The past few months the Lord has given me such a heart of thanks and for that alone I am thankful. I've tried to do a "thankful thought per day" but let's be honest - there are entirely too many things to be thankful for to just narrow it down to one a day. I am thankful for new life in Him. I'm thankful that His mercies are new each and every morning. I'm thankful that when my Savior looks upon me He sees His perfect spotless lamb in my place. I am thankful for what we see as trials He sees as blessings. I'm thankful that while many days I think our meal options may be limited there is always a hot meal to put on the table. I'm thankful I can worship with my family and friends freely. I'm thankful for my boys and a home full of life. I'm thankful for God's provision through various jobs while I get to stay home with Luke. I'm thankful for His sustaining energy. I'm thankful that at the end of the day when my heart is troubled or worn out, when I am grieving for a loved one or overwhelmed with responsibility, my God is still Good and He is still enough.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. -Matthew 11:28-30

Here's a little peak into our Thanksgiving, which was full of family and food:

Luke sharing his Wall of Turkeys (and thankful tree). Luke's current obsession/fascination is seizing any and every opportunity to use a glue stick.

Delicious spread with a Note of Thanks to each of our guests.

We heart Tiny Prints.

Last year we loved Shutterfly. This year we're big fans of Tiny Prints ;) Not only did they do a Zulily special discount purchase, they have a faaabulous selection of Christmas cards. Here are a couple favorites. Pair these with their frequent discount codes and free shipping offers, you're sure to send lots of [adorable] holiday cheer to your loved ones.

Each of these is a favorite for two reasons: the awesome color palette and the multiple picture options. Now that a little one is involved it's hard to get one decent picture of the 3.5 of us and so much happens throughout the year that loved ones want to see. With multiple picture options you can share a little bit about your year and manage to get one decent smiling photo of the family.

Check out more great designs here, and be sure to take advantage of their filters on the lefthand side in order to narrow down your search!http://www.tinyprints.com/shop/picture-christmas-cards.htm

Apple Extravaganza

This weekend our house has smelled absolutely delicious. Apples everywhere. In the crock pot, jars, pies, crisps...it was delightful :) With each season Billy and I usually get on a kick of a particular fruit or veggie to can so we can enjoy it's fresh goodness all year long. No but really...all year. Earlier this year it started with blackberries, then on to tomatoes and we finished up the summer with peaches. I love that when I'm making soups and stews this winter I am still using this summer's tomatoes, when I need a quick side or fruit I'm able to pull out a jar of 100% peaches WITHOUT the added preservatives (and sugar), when we're looking for an easy warm breakfast I've got a plethora of fresh jams and jellies to spread on fresh made biscuits or toast and last but not least - the pie filling makes an oh so easy dessert option that I can whip up for guests in the form of a crisp, pie or even served warm with vanilla ice cream. But back to my apple kick. This Saturday it was apples. Luke and I headed on over to the Farmer's Market while Billy was building our deck and we scored a whopping 40 pounds of apples for $24! You might be wondering how many apples = 40 pounds. Well, I didn't count, but I can tell you that after 13 half pints of apple butter, 4 quarts of apple cider (which, by the way you just use all your scraps from slicing and peeling apples, stick it in the crock pot with water and seasonings and voila! Apple cider!), 6 quarts of apple pie filling and 4 jars of apple jam we still have about 25 apples leftover.

You're probably wondering what on earth I'm going to do with all of these jars. We will keep some of the jam, butter, cider & pie filling on the shelves with our canned tomatoes, peach slices, blackberry jam & peach jam. Then we will be giving the rest away - along with our other summer goodies - as Christmas gifts. Don't worry brothers and sisters, these are just for friends and extended family... you will have a wrapped gift under the tree ;)

Blame it on my urge to nest right now or my love of all things Christmas, but I have enjoyed every minute of it. My feet are a bit tired but I just love knowing that we'll get to share something tasty with ones we love that they can eat right away or save for a quick dessert on a cold winter's night. Once they're tagged and recipe'd (made that one up) I'll be sure to post pictures.

Here are a few of my favorite looks... minus the newlywed names and replace it with favorite recipes:

I love the simplicity of these...just a little twine (which I have an abundance of) and a sweet card full of delicious suggestions. IE: Apple butter pork tenderloin, apple crisp, apple pie, homemade biscuits with peach jam, etc. Can you tell I'm 29 weeks preggers??

I'm generally not a fan of the fabric toppers - they're a bit too old fashioned for my taste. HOWEVER - I love these. Again..simple and sweet. Literally.

