I wish

Do you ever have one of those days where you wish for so much?  I’m having one of those days.  The problem is, I am not wishing for such good things necessarily.  I should be wishing for peace on earth, for clean water in every country, for love to abound.  Instead I sit here and am wishing that life was easier, wishing that my house would just once stay clean, that my windows wouldn’t have finger prints and dog nose marks all over them.  Wishing I could bake as well as I dream to be able to.  I wish I have enough time and money to be as crafty as I want to be.  Why can’t I take better photographs,  or why can’t I scrap as well as some people can?  I wish my kids would behave and just do what I want them to.  I wish I was a better wife and mother.  Now, hear me out – I know that as I sit here and wish these things,  I know they are not healthy thoughts.  Some of them stem from jealousy.  Some of them are unrealistic,  and all of them are just flat out selfish.  I realize this even as I think them, and yet I find it hard to get them out of my mind.  Do you ever have that.  You know in your head that the devil is just feeding your mind and heart with lies.  It’s not that some of these things aren’t good honest aspirations, but the way I am thinking about them is what is wrong.  I am grumbling about the fact that I can’t do some of these things well enough.  I don’t like the way I am acting and yet I am finding it so hard to change it at the moment.  It’s like I know what is right and true, but I don’t quite know how to execute it.  So I am resolving right now to be thankful for what I do have and who I am.  I might not be the photographer I want to be, I might not be the baker that I want to be, but God made me and I am perfect in His eyes!  What a relief to know I am perfect in someone’s eyes!  He made me and I am His, and everything here on earth is so temporary.  Reminds me of the song “Temporary Home” by Carrie Underwood – love that one!  It is of no irony that this week I have been really trying to focus on Phillipians.  Right now I need to put this verse in the fore-front of my mind:

Phillipians 2 :14-16

¹⁴ Do everything without grumbling or arguing, ¹⁵ so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”^[c] Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky ¹⁶ as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.

Love that verse about shining like stars in the sky!  Who wouldn’t want to shine like a star in the universe?!

A family that…..

eats together stays together.  Or so it’s been said.  I am one of those people that truly believes in the benefits of eating as a family….at the table!  The benefits of taking the time in our busy schedules to sit down, connect, and eat together are immeasurable.  Eating a meal with people gives one a sense of belonging.  Your kids will know that you matter to them.  It’s a great time to teach manners and social skills!  Having regular family meals is hands down, one of the most important things you can do to raise emotionally and physically healthy kids.  Kyle and I both share the same views on the importance of eating dinner together as a family.  The tv is turned off, the kids often help set the table, and although the meals are usually nothing glorious we sit down and enjoy what we have.  Our girls are young yet, and I will not lie – meal time can be very hectic!  At any given meal we most definitely will either have a glass of milk spilled, a child needing to get up and go to the bathroom, or someone complain about what they have to eat.  I don’t want to paint a picture that it’s some major event – in fact usually it’s quite opposite!  Nonetheless I know that we are building good values in our kids, and for that I feel great!  I challenge you to eat meals as a family as much as possible.  You will not be sorry you did and your kids will really appreciate it when they are grown!

And just for fun, here is a list of the meals we often have – just to show you it’s NOTHING extravagant!

tacos                    enchiladas

chicken bake      burgers

bbq                      grilled meat

spaghetti             chicken broccoli alfredo

even sometimes breakfast food

BLT’s                   soup

 

So, now it’s your turn – tell me about your family meals – what do they love, what do they ask for over and over again?!

MandaKay

Best BYOC yet!!!

There is a good possiblity that I say this about every BYOC (Build Your Own Collab) that The-Lilypad puts out, but honestly, THIS one is amazing!!!  There’s something for everyone here!  I only had a little bit of time to scrap while I had to sit at the girls’ gymnastics, so I did only one page so far with some of the goodies, but I will be using this stuff in more pages – mark my words!

And this LO I created for the challenge I am hosting over at The-Lilypad – Feb. One Word Challenge – come and play along for a chance to win $5 TLP shopping money!!!

 

Enjoy your weekend guys!  We don’t have any major plans really – I am sure we will somehow keep busy though!

MandaKay

What we do on a snow day

The blizzard of 2011 started here last night at 5:00, just as they predicted.  I really didn’t think it was going to be too bad, but thru the night you could hear the wind just a howlin’!  When we woke up we were greeted with a blanket of whipped snow all over!  Our driveway had 3-4’ gusts on it!  Kyle got up and right away went out to start snowblowing.  I got up and started making a cinnamon bread coffee cake, knowing he’d need to come in to something good to go with his coffee.  I felt so bad for him working on the driveway – it was a major workout to get thru the snow!  It was fun taking pictures though!  He started when it was still pretty dark out and by time he was done, 2+ hours later, it was daylight!

Problem was…the snow plow did not come thru the neighborhood until after 2:00 I think and they did not do our cul-de-sac?!  What the heck.  So when Kyle headed out at 10:30 he couldn’t get out of the subdivision.  A couple guys from the neighborhood worked hard on  getting it passable with their snowblowers.  The day turned pretty gorgeous though in the afternoon and the kids and I got out to build a little fort with all the snow we had!

Making trails in the thick drifty snow was fun too!  It was quite hard to walk in!

And Gracyn begged and begged and whined and whined until I agreed to take out her john deer tractor.  It’s rather funny to me to see her riding this summer toy in full snow gear and on the only patch of clear driveway we had!

It was a fun day, and it was a little treat that I didn’t have to try drive into work this afternoon too!  A true snow day for us!  So what did you do on your snow day if you had one?!  And if you are reading this and you didn’t have a snow day, what would you like to do if you did have one?!