask the family to provide me with photos but, I don't get many LOL  Also, I used facebook to pull pictures as well since that seems to be such a great storage place for so many people. 

This year, for the first time, I created the albums digitally.  I used Creative Memories photo software to create all of the pages.  That way, I only had to drag and drop the photos into place, add journaling and than print.  It was so nice and they turned out so well!!  Here are a few samples:

For most of the pages in each of these books I used predesigned pages but you can also create your own pages as well.  One of the tricks I use in a lot of books I create is to take a specific photo to use as a background.  For example, if we are at the beach, I'll try to get a great shot of the sand or water and that becomes the background that I use for the beach photos. 

The best part of the book though, are the letters,  Everyone enjoys reading what is written but, for the graduate, it is such an encouragement. 

Here are a few pictures of a finished book - the most recent one.

Sorry for the turned photos - blogger doesn't like them today :-)

If you would like info on the Creative Memories Software feel free to ask but this post is really just show off my latest "craft" :-)

Deep Cleaning 101 - Redo :-)

Ok . . .. well . . .all good plans . . .fail LOL  Yes, I totally planned on having a Deep Cleaning post for you today as I stated here but I kinda forgot about a couple of things.  1) Memorial Day weekend . .. when I really planned on getting my Living Room/Dining Room/Entry done . .. well . .. we were gone much more than I thought we would be!  2) I thought I could get it done during the week but . . well .. it was HOT!!!  3) I planned on getting it done this weekend DESPITE knowing my husband had to work on Saturday . . and I needed to go to the Grocery store with the kids . ..  .and I had to meet my husband for a concert which meant leaving home at 2:00 in the afternoon on Saturday AND then being done most of the day Sunday.   Oh well.  I don't really know why I ever thought to start this endeavor in the heat of summer but I hope (cross my fingers!) to get at least one area done so I can post everything NEXT Monday.  It is supposed to be in the 90's this week and Humid . . .so I may do nothing except, well, melt :-) 

A funny story --- we don't have air (that is NOT funny) so every June I tell my husband these words "Just a reminder that it is now hot out which means the house will no longer be clean until September.  Especially the Kitchen" LOL  And yes, I stated those words today!!!!

So, enjoy your week and stay cool!

Simplify, Simplify, Simplify! #6

It is month 6th of my walk through the year to Simplify our lives.  This past month I really worked on trying to wrap up some long outstanding projects on those lists.  I took time to print them all out in order and than went back to the very first one that was not completed and worked through the list that way.  You can view all of my simplify posts by clicking HERE - the posts include lists that I do try to update as well as posts on the progress I've made which also include pictures (and we all love pictures!)

When I started this process, I wasn't really sure how much of an impact this would have on our family life.  I just figured, that if nothing else, I'd be a little more organized.  Instead, I've seen good changes.  As I've simplified everything from the way I plan meals to how I plan my day, I've found more time for building family time.  I've been able to set up a lose schedule to work and play with the kids as well as figuring out what family activities we should and should not try to fit into our week.  I've pinched pennies, cut corners, and created fun things for next to nothing in order to simplify the "stress" of money in our lives.  Some of the items are easy - like putting together a gift wrapping area; some are more difficult - like all of that pinching penny stuff.  Yet each step brings us closer to being able to just live day to day and have fun! 

I usually start thinking about the next months project as soon as I post a Simplify Post.  The #5 post had to do with putting everything in its place.  I wanted to take that one step further this month.  One of the things I truly hate is how I can keep the house perfectly in shape - everything put away and neat - 6 days out of 7.  BUT you can guarantee that on that one day things are a mess, someone stops by for a visit and I am SOOOO not happy LOL  I still remember one day last spring when I got up, had both boys up and dressed and decided that we would run some errands first thing while everyone was happy - leaving beds unmade, the kitchen in disarray and toys everywhere.  Well, we got back home and a vehicle pulled in the driveway.  Out comes a friend and our former babysitter.  We talked while the kids played and than she wanted to see the house . .. SERIOUSLY???  Now, to make it worse, her house is spotless . .. every day.  I know because I dropped my child off there every day.  She is a minimalist when it comes to decorating so not only is her house clean, it is totally clutter free.  And. she. wanted. to . see . my. house.  The grand dirty tour.  I kept saying "Oh, it is laundry day so I don't make the bed until I put clean sheets on" and things that sounded dumb even in my ears HA!  So where is all this leading?  My next endeavor of simplification (is that even a word?)

Ready for anyone at anytime

This is more of a discipline than anything else but these are some areas that I want to work on in order to have my home always ready for that unexpected guest.  Now, I must clarify, during the day, there will be toys out and sometimes a load of laundry waiting to put away in basket on the table depending on who is napping where but, I want the over all appearance to be clean and organized.

