I received a phone call this afternoon from my husband. He called to inform me of an appointment I have this Saturday morning. An appointment HE set up for ME. He called to tell me that he scheduled a relaxation massage for me, and following that a manicure. Um..ladies?! Is that not one of the best surprises ever? We're getting down to the final days before we leave for the Southern U.S. for Christmas, and I have a TON to do. Between list-making, cleaning, laundry (which he's done ALL of), and packing, I really have no time to be unmotivated. However, here I am. Procrastinating. I'm the world's best!  Scott knows how stressful the last couple of days before a trip can be for me. So, he decided to make sure to schedule me some time of solitude. I get a spa day, and he takes the kids for the day. THE. BEST. All you moms out there, you know what the gift of solitude is like for you. HEAVEN. It doesn't have to be a spa day, or shopping day, or anything like that at a

Fridays are supposed to be good days. Everyone looks forward to Fridays. They're not supposed to be as hectic and stressful as Mondays. Can I just say though, today, I'm feeling defeated. Today has not started off well in the Wright household. We've been struggling a lot lately with Olivia and her not wanting to go to school. Can I just rant for a minute? I HATE this Canadian idea of only sending kindergarteners to school 2 or 3 days a week; or, for some, half-days. I was excited about Olivia being in school full days this year; I knew she'd love it, and I knew it would be good for Judah and I to get time together at home (not to mention make it possible for me to actually accomplish something around the house). It has back-fired though. I think 5 half-days would be better than going 2, sometimes 3 days a week. There is such a long break in between her Friday classes and her Tuesday classes that she can't seem to settle into this wacky routine!  Somehow, she's d

I wanted to post on Wednesday wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving because I knew I probably wouldn't get around to doing it yesterday. I was right. Hope all of my American family and friends had a great day. I cooked a big meal and we had some friends over. It was a great time! As I was planning the meal for the last 2 weeks, I tried to keep in mind that there would only be 6 of us (including Olivia and Judah) eating so I didn't want to go overboard on food. Well, we have enough for a full dinner again tonight. We're having my in-laws over to help us finish it off. Scott could eat left-overs for days, but I'm thinking this way will be better. Eat it all now, and get back to a more healthy diet-ha! I just posted on facebook something I've been thinking about today as I cleaned up from the dinner party last night. I hope my thankful heart will carry through into the new year! It's easy to get caught up in the planning, eating, and shopping of Thanksgiving wee

If you know what Pinterest is, you know how incredible it is for MANY reasons! If you don't know what Pinterest is, or you're sceptical of another time-waster, social media website, I encourage you to go to www.pinterest.com and sign up for an account. I wouldn't necessarily consider myself to be a creative person. I definitely wouldn't call myself "crafty". However, Pinterest has changed all of that. Whether you like crafts, cooking, or just shopping, Pinterest will be something you will love! I've had so much fun in the last month trying all kinds of new ideas in the kitchen. My poor family has had the pleasure of being the guinea pigs! However, tonight, my husband made a request. He wanted me to make rice krispies treats. I have these random cravings all the time! The problem was, we didn't have Rice Krispies cereal. I racked my brain, and luckily found one of those mini boxes of the breakfast cereal and the light bulb turned on! That would be en

A friend of mine posted on her blog this morning about how God's Word brings life. In every season, every situation, at any age, forever and ever, God's Word brings life.  Winter has definitely set in here in Alberta, Canada. There are no longer signs of fall; no hope of seeing any color other than white for the next several, and I mean several months! Something I didn't realize before I married a crazy Canadian was how much the weather would affect me. Winter in Canada is WORK! Trees lose their leaves, snow covers the ground, the roads get slick, and the air literally freezes your nose hairs.  Bundling up is some sort of Olympic event in our house! Except in all the chaos, whining, and fit-throwing, we struggle to qualify for this event! It's a comedy show, really. I'll never forget the first time my parents came from Georgia to visit at Christmas. My dad walked through the parking lot of some store we were at taking pictures of all the cars that had plugs hanging

