A Day Late....

Chill

2012-01-04T10:56:00.000-06:00

This morning has been very chill for me. I wrote myself a cleaning schedule for the week, loaded & unloaded the dishwasher, started a load of laundry, cleaned the kitchen, took A to school, read my Bible, cleaned & started the roomba, fixed breakfast & two snacks so for for K, took pics of our fridge to post to craiglist, and fixed myself a cup of hot cocoa. Now, I'm sitting and I'm reflecting. As I type all of that, it doesn't sound very chill but one thing that has consistently been missing for me is my Bible time in the morning. I'm hit or miss. I'm really going to try this year to be HIT. It makes such a difference in my outlook and my attitude. Lots of days, I go go go. And most of the time it is necessary going, errands, grocery shopping, meeting people to eat lunch or play with K (maybe those last 2 aren't TOTALLY necessary but they are important). Some days, I'm reminded that I just need to chill. I need to take time to take care of me and my house and not feel so rushed. When I do, I find myself reflecting more...I'm not so good at that these days. I'm sitting here reflecting on my time with family over the holidays and how lucky I am to be the wife of Levi and the mother of A & K. I'm lucky to have the friends that I have. I am truly blessed, not with things but with people and with love. I'm also thankful for forgiveness and mercy and grace. Ashamedly, I admit that I want to harbor and not give mercy and compassion freely to all and that's wrong. I was reminded during my Bible reading this morning that when I am weak, HE is strong and I can rely on His strength not my own. That was good way to start my morning. As moms, I think we put ourselves last and take care of everybody else and do all the running and fixing and taking care of and we go on empty so much of the time...let me say I do at least. I'm trying to reprioritize myself, not to take care of me in a selfish way but to take care of my spirit and soul so my outlook and attitude is more reflective of Christ. That's my prayer today!!

Groupon-alicious

2011-11-16T22:12:00.000-06:00

So, I love Groupon, Eversave, and all the other "deal" websites. I love them and at times, I get a bit addicted to them:)

Getting my nails done is a TREAT. I am a once every 3 or 4 month mani/pedi girl and I usually go to nail places where there are 10 chairs, nothing swanky, and I'm reminded of Bon Qui Qui skits every time.

So, today April and I enjoyed one of these deals to celebrate my birthday (back in May). It was at the Spa at Willowbend in Plano. There was a wreck on the interstate so we were late. I called and told them we'd be late. The woman who answered the phone told me if we were 10 minutes late it was fine but if we were more than that, our pedi/mani would be shortened. Okay so we go there between 10 and 15 minutes late. We filled out our paperwork and the receptionist who had a very strong European accent informed us that because we were 15 minutes late, we would lose 15 minutes of our services. April and I looked at each other with a confused expression. April asked, "What does that mean exactly?" At this point, I'm thinking, "If 10 minutes was acceptable to be late but 15 minutes meant we lost some time, wouldn't we only lose 5 minutes? " She explained that there was a client right after us and she couldn't make them be 15 minutes late. Okay so I understand and I think we lost a massage. We got the pedi/mani with paraffin which was wonderful. Our nail techs were fine but April and I both felt like we were inconveniencing them a bit. As we sat and let our nails dry, we fully expected clients to fill our spots, no one. We let our nails dry, paid, and left without any other clients filling our spots. And as we were leaving and paying, the same receptionist tried to upsale us another mani/pedi for a great price of $55. No offense, I would not pay $55 for what I got today. Doesn't she know we're Groupon-alicious? We bought the 3 mani/pedis a month ago for $55!!

My review:
PROS:

my nails look great
the mani/pedi was very good
I loved the paraffin treatment on my feet and hands. It was great.

CONS:

greeting from receptionist wasn't very understanding or forgiving
didn't feel welcomed or appreciated as a customer

Final Thoughts: I'll stick with my Bon qui qui nail salons and leave the swanky spas for those with more cash flow!

Moved by Music

2011-11-12T20:30:00.000-06:00

I'm getting a jump on my "thanks" for tomorrow. I was listening to our playlist for tomorrow and I was moved. We're singing Revelation Song. It is powerful but oh my gosh, I sat here and the tears just came, I mean like bitter beer face crying. I needed to hear and be reminded of the power that God truly has. I need to be reminded that He was and He is and He is to come. The "is to come" is the one that trips me up. I worry and I get anxious and I stress. This song was the perfect reminder with bitter beer face and all that HE IS TO COME with all power and glory and wisdom. And when I even type that, I think, "who the heck do I think I am?" Glad for the reminder as I sat in my room at my computer with hands lifted in the air singing at the top of my lungs tonight. It was definitely a moment!! (I was kind of surprised my kids didn't run in to tell me to turn it down.)

