Day to Day

Stylish Baby

My organic produce delivery from a local farm. Waiting on my doorstep!

The goods!

Surprise visit from Aunt Ruthie!

Super Mario Bros cookies

Refreshing salad for lunch

Making lemon-lime-orange-ade!

Fresh flowers on the table

Gifts 645-670

Baby, sitting at my feet

Reading stories right after nap time

Watching Daughter grow up a little bit...putting away ALL her own laundry!

Catching up on mending

An empty hamper

My favorite song coming on the radio

Imagining the words

Feeling the earth shake

Hosanna

explaining heaven to Daughter and Son

Assuring them their blankies will be there ;)

praying for Hubby

selflessness

revivals...personal

brokenness

baby powder getting sand off tiny toes!

days at the beach

guest posting for a friend :)

Broken hearts for Jesus to heal

Yard sales

sorting socks

vitamin C

Ladybug in the house

Photo projects
writer's block

FB Break

I did it.

I finally did it. 

After a ridiculous amount of time always thinking about it.

After feeling really convicted to do it on multiple occasions.

After being encouraged and inspired by seeing other people do it.

After hearing Jesus tell me I should do it.

I did it.

I suspended my Facebook account.

I decided to take this week off and see how it goes.

See what I can accomplish.

What God can teach me.

Show me.

How He can use me.

I'm already up a couple extra loads of laundry, a couple real life phone calls, some good play time with my kiddos and a lovely morning garage sale with Hubby.

I know it sounds silly, but sometimes, okay a LOT of the time, Facebook (and other things too) get in my way.

Well, maybe they get in God's way.

Maybe I let them get in God's way.

I always find myself meandering over to check FB whenever there's a little lull in my day. What if I replaced each of those check-in's with something as simple as taking a picture. Or reading a story to my kids. Or dusting something. Or folding some more laundry. Or mending something in my huge heap of "to-mend." Or...what if I took it a step further and called someone just to see how they were doing? Or if, during each of those little lulls in my day I sat down and jotted a little note to say hello to someone and dropped it in the mail? Okay...now a few steps deeper...what if during those two and three minute lulls, instead of checking FB, I closed my eyes and prayed for someone? What if I prayed for Hubby? Wow...I wonder what I could do with all those little tiny lulls? Actually I wonder what GOD could do with all those lulls?

I always find myself explaining away FB...yes it really DOES have advantages and values. That's why I don't know yet if this break will be just this week or more. But in the back of my mind while I'm explaining that sometimes when I have five minutes of quiet time, I want to just sit and do something mindless...check and see how everyone's doing, tag a photo, comment on a status, something for ME. It's my "me-time." But so is blogging. And so are girls' nights. And so is reading. And so are the phone calls with a couple close friends. really, how much "me-time" do I need? I wonder if Jesus ever put his hands up and said "You know what God, Disciples, folks waiting for miracles, I need five minutes. I need a little 'ME-time.'" 

HA! It sounds a little ridiculous.

He did take breaks from the crowds...he did go off by himself and ask everyone to give Him a minute, but it wasn't for ME-time. It wasn't mindless. It was time He spent in earnest communion with His Father. 

UGH...why do I struggle so hard with this? I constantly say I want to be more like HIM, but when it comes to these little things I find myself justifying in ways... "Well, Jesus was frickin' perfect. OF COURSE He didn't need "me-time." I, on the other hand am just a human...and He knows that. He doesn't expect me to be able to go all day without a break." 

Well no, of course He doesn't...but does He expect me to turn to HIM when I need a break...a pick-me-up, a refresher? If I'm being as honest as I know how, yes, probably. 

"Well Jesus and God had a lot to discuss...after all Jesus was about to die for all of humanity. I'm just talking dishes and diapers here. How much can I possibly run to GOD about?"

Incredibly, I think He cares about dishes and diapers! The same way I care about the dumb little dollar tree doll's arm that broke and I fixed right away. I always seem to forget I am His Daughter!! The apple of His eye! He is dying, literally dying, to spend time with me! To commune with me! He wants to know my heart...well, He knows it, but He wants me to share it with Him and to know His. I am so far depraved it's a joke. And yet still, He begs me to come and just sit at His feet and BE with Him. The way I plead with my babies to cuddle just a minute more.

How could I so mindlessly just put my hand up and tell GOD, Father, Jesus, Savior..."I'll be with you in just one more second...let me just check this one last thing..."

I am trying desperately to live more intentionally. I want to be in each moment and know that I am in each moment. To savor it, to appreciate it. I want the things I do to be done with a purpose...hopefully an eternal one, more often than not. It's not easy, and with the mounds of distractions around me, it's even more difficult. I am an easily distracted person. 

So I have felt called to suspend FB for a week. I just want to see how it goes and see how I feel and what I feel from God at the end of the week. I don't think that FB is wrong and definitely not everyone needs to delete their account. But it is something to think about, at least for me. So pray for me this week and wish me luck! ;)

Dinner at 8

I was reading another blog and she and a friend came up with this great idea to consistently plan date nights at home for their hubby's. Every other week, they are making some sort of nice dinner or dessert or whatever suits their fancy and scheduling a date night in at 8. How cute?! I think I am going to give this a try! We do date nights in all the time, but they are always just casual, hanging out, impromptu. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but how much more intentional is it to schedule an evening, get the kids to bed, get spruced up, set the table and have a lovely evening together? Go check out their ideas here and keep your eyes peeled for my own Dinner at 8 posts. ;)

Blueberries!!

In June, we were lucky to have my mom visit from Oklahoma. She was here for a week and we were her only plans! It was so fun and so nice to spend so much time with her!

One of the days, we decided to head to the local blueberry farm and do some picking! We had a great time and definitely enjoyed the fruit of our labor. There is NOTHING like blueberries, right off the bush, warm in the sun. YUM!