I LOVE these but I'm not sure I'm going to have the time (or energy) to mess with making labels along with the packaging, mailing, delivering...oh and making the boy's blankets, finishing the boy's shared bedroom and finishing up Everett's cradle bedding. But still, super cute.

And off to the next project I go while my little man is sleeping... some custom curtains and towels for the ever so fun Moms Sew Sassy :)

Redemption.

Wednesdays are pretty predictable in the Grimme house, and usually a favorite day for all. It's trash day which means every Wednesday morning I get about 20 minutes of -quiet (key word here)- reading time while Luke stands at the front window watching every garbage and recycling truck come through the neighborhood. And to top it off, the bus stop is right outside our house so that adds another minute or two of sheer bliss for my truck lover, Luke. Then, something wonderful happens at Eva Perry Library. Mother Goose story time. It's not the story time Luke is in love with, it's Miss Martha. Or, "Mish Marph," rather. Luke talks about it all week, retells what he did at the library in his own way, recounts the songs and nursery rhymes we've song and watches intently for 15 minutes every week as Miss Martha leads the way. After library time the day is pretty much a shoe in - run a couple errands, have some lunch, play outside and voila, it's 1:15 and the boy is ready for nap.

I should have known today would go a little differently. I had time to get dressed this morning, and eat breakfast before throwing up a couple of times (yes, I am 18 1/2 weeks and still throwing up - do not tempt me with another, "Oh maybe this will be the week it ends!"), and even managed to have a very peaceful devotional time with both fellas in which Luke joyfully recited half of Genesis 1:1. He even sent dad off with a very "happy heart" as we call it without one tear and enjoyed every garbage truck as usual. And then it happened. We got to the library. And he walked in, dropped off his books and the whining and crying began. Tearing books off the shelves followed, by a very impatient little boy who did no feel like waiting for Mish Marph any longer. Finally, she appeared and I thought, "ok...back to normal." Well. Miss Marph. If you sing a song about a horse every week for a month, then take it out of your story time, the one 18 month old in the room that actually remembers every song you've ever sung will likely have a meltdown. Insert Luke here. Thankfully she redeemed herself and said a new rhyme involving a flannel horse on the board, which commenced the meltdown for the time being. In all my naive - this is going to turn around attitude - kind of way, we head over to the tables where they have a lovely spontaneous craft that involves coloring. Coloring is Luke's happy place. Until my child refuses to go color. Instead, proceeds to have yet another meltdown about the fact that there are no cozy pillows on the couches in the libraries. We finally make it to the coloring table - note to self, don't force your child to do an optional craft that he isn't interested in doing. About 5 minutes into coloring, I turn around to snag a cute board book off the shelf (mind you, I'm still sitting right next to him) and just in time for me to turn my head back around every last crayon of about 400 have been launched onto the floor by none other than ... Luke. So, me being so patient and pregnant thinking, "well, just another teaching moment I suppose," Luke and I proceed to talk about all the crayons on the floor and pick up every last one. There's a little redemption here - he did help put them all back in. Ahhh, now on to the check out counter. I'll spare you our adventure to the car.

In an effort to redeem our morning and avoid going home with a whiney child for the next 3 hours - sidenote: I probably should have gone home with a whiney child for the next 3 hours - I decided to see if a friend and her son wanted to meet for lunch somewhere and let the boys play their little hearts out. Selfishly I was thinking: contained area, boys play, mommies talk, get caffeine. So first we squeeze in one more errand - huge mistake resulting in yet another meltdown about getting in the shopping cart and completely soaked pants for Luke. Did I mention I forgot my diaper bag? But hey, Chik Fil A is always a win so this morning WILL TURN AROUND. We make it through 3 chicken nuggets and almost all fries and my boy is happy and ready to play. The boys head off to go play, I'm ready to take my first uninterrupted bite of chicken salad and then it happens. Somehow, in some way, Luke gets traumatized and does NOT want to play in there. Screaming from the inside of a tunnel I make my way in to get him and so ends uninterrupted lunch and mommy time. A few minutes later he changes his mind. He goes in on his own, I'm thinking this is a good sign. Until the 7 and 9 year old boys barge in pretending they are characters from Lord of the Rings and scare my child to a million pieces. Ahhhh...time to refill my cherry coke that I splurged my extra calories on today..... So. Library: fail. Joanns: Fail. Chikfila: Epic fail.

Moral of the story: Fathers, do not exasperate your children. I should have listened to my son. I shouldn't have pushed him past what I knew his tiny mind and heart were capable of for today. I know him, I know this is not normal, but I wanted what I wanted which was a guaranteed long nap for he and myself. So I confess, I am selfish. And thankful for the God who forgives me of that and then He alone redeems my day. And gives me patience for the next 2 1/2 hours of time with my son before daddy comes home.

