SomeGirlsWebsite

To My Fellow People-Pleasers

2012-05-17T17:20:45Z

(written to myself after a conversation with a neighbor this morning… hopefully it’s helpful to someone else, as well.) :)

What are you so afraid of that you spend your time worrying what others think?

If you’ve made a mistake, correct it.

If you’ve done something wrong, apologize.

If it’s just a personal preference, it’s okay to let someone be displeased with your choice.

Don’t let fear rule your life.

For God did not give you a Spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart and the joy of the Lord be your strength.

Let your mind trust in Him.

He is good and His love endures forever.

What have you to be afraid of?

Something to think about.

For God did not give us a Spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control. 2 Timothy 1:7 NET

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Colossians 3:15

The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song. Psalm 28:7 NIV

Linking up with:

If you’re just tuning in, our thought-provoking link up has moved locations. It’s now being hosted by my sweet friend, Michelle, at intentional.me. Read why here.

A Sweet Devotional for Moms

2012-05-12T02:50:50Z

Just in time for Mother’s Day (or at least in time for you to still feel good about making an extra purchase because it’s Mother’s Day weekend and, hey, you deserve it!). ;)

Let me introduce you to a sweet devotional tool for moms and an even sweeter blogging friend who created this lovely product – Meet Carey Bailey and hear how she fills her “cravings” in this super cute (and short) video…

I don’t know about you, but I can totally relate to Carey and the other moms in that video! And this quote from Carey…

“When I became a mom I lost my God time,” says Carey Bailey. “I couldn’t figure out how to fit it in, since everything but that time was a priority. So I made note cards that I set around my house with scriptures written on them. Even when my arms were too full of babies, laundry, and diapers to pick up a Bible, I could easily read God’s words of encouragement that I was starving for”

Time with little ones moves at warp speed and sitting still with uninterrupted concentration for very long is a rare occurrence.

This is where Carey’s Cravings {the devotional} comes in…

Cravings is a collection of card-size devotionals based on the Psalms. They are written to help mothers develop their relationship with God in the midst of motherhood.

Each card contains a scripture for the day, a “thoughtlet,” and an action idea. As moms crave the sweet morsels from God’s Word, they can draw a card from a delectable Cravings holder—a pink cupcake!—that also displays the daily card for hands-free viewing. Versatile enough to fit with any feminine décor in a dining nook, a prayer closet, a kitchen–wherever you‘d want Scripture at your fingertips. If you find you need Cravings around the home, just one may not be enough!

Cravings can be a mom’s daily devotional, a supplement to her regular quiet time, or even doubled up during the day. The set of 40 cards offers over a month’s worth of Cravings in whatever way serves the spiritual needs of individual moms.

Isn’t that a great idea? And isn’t the whole cupcake holder and cards adorable? I have mine sitting on our breakfast table where I can easily grab a card to read with a cup of tea (ok, really an ice cold coke, but a cup of tea sounds so much more sophisticated). ;)

Because it’s always nice to know a little more about the people behind the products, I thought I’d share a little bit more about the super sweet creator of Cravings {the devotional}…

Carey Bailey is a recovering perfectionist, wife, proud mama and Family Life director for her church in Surprise, Ariz. On the side she loves party planning, crafting, and pursuing her dream of writing. She has a degree in religion from Westminster College and writes at her blog at www.careybaileyonline.com.

I’m so thankful Carey offered me a Cravings cupcake set to try out for myself. And I’m glad to have the opportunity to share this great product with you. Btw, Carey is giving away 2 sets of Cravings, as well as a few other cool things mentioned below in her Minute-for-Mom giveaway…

One grand prize winner will receive:

$50 gift card to Erin Condren Shop (Your one-stop-shop for all things awesome!)
$50 gift card to Victoria’s Secret® (For something pretty.)
$25 gift card to Bath & Body Works® (For a little spa treatment.)
2 Sets of Cravings – The Devotional (For you and a friend.)
Scentsy Plug In and 2 Bars (A lovely scent for your space.)

Hurry, the giveaway ends on THIS Saturday 5/12/12. The winner will be announced 5/14/12 on Carey’s blog!

Just click one of the icons below to enter! Tell your friends about Carey’s giveaway on FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning.

