Jesus vs Santa: round 1

I felt very convicted at church on Sunday that I haven't been faithful about doing morning devotions with the girls. They are like sponges at this age and it's so important that they know how much God loves them what his word says. So as of yesterday I have made it a a priority that the first thing we do when Mr. Handsome goes down for his morning nap is we stop playing to spend time in prayer and do our morning devotion. The girls actually love doing it. It's so sweet to hear them pray. Of course not everyday can be rainbows and sunshine, thunderclouds rolled in about halfway thru and Haylie had a minor meltdown, but we stopped and prayed that Jesus would help her behave and she asked for forgiveness. Clouds rolled out and we were back to our perky morning and sunny time with the Lord. I decided I'm going to make the verse we go over on Monday our verse for the week and have them learn to read it and memorize it. So far so good and it's only Tuesday. Our verse this week is "The grass dies, the flowers fall, but the word of Our God is forever" - Isaiah 40:8 I love how such a simple verse can have such great meaning & really put things into perspective. Today we talked about how God is our shepherd. Yesterday our lesson is pretty much summed up in the verse I just shared. Now a story that will probably make you gasp. When Madison was asking me about things that are not forever {flowers, grass, we tried to keep it simple) versus what is forever (I brought up 'Heaven-where God has a house for us' and somehow it got interpreted as "Kevin's House", so one day we'll all be together in Kevin's house with the Lord...alrighty). Anyhow, she happended to bring up Santa and him being forever. (Brace yourself) I swiftly told her Santa is not real, but Jesus is and He is forever. NOW, she may not even remember this convo by the time Christmas rolls around and if she so chooses to envelope herself in the magical wonderness of there being a Santa I will not rip that from her. HOWEVER, when it comes to Santa versus Jesus, I am not going to fight tooth and nail for her to believe in a fictitious being (ps I will explain the story of the real St. Nick at one point) the same I will strive for her to recognize Jesus as her Lord and Savior who will bless her beyond any gift Santa could ever bestow upon her if she gives her heart to him.

I am really enjoying this time with them and times like these make me want to homeschool even more which I have started looking into, seeking out information and opinions of those who do it or have done it. If you have little ones I would highly recommend doing devotions with them, even if it's not daily, when you can. We only take 10-15 minutes to do it. It's good for them and it's equally wonderful for you!

For the Love of Blogs...

I had no idea how many interesting people were blogging or maybe it's just interesting because we are curious beings by nature...hmmm...either way I think it's fantastical! I just LOVE reading your guys' blogs! The family updates, the dating horror stories, the top 10 whatevers, recipes, the weekend recaps - you name it, I'm a fan! After reading so many, I'm beginning to think mine might be a little blah so I'm gonna start sprucing it up a bit to feel up to par with the rest of the well-written, fascinating blogs, a mish mash of some of the above categories. No dating horror stories though...it's been awhile since I've experienced any of those, they will be replaced by the psychotic episodes of toddler children category.

Sidenote: today is Mother's Day! Kinda cool, a day for us Mommy's. The message at church today was such a great reminder of how important our role is as a mother. How all the small things we do that go unappreciated are STILL important. Our greatest ministry is our children. I feel so blessed to have my 3 little ones, they bring me so much joy, at least the times they aren't acting beastly towards me or each other. HA! It does happen, they cant be angels allll the time. Their big snoopy card they gave me with their presh little names written is priceless! Mother's Day is pretty awesome, indeed.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Handsome!

Tomorrow, Mr. Handsome is officially 1. Not gonna lie, I am heartbroken. I would give anything to stop time and keep my babies young, innocent, carefree and cuddly. Levi has brought so much joy to our whole family. He is SUCH a momma's boy and I LOVE it. My sister-in-law, Erin, took the most priceless pictures of him yesterday on the baseball field. Pretty sure I'll be using her to do all our family portraits. Josh and I are pretty set on Mr. Handsome playing for the Angels for real one day. Not kidding. How amazing would that be?? =D I am so thankful for my baby boy. I feel ridiculously blessed with my family. I am overwhelmed with gratitude to the Lord. He has given me so much and I am so undeserving and he still loves unconditionally and gives generously. It blows my mind.

Love

I know it's time to write a blog when I want to update my status and they are wayyyyyy too many things to update about! Overall, life is pretty awesome right now, there are some thorns, but I'm sure the Lord is trying to mold me in those areas and I can definitely see the need for molding. I'm very excited about the prospect of being a homeowner sooner than later. We have 1 offer into the bank and we are waiting for approval. I haven't gotten attached to any one house, I'm just grateful for wherever the Lord puts us.