Nap time is over folks :)

Baby #2!!!

We are so thrilled to have seen our sweet little BOY number two today!!! I really feel like the Lord has been telling me to pray for an Abigail before we even got pregnant but today I woke up and thought - Abigail is for later whether our adopted daughter or biological. But today I will wear blue for boy. And I was right!

Everything about this pregnancy (minus the morning sickness) has been so different emotionally. I feel like now that we know how precious life is and how precious parenting is, we are so much more drawn and excited to this pregnancy. Not that we weren't before, we were of course thrilled with Luke. But this time we know how beautiful it is on this side of things and to get to see our precious boy in my belly today was absolutely wonderful. We came home with a CD full of 3D and what is it - 2D? images for free and our ultrasound tech's excitement was so awesome the entire time. With every toe, finger and heart beat that we saw she talked to our baby as if it were her own. Very sweet.

This time around my weight has been a huge issue (as in, don't gain 55 pounds please) but after seeing that we're having another boy and he's already measuring ahead despite my low weight gain we are confident that Billy & Lily Grimme make long babies :) Here are a few pictures to date - we will have another ultrasound at 28 weeks and 38 weeks to make sure there are no surprises upon delivery and to decide how to move forward with delivery. After today we decided induction is not on the table so we will either have a miraculous natural delivery before 39 weeks or a C-Section at 39 weeks.

Here are a few pictures of our precious son number 2!

Luke at 18 Months

I started writing this post while Luke was sleeping about a month ago. He woke up. Shocker :)

Little man is officially 18 months old and boy what a whirlwind the past few months have been. Active is an understatement. We hit the ground running around 7 am every day and don't slow down until it's time for bed. He takes a good two hour nap (although today we're pushing 3...) every day which is a nice break for one tired mama! He dropped from an uncharted height (greater than 110% they stop charting) to back in the 97% where he has stayed most of his life, in the 75% for weight and is talking. up. a. storm. Very rare for an 18 month old boy to talk as much as he does.

He is most definitely an introvert like his father at this point. At home he is WILD. By wild I mean running around the house "so fast", chasing Wyatt, trying to ride Wyatt, standing on his train and truck instead of riding his train and truck, climbing and jumping off of EVERYTHING, spinning in circles until he cannot hold himself up - then repeating all of that about 10 times everyday. The minute we get with friends or other children he observes. It takes him about an hour to really warm up and let loose. He beats to his own little drum (which is fine by me!) and is in no way interested in following others.

We started potty training about two weeks ago and it's going really well. I would say he's 75% there with accidents only occurring out in public when I can't get him to a potty in time. He also moved on up to a toddler bed..I won't lie, the first couple of nights I climbed in with him since he looked too big for my liking. I can't believe my baby isn't in a crib anymore!!! He thinks he's big stuff. It started out great until he figured out child-proof door knobs. We had to go back to the drawing board and thankfully after introducing him to Billy's old monkey from when he was a child, he's back to staying in bed for the night and sleeping well for the most part.

Favorite Foods:

Hot diggity dogs. And that's what he calls them. Pickles - favorite is an understatement. Chocolate ice cream. Broccoli. Peaches. Any kind of melon. Blueberries. Mandarin oranges.

Favorite Activity:

Anything OUTSIDE. And this mama is not so interested in the hot and bothered business so I feel kind of bad for how little time we've actually spent outside recently. 90's-100's isn't really my thing. He's also a huge fan of coloring/writing. A lot of people ask how he knows so much (colors, alphabet, numbers, etc) and I really think it's because he will sit and color for a solid 45 minutes multiple times a day and all he wants you to do is write letters and numbers or draw things for him while he talks all about it. It's really very fascinating.

Favorite Person:

DADDY - of course! He loves to do anything like his daddy, say anything like his daddy (hence the hot diggity dog phrase), be anything like his daddy. They are two peas in a pod and twins with 28 years in between.

And here's a few favorites of our Little BIG Boy! It's sad how few pictures we've taken this month. Maybe I'll take a some today just for fun.

Big Boy Thomas Pants

Happiest boy ever. 5 Minutes later telling him we're going inside, not so much.

Like I said, twins. Helping me can tomatoes.

San Fran 2011

It's very peaceful in our home right now, and rare is the day that I'm actually awake to enjoy it. Short rest, quiet snack, bills paid, pictures uploaded, and what's that? Even a blog post!

