It's good to do hard things.

This is me.

Doing something hard.

Uncomfortable.

Terribly out of my comfort zone.

 

But can we all just take a moment to look how good my eye makeup was that night and my awesome earrings?  (Thanks Michelle & Molly!)

 

 

This is Chocolate & Chuckles 2014.  It's a yearly women's event at our church that draws hundreds of women for a night of friends, laughs and copious amounts of chocolate.

 

So when my friend Tammy mentioned that I should speak at it, I promptly told her I would pray about it.  Which is actually my code for "No". 

 

I went home and promptly tried to forget about it. 

 

That didn't work.

 

I couldn't sleep.  For several nights.  I love to sleep.  I'm really good at it. 

 

So, I gave in and prayed about it. 

 

At first I was good with this decision.  I thought "No problem.  You have a big mouth and funny stories.  It'll be all good".

 

But as I got closer to the date, I had the overwhelming conviction to be honest.  To be open.  And to share all of my story - even the ugly parts. 

 

I typed up what I wanted to say, emailing it to two friends to review.  And then I threw up. 

 

I was fairly certain at this point that things might not be ok. 

 

But here's the thing.  With loads of prayer and with the prayers and support of my husband and good friends, I stood on the stage and bared my soul.  I told funny stories about growing up and my kids, I cried while talking about the loss of our daughter Grace, and I was honest for the first time about the bad choices I had made in my past.  But more importantly, I was able to share with women, both young and old, saved and still searching, that there is a heavenly Father who loves them.  And who has big buckets full of grace for them.  And that the blood of Christ can cleanse us from our sins.

 

I honestly can't tell you how many ladies - and young girls - who have approached me since this event last October.  Some just wanted to share their story, some thanking me for sharing mine, some who felt that they too could maybe finally realize that their past is just that - the past.  And if God has forgiven them, then maybe they can finally forgive themselves.

 

It's good to do hard things.

 

 

 

 

 



Favorite Things Friday.

Don't you just love when you find something that's new to you and that you just love?  I do too!

Here's some of my current favorite things for this snowy Friday:


Refit Rev. 
OK, I love these girls!  Fun dancing workouts, great CLEAN music that the whole family can hear without cringing, no annoying talking during the workouts and did I mention free on Youtube?  You better believe it's a dance party up in here in the afternoons.

Polar Bottle.
My sweet friend Tammy from Pike Street Bikes gave me my first Polar water bottle.  I now have five - one for each of us.  They're great, easy to open without leaking in my purse and they stay cold for me.  Plus there's none of those hard to reach areas to clean like with my Contigo water bottle. 

Seedling heat mat.
If you're starting seeds in West Virginia, there's a good chance you'll need a heat mat.  I'm not keeping the whole house at a balmy 78 degrees in February and March - we're not the Rockefellers.  I use a seed mat to keep the plants at a warmer temperature.  I also rotate the plants so they each have a turn with the mat.  It works for us.  (Side confession here - I've been known to plug the heat mat in under my desk while blogging.  The floor in that area gets really cold.)

Amazon Fire Stick.
I've mentioned my Roku love before.  While looking at buying a new Roku for our bedroom so we could stream Netflix and Amazon, the Fire Stick popped up.  It's cheaper at $39 and in our experience, streams faster than our Roku.  It does have less channel options, but since it has the channels that we routinely use (Netflix, Amazon, Pandora, YouTube) plus super easy access to our Amazon library - including Prime Music, we don't find the lack of additional channels an issue.  Best of all, you can download the Fire TV app to your Kindle and use your Kindle as a remote - with voice activation.  If I want to watch The Blacklist, I simply tell the app "The Blacklist" and it pulls up all the options with that name.  Pretty cool.

Remember the Milk.
This app is great at keeping me organized.  It links up with my Google calendar and is easily accessed from both my computer and phone.  Ronnie & I are both signed up, so let's say I have "Get milk" on the list but it's snowed and I'm not leaving the house.  I can simply reassign the task to him and he'll get the notice to grab milk on his way home.  We also use it with tasks that need to be done for our rental business.  Just a case of working smarter, not harder. 

Gourmet Garden or as I call them Herbs in a Tube.
When I buy fresh herbs, I usually use them for one to two day, forget about them, then throw them away three weeks later when they're nice and rotten.  Or you can buy these herbs in a tube.  I find mine at Walmart in the produce section.  Just a squirt and you have the taste of fresh herbs in your dishes.  My favorites are the Basil and Cilantro.

And finally, Body Butter from The Body Shop.