I hope you’ll take a moment to enter. Hopefully you’ll win! If you don’t, you can always purchase Cravings – The Devotion here. :)

Life. Under Construction

2012-05-10T15:37:04Z

After a week of soul searching, praying and trying really hard to figure out “what’s wrong with me?!” God spoke deeply into my heart at this intersection…

All around our city roads are under construction.

Even the highways surrounding our city are all under construction… BIG construction.

There is hardly anywhere you can go without being detoured, or made to slow down because of the demolition and re-building taking place.

I’ve driven alongside barricades, with shoulders raised, as roads turn in unexpected ways, changing directions weekly.

I’ve heeded the 20 mph warning signs, as my mind has raced in a hurry to make it to our destination.

I’ve detoured, sought new routes, watched construction equipment, and waited…

I’ve spent a good amount of time thinking about how this state of being “under construction” has inconvenienced me, gotten in the way of my plans, and generally made life more stressful/difficult.

But, until this morning, I hadn’t thought much about the future outcome…

The roads are being prepared for growth.

New ones are being made and old ones are being made new.

The former state of being wasn’t sufficient for the travel to come.

But the new state will be able to hold so much more.

Each road is being built and designed by a master builder, one who can see the whole plan and knows what lies ahead.

All of the roads are being constructed for the betterment of everyone involved.

And then, I am soberly reminded of the construction going on in my heart.

The inconvenient, ugly, dirty, brokenness that has been brought to light in my heart’s eyes.

I’ve looked at it with disgust and complained about its presence.

But never once have I thought about it being a plan by the Master Builder to prepare the way in my life for more of what He has to come…

Nope, I’ve wallowed in the shame of my brokenness, wishing I was made whole as I used to be, not seeing the wonderful work God is doing while breaking my hard ground.

And now, with new eyes that drip tears down warm cheeks, I see God’s hand at work and rest in the fact that this current state of my heart isn’t here to stay. I’m just… Under Construction.

Something I’m thinking about.

Linking up with:

If you’re just tuning in, our thought-provoking link up has moved locations. It’s now being hosted by my sweet friend, Michelle, at intentional.me. Read why here.

Break My Heart

2012-05-10T15:02:50Z

Praying God will break my heart for what breaks His.

It’s a scary prayer to pray, but will you join me?

Something to think about.

Linking up with:

If you’re just tuning in, our thought-provoking link up has moved locations. It’s now being hosted by my sweet friend, Michelle, at intentional.me. Read why here.

God’s Approving Love

2012-04-26T05:07:04Z

If I can care so much about chicks, and pups, and little boys that run amok…

If I can see that God created them for a purpose and that He loves them with an all-encompassing love.

Accepted just as they are.

Knowing that God looks upon them and smiles.

Then I have to scratch my head and wonder why a little tea bag tag like this…

with the words “approve of yourself” written across the bottom, could be so hard to read and swallow?

If you’re with me, I pray that today will be a life-changing day.

One where the knowledge of God’s approval sinks way down deep into the core of our being.

May we rest in His approving love!

Something to think (and pray) about.

Love,

♥ Michelle (aka SomeGirl)

Linking up with:

If you’re just tuning in, our thought-provoking link up has moved locations. It’s now being hosted by my sweet friend, Michelle, at intentional.me. Read why here.

Exciting and Intentional Changes coming to Thought Provoking Thursday

2012-04-20T17:41:29Z

As you’ve probably noticed I’ve not been very intentional with Thought-Provoking Thursday lately. I’ve been so busy with our chickens, puppy, and boys that blogging has taken a back seat and I’ve forgotten to post on Thursdays the past two weeks. I’m terribly sorry for that. I LOVE Thursdays around here and adore the community that is being built as we all gather together to encourage, inspire, challenge and provoke thoughts!

Because I’ve been so absent minded in this area and I foresee life getting busier and busier as we start a swim team for my oldest, move to 5 days a week of cognitive therapy, and move my littlest one into kindergarten homeschool (not to mention our little mini-homestead that’s developing into much more than I ever would have expected)…

I’ve made a prayerful and exciting decision to not let Thought-Provoking Thursday fall to the way side, but to be even more intentional with it by asking one of my dearest and most like-minded/hearted friends to take the reigns.

