Wanna go with?

This afternoon I was catching 30 minutes of "Design on a Dime" on HGTV, half watching, half dozing, half wanting to eat chocolate but too lazy to get up and find some... when, all of the sudden a commerical came on. Not your normal house cleaning products, car salesman or diaper commericals...but one that mentioned God and then showed pictures of people I really do enjoy.
(Aka: Nicole C. Mullen, Lisa Whelchel and Nicole Johnson)

The more attention I paid to it - I realized it said this conference was coming to our very own Des Moines, IA. Wait! I live here now... I could actually GO to this!

So, who wants to go with? No, really... anyone remotely interested?
{click the pic for info}

If you can't beat 'em...

While most of the North East and East Coast look like this...

We seem to be enjoying a gorgeous blue-sky day, similar to this...
only...hold the mountains. ;)

I gotta admit...NOT missing PA today. Because according to the news this morning, they are right in that "additional 10-16in" zone for the afternoon forecast.

My daughter thinks the snow is awesome.
She loves walking on it, staring at it, eating it, smelling it, yelling at it...
And every time I am attempting to load her into the car she attempts to squirm away and run to the nearest snow bank.
And, let me remind those of you not living near....
there are more then enough snow banks to choose from.
I don't cave and let her wriggle free.
It's cold, she's usually snotty faced anyway, and... just, ugh, messy.
However - today, I let her go.
The church parking lot was empty and mounds of snow were abounding...
just waiting for a little girl in a puffy, yellow, marshmallow coat to climb them.
I put her down and she tried to run as fast as she could.
Then...stopped.
She just wanted a look.
A peek for herself.
So, I trotted after her and scooped her up and we pointed to the sun -
then we pointed to the snow and talked about it.

If you can't beat 'em....
Join 'em. :)

Happy Thoughts

Life has been heavy the last few days. And, I know and accept that life won't always be peaches n' cream (did I really just say that?), but, emotionally... life has been draining lately. We celebrated the heaven-going of a brother in the Lord, have had some heavy hearts for teens making dumb choices, and just... ya know, life things. Freezing cold and snow also weigh us down a bit, I'm afraid. We are such conditional people, aren't we? Thanks be to God that in these "Valley Days" of life we grow and are shaped to be more like our Father! Even bad weather can shape us, as I'm reminded everytime I check my attitude at the door...literally.

I've taken a few days away from the blogger world 1) because I was literally an emotional basket case over this whole death situation... 2) I've been battling with negativity and had nothing positive or helpful to share... 3) well, I can't remember what was three was. Anyway, NUFF of that - {and please don't think I only read positive, sugar sweet blog posts... if you've read any of my blog you know that!} today I would like to share a few "Happy Thoughts" with you. Things that have brought joy to my days during some hard times.

Here is my girl and her new obsession - taking care of "babies". Because she is soooo grown up now. {wink, wink} When I worked in the nursery two weeks ago, she came with me and helped take care of some adorable twin brothers. She read to them for quite a while... nevermind that they weren't paying attention for the most part. She melts me. Times like these remind me just how much she IS watching me. Where else did she learn to "Share" her book like this?!

Also... I love coming downstairs and seeing these two playing so well together. She adores daddy, and apparently, the laundry basket. These two make me very happy. I love learning life with them. I love having just the three of us home together at night. I love snowy nights where everything is cancelled and we end up playing with a laundry-basket-filled with-baby for an hour :) (and it doesn't get old)

Remember that $3 vase I found at TJ MAXX last week? Well, I found something to put in it that I already owned (from our wedding...I knew those would come in handy)! After a few minutes of scavenging through the basement... I came up with these cheerful lil' things! It brightens up the dining room and just makes me happy and hopeful that soon enough Spring will come! And, if you see that little polka dotted package behind it...that's Brad's V-day gift. It was under $4 and something he will LOVE. (pssst...it's french press coffee...specially made for the french press....that I found on sale at Target. This will accompany a home made coupon valid for 1 new french press as soon as we find a good one. Did I mention this was Starbucks, too?! )

I'm also LOVING this Scentsy, from my Sister in Law, that I got for Christmas. It came with three scent packs: Pumpkin Pie, Apple Pie Spice and Mochadoodle. Yep, you heard right...Mochadoodle. The thing plugs in and is warmed by a bulb rather then a flame - so it can burn all day and keep our home smelling wonderful. And, you remember my obsession with scents, right?! Today I'm melting Apple Pie Spice and loving it. I'm also a huge fan of the design.... and so thankful for a super thoughtful sis-in-law!