1. The Kitchen - how I wish that my kitchen was not the entrance to my home.  This has come up in challenges I've done before too.  But it is so I have to learn to accept it, right?  I want to end the day with a "spotless" kitchen.  All dishes need to be in the dishwasher; anything that can't go in the dishwasher needs to be washed and put away.  The counters cleaned off and organized and all stray items taken back to their "homes". The floor needs a quick sweep too.   Along that line, shoes need to be organized, coats and jackets that are needed hung in the closet.  Finally, (and I used to be good at this) I need to clean the patio door at least once a week - it gets grimy with hand prints and dog nose prints.  We also need to get our screen fixed - this is a normal summer item - I just need to get it done!

2. The bedrooms - the boys still live sleep in cribs so "making" their beds doesn't really include a lot. I do want to make sure that their rooms are picked up though and that all stray things are taken care of as well.  Our room - making sure the bed is neatly made (it is most days), and just general pick up.  The bedrooms in our house are all very visual due to the layout so it is important to keep those rooms clean.

3. The floors - when there are toys being played with all day, it is hard to keep up with the floors.  It seems I either have kids sleeping or kids playing - not a good time to vacuum.  So, I want to figure out how to be able to run the vacuum over the middles at least every other day.  I'm thinking that possibly while one of us is giving the boys their bath, the other one can quickly run the vacuum OR while we are cleaning up, that can become part of that process.

5. Deep Cleaning Zone Lists - finally, a way to keep this up and keep the house clean is the Deep Cleaning Zone lists.  I've slowly been working on this over the past few months but first, I had to come to this deep realization . . .are you ready . . I really don't like to clean.  There. The truth is out ha!  As I've worked on creating some of the lists, I've tried to keep the projects simple (imagine that) and things that I can get done working 15 minutes at a time 2-3 days a week to have them done or an hour on the weekend.  I've also included projects that are only done a few times a year and labeled them as such - otherwise I found that I felt like it was a list I could never accomplish.  My main goal this month is to actually do all 5 of the deep cleaning lists that I have - one each week based on Flylady Zones - and tweek them enough that I can keep up the process.  I am starting my Deep Cleaning 101 posts and you can check those out HERE if you are interested in what I'm doing.  Why I'm starting this in the middle of the hot summer, I will never know HA! 

Church Envy

One of the "dangers" of blogging, facebook, or any other networking systems is that you get to see inside someone else's life and it can cause a little envy.  It is easy to look at where other people live, what they do, or what they wear and wish for something similar.  Yet, one area I never thought would cause envy is church.  Really?  It's "just" church, right?  I don't think so.  Church is where you should get refreshed; rejuvenated; rejoice with others; meet friends; be involved.  It should be the place that fills you up on Sunday so you can carry on through the week and be encouraged not only through your own daily walk abut through what was taught. 

I grew up in church and by that, I mean, I was there when the doors were open and sometimes we were there during the summer because we didn't have air at home :-)  See, my dad is a pastor.  It was not a bad thing at all - I have great memories growing up as a pastors kid and getting to spend so much time in church.  My husband did not.  He didn't become a Christian until he was 30.  We obviously have different backgrounds when it comes to church but we both fully believe the Bible.  I grew up Baptist/Bible and Darryl grew as a Christian listening to J. Vernon McGee and Thru The Bible (which is a great program, by the way!)

So, back to church envy.  Several of the blogs I read are by people who live in the South.  As they write about their churches I'm enthralled.  They are all so excited about going on Sundays and talk about the great programs they have and attend. They also talk about things like MDO (Mom's Day Out) which I think is offered during the summer - where moms can drop off their little kids for a few hours or for the day and get things done; or FNO (I think it is Friday Night out) where parents can drop their kids off at church and enjoy a night out together or dinner with friends.  They also talk about monthly lunches with the women from their Sunday School Class, baby showers that are hosted at homes or restaurants (depending on whether it is child #1 or 2, 3, or 4!)  Wow?  Aren't you a little envious too?  This made me start to do some searching of churches in our area and was slightly disappointed at what I found.  There doesn't seem to be that good "southern" church around here LOL  Imagine that!!!  What does your church offer that you really enjoy?  And what do you wish they offered? 

To clarify, we do attend a church - a really good church. (ok, we don't attend ALL the time) It is a small church so of course it doesn't offer all of those things that are offered at those large churches.  Honestly, sometimes we get discouraged and struggle with it and being involved and how our kids can be involved but it is a great church overall.  It is one of the downsides of living in a small town - the choices are limited . .. and we currently take a 30 minute drive to church which also limits involvement.  So, I guess I'll be a "good" envious for now and just focus on staying grounded, studying God's word, and teaching my child every day!