Thanks

2011-11-10T21:18:00.000-06:00

I decided to do a thanks a day during November. It's been really cool to reflect on all of the people that I am thankful for. I've been blessed.

As I was reading about the First Thanksgiving and why we celebrate that day, I was reminded that there are still people in our country who do not experience freedom and who are still oppressed. That makes me so sad. I want my kids to understand and appreciate what we have but I also want them to be moved to action to help the oppressed. I want to be a good example of that for my kids and I'm not sure I am. Definitely need to do some more thinking and "acting" in that area.

that's it!

HELLO?

2011-11-08T23:09:00.000-06:00

So, I was slightly offended (not really) when asked earlier this week if I was through with blogging. I guess by behavior, all signs lead to that conclusion but not in in my heart. I truly want to document and fill you all in ....because I know you are all so curious as to the happenings of my life. I realized though at times, my blogging desire borders on a strange desire to complain, fuss, vent on the world wide web. Although sometimes I find that appropriate, no with my motives or intentions. I'm trying to tame my tongue and more so, my thoughts. I've struggled the past month with negativity and criticism. I am reading a book called, The Dance of Anger. It is fabulous. I am trying to figure myself out which is not an easy task. I'm trying to figure out what is it in me that causes such a strong reaction of negativity to certain situations. I don't have many answers but at least I'm connecting some dots for myself.

In other news, this week is crazy. We've tried very successfully to reduce some schedule chaos. This week, however, is a chaotic schedule week. Monday night I had a Scentsy open house at a local high school, then an event at A's school. Tonight we had K's end of season soccer pics & party. Tomorrow night, we're going to celebrate Chick-fil-a's 5 year anniversary, Thursday, we've got a meeting, Friday, I have a Scentsy open house, Saturday we have a birthday party. Isn't that wack-a-doodle??!! My goal tomorrow is NOT to leave the house except to take & pick up A from school until dinner time. I'm so doing it;)

Alrighty, that's an update. You're all caught up on me!!!

The Wagon

2011-07-22T08:15:00.000-05:00

I can't seem to stay on it. I have jogged/walked 3 days this week so far and did some yoga one day. I've got to be consistent, that's so hard for me. I'm trying to eat better and I have done okay this week. It's a battle for me. I'm really trying to remind myself that this is for my health. UGH!!

In other news, I tried my hand at making pickles this week with my friend Lori. We had a lot of fun and they seem to have turned out pretty well. It reminded me of my friend Michelle in North Carolina. She was a master at canning, preserving, and just homemade stuff. She knew it all. We had so much fun with that.

That's all I've got today. It's only 8am and I might be ready for a nap.

Running

2011-07-19T08:32:00.000-05:00

So, I'm trying to be better to my body. We're trying to cut out all foods with high fructose corn syrup & hydrogenated oils....do you know that's in a lot of what I like??? I actually feel better eating this way but I'm still craving dr. pepper & diet coke. So, this week, in honor of my body, I started running again. And I use the word "running" very loosely. I think I'm going to have to start over with the couch to 5K program to build up my endurance. I'm not super happy about this change. I like to eat and not exercise BUT I also like to live and be healthy. I want my kids to see my being healthy too. They're worth it and so am I:)

2011-07-12T16:37:00.002-05:00

So, at Catalyst Church we're doing a series on Revelation. I have really enjoyed it. If you want to catch up, watch it here. It's been very thought provoking. A few weeks ago the phrase said was something like this, "We may not have what we want but God provides all we need." Honestly, I have really struggled with that ever since. A friend and I even had a conversation about it after church this last Sunday because it was so powerful for her. My initial reaction to that is, we don't always have what we need. There are Christ loving people who are hungry and poor and they don't have what they need. And I hear people, mostly Christians (I hate to say it), say things like, "I'm blessed with this money or this thing or this job." And I don't fault them for that but I'm just not sure how I feel about it. When we first moved here and had 2 house payments for 14 months. I was talking to some very well meaning people and they were talking about when they moved, their house sold in 2 weeks and how they felt so confirmed with their decision because God blessed them with a quick sell. It bugged me because God still blessed us even paying double house payments. We were taken care of but I when I say we were blessed I mean in our relationship with Him. We drew closer than we ever had before because we were so desperate for Him and HIS provision. And by provision, I don't mean money, I mean the provision that we were His. We even had the conversation so what if we foreclose...well what if we do? We're still His and He still loves us.