Billy and I had the awesome opportunity to go on a vacation to San Francisco just the two of us...what a breath of fresh air!! Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but getting to sleep in and eat on my own schedule was such a treat. It was a very relaxing, laid back, do what we want-when we want kind of trip full of uninterrupted meals and conversation. To that I say YES! And did I mention it was a cool, breezy, overcast 62 degrees while we were there? Hello jeans, sweaters and clam chowder :)

The first day we spent driving through the mountains visiting various beaches and forests - truly amazing how there are such vast differences in landscape so close to each other. We also ventured to Sausalito, a very quaint town with a few fun shops and delicious cafes. The next day we spent drove around some more looking at lots of beautiful (and oh so expensive) neighborhoods filled with lambhorginis, porsches, ya know the usual... We also went over to Palo Alto for dinner and dessert, another fun town with a little shopping. My favorite day was just staying in the city and making our way through Fisherman's Wharf and Fort Point, sipping on mochas and eating a giant bowl of clam chowder on the water. A cool breeze, cozy sweater and hot bowl of soup brings my heart much joy amidst the 104 degrees we've been experiencing here in NC. It was so nice to just spend time enjoying my awesome man of a husband. I love that 3 years and a baby and a half later we are still the same "us." Luke has changed us for the better but he hasn't taken over our marriage which was a huge fear of mine. It was a great escape for the two of us and when we came home we were able to love our sweet little man even better. Shout out to Nana and Papa who kept our boy happy and full while we were away :)

Here's a few from our trip:

Jesus Wins

As a little girl I grew up with many Easter traditions: Easter Egg hunts, dying the eggs, picking out an Easter Dress, an Easter family photo on the morning of, and heading to church for a worshipful service celebrating the Resurrection. And now I get to be on the "mommy" end of things...and I love it :) I love teaching Luke about Jesus and beginning new traditions with him and spending time worshipping together as a family. Despite our great plans for how we would celebrate this Easter, things went much differently than I had desired. On Sunday Billy and I lost our second child due to an early miscarriage.

At first I was ashamed and embarrassed. I felt like I failed in some way. I wanted to seclude myself and sleep all afternoon. I was not interested in spending time with my family or friends. It was a lot about me, my plans being ruined, my hopes and excitement being crushed. And then it hit me. Today is the day we celebrate that Christ has risen. Regardless of what happens here on earth, he has RISEN! And what a day to celebrate!! He has Risen so that I may have life and life abundantly. And what a beautiful day to be reminded that because He is Lord and He WON over darkness, I can have hope in Him in the dark and sad times. And so this Easter, although we lost our little one, we declare VICTORY in Christ the Risen King. It is because of Him, His resurrection and His empty tomb that we can cling to Hope in our Savior. Just as I shared with the 3 year olds in our Sunday School Class, the tomb is EMPTY. Jesus has CONQUERED the grave. Jesus won!! And it's true, that despite our heavy and burdened hearts, Jesus wins...Jesus wins.

The Blogging Blues

Though I've had much to write about and many pictures to share, I've been a little MIA when it comes to blogging. I've been evaluating and praying through where my time should be spent (since a cute little person seems to make productivity slightly more difficult these days....) and quite honestly, blogging is on the bottom of the list.

Being a mom has obviously been a learning experience from day 1 but I am now beginning to realize that I have to be extremely strategic as to where my time goes. This month has been very humbling, to say the least. There have been lots of bruises & goose eggs, tears & teeth...and while I know it comes with the territory of having a little one, a very active mister little one at that, I've realized that my time and energy (or lack thereof) has been a big contributor to the tears and frustration from Luke. So long are the days of mommy sitting at the computer working on bills, ministry needs & catching up on e-mails.... and a very big enthusiastic "Hello" to the days of watching Luke's every step, squeezing in short bursts of productivity, and using his nap times and bedtime to spend time with the Lord and take care of the real necessities of my family. So, while I'm figuring out this new phase with Luke and working on keeping our home sane and peaceful, here's a brief recap on the past 4 weeks. I'm not sure where blogging fits into all of this :)

Luke is walking. Er...Running. He's not so great at it, hence the bruises & goose eggs. He is very needy and clingy at this phase and I literally cannot walk 2 feet from him before he starts whining and tugging at my legs to either be carried or entertained. This exhausts me on all levels...but my biceps are reaping benefits. He is talking up a storm and is obsessed with birds, blueberries (yes, we are still obsessed), broccoli & daddy (I don't think I will ever win this one). He also has a strange fascination with tupperware and putting it back together. I've introduced him to crayons and chalk, both of which I think he could play with all day. He is beginning to remember animal sounds and body parts, and knows that the letter A is for "babal" - aka: Apple. He is very into books right now and we spend a good portion of our day reading the same books over and over again. He LOVES music and loves for me to sing his favorite songs to him with the hand motions. These songs include: My God is So Big (to which he throws his hands up in the air for BIG), Itsy Bitsy Spider, ABC's, Fingers are Wiggling and Happy & You Know It. I get a round of applause every time ;)