Many of you know that I received the BEST surprise this past Friday on my birthday. My mom and husband worked together for weeks planning a surprise trip to Canada. Not only was I surprised, but Olivia and Judah were surprised too! It was the best 4 days I've had in forever. Here's how it went down. Friday, like any other day, I dropped Olivia off at school, and went out to run some errands. Later that afternoon I took Judah with me to the grocery store, and when I got home Scott was already home. He had a few meetings during the day, so I asked him to come home early, so I wasn't surprised to see his car in the garage. However, when I walked into our house he almost ran into me coming out. He seemed shocked to see me, and then had this suspicious look on his face. I didn't think too much of it, and just walked into the house. I was carrying Judah though, and when he got far enough into our laundry room where he could see around the corner, he starting leaning out of

King David's son, who ruled in Jerusalem wrote of the true meaning of life in Ecclesiastes.  He says, "Humans are always looking for ways to be more than or other than what we find ourselves to be. We explore the country side for excitement, search our souls for meaning, shop the world for pleasure. Everything we try is so promising at first! But nothing ever seems to amount to very much. We intensify our efforts, but the hard we work at it, the less we get out of it. Some people give up early and settle for a humdrum life. Others never seem to learn, and so they flail away through a lifetime, becoming less and less human by the year, until by the time they die there is hardly enough humanity left to compose a corpse."  We spend our lives planning our next steps, searching for ways to make us happy, when all we need to find true satisfaction is to seek God. I think there are 3 main areas we look for satisfaction. Those are people, jobs, and "stuff". Each o

If you would have asked me what our plans for Judah's birthday weekend were, chances are I wouldn't respond like this. We'd have to cancel his party b/c I was in the hospital with Laryngitis and possibly strep throat. The very next day we would be in the hospital again with Judah due to extremely high fever, fear of all kinds of complications, and then released only a few hours later because he dramatically improved. And now, the day of his birthday, he is asleep, and the rest of us are just lounging around the house. Last night was a rough night for him, so he's been sleeping for the last 4 hours! We are just SO  blessed to have this incredible little guy in our lives! He brings such joy to our family, always smiling and making us smile! His big sister is his hero; he loves to watch her and play with her! Olivia is sometimes extremely jealous of him, but always ALWAYS protective of him, and really does love him lots! He's a Daddy's boy AND a Mama's boy! H

We had a huge scare with Judah today and had to take him to the ER. His fever spiked really high, was shaking, and vomiting. I was a wreck! I felt like if someone even looked at me the wrong way I would lose it. The mama bear instinct was running through my veins. I held him, pacing the floors of the waiting room and watching my sweet baby boy suffer. I started to lose it. I'd never felt a child so scalding hot before. His eyes were rolling back in his head and I was SO freaked out! I barely felt composed enough to pray over his little body. Scary moments. He's home now and a completely different child. He's back to his happy, playful, smiley self! I am just so overwhelmed by how quickly he went from horribly sick to perfectly fine. There is absolutely no explanation other than God's miracles at work in Judah. No parent wants to see their child sick. And it doesn't usually take something drastic like a sickness to make a parent thankful for their child, but the ni

Short post since I'm on the mend. Here's some photos from May that I just love! They are going to be best friends! Judah loves to get messy with Scott! Look at those chubby cheeks! I just love his sweet face! And his Daddy! :) So sweet!

One of my favorite things that Judah does now is give kisses! It is THE cutest thing! I've been practising with him for a couple months now, and just yesterday he surprised me and another woman at our church. She picked him up and did the "kissy" sound to him, and to her surprise (and mine), he leaned right in for the kiss! Laid a big, wet one right on her cheek and smiled so big! Ah, I could have died! Another thing we do with him if he won't give me a kiss I pretend to cry and guilt him into coming over to see what's wrong (yes, I do this!). He will smile big, and then plant a big one on me! It's so cute! This was him in April. Look at that sweet smile!