Let me introduce (or if you’ve been around here for long, re-introduce) you to one of my DEAREST friends… Michelle (or Shell) of Intentional.me (Don’t you LOVE her blog name? Who doesn’t want to be an Intentional Me?! (not me, me but you, me) ;)

Michelle and I met one snowy day in March 4 years ago (2008)…

We had just moved into our house 3 months earlier and she had moved into hers across the street a few months before that. I was elated when I saw a mom and a boy near my oldest one’s age out building a snowman! We made our way over to introduce ourselves and found out she had another little boy near the age of my youngest son… double bonus! I can’t believe they were this little back then…

Over the past four years we’ve had lots of adventures. We’ve taken our boy crew to do so many different things…

We’ve sat in our yards a gazillion times, talked deep spiritual and light-hearted-anything talks, and watched our boys have a blast getting wet and messy… so messy!

Michelle and I both share a great love of life, laughter, photography, d0-gooding…

And she’s made me think a TON of times. She’s inspired me to be a better person and to say, “Goodbye,” to car loads worth of junk; passing it on to others who might have a need.

I’m sure you can see why she is a natural choice as a person to pass on the baton of Thought-Provoking Thursday. (hmmm… not sure about the grammar of that sentence, but I didn’t want to end it with a preposition.) ;)

And, to make it all even more exciting, after our trip to Relevant together (where the Lord spoke mightily to us through some amazing Christian women bloggers)…

and after some time in prayer and a spiritual exercise through Lent, Michelle has launched a wonderful new focus for her blog, Intentional.Me. And I can’t help but think the timing of this switch is God ordained!

I know you’re going to LOVE her and the link up at her site just as much as I do! I can’t wait to be a part of our Thought-Provoking Thursday community over there! I hope you’ll join us there this coming Thursday!

Love,

♥ Michelle (aka SomeGirl)

Btw, I will still be here sharing thoughts and pictures as time allows, but I’ll have no set themes for awhile. Just random, hopefully encouraging, thoughts that come to mind, as well as, ways that you and I can fraddle for those we love. And, I’m sure to join in the fun by linking up with thought-provoking Thursday over at Intentional.Me on a hopefully regular basis. :)

PS. Can you believe Michelle made that CUTE Angry Bird costume up above?? LOVE it!

If Someone Had Told Me… (thought-provoking Thursday)

2012-04-19T18:08:27Z

If someone had told me five years ago that…

I’d homeschool,

Be gluten free and dairy free (and make bread from scratch – which was not so pretty, but very tasty),

Have my own blueberry, blackberry, and strawberry plants (which will hopefully live and produce fruit),

That I’d cover a lovely black wrought iron fence with chicken wire,

Have a puppy,

and seven chickens…

I’d have said they were CRaZY!!

Yet, I’m so thankful for exactly how my life has turned out so far.

(And I’m glad to have a new card for my Rebel so I can start taking pictures again!)

How is your life different than you would have expected five years ago?

Something to think about.

Ooops!

2012-04-13T03:37:02Z

Oh my! I totally forgot it was Thursday!!

So sorry about missing thought-provoking Thursday this week! I’m not intentionally taking a break from that… oops!

(Guess my body’s not the only thing tired from our time at the Great Wolf lodge… seems like my mind’s worn out, too.)

Some pictures of our celebration, if you’d like to see them. :)

Photography Wednesdays On Hold

2012-04-11T12:22:02Z

I’m out with my family celebrating my littlest one’s 5th Birthday today… Boy, how time flies!

We’re going to a cool hotel in a town nearby that has fun cabin style decor, bunk beds, and an amazing indoor waterpark!

The boys are SUPER excited! I’m sure I’ll be instagramming tons of photos! (username: @somegirlslife)

As I’ve been preparing for our littlest one’s big day (making gluten free, dairy free, red velvet cake using beets for my little red power ranger – I impressed myself) I’ve come to a realization and need to make a brief announcement…

Because life has gotten busier and busier (with homeschool, cognitive therapy, chicken raising, swimming lessons, GFDFSF cookbook writing – I’ll tell you more about that soon!), I’ve decided to put Photography Wednesdays on hold for a bit. Once things settle down I’ll be back to share what I learn.

Thank you for understanding! I hope to have more time to share tips and tutorials soon!

Love,

Michelle (aka SomeGirl)

Joy and Peace

2012-04-06T16:15:14Z

May you find great joy and peace in the remembrance of what our Lord Jesus Christ did for us on that first Good Friday.

SomeGirlsWebsite

To My Fellow People-Pleasers

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