So, when I hear people say God blessed them with this or that and God provides their material needs, it bugs me. Sometimes, our basic needs are not provided for. Sometimes we're hungry and we're poor (truly). What I've come to learn that the phrase means that regardless of our earthly state, God provides what we need and what we need is totally Him. It isn't about our humanity, it's about our relationship with Him. That's still a hard concept for me.

Alright, that's my thought for today that started a few weeks ago...still working through that.

Well Hello there................

2011-07-12T16:35:00.002-05:00

I know I've been MIA for awhile. Summer has been awesome & crazy all at the same time. The kids and I spent two weeks in Florida. The first week, I was with my YoYos and the second week with family. It was absolutely incredible. I honestly had a really hard time coming back to reality. Whenever I'm with my family, it takes me a little bit to reacclimate to life. I get a bit resentful to be so far away and I kind of just want to stay in my shell and then I pop back out of it. I realize we are where we're supposed to be for now and that's okay with me. I still get sad leaving..it was quite painful for all 3 of us this time. This was K's first time to be so distraught about leaving Nana & Coachy. A & I always cry and carry on when it's time to say goodbye.

But, we're back and we've enjoyed June and some of July now. We stay busy with playdates and pools. I have really enjoyed all the time we've spent together as a family. Levi has been going to work SUPER early and getting a lot of his studying and prep work done before others are out and about. We've done a lot of fun, family stuff and it's been great.

I'll write more...I've got one more blog topic in my brain so I'm going to go with it while I'm thinking about it.

Birthday

2011-05-30T07:54:00.000-05:00

So...I had my birthday! It was lots of fun. I woke up that morning and my Dad called a few minutes later. I love that my parents try to call me FIRST thing in the morning on my birthday. Lots of times, they even wake me up since they're an hour earlier. I love that! Then, my mom called. That night, a friend kept our kids so we could go on a date. We went out to eat with Jonathan & Meagan, that's our birthday tradition now and then we went to see The Fast Five. GREAT movie by the way:) Then on Sat. morning, I went with April Wilson and we had manis & pedis. We even splurged & did the gel coated thing...so far I love that too. And then to top it off, last night we celebrated with the kiddos at Chilis with the Wilsons. What a great birthday weekend. Today we're cooking out with Xuan & Juan. It will be fabulous to catch up with them too. Guess we left the big guys out...sorry guys;)

Target, Oh how I have missed you!!

2011-05-26T22:07:00.000-05:00

I love Target, I mean LOVE it! I could go there probably every day (maybe every other) and just walk the aisles in search of nothing & everything at the same time. I caught myself up on my coupon notebook so I was ready to get some good deals. I didn't over due it. In fact, I only spent $12 but here's what I got::

6 sticks of men's deodorant
1 shampoo
1 conditioner
2 body washes
3/4 lb of deli ham
1 pint of coffee creamer
3 boxes of Morningside Prime Grillers
1 bottle of nail polish (electric blue)

Fun stuff!! I love me some Target coupons:)

Typical Pastor's Wife

2011-05-26T21:55:00.000-05:00

I read this blog today and it resonated with me. I thought I'd share it. You can find the original posting here.

Don't freak out....

2011-05-22T21:08:00.000-05:00

I'm blogging, don't freak out. It's been almost a month. I've been busy and overwhelmed and anxious...forgive me for not blogging. I'm not even going to try to catch you up on the last month of my life. I'll just start here.

Today is Sunday. Sundays are big days in our household. We all look forward to them, which is cool. My kids love Sundays, they get to see their friends, and go out to lunch with them. I love that they love Sundays. I love them too. I love to see what Levi has to say. I love the music. I love hugging all my friends and meeting new people. I love hearing stories about how people end up at Catalyst. That's probably my favorite actually. Today, I talked to a couple of guys that have been coming for a few weeks but I haven't had the chance to really meet them. One of them shared how he found Catalyst and that he loved how laid back we are. I love getting positive feedback.

Today Levi preached on a passage of scripture that has been used out of context. It was really good. His point today was that how we live our lives matters. It kind of hit me between the eyes. I want my life to matter and I want my life to point back to God's grace and forgiveness and mercy. I don't think it always does and I'm ashamed of that. Sometimes it's hard to balance that with human emotions and feelings. I'm going to work on that.

We had two neighbors who showed up at church today...that was very cool. We've become friends with some alley neighbors over the past few weeks. While I was at a shower yesterday, Levi took the kids over to play in their yard. Come to find out, A invited them to church and they came. I'm not sure if they'll come back or how they even felt about it but I am stinkin' proud of A for telling others about our church. We have another neighbor who just moved in a month or so ago and while we were rebuilding our fence, we talked to him for a good bit. He was asking questions about the area and other things and church came up. Levi was telling him about all the great churches in the area. He showed up this morning too....and tonight for our Night of Worship. It was very cool!!