Billy is loving his job and we are loving having him home. The Lord has truly blessed him with a great boss and a great environment to work in. He is officially google-able :) He's been tackling lots of projects at home that he's been wanting to do for the past two years like building our garden (see below), setting up Luke's swing set - fantastic gift from my favorite family, the Pleasants, and building shelves in our bathroom. I'm so thankful for a handy hubs!

I am cooking. A lot. To say that my boys eat a lot of food is an understatement. Most days Luke consumes more food per meal than I do. To give you an idea of what I have to work with, we are averaging 2 gallons of milk/week (for Luke & I, Billy doesn't drink much), 18 eggs/week, 1 pint blueberries/week, 10 bananas/week, and I don't even know how to count the amount of broccoli Luke consumes per week. I should have invested in BJ's.

Gardening. We finally got our garden in place and I am in loooooove. Billy built up a raised bed that is 12x10 ft. So far we've planted broccoli, potatoes (red & yellow), yellow onions, radishes, carrots and red & green leaf lettuce. Everything is sprouting beautifully! Last week we purchased 3 blueberry plants & a blackberry bush. They look great in the yard and because they are already 2-5 years old we will yield a relatively large fruit production this summer. I'm sure you're noticing the connection between our garden and the amount of food we're going through each week... I'm hopeful for a lower grocery bill this spring, summer & fall ;)

Moms Sew Sassy - phew, we have been busy busy bees!! We are hosting a home show this weekend at my friend Erin's house and are excited for the turnout we are anticipating. We have done really well with our costs and are having a blast coming up with new and fun things for our kiddos. We also found out we made it into PEAK FEST!! We are so thrilled and a little shocked. The application process is very competitive and our particular category is the most popular and most challenging to get into. We are really grateful for the opportunity but this has obviously added more to the calendar for the next two months. This morning we thought it was a good idea to take both children, all of our coupons and all of our measurements to Joann's....which resulted in a 2 1/2 hour trip and two VERY fussy and annoyed children. Note to self: Don't ever do that again.

Our niece, Baby Addison! She is edible, I tell you. All 6 lbs 11 oz of her :) We had a great time visiting with Ray & Sarah and I was so thankful to be in Georgia and celebrate with them when they brought Addison home. I'm even more excited to go spend a week there when Sarah heads back to work so I can snuggle with Addison all day long... mmm babies are addicting ;)

I finally dove into my reading list that I started earlier this year with the goal of reading one book a month. While the whole one book a month thing hasn't exactly worked out, I absolutely love the book I just finished up (Fearlessly Feminine) and have loved the quiet restful time this has provided throughout my days. I just ordered the book, Faithful Women and an Extraordinary God, which follows the lives of 5 faithful missionary women throughout history.

And for the many many people that keep asking and wondering when we're going to have another baby...we are NOT pregnant, though we gladly welcome a new little one whenever that may be.

So there you have it, life with the Grimme's this past month...it's been a good one :)

A Great First Year

Well, folks. It's been a whole year since our little [er, big] man was born! I blogged about our birth story a month after we came home. While reading through that post this week and taking time to reflect over the past year I feel overwhelmingly blessed. Last night I was writing a "one year letter" to Luke and, as I wrote in my letter to him last night, I feel like from the moment Luke was born the heavens have been declaring the greatness of God. The story of Luke's recovery is a testimony of His greatness and the story of God changing and pruning Billy and I this past year is a continued story of Grace. I am so thankful for all that He has been teaching us, even though some lessons are harder to swallow than others.

Last night we celebrated Luke's birthday with some dear family and friends. Luke wasn't too fond of the cake and icing - in fact, he shivered with almost every bite. Too funny :)

Today we finished up the year with his 1 year well visit and the results are in:

Height: 32 in (97%)

Weight: 23 lbs 14.5 oz (60%)

Head Circumference: 18 3/4in (90%)

We have a very tall string bean that is now able to reach the countertops, hang on door knobs & pull things off the kitchen table. Life looks very interesting/cautious these days! He took his first solid steps on Monday and is getting the hang of walking very quickly. His vocabulary is increasing and he's now trying to mimic two syllable words. He's still sleeping relatively well, though in the past few weeks he's been waking up in the night which is very unusual for him. Hoping we'll snap out of that soon enough :) He's officially done with bottles and only drinks milk with his 3 meals a day. My not-so-picky eater has been testy lately and will sometimes sit at the table with us for half an hour before he decides to start eating. He's still obsessed with blueberries. Luke is a perfect blend of his mom and dad in all areas. Mostly in his independence/stubbornness and determination ;) He is a bundle of fun and we love having him as part of our family!! What a truly great first year of Luke's life this has been, and a great first year as parents for us! We did it!