For some reason tonight, I am just overwhelmed with love for my babies. Obviously, I love them everyday, but I have just been doing a lot of reflecting as I've been sipping tea, playing Zingo or just snuggling with them. Their innocence is so stinkin precious. Hearing them use a new word or phrase melts my heart and sometimes makes me laugh. I love how attached Levi is to me. You can really start to see how their little personality are really atarting to bloom. Madison is more of the perfectionist. She is very gentle and mothering. She is so helpful and sweet. Haylie is my little wild child, but she is very giving and she loves to cuddle. She is very expressive so its super fun to take her shopping, its just like bein with one my girlfriends! Levi is cuddly. He's a mam's boy right now. I am loving every minute of him being a baby.

One of the things I was reflecting on is how I never finished college and how it doesnt bother me an ounce. I am a go-getter and I like to be successful at the things I try my hand at, but I could care less about a degree. In my heart, I have known since I was way young that my calling was to be a mommy. I am living my dream every day. I also dont plan on ever going back to school. I plan on driving for all the field trips, making the best cookies for the bake sale, leading girls scouts, help my kids be #1 in the magazine drive and whatever other activities motherhood calls me to do.

Josh updated his status the other day about how he wouldnt be who he is today with out me or be doing what he's doing without me, but it easily goes the other way, too. I could not be doing what I'm doing if I didn't have an amazing, supportive husband like him. He's my best friend and he is just more than I could have ever dreamed of.

I just feel overwhelmed with gratitude for my husband and my kids. I learn so much just by looking into their big blue eyes. They are my whole world.

House Hunt

So an update on the house hunt: Not much. We have made lots of offers just this week, many of them were back up offers. One of them is on a house that backs up to my father-in-law's house and that would be pretty cool. I'm trying to be patient because I know God is going to put us right where he wants us. I'm less concerned with the tax credit as I am with just getting a house! Not really sure what we're going to do if things dont start to move, cant live with my parents for forever although I'm sure they want us to, LOL ;) Please friends and family be praying that we find a home soon.

The other day I bought a pillow to build our living room off of. Josh didnt understand this, AT ALL. I have not bought a single thing for when we have a house, but I saw this pillow and had to have it bc it captured to a tee what colors I want to do in my living room. I saw a couch I liked the other day, too! But I'm being patient.

Although, this is not directly related to our house hunt, it helps: Business is going really well and has REALLY picked up with the rain being pretty much out of the way. We are picking up more commercial accounts and may even be expanding our business to do other things. That is in the works so we'll save that blog for a later date. God has truly blessed us. We have had to learn a lot of things the hard way and dig ourselves out from some pretty hefty holes. Im so grateful for where we are today and for what we have learned.

4 things I hate today.

Today there are some things that are getting on my nerves more than others.

1. Investors
They are making it super hard for some of us young couples to get a house cuz they are snapping up all the reasonably priced houses.

2. People that have nothing nice to say about anyone.
I'm just flabbergasted at just how many people, girls mainly, will turn on even their closest friends. I'm over spending time with those who will even throw their best friend under the bus. I have seen a girl who will brown nose the girl they are spending time with and slam every other female they know as well as divulge details of other's personal lives. I find this despicable and won't be engaging with this individual any longer. It's sad. It takes being a good friend to have a good friend. DUH.

3. Taxes
Do I even have to explain why they stink? Ugh. Oh well, at least they are paid and I can plan better for next year. Oh happy happy joy joy!

4. People that complain about their situation but are too lazy to do anything about it.
That one sentence pretty much sums it up. If you aren't willing to change and get off your but if need be, then I dont wanna hear, NEGATIVE NANCY!

Ahhhh, I feel 20 lbs lighter getting that off my chest!

BRING IT ON!

That's definitely how I feel right now. I have a little bit of everything on my plate right now. Balance is a beautiful thing and I think I do a decent job of keeping it. I've been helping Josh conduct some of the things that need to get done for the business, I exercise everyday, I am definitely trying to set aside time to talk to God and just be with him, the girls and I have developed a pretty good morning routine of games, crafts, coloring, playing, sing & dancing or whatever we feel like doing, snuggling with Levi and time with Josh. Throw trying to find a home and build the business on just normal life is crazy, oh and we also started FPU again. It's awesome, I love that I feel like were always moving in a forward motion and not just sedentary waiting for God to drop life into our laps. Were trying to make the best of the talents, money, time, energy and everything else God has generously blessed us with.

We have set out a new hefty goal for ourselves and Im ready for the challenge BRING IT ON!! We want to pay off our van by the time we are moving into a house (the end of June is the ultimate goal). It's just a goal, its not the end of the world if it doesnt happen, but it would be an amazing thing if it did! That would make us debt free besides student loans and then we could attack those FULL FORCE! We are going back to being GAZELLE INTENSE!! We know what we are capable of when we really buckle down!

Just felt like updating my blog and sharing what's on my plate and sharing our goal so I we can hold oursleves accountable and work our tails off!