Before you think I'm totally materialistic and I only find my joy in stuff (which, let's admit, there is joy in those things...just not lasting joy)...let me share my last two "springs" of joy lately. They come in the form of God's word/bible study books. My friend, Jessie, has been working through "Idols of The Heart" with me, by Elyse Fitzpatrick. The subtitle is "learning to long for God alone"....wow. We are only on chapter 3 - but the first two chapters have already been super convicting and just really good, deep, thoughts. I know in my life I seem to long for everything else - even service to my God - rather then my God. Does that make sense?! That's what we worked on this morning... something I've heard called, "the Martha syndrome", getting so caught up in the actions of serving/worship and not stopping to actually BE WITH God. We also talked about things that can "split" our love....kids, hubby, home, etc. I have so much to learn and am so thankful for a friend who is walking through this book with me. Although only on Ch. 3 - I totally recommend it. And, would def say...go through it with a friend. I'm learning even more from hearing another "Sisters" point of view, that I would not have gotten by just reading it alone.

Book #2 is - "Redefining Beautiful" by Jenna Lucado. This book is written for teen girls and comes from the angle of viewing God the way you do due to how you view your earthly daddy. It's a cute read so far. She's not super deep, but, I'm thinking its okay and maybe even aimed at jr high age - rather then her target of older girls. ??? I'm considering it as a bible study for our girls at church. She goes through lots of topics about beauty, fashion, how we treat people, family, etc. It all circles back to our walk with the Lord...or lack thereof. I'm enjoying it - and it's taking me back, let me tell you! Right now I'm on the chapter about character qualities...something I feel SO STRONGLY about for teen girls! Our culture is so anti-character, at least, Godly character. Jenna is a smooth, easy to read, author and her dad (Max) has several inserts which are enjoyable, as well. Anyone else read this?! I'd love your thoughts.

Happy thoughts on this Tuesday. We have so much to be thankful for! Little, everyday, mundane, exciting things! And maybe most of all, this...

Hebrews 10-

"11 And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. 14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. 15 But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, 16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,”17 then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”18 Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin."

Cheap stuff

Yesterday was a good day for bargains. I wasn't intending on finding them, or even looking for them, but there they were... Home Depot and TJ Maxx. Home Depot has brightly colored storage bins for $3.98 - which I am in GREAT need of, as I still attempt to sort and pack and store things in our basement. And, though cardboard boxes are great, I don't trust them in our 1914 basement. Another bonus... labels will stick to these! {yes, I am one of those people}

I also noticed that tons of drawer handles, knobs, etc were at super low prices yesterday. I didn't pick any up - because we aren't quite there yet, but some were priced under a dollar and most around $1.19 or so - nice ones. So...just an FYI if you are in the market for drawers, handles or knobs.

TJ MAXX was another suprising trip for me. I can almost always walk out with some kind of good deal - and yesterday was no exception. Look what I found! This vase was only $3! And it goes with my color scheme perfectly! I can already picture the types of things I will put in it... love it.

Another fun find was Christmas cards. I know, GASP, not already...but, I'm always looking for ways to find the cutest card for the cheapest price. We decided that we probably won't be doing picture cards anymore because of how expensive they are and how we really like writing personal messages in our cards. So you can imagine my joy when I stumbled upon these adorable cards for a whopping .70!!!

There are 15 of them and they come with shimmery, silver envelopes! Now, we usually like to go with a more "religious" card, but at .70 cents... we can insert that inside!