It's so dry right now, but even if it's wasn't, I'd still love this lotion.  It's so thick and creamy but it absorbs quickly.  I like to use the Shea butter in the winter but it the Summer, it's Mango all the way.  And it's not full of those weird chemically sweet smells like Bath & Body Works. 

So there you have it.  A few of my favorite things. 

Weird things.

Do you ever tell your kids weird things?  Like bizarre things that you know can't be true, but they still take you at your word?

My kids believe that:

Hush puppies at Long John Silver's are really fried jellyfish.

If you swallow bubble gum, you'll toot bubbles.

If you swallow watermelon seeds, a watermelon will grow in your belly.

And my favorite, one day after work I picked up pizza.  I was super hungry and hadn't had lunch yet, so I took a slice out and ate it on the way home.  I joked that the pizza guy must have ate a piece of our pizza.  About six months later as we were eating pizza, Josh said "Remember the time the pizza guy ate a piece of pizza?".  Funny!

Just so you know, my kids get their gullibility honest.  When I was little, my mom told me lots of crazy things that I believed for years.  I believed that the Falling Rock signs were signs put up by an Indian squall looking for his missing love named "Falling Rock". 

The best one I believed was that Shamu (from Sea World) was transported back and forth from Ohio - where Sea World used to be when I was growing up - to the ocean in tanker trucks.  I would go psycho for tanker trucks thinking that Shamu was in them.  My mom thought this was hysterically funny until I almost made her wreck the car climbing over her to get to the window to see Shamu in the truck as we were speeding down the interstate.  (Seat belts were just a suggestion back in the day). 

What weird things did you believe growing up?

Me. The Israelite.

Let me just start by saying that I am overwhelmingly disappointed by the election results.  As a small business owner, health care provider, lifelong resident of coal country and Christian, I have a firm grasp on the implications of America's decision. 

Having said that, are we Israelites?  Is God only in control when things are going the way we want them to? 

I read through my Facebook feed and am overwhelmed.  Not because of what I read necessarily, but because what I'm reading mirrors my thoughts.

How many times have I read Exodus and judged the children of Israel for doubting God, despite His providence and miracles?

It's different for us though.  We're entitled to our "woe is me" attitude.  It's not like God has done anything for us. 

Oh wait.  That's not true is it?

Instead of hitting Facebook today to declare our doom and gloom, why don't we hit our knees and cry out to our heavenly Father.  Not because Obama is our President, but because Jesus is our King.

Father, I thank you that you are in control. 

He only is my Rock and my Salvation; He is my Defense and my Fortress, I shall not be moved. Psalm 62:6 (AMP)

You can do it.

Photo credit: Pinterest

Random things on a Friday.

Random thing 1.

  My baby John never forgets to bring me flowers....or a big patch of weeds.  Love that sweet kiddo.

Random thing 2.

Do you see that block of cheese?  That giant 5 pound block of cheese?  I bought that today for $15 at Walmart.  It was cheaper per ounce than the smaller blocks.  I hate
pre-shredded cheese.  It's coated in some kind of stuff to keep it from sticking together.  I also think that it doesn't melt as nicely.  And really, it's not that big a deal to shred a little cheese when you need it.   Now, I won't need to buy cheese for a while.

Random thing 3.
I bought a total of 4 chickens at Save a Lot for under $22.  They're on sale for $0.89/pound.  I can get at least 2 meals per chicken, 3 each if I do all casseroles.  That's just pretty fantastic.  Oh, and don't forget to throw the bones in the crockpot, add your leftover past their prime veggies and cover with water.  Cook for 12-24 hours on low and you'll  have homemade stock.  You can either can it or freeze it.  (I keep a baggie in the freezer to add all the useless veggie ends - onions, carrots, celery - then throw them in the crock for stock). 

Random thing 4.....my personal favorite.
You've read about our storage unit escapades before.  Tonight I received a call from a gentleman who needed to know what he owed on his unit.  He hadn't been able to pay for the past couple of months, as he was unfortunately incarcerated.  This has happened before, at least he had the decency to call and make arrangements for payment.  The best part of the call was when he told me he was looking to move to Clarksburg, because everytime he comes to Fairmont, he ends up going to jail.  He asked me how we can live here.  I replied "Well, we do OK.  We just, you know.....don't break the law." 

Seriously.  You can't make this stuff up.

Rules from the tent.

My Mom bought Josiah a tent with a tunnel attached to it for Christmas this year.  The boys decided that this snowy day would be the perfect day for the tent to go up.
 
At last check, all three boys were in the tent with one beanbag, one spywatch, one book, one blanket and half a dozen Rescue Heros. 

My favorite part of the tent so far has been the "rules"  I've been overhearing.