We ended our night with a group of friends at Sonic. I feel very blessed and grateful!! Thankful for that!!

Sheesh

2011-04-26T22:59:00.000-05:00

I've been absent from my blog lately....sorry, life has been crazy...that's kind of the norm around here and I usually cope pretty well. We're all doing great just got lots happening. I did want to pop in for a second and catch up. We had a fabulous Easter. The Booth's invited us over and we spent Easter afternoon and evening with them playing games, eating, and hunting Easter eggs. Lots of fun to be had by all. I told them when we left how much it means to us to be with a family on holidays...it makes it easier to be away from our family. I appreciate people thinking about us during the holidays, that's really thoughtful of them. Okay, that's all the nice things I"m saying about Doug Booth...I"ll continue about Lori...I'm teasing.

Last night, we celebrated Sprangs 31st birthday. We had a lot of fun. I'm really thankful for him. He's like a brother to Levi and that means so much to me too. We ate at a Japanese hibachi grill place and the kiddos loved that! Then we chilled at sbux and caught up with them. It was nice!!

This weekend, they are keeping our kids and we are using our 3 year old pastor appreciation gift certificates to a bed and breakfast. We're looking forward to a great time of resting and relaxing. Can't wait!!

That's about all the interesting-ness of my life. Thanks for reading.

A pic

2011-04-22T22:09:00.000-05:00

just because it's been forever since I've posted one.

Blessed

2011-04-17T20:55:00.000-05:00

Can I just say that the highlight of my Sunday is standing outside the front doors of Catalyst talking to our people?!! It is, I love it. It is brief (for the most part) but I love touching base. So, here are what some of my conversations were today....
"So, your Mom made it to New York,"...while this little girl gives me the best hug ever!!
"Let me see your tattoo....LOVE IT." The tat said "And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us."
"How's the campaigning going?"
"How is your mom doing? She's living with you full time now."
"It's so good to see you, I know you have a lot of family stuff going on. So glad you're here."
And then I hear Levi talking to others about goatees and other manly stuff.

And then I hear stories about the kids at our church and how they LOVE the LAB. I realized today how very blessed we are (Levi & I) and how blessed Catalyst is to have the volunteers we have that give of their time every week or once a month to serve others. It's amazing. I don't ever want to take that for granted. Sometimes I think of this as a job and it is but it is so much more than that and today I am so grateful for it.

We ended our night at Yogurtland and letting the kids play in the park while Levi and Blain threw a frisbee and while Connie, Sheila, and I talked it was a wonderful. We truly are blessed!!

I love my C Group

2011-04-13T21:40:00.001-05:00

Okay so I'm going to be honest here, a few weeks ago, I had the wind knocked out of my sails and being the re-run queen....it's kind of bugged me ever since....lesser degrees everyday which is a good thing. I tend to harbor and then get angry and then feel sorry ; wash and repeat. I'm also a blamer kind of person. If there is someone to blame then it makes sense to me but if there is injustice involved, wash & repeat...definitely a character flaw of mine. I also realize that when I experience hurt I put my arms up to keep myself guarded, not only from the perpetrator but to everyone. I kind of go into a little shell until I talk myself out;) That sounds a lot more dramatic than it is....if you know me, I'm an open book and even at arm's length, you're pretty close:) Anyway, tonight was c group. The dvd we watched was called "Corner." It talked about how we all have something that is our overflow that is someone else's necessity. We talked about grace and how grace isn't fair, liberation isn't fair, God isn't fair. We do questions at the end. Rewind, we were 3 or 4 couples short tonight and I was kind of bummed BUT OH MY LANDS...I could have stayed in my living room with those other 10 people for hours. It was a great conversation. We had people open up about past hurts and how God has extended grace in those situations even through the unfairness of it. I was able to share and be honest about my patterns of behavior and how I was feeling. I love that I can be me. That I can say I struggle with being critical and equity and injustice and that I act like a jerk at times and don't feel judged. I love that.

Even after the "official" time was over, we sat there and continued to talk in mini groups...I mean really talk and share. It wasn't shallow or superficial, it was relational struggles and parenting hurts, I almost got teary eyed just watching it happen. One of the guys that shared tonight made the statement while looking around our living room, "God gave me this family." We are family, we are the body of Christ and it is so cool when it all works together to support and listen and love.