Yesterday Judah got his first haircut! I made the appointment weeks ago, so I had totally forgotten until about 2 hours before. All of a sudden I was freaking out a little about it. Baby's 1st haircut is usually a big deal to moms. Yesterday I was going back and forth on whether or not to actually get it done! Back when I made the appointment I thought I was set on doing something bold with it, like a mohawk or something! Then, I chickened out and just told the girl to trim his bangs, around his ears, and the back. He's got such long eyelashes that his bangs are sticking in his eyes, so that was the main concern. Anyway, the girl did a fantastic job! He had so much fun, and it was a really good experience for both of us! I've put pictures on facebook, and I'll post some here too later! For now, here's a picture of Judah in February that I just love! He's wearing his dragon snow suit that my mom got him, and I just LOVE it! I need to find another one like it f

Wow! I pulled all the photos of Judah at different stages to post in the next few days, and there are just SO many! I may have to put a couple on each post now! I remember growing up when my dad would always bug us to stop and take a picture. Almost every place we were; vacation, family's house, just driving, wherever! It would seriously drive my mom, sister, and I insane! We felt like we were constantly with a Japanese tourist! But now, I'm so happy we have memories in photos from all those years! I try my best to always take pictures consistently of my family now, because I know how fast time goes, and how much the memories will mean later. Here's a picture from Judah's first Christmas. My parents came up from Georgia, and though it was hard to capture any moments with my Mom with Judah, here is a precious one of my mom, Olivia, and Judah!

My whole world was turned upside down (or so it seemed) when Judah was born. I experienced so many things with the birth of this little guy that I didn't with Olivia (a terribly painful labor, some post-partum depression, and all-around confusion of how to balance being a mom to TWO now).  After those first couple of weeks though, things began to settle a little (or at least we started to settle into a new routine), and after SEVERAL months I finally felt like I had this whole "mom of 2" thing down. That first month I went almost nowhere. I spent my days in pj's, holding Judah almost constantly. I just couldn't put him down! I knew it wouldn't be long til he wouldn't want to cuddle much, so I was soaking it all in as much as I could. I'm thankful though, that I have a little cuddle buddy in Olivia, and probably Judah again sometime in the future! Before I knew it, Judah was 6 weeks old, and we hadn't done newborn photos. Our church family ble

In Just 7 days, my precious baby boy, Judah, will be a year old. Where has the time gone? I still remember seeing his sweet face for the very first time. I remember the feeling of holding his precious, SOLID, little body for the first time. Seeing Scott as proud as he could ever be was the most awesome feeling! Watching Olivia look at him in so much awe and wonder is a memory that I will never forget. This last year has been one that has held so many blessings for our family. Things are busier, louder, and certainly crazier than ever before, but we are a family and we love each other. In the next 7 days, as a countdown to Judah turning 1, I'm going to post a photo of Judah each day. For a mom who stays at home each day, sometimes you don't realize how much your children are growing and changing. Looking at photos really captures how much change takes place, especially in the first year of a child's life. Judah Daniel Wright. Born Sunday, October 24 @ 9:28am. Weighed 9lbs

About a week or so ago I was browsing around on Pinterest and found this amazing idea to help me get organized when it comes to everything involving our family.  The idea is here: http://abowlfulloflemons.blogspot.com/2011/01/weekly-challenge-1-home-management.html I've been working on putting together a folder like this to keep everything all in one place. My hope is that this will be the answer to many problems that could arise without any kind of organization. Today, I found several more awesome ideas I thought might be helpful to others. The first is a great "week-at-a-glance" calendar you can print from here: http://www.mommytracked.com/files/downloads/download4.pdf The second is a "chore chart" that also seems like a great idea. Get it here: http://www.theprojectgirl.com/2009/06/08/weekly-chore-schedule-free-download/ This next one I just love. Here is a "menu planning" chart: http://organizedhome.com/printable/household-not

The other day I was driving home from the grocery store, listening to "Like an Avalanche" by Hillsong United and God began to speak to me. I thought I'd share just a few of the words that came to me that afternoon. Worship is about what's in your heart. It's not about what you're doing with your hands, how well you sound singing, or even if you know the words to the song. God sees your heart. I was thinking about how our church here does worship. The songs that are played. The way people respond. How a new song goes over with the congregation, etc. I began thinking about how worship is so much more than a few songs in church on Sunday. I've said this before in my post about worship being a response, but felt God whisper to me again, worship is a lifestyle. How are we worshipping our Creator?