Now, here a few pics from the last 12 months - Happy Birthday to our little man, Luke :)

Day 2

1 Month Milk Belly

2 Months, Easter

First Smiles :)

3 Months

4 Months

5 Months

6 Months

7 Months

8 Months

9 Months

10 Months

11 Months

"I'm One"

The 1 Year Old Birthday Boy

Everyday Chinese...

just so happens to be my new favorite cookbook.

For the past two years of my marriage I have learned two things. 1. my husbands love language: food. 2. His sub-love language: chinese food.

Every now and then I like a good Asian dish but it's not typically my go-to food. I try and keep our monthly menu pretty versatile but let's be honest, I've never come close to choosing to add Chinese food to the list :) One afternoon while diddling around in World Market with Billy we came across this little (literally...it's about the size of a post card) Chinese cookbook...hence the title of this post, "Everyday Chinese." At first I was a little skeptical and expecting a not-so-great attempt at this Chinese dish. But boy was I wrong! Our first dish we tried was chicken stir fry with rice & veggies. It was DE-LISH. Again, thinking maybe it was a fluke we tried another dish this weekend and I was blown away at the yumminess and authenticity found in our giant wok of food! This time we tried beef & broccoli with soba noodles...mm so good.

So if you like Chinese cuisine and have a chance to go pick up a good book, I highly recommend this $4.99 find at World Market.

Chicken stir fry with rice & veggies

I will not be silent

My heart is heavy tonight after I read a nauseating article and letter from a victim of human and sexual trafficking. She is pleading to the Super Bowl Host & National Football league to take a stand against the horrific increase of sexual trafficking that is going to take place this year. Did you know that last year during the 2010 Super Bowl, it was reported that there were tens of thousands of victims. My heart dropped to my stomach. As I continued reading her plea my soul grew angry...weary...sick and saddened for these silenced women that are being forced, abused, threatened, and even killed all for the sake of guilty pleasure. These girls are in their young teens...they are being fooled and tricked into a life of slavery. They are in our country. They are in the most populated city of the year. For what? For the Super Bowl. To be sold for sex. And the men who are visiting these women, these young girls... couldn't. care. less.

So tonight I cannot be silent. I must voice this to my KING. I must cry out to Him on behalf of these precious daughters. I must beg that He would put an end to this, that He would create a movement among these people that are receiving the letter. That they would NOT GIVE IN to promote the human trafficking industry. That redemption would be found for these girls. That the pimping industry would be NO MORE. So I ask you tonight, would you join me? Would you pray over these women and men in the coming days?

You can find the article and letter here. You can also find a prayer guide for the campaign, Traffic911 here.

For more information on human trafficking you can visit change.org or www.warinternational.org.

These children, teenagers and women need a voice....

Gotta love updates

I just love a good home update. And thanks to my ever-so-handy husband we got to do that very thing to our kitchen. Our kitchen is relatively small so counter and storage space is very limited.

Here is before:

This cabinet was a hand me down from Billy's parents which we were so grateful for. It's served us well in the past 2 years but as our family is growing (along with my cookbook collection...) we needed something more practical - storage space, counter space, display space and of course kid friendly. So how do you do this on a budget? You buy some wood from Lowe's and cut, sand, nail/screw, paint, sand, paint some more...and voila! You have this lovely gem!

(I'm sure my husband would beg to differ on the simplicity of the above process!)

Then we added some shelves above the top in order to provide the display space I was looking for. Thanks to Billy's hard work we now have 4 more feet of counter space, a longer shelf for my cookbooks, a big basket full of tupperware (Luke's distraction while I cook) and more storage space for our bakeware in the drawers. We found really fun blue knobs at World Market - a set for just $4.

So here's a big shout out to that most amazing-creative-talented-hardworking-husband of mine :)

Home Planning Notebook - Section 1

As promised, here's the first section of my Home Planning Notebook (a day early, at that!). I feel like a dork writing this...but as I said before it's been a big help to me. If you didn't read the previous post, check it out here before reading ahead. I didn't like any of the clip arts or free planning pages that I found online so I decided to make my own with some clipart I found on etsy. It's amazing what you can find on there!

