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

I was reading Grace Driscoll's first post on "finding your identity in Christ" this morning, and was inspired by some of the points she made.  Immediately, I knew that's where God wanted me in our quiet time together this morning.  The statement she made that struck me as gold was "Let's not deceive ourselves that we can go about our day without God."  She was stressing the importance of daily prayer, but not only that, prayer throughout the day as well.  One person came to my mind that has modelled that to me. My Aunt Joelle!  She has been known to pray in the car while driving, in the grocery store, in the middle of a breaking news story, or whenever and wherever else! I love her heart for prayer, and it has really given me the desire to have a healthy prayer life.   Most people that spend quiet time with God probably do it first thing in the morning or at night just before bed. That's great and so essential, but we need to remember what Paul sa

If you're married you know how seasons come along where it becomes sometimes more difficult to keep your "dating life" going strong. After a very busy summer for our family, and the start of the school year/church ministries/etc, I felt like my marriage had reached that season.  Although Scott and I spent a lot of time together this summer, we were always busy and on-the-go with family, and I began to feel like we never spent time alone, dating each other like we used to.  Married couples know all too well that sometimes "life" gets in the way of your marriage. There comes a time where marriage isn't "easy" anymore, and sometimes you really have to "work" at it. I started following people on Twitter that were offering great, Godly marital advice. Through one of them I found this website called www.thedatingdivas.com  It is awesome! You have to check it out. They post tons of date ideas along with a bunch of other really helpful advice!

Three nights ago I took a big step in what I hoped would be a blessing to our family. For months now I had wanted to do this, but continued to make exceptions or just gave in to what was easiest (at the time).  Many moms out there are familiar with the show "Supernanny" and its star, Jo Frost. Some of her techniques may be controversial, but I really believe in many of them.  Well, on Sunday night I decided to implement one of her techniques in the life of our family. It's called the Stay-in-bed Technique. In our home, we just call it the "Big girl bedtime".  For as long as Olivia has slept in her own bed we have always tucked her in, then laid with her until she would fall asleep. If you don't have kids you may be wondering what the problem with that is. After years of doing this EVERY night in addition to her waking up several times in the night in the last month, I decided something needed to change in our family's routine.  Now that I'm a mom o

I drove out of our neighborhood this morning to take Olivia to school. I was running a couple minutes behind because she couldn't make up her mind about who would drive her. So, as I headed off, I noticed there was a bit more traffic than usual. Immediately, I became impatient.  I am guilty of driving over the speed limit, not only when I'm running late. This morning though, there was no way for me to speed because of the bumper-to-bumper traffic.  I got behind this one car that didn't seem to want to drive the speed limit, and I found myself looking for an opportunity to pass them, and probably flash them a look of frustration and annoyance. The opportunity didn't arrive, and shortly I found myself turning into the parking lot of my daughter's school. Right behind that same car. I smiled, and thought to myself, "good thing I didn't race around that car and act like a maniac!"  On my way home from dropping Olivia off, another impatient driver got behin

I'm going to do my best to write this post in love and not condemnation or criticism. I pray that my heart on this issue will be evident and not misunderstood for something else. I heard a great pastor say about a week ago while he was presenting the congregation with an uncomfortable message "receive this in love". I thought, "what a great way to say what you really think and get away with it b/c you've given the 'love' disclaimer!" But seriously, this has been on my heart for about a year now. I don't know if it's been God that's brought it further and further to the front of my mind in the last month or what, but I felt the need to share. So, receive this in love! Integrity. When most people hear this word they automatically think of the personal meaning of the word. If someone has integrity they have moral or ethical principles.  A more corporate definition of the word as it pertains to the Church or a church ministry is "the s

I've posted articles from others who inspire me before. I hope they're helpful for those of you who maybe don't follow these other blogs. Some of the most inspiring people to me are Lisa Bevere, Christine Caine, Louie Giglio, Bobbie Houston, Jentezen Franklin, and yes, even my very own husband! I love reading and/or listening to podcasts and posts by all of these writers. Every once and a while I will paste something they've said that really spoke to me here in my blog. Yesterday, I mentioned something Chris Caine had said that really spoke to me. Today, I'm DOING something that she posted that really spoke to me. Today, I'm taking a little "time out" in hopes of spending more "time in". Read this below to know what I'm talking about! Hope you enjoy!  A Little Time Out Ensures a Long Time In Earlier today I posted a tweet saying, "A little time out ensures a long time in." This really seemed to resonate strongly with people

A couple of days ago I read a post from one of my favorite pastors/speakers/writers Chris Caine. Many of you may know her from all the recent (and long overdue) media exposure she's getting for the A21 Campaign against Human Trafficking.  The post was about all the chaos that comes in the days and weeks leading up to kids heading back to school. She had been shopping all over for certain pieces to complete her daughters' school uniforms. Her daughters expressed the seriousness of having all the "right" things to complete their looks. You know that phrase, "Mom, I HAVE to have those shoes. I'll just DIE if I don't get that headband. Everyone will laugh at me if I don't get this or that!" Chris found herself racing all over town, visiting store after store to make everything "perfect" for her girls when she remember what were truly the important things. I've copied this from that post: "In order for my girls to navigate life

A tweet early this morning from Louie Giglio stirred me. It said, "The question is not primarily "what will you get out of Church?" but "what will you bring." #worshipisaresponse"  I was immediately convicted of an attitude I've suffered from before. What will I get out of church today? What is the praise and worship going to do for me today? What is the message going to do for me today? The problem with all of these questions, and attitude of these questions, is that they all focus on ME. What will Church do for ME? Church isn't about me. Worship isn't about me. God's Word isn't about me (at least not me in the sense of "only me"). I remember a time when Scott asked me to do an offering message at one of his youth services. I immediately thought of what the word "offering" meant. The first definition of the word is, "something offered in worship or devotion, as to a deity; an oblation or sacrifice". S

New beginnings. Today is a day of new beginnings for my family. Today, Olivia had orientation for kindergarten. Many of you know we put her in Kindergarten last year waiting to see how the year went to decide whether or not to send her on to 1st grade, or put her in another year. Because her birthday falls in the middle of the year, she could really go either way. So, she's in another year of kindergarten. This morning didn't leave me with the same type of nerves that I had on the first day last year, obviously, because I'd been there, done that. However, Olivia is at a different school this year (K-6th grade), so it was all too real to me this morning that my baby girl is actually a "big" school girl now. Big school. Classrooms. Big kids. Buses. BIG backpacks. Lunch at school. The whole 9 yards. THAT frightens me! A couple of weeks ago while we were out shopping for her, I found myself frozen at the check-out. I looked down at the lunch box, water bottle, and sn

While you’re dating someone, it’s easy to love the man you’re in a relationship with. You probably don’t notice all his flaws or the things that get under your skin and drive you insane.  You are probably blissfully unaware of how things, for many couples, will change once you exchange the rings. Once the “honeymoon” stage is over, reality sets in and then it starts.  It becomes harder to excuse certain behaviours or habits, harder to forgive, and sometimes even harder to love (in the form of a verb). Many wives begin to find themselves asking why they should honor their husband. Why should I forgive him over and over? Why should I boast about him in front of my friends? Why should I overlook his flaws and focus on the good? The answer becomes, “because that is what God does”.  The questions in our mind about whether or not to honor, respect, and submit to our husband becomes a question of whether or not we’re going to honor, respect, and submit to Jesus Christ. We honor God when