This weekend is Thanksgiving in Canada. I feel blessed to be able to share TWO thanks-filled holidays since I'm married to a Canadian and living here in Canada. Though the "real" Thanksgiving is over a month away, I'm reminded today to "give thanks" this weekend, and more often for the things God has blessed me with. I have such a wonderful family, immediate and extended! I have a home, clothes, and food. We're RICH compared to most people in the world, and God is alive and moving in our lives! October is also Pastor Appreciation Month! There are many pastors in my life whom I'm thankful for and who continue to speak into my life, encourage, challenge, and lead me. The most incredible pastor I know though, is the very man I have the pleasure to be married to me. Seriously, how did I get so lucky?! I have really tried to remind myself lately to appreciate and tell him how thankful I am for him. For the big things, and for the smaller things.  Th

This week has just flown by! I've been so busy with so many different things that I've completely neglected blogging for most of this week. We had our Moms Coffee Night at Olivia's school for all the moms of kindergarten. There were around 70 women there, and it was really a very fun night! Such a great way to get to know each other, especially for those of us who are sending our first child to school. The assistant principal spoke and just blessed me so much by the words she said. Another reminder to enjoy life, live in the moment, soak in each thing our child says and does, and pray constantly that God would help us to raise faith-filled children! The only bad part of the night was not getting to sample all of the delicious food because of my diet! 2 weeks in and haven't cheated, so I was proud of myself! Next event up to plan is Judah's birthday. The most planning it's going to take is just the cooking! I'm doing all mini and slider-size foods so I'

All of us know someone or maybe even more than one person who always seems to be in a good mood. They are incredibly positive and filled with joy. They might be a morning person or maybe just someone who always seems to truly be enjoying life. These people may also rub many of us the wrong way. We probably find ourselves saying this like, "Ugh, there's Susie, skipping along. Oh, John has so much to be happy about, no wonder he loves life."  Maybe you're even one of those "happy all the time" people yourself.  Very few of us would characterize ourselves as "negative, pessimistic, unhappy" people. But the truth is, many of us probably aren't as joyful and joy-filled as we should and can be. I was flipping channels last night and caught one of Joyce Meyer's shows. At the time I didn't see the message title, but something she said got my attention. She was saying something like, "I raised my children, I didn't have time to enjoy

Wow! I just realized it's been since Tuesday that I posted. I've been super busy this week with the usual, but also started dieting and working out so that's been taking up much of my free time. It's been such a change for me to not grab for convenience foods when I want to snack, but instead cook each and every meal/snack. I figured it's almost been a year since Judah was born so I'm way over due to lose the last of my baby weight, plus some! Besides, I'm sick of seeing other new moms with perfect bodies-blah! haha Anyway..thought I'd post a couple new photos we took of the kids this week. Hope you enjoy!

I've got writer's block today, and can't seem to sit in silence long enough to think of anything semi important to say. I've got several big events coming up that I should probably be planning for, but instead, I procrastinate! Next week the kindergarten classes at Olivia's school host a "Mom's Coffee Night" for all the moms to get to know each other better. Because I'm on the parent board I'm helping to coordinate the night. It should be a lot of fun! At the end of October is our church fall festival that I've put together the last 3 years, and I'm no where close to being as prepared as I should be. Not to mention I told Olivia we'd do a family costume theme this year of 'Tangled'. She is going to be Rapunzel, Scott will be Flynn Rider, I'm going to be Mother Gothel (great :/ ha ), and Judah is Rapunzel's little chameleon friend Pascal.  I've got to get working on those costumes! On top of all that, Judah's

She's known to many as "Mum, Mumma, Pastor Bobbie" and much more. I recently read a 2 part blog (watch for more, she's hinted about part 3) by Pastor Bobbie Houston of Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia. Yesterday, as I sent my little army of workers off into different areas to clean, I thought of some advice that's stuck with me from part 2 of the post. "Never go empty-handed through the house". What a great thought! Moms know what a constant job it is to keep the house clean (or presentable at least), and that bit of advice is so awesome! In my house there are constantly toys to pick up, laundry to put away, dishes to wash, and miscellaneous items to be kept organized. Why not grab a handful of things that need to go upstairs when I'm on my way up? Great advice! Anyway, as I sent off my little army of cleaners yesterday I reminded myself to post the link to these articles from Bobbie. They were so brilliant and such a blessing to me, and I just k

