Seven

Recently, I have found some time to re-visit an old love of mine...reading!! It has been so marvelous and I am thankful each book has been both engaging and entertaining.There is one though that has made a larger impact than I expected. 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess has challenged me to think even more deeply about some of the issues I set out to tackle this year. I can't NOT do something with what I have read now, but I feel stuck now on how to proceed.

The problem with this kind of a book is that it can be hard to process alone. And it can also be hard to process without jumping in at some point and making some big or small changes in life. As I have thought through how some of these ideas fit into our family and our little world, I have struggled with where to begin. I love how the challenges presented can be tweaked and changed according to what God is teaching an individual personally...but what I really love is how the author had a support group of people who were walking through some of the same challenges. I would love my husband to read this with me...so we could make a plan together with how to walk through some of this. But at this point, I at least feel like I need to read through it again...but maybe more slowly and as I finish each chapter to right down some of the ideas I have about how to incorporate more time for God and family and less striving to keep up with the world.

If you are looking to be challenged and to think differently about greed, materialism, and overindulgence and how it affects us as individuals and families, I highly recommend picking this one up. 

5 out of 5 Stars

MIA

It's been quiet around these parts for awhile now...I have wanted to write, but haven't had the energy.



You see, morning, afternoon, and evening sickness took over at the beginning of the year and my ability to get anything done kind of just diminished. And now, right when I feel like I am coming out of the first trimester fog, I am hit with possible kidney stones or gall stones...it just keeps gettin' better and better. Good thing it's worth it for a sweet new bundle of joy!!

We are all very excited! :)

In the Morning...

Psalm 5:3
In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice;
   in the morning I lay my requests before you
   and wait expectantly.

 Psalm 59:16
But I will sing of your strength,
   in the morning I will sing of your love;
for you are my fortress,
   my refuge in times of trouble.

Psalm 90:14
Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
   that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

Psalm 143:8
Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
   for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
   for to you I entrust my life.

Lamentations 3:22-23
It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed,
because his compassions fail not.  They are new every morning:
great is thy faithfulness.

thirty :: thirty days of thanks :: sigh...

Welcome to day thirty...oh, wait...what happened to days fourteen through twenty-nine you ask?? Well, they were filled with sleep deprivation, sick kiddo, sick husband, semi-sick mama, Thanksgiving holiday (where I was so out of it I forgot to put sugar in the pumpkin pie!! gasp!), and a plethora of other "life" issues that seemed to all come at once. Isn't that the way it goes? I truly did think about what I was thankful for everyday -- I kind of needed it to make it through, but the whole making it to the computer to type it up just wasn't gonna happen. But you know what? I'm okay with that. Grace, right? It's okay to "fail" -- not that not blogging is failing, but you know what I mean -- not being able to follow through with something you have set out to accomplish. Life happens and life is definitely something to be thankful for!! With all its hiccups and uncontrollable circumstances, I am thankful that I am living and breathing!!

So while I did have the crazy idea to attempt to backtrack and post my thankfulness from the missed days. I am leaving it be. (Big step.) Letting go and moving on. Because truthfully, I would much rather spend my time sharing about how my little girl did her first somersault tonight...and how she is loving the color pink right now, how new words keep coming out of her mouth quicker than I can keep track and how no matter if it is a sick day or a well day, if it is a cold day or a hot day...no matter what the day, she *must* wear this crown. ha ha! (Good thing I just bought her a brand new custom one for her birthday in January!!)



I hope everyone else had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday and you were able to spend it with family and friends, and hopefully able to give some thanks for something in your life right now. :)

thirteen :: thirty days of thanks :: peaceful sundays

Sometimes I feel like it is always, go, go, go around here...even when we aren't actually going somewhere there's just so much to do. Today was different. It was restful, it was peaceful.

There was a little bit of this...


And a little bit of that...


And not a whole lot of anything else. It was awesome. :)