(sorry for those really fuzzy, bad pics... I'm NOT a photographer)

My last find was this super cute "Old Glory" plaque thing. It, too, was only $3! And it goes with the era of our home. Brad isn't real keen on antiques or antique-looking things, but, he didn't mind this one. And I'm excited to display it this summer for 4th of July!

On top of my good finds - I had a fantastic time out at a play date and a McDonalds date lunch with my daughter. :) Just a very good day.

I know I've been writing a lot about Ava lately and I hope you don't tire of hearing about that little gal... my heart is very full with her!

Passing on to life

We got a text late lastnight to let us know one of our Brothers in the Lord went to be with his Jesus. Why does it seem that if he were older it wouldn't be as painful?

We hardly knew this man. But, from what we witnessed just in these last few months... He loved his God, he loved his wife and loved his two kids. His story of battling cancer with grace and God's strength is admirable. Even up to the end he found reason to praise....

Josiah Johnson - enjoy your Jesus.

What do you mean, "you can't get anything done"...?

Lately, this has been one of Ava's favorite spots on the house. She pulls (or asks me to) out the oven's bottom drawer where I keep my 9x13 metal pans, cupcake tins, bread pans and corresponding lids. This is only after she's raided my utensils drawer and picked out her choice of wooden spoons, salad forks, egg separaters and tea balls. {sigh} And that is only after she's chosen a box of cereal out of another cabinet, spilled a lot of it onto the floor...started eating it until I was quick enough to scoop it up...you get the picture.

All this to say - we are at a point where I feel like I can't get anything done (at least in the kitchen). Progress that I make on the house lasts about 10 minutes until Hurricane Ava whips through! She loves to sit directly in front of the sink or stove - obviously two of the most used places during the dinner prep hour, which is when the stress kicks in. Daddy's dinners have been late the last few nights because if Ava isn't allowed to sit here...she screams. I'm not one for caving in...but, then trying to distract a 13 month old while making dinner has not been going well. Any suggestions? She loves to pretend she's helping (which is GREAT!) and cooking with me - so I've given her small ingredients and let her pretend. That lasts about 4 minutes until she see's me using something else that she wants.

I know this is only a stage. And, I'm not complaining. I love watching her learn and grow and discover new things. I love that she enjoys being in the kitchen just like her momma and I most love the fact that she just wants to be with me...

It's just...

I can't get anything done!

It's a good thing she's cute. :)

Happy Homemaker Monday

The weather in my neck of the woods: very cold, still icy and more snow on the radar

One of my simple pleasures: hot coffee with flavored creamer 1st thing in the morning.

On my bedside table: well, on the floor by my bed is still "A lamp to my feet" by E.Elliot

On my TV: OFF!

On the menu for tonight:Cheesy rice, broccoli and ham casserole and maybe some pumpkin spice pudding

On my "to do" list: laundry, tidying the entire house and mopping the kitchen floor

New Recipe I tried last week: Sausage Lasagna

In the craft basket: well, er... I still have a few terra cotta pots waiting to become snowmen

Looking forward to: bible study tonight with Jessie!

Homemaking Tip for this week: be consistent with "laundry day". Opens up the rest of your week and if nothing else causes you to feel super accomplished - even if all that got done was the laundry!

Favorite Blog Post of the week (mine or other): Really appreciating Tiffany's heart during her family's transition over at A Moment Cherished. (link on your left somewhere) Most all of us have gone through transitions...she speaks what all of our hearts think, at some point.

Favorite photo from last week: Well, obviously not from this past week - but, still one of my faves. Ava was so little and this feels like forever ago. The paci looks so big!

Lesson learned the past few days: We are called to be GOD PLEASERS not man pleasers. Even in ministry it seems people are only happy when you are pleasing them - I must stand firm in doing what the Lord leads me to do.

On my Prayer List: "Aunt" Jean and her unexplainable pain, Jessica Johnson as she helps her husband during what appears to be the end days of his cancer, and our teens.

Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:
I'm still reading through "Surrender" and being reminded of the over arching idea of - we are bondslaves to Christ. Nothing of ourselves and deserving of nothing. Serving because that is our expectation - looking for no reward or applause afterward.