Do you ever have one of those days where you just feel thankful, emotional, overwhelmed, and undeserving all together? We need to feel that way more often about the way God continues to bless us, but today I had a couple reminders of just how blessed I am. It was one of those "Indescribable" "How Great is Our God" days. I dropped into Olivia's school to check on her for her first day back after the accident on the playground. I ate lunch with her and made sure she was feeling OK. We are so blessed to have her at the school where she is. I actually got a call from one of the secretaries the other day saying they were all praying for her after the playground incident. Hearing that after Olivia telling me how one of the teachers that was her teacher in preschool came over to pray for her swarmed my heart with gratitude.  How amazing it is to hear people say "we're praying for your daughter in school".  What a freeing and encouraging thing to know y

My last post about cleaning out my kids closets was posted just minutes after receiving a nerve-racking phone call from Olivia's school. She had an accident on the monkey bars and banged up her mouth pretty good. I looked at my watch, and realized it was her lunch time so I considered going to check on her and have lunch, but changed my mind. I was worried she would get worked up that I was there, and want to come home with me. They assured me she was OK and would call if anything changed. That was 2 days ago, and what a whirlwind the last 2 days have been in our family.  I picked Olivia up from school at the end of the day and noticed some dried blood around her sweet little mouth, but expected that, so off we went on our way home. When I got her home, I sat her up on the counter and made her open up to show me the damage, expecting to see some scrapes and maybe some wiggly teeth. She opened her mouth and I literally had to choke back the tears. It was apparent she was NOT OK!

This summer before school started for Olivia I made it a priority to go through her closet and pull out any clothes that she had outgrown and pack them up to either keep or donate.  She was so funny while we did this together. When we came across something that no longer fit her, but she really liked, she would say, "Keep this for memories, Mommy!" Ha! She's heard me talk about the boxes and boxes of her baby clothes that I can't part with, saying I needed them for memories. Such a sweet girl.  Well, today, I was doing the same in Judah's closet. This guy is growing so fast I feel like I'm in his closet every other month pulling things out! I was shocked that I packed up 2 boxes full of clothes that no longer fit him, or things he'd been given that I didn't think he'd ever wear. When I was done in Judah's closet I was able to hang up all his new clothes I've just gotten him and really see all he has, maybe what he might still needs (Scot

This morning started off like any other morning.  I got up, got dressed, had breakfast, took Olivia to school, and came home to go about my day.  Once I got home though, things started to feel a little hectic.  Nothing out of the ordinary, but in my spirit I felt anxious, stressed, and out of control.  I wanted to sit down and get in God's Word a bit before I did anything else, but Judah had other plans! I found my mind flooded with all the things I needed to do today, and became overwhelmed by it all.  I couldn't focus on any one thing, so finally, I just sat with Judah for a little while before it was time for his morning nap. My spirit was telling me the words of Psalm 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God." (NIV)  I got Judah upstairs to his room and down for his nap (quickly thanks to the success of our new sleep-time routines!) and came back to the kitchen table where I sit now.  I flipped to Psalm 46 in my NLT bible and noticed something I don't think I h

Many Christians have a "hoarding" mentality when it comes to the wisdom of others. It's the attitude of "I've got learn all I can from God and others so I can store this up for my own benefit". They buy every life application or devotional book on the shelf, but let them pile up in their office or home, and never think to lend them out to others.  If you've seen the show "Hoarders" then you know what I mean.  You know collecting too much stuff can become obsessive.  You know it can also become unhealthy.  This same idea relates to each of us and the wisdom we receive from God and others.  If all we ever do is take, take, take then we're only hoarding that wisdom for ourselves.  No one becomes wise on their own.  Each of us play an important role in helping to impart wisdom to others. It's a "give a little to get a little" mentality.  If we never share useful advice with others then we're only hoarding, not helping. Some