Sometimes it's weird balancing being the pastor's wife with my friends but I wouldn't want to be anywhere else doing anything else....that's big for me!!

random

2011-04-13T09:39:00.000-05:00

So yesterday, we were doing our Bible lesson at school and I was listening to my friend tell the story of Jesus being beat and whipped. I got teary eyed. It made me so sad that He endured that pain. I listened as she told the kids that He did that for us. I am so grateful for that sacrifice. I can't imagine being Mary and knowing that her son was going to endure so much pain. As a human and a mom, I couldn't do that. And then I think about God watching, powerful enough to stop it but letting Jesus be our sacrifice. It breaks my heart.

Weekend

2011-04-11T19:59:00.000-05:00

This weekend was lots of fun. Levi took Friday off and we really enjoyed it. We were very productive which also feels GREAT!! Saturday was fun filled. We had a soccer game, then a community fishing activity, then a birthday party with a petting zoo. We ended out night at Chickfila. While the kids and I were gone, Levi organized the garage and straightened it. Sunday was church and on the mornings I sing, it's kind of crazy. Feels a little like a whirlwind. Lunch with friends and then Levi flew out to St. Louis for his stepgrandmother's funeral. I had my first Scentsy party and it was a hit. I had fun and sold a good amount. Today, we didn't have school so we just ran a lot of errands to get ready for another jam packed week.

Scentsy

2011-04-08T20:59:00.001-05:00

Hey peeps...okay I'm putting a plug in for my Scentsy stuff.... Mother's Day is coming up and there are some super cute warmers & wonderful flavors. They would make a wonderful gift for that special woman!! Go to my website if you're interested!! FYI...we can ship it straight to your mom...shipping is usually right around $5 extra;)

Day Off

2011-04-08T20:56:00.000-05:00

Levi took today off and we had such a great day. We were very productive but balanced that with fun and it was great. I really missed Adster today. It's not the same without her. I almost feel guilty doing fun things without her. I have to remember, she had LOTS of fun Daddy/Addy dates before K Man knew what was going on...or cared:) Thankful for my family and our time together!!

New Life

2011-04-04T20:05:00.000-05:00

Okay so we have...correction....our church has been on a baby making roll....oh my lands, seriously, like 12 or so and another due this summer. It's been crazy and wonderful. I LOVE going to the hospital and holding the babies. I don't know if it reminds me of the 2 most life changing moments in my life when I gave birth to my own kids or what but I love it. So, today, I got to do that for Baby Adrian. Let me tell you, what a sweetie!! I had to share!

I also like the thought of new life. I love the freshness that a baby brings (ha). There's a joy and passion and intensity that I experienced as a new parent that I never knew existed as well as a depth of love that I never before understood. It was a spiritual experience for me. I love the perfection of newborns, even if they're not perfect. That 2 human beings can create a new life is amazing to me, absolutely amazing. So much in life is petty and I waste way too much time overthinking, worrying, controlling, planning, fussing, etc. It gives perspective to sit in a hospital room with 2 new parents and relive those moments of pure joy and the surrealness of it all. It definitely gives perspective.

So tonight, here's to my two angel babies!! I am so stinkin' proud to be your MOM!!

Update

2011-04-03T21:45:00.000-05:00

We had a great day today. Really, a great weekend. I love it when we don't have a whole lot planned and we can just relax. This afternoon, the kids and I finished Tangled and then we had a no electricity afternoon. They drew and colored, and just played together. It was really nice! Levi went biking with Blain...it was a win win for everyone.

Levi and I just had a conversation about prevenient grace. It really intrigues me. Basically it means grace that goes before our human decision. What that means to me is that God is pursuing me before I know it or before I want it. I love that. I'm thankful that He loves me where I am without "cleaning" up.

Love it!!

Okay so this is a random post so while I'm at it...I'll post my menu too:)

Monday: Levi has a meeting; Malibu Chicken & veggies

Tuesday: Soccer practice: Lemon & Lager Chicken, corn, & rice

Wednesday: C Group: Pecan Crusted Chicken, veggies, & orzo

Thursday: Grilled chicken, corn, green beans

Friday: not sure

I'm trying to do better about eating at home....such a healthier alternative (and cheaper) :)

Have a great week!

My Boys

2011-04-01T11:07:00.000-05:00

K man and I dropped A off at school and headed up to do some work at church. We decided to drop in on Daddy at Sbux and enjoy an iced coffee with him. Now, back to the grind, paying bills, completing jury duty paperwork, and procrastinating on laundry. It will all be done and put away by tonight...ugh! Ready for a laid back weekend enjoying the weather and being together. Lots to be thankful for today. Have a great weekend!