The first section in my notebook, my calendar, is the smallest but for me the most important. I am very forgetful and tend to commit to something or think of something that I need to do and then forget what it was that I needed to do or who I made plans with. What am I, like 80??? It's been helpful for me to look the night before at what I have going on the next day and write down anything that needs to be done instead of starting my day wondering what's going on....

Here's the front:

This verse really spoke to my heart as I was working on this... my plans are ultimately to submit to the Lord, whatever that may look like for the day/month/year.

Next is my daily list of to-do's.

As I saw in another blog I broke it up into three sections. This was to help with feeling overwhelmed with one long list and realistically breaking it up into what will work for my day. Of course things come up and sometimes what's on my list doesn't get accomplished, but it helps having it laid out in small clusters of the day.

The last section is my monthly and yearly calendars:

I keep track of everything we have going on for the month here and reference it often. At first I thought I'd have to have separate calendars for different things - one for my notebook, one on the computer, one in my purse to schedule appts. and so on. But it just so happens that one of the perks of carrying a big purse is being able to carry my notebook with me :D So, sweet husband of mine, there is indeed a purpose to my "luggage" as you like to call it ;)

After the calendar is the rest of the year to keep up with things in coming months and then I keep blank daily to-do sheets after that.

And there's the start to my notebook, folks!

The Pursuit of Time Management

I've found a new blog called Passionate Homemaking that has inspired much needed organization in my life. I've always thought I was pretty organized as Billy gives me a hard time weekly about my obsession with baskets and bins for our spare baskets and bins :) But for many months my days have left me feeling unaccomplished and quite frazzled to say the least. My finances in one place, my coupons in another place, grocery lists in one room while family calendar in another... I found myself getting frustrated and annoyed over the little things and one day in stillness before the Lord I realized what a [negative] impact it was having on my family. The Lord has been showing me how to conquer this and I am grateful for His guidance. One of the biggest problem areas was how my week was planned (or not so planned). God has been teaching me so much about my role and how praying over and planning out my week can radically transform the tone and feel of my home.

Inspired by this lovely post, Building a Home Planning Notebook, I've been organizing my life and home little by little. At first I was skeptical thinking there was no room for spontaneity, no room for random opportunities or any flexibility. But as I've prayed through each day and each week God has proven me wrong and shown me that 1. planning ahead of time makes our home much more peaceful; and 2. God is sovereign and He leads me to people and opportunities in the midst of the daily plans. It's really been neat to see His plans for me and how getting organized has actually given me more opportunities to see Him in the midst of my day. I feel like there is a pep in my step and a little more peace in my soul!

Each Friday (hopefully) I'll post a new section of my notebook and how we got a little more organized... I hope this helps bring a little more organization into your new year!

GREAT find: DAVE of Brier Creek

One of my goals this year is to cut our grocery bill but still buy local, fresh and all natural foods. So in my mission to find a egg/milk/meat provider I came across Dave. I know, sounds a little sketch. But let me just tell you about Billy and I's new favorite person. I found him on Craigslist when searching for local eggs. He is a software engineer in Chapel Hill and moved to 2 acres of land about 2 years ago. He decided he needed something to put on his land so he randomly bought chickens. Luke found them fascinating and wanted to catch them so badly... maybe it will motivate him to walk ;) So back to Dave. He's been doing research and has learned how to feed his chickens off of his gigantic garden in the summer and uses cracked corn in the winter...resulting in beautiful, large, fresh and hormone free eggs! We worked out a deal and he gave me 18 eggs for just $2 today. Woohoo!

THEN we found out that he keeps a fantastic pesticide & fertilizer free garden in the Spring, Summer & Fall. He uses special red worms that create a natural fertilizer for gardens and double the size of your veggies. What's even better? If you use the compost of the worms (which is the natural fertilizer) and mix it with molasses and water then spray it on your plants, it kills several diseases and pests that tend to ruin gardens in the south. Sounds kind of crazy, but pretty amazing! He is going to show us how to raise our own worms (a little gross..but worth it) so we can have a great garden and he's going to help us get our garden started this Spring! We are very excited and thankful for our new friend, Dave. Last night Billy and I spent about an hour planning out our garden plots and what vegetables we'll be growing where...I'm very excited :)

Luke Lately: just under 11 months

I can't believe my little...ok big...boy will be 1 year in just over a month. In the past week it's like his brain has skyrocketed in development and I really need to write it all down before I forget. So instead of going to find a blank piece of paper & working pen, writing everything down, not having anywhere to put said piece of paper and then losing it...I thought I'd jot down some thoughts on here really quickly before little...big...boy wakes up from his nap.