Somehow, even though this is their own little project that I haven't been involved in, it seems I've been making a lot of tent rules.






"Mom said no dogs in the tent"

"Mom said no Toy Story in the tent, only Superheros."

"Mom said only two people in the tent at a time!" 
         OK, I did intervene on this one.  Everyone gets to go in the tent.

and my absolute favorite rule of all....

"Mom said no farting in the tent!"

So, how's your snow day going?

Great night in good old WV!

I'd like to give a big shout out to the WVU Mountaineers.  Way to go boys! 
You not only played well, you representated our state well.

I'd love to spout off more about this great game, but I'm too old and I stayed up way to late last night watching the game and post game and then QVC because I couldn't sleep and Ronnie was working midnight. 

I'm off to drink a gallon of coffee and find some toothpicks to hold my eyes open!

Running.

I've recently dusted off the old treadmill.

I'm actually enjoying the "quiet time" when I'm on there.

I get the kids involved in a video, lace up my shoes, grab my IPOD and I'm ready.

I feel great when I'm on there. 

I found this picture on Pinterest that I think sums it all up for me.

The best fashion for Fall.

Handful

August Linky Love

Here are some of my personal favorites that I've found around the blogosphere.  Hope you enjoy them too.

Copycat Texas Roadhouse Rolls and Cinnamon Butter from Life as a Lofthouse. 
I've just recently discovered this site and Oh My Goodness.  Can't wait to try some of the recipes.

Hidden in My Heart Scripture Lullabies.  We have and love this CD.  It is so soothing.  Carissa at 1+1+1=1 has a 15% off code for this CD.  It would also make a great baby gift.

Although I these personally remind me of the candles Shrek pulled out of his ears, I will still try to make beeswax candles like Heidi at Mom's Crafty Space..  I mean, I should probably do something with the wax from the bees.

And finally, check out Confessions of a Homeschooler's 10,000 subscriber giveaway results.  See if there's someone you just might know on that list.  Maybe under the Speekee giveaway.  Oh, wait.  That's me!  I won a two month subscription to Speekee, an online Spanish program for kids.  And yes, I did do a happy dance when I found out.  I've been "hearing" about Speekee all over the blogs I read, but didn't want to shell out the cash to add it to our curriculum this year.  Now I can try it and see what I think of it after a couple of months. 

I'm leaving you today with my new favorite song.  Great reminder of Colossians 3:17!

Have a great day!

Questions I've been asked this week.

Josh:  "What would you do if I were Optimus Prime?  Where would I live, in the house or the garage?"

Me:  "Can you be Bumblebee instead?  Then I wouldn't have to drive the swagger wagon."

John:  "Why do I have to wear underwear every day?"

Me:  "Well, what days were you not wanting to wear them?  "

Josiah:  "Can I have a cheetah?  a dinosaur?  an alligator?"

Me:  Umm, no.






It's not really the questions.  They always ask me unusual questions.

It's the sincerity that they ask with.

Like maybe there is a chance I would get them a cheetah.

Or let them stop wearing underwear.

Sharing Some Linky Love.

There have been a lot of great posts going around the past couple of weeks.
I thought I would share a few of my favoritess with you.

Like a Warm Cup of Coffee has a great illustration about gossip.

life as mom...I love this post.  We did Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover several years ago.  Read this, I love her perspective.

Campbell Clan.  A great reminder that we're called to be a light in this dark world.  That involves a lot more love and a lot less sarcasm and self centeredness on my part.

life as mom again, has some great ideas for affordable pot luck dishes.  This ties in with my challenge to myself to be a better hostess.  Starting with actually having people over to my home. 
Women Living Well.   I want to make this salad right now.  For breakfast.  It looks that good. 

I think a trip to the farmer's market might be in order. 

Have a great Weekend.

10 things.

10 things you might not know about me.

1. Favorite book:  Hinds Feet in High Places
2. Favorite movie:  A Christmas Story.
3. I have colored my hair since it started turning gray when I was 21 (family trait)
4. I hate unloading the silverware tray in the dishwasher.  I don't know why.
5. I love Prince.  Always have, probably always will.
6. I have a knot on the bridge of my nose from where my brother Chris kicked me with his big, white baby shoe when we were younger.
7. I almost always spell potato wrong.  Thank goodness for spell check. 
8. Anytime that I ask my mom how the weather or roads are in the winter, she almost always says "atrocious".....and then I giggle.
9. I still miss my old dog Brady.  Best dog ever.
10. I love to sing.  I used to sing at weddings and church when I was younger, now I just sing for my family.... and any strangers who have the windows in their cars down too.

Have a great day!