Words:

He is talking like a crazy man. From the moment he wakes up til the minute he falls asleep he jabbers up a storm. Billy and I can usually get him going on the words he knows and last night he surprised me with two more as we were reading his favorite "Colors" book. Here's a running list...

Ball - "baw"

Dada - "dadada"

Mama - "mamama"

More - "mooow"

Hot - "haaahhh" - this is by far his favorite word. Anytime a timer goes off, the microwave is finished or the oven beeps he races to the kitchen and says, "haahh"

Go - "gogogo" Guess he likes the succession of 3's??

Wyatt - "woof"

Night Night - "nyny"

Bottle/Milk - "baba"

Banana - "nananananana..." he keeps going until he runs out of breath

Nana - "nana"

Papa/Grandpa - "PawPaw"

"All Done" - Waves his hands in the air and says a few jibbery words

And his two newest additions: Blue - "bubu", Yellow - "elloello", Cracker - "caca"

Favorite Foods:

My easy eater has recently become a little more picky. He's not very interested in ground meats of any sort. He loves most noodles, almost all vegetables and has a love affair with blueberries. I think his running favorite is still bananas. Or at least he just likes to say bananas. He's very into carbs and his new treat Graham Crackers. He also loves cheerios.

Favorite Activities:

He got a tunnel for Christmas from my cousin Nicole so he loves crawling in and out of it to get to Billy or I. He also loves sitting on the colored rug and looking at books. He loves going outside on walks and exploring cabinets of all kinds. He is still obsessed with any or all electronics that are NOT children's toys. He's also obsessed with keys.

Favorite Books:

Peek-a-boo Baby, Color Party, Goodnight Kisses. He finds it very entertaining to make kissing sounds and when the book reads, "Who likes ______ kisses? Meeee!" He responds with "Mama!" instead of "Me" :) It's true...I love snuggly, fluffy, happy, squeaky and goodnight kisses.

Favorite Person:

DADADA. I think I'm going to take a video camera with me on Friday when we drop Billy off at work so you can get an honest understanding of his love for his dada. Full. Blown. Meltdown. Any time Billy leaves the room, house or car crocodile tears are sure to follow. It was really sweet the first or second time. It's getting a little old now.

A New Year

A new year already? 2010 is finished? Where did 365 days go? It's hard to imagine that 2010, 2009, 2008, and so on are gone forever. I've been dwelling a lot on the fact that 2010 is now over and found myself wishing time would just slow down for a bit, fearful that life is moving a bit too fast for my liking. In the past 5 years I met the man of my dreams, fell in love, found an amazing church body and community, got married, bought a house, finished college, and had a baby. Don't get me wrong, I truly love it. I love my job and where God has me right now. I love this season of early mornings, tiny fingerprint-coated everything, lazy evenings with my hubs after a long day of running around with my little one. But I fear it's moving too fast. Candidly, it's been keeping me awake at night, fearing what the future holds for us, fearing that that sooner or later I am going to be 80 years old with zero kids in the house, no husband and wishing I was 20 again. Sad (and sinful), right? But in my sinfulness and conviction, God reminded me this morning exactly what I needed to cling to as we approach this new year. And every year.

In the wasteland, a howling wilderness, He encircled [Jacob], He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye. As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up, carrying them on its wings, so the Lord alone led them. Even to your old age, I am He, and even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and I will deliver you.

He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

For this is God, our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even to death. Who teaches like Him?

Psalm 107:7; Deuteronomy 32:10-12; Isaiah 46:4; Psalm 23:3-4; Isaiah 58:11; Psalm 48:14; Job 36:22, emphasis added

So in this new year I am challenged once more to live purposefully. Here are my resolutions for 2011:

1. Love the Lord and His Word more - spend more intimate time alone with Him and carving out time regularly to memorize and cherish His word

2. Grow deeper in my knowledge of Christ - read through the Bible

3. Make my home a peaceful and worship filled place of refuge to all who enter

4. Read a book a month - Thanks Anne for some suggestions to add to my list!

5. Live fearlessly and freely in Christ - clinging to Scripture in times of doubt and trusting that He is sovereign and He alone is good.

6. Spend more time praying with my husband and son

7. Spend more time outside

8. Grow an awesome vegetable garden - I got 2 new books for Christmas and our composting is in the works...I'm very excited :)

9. Drink more water

10. Lower my grocery bill without sacrificing proper & natural nutrition

What are some of your New Year Resolutions? Leave a comment and share some, or link to your blog where you've posted yours!