a word.

read from Jesus Calling this morning. . .

"GROW STRONG in the Light of My Presence.  Your weakness does not repel Me.  On the contrary, it attracts My Power, which is always available to flow into a yielded heart.  Do not condemn yourself for your constant need of help.  Instead, come to Me with your gaping neediness; let the Light of My Love fill you. 

A yielded heart does not whine or rebel when the going gets rough.  It musters the courage to thank Me even during hard times.  Yielding yourself to My will is ultimately an act of trust.  In quietness and trust is your strength."

so good.
so timely.
i could get so overwhelmed if i focus on everything on my plate.
but i chose to focus on Jesus
and take one step at a time.
do the next right thing. Pin It

about today,

we had a great family day today.
and i have no pictures to show you.
but i will tell you that i got to sleep in until like, 7:30.
so that rocked.
then i got to sit at the computer & read blogs and facebook while aj made orange pumpkin shaped pancakes because he rules like that.
then we started working on the garage.
then we went and looked at a few houses that are possibilites.
then we had lunch at chic fil a and made the boys' day.
then we came home & worked on the garage for most of the afternoon.
then we went on a walk to the park with the boys and finley nearly rode his bike into oncoming traffic.
and aj & i nearly had heart attacks...as well as random lady at the park.
then i said i didn't want to make anything for dinner so we hopped in the car & picked up pizza.
then we came home & had a picnic on our office floor with the boys and watched little house on the prairie.
we are starting from the beginning.
we're on season 1 episode 9.
the boys love it.
then boys to bed.
then hot chocolate.
then we watched friday night lights online.
then we went through a few more boxes.
i swear there are 492 boxes labeled "memory box" in our attic.
shoot me now.
i spent a good chunk of the day sitting on the garage floor, reading through old letters, since i had saved every card/letter ever written to me. 
even if it only said, "love, mom" or "your friend in christ, karen"
i gave myself permission to toss 89% of what was in those boxes.
all that reminiscing makes me feel weird.
and i still have more to go through.
but i'm maxed out for the day.



the end. Pin It

another fallish post

last weekend some of aj's family came for a visit.
we had a wonderfully wonderful fall weekend.
aj's mom is an awesome grandma.
she plays with the boys and they love it.
she does things like this:

 she & aj's dad were helping keep the boys entertained in the back yard while people were looking at our house.

 thank you ice storm 2009 for the plethora of leaves in our back yard.
i actually really enjoy those trees hanging over our fence. it feels cozy for some reason. ;)

 and this is why avery snotted & coughed & sneezed for the next 2 days.

one of my favorite things about living in the ozarks is the beautiful trees & hills we have.
 aj's dad snapped this picture while we were driving around.
we've had a pretty warm fall so the trees are not as glorious as they usually are this time of year.
i was glad we were able to find a few to look at while aj's kansas-dwelling parents were here. :)

i'm looking forward to another fall weekend.
it's actually starting to feel like fall around here.

i think tomorrow aj & i are going to go ninja on our attic.
i plan on throwing out 94% of what's up there.
i'm looking forward to lightening our load. :)

have a great weekend!! Pin It

a confession and a craft

 i've kind of felt not on top of my game lately as a mom.
do you ever have those times?
just can't seem to get my act together.
fall is a great time of year to do all sorts of kids' crafts.
you can go on nature walks, make crafts with acorns, paint pumpkins, bake yummy pumpkin treats, etc. etc. etc.
there's a million and 4 fun crafts to do with kids this time of year.
and i have time to do those things because i home school 3 days a week.

we haven't done any.

so, in an effort to not feel so lamo, i told the kids to go grab some leaves from the back yard and we'd make leaf rubbings.
it's the easiest craft in the world.
especially when your yard looks like this:

 

even sawyer could do it. 

it's fun for all ages. :)

 ignore his outfit.
he was still wearing his jammy shirt.

avery is learning cursive this year.
he loves it.

*****************************************************************************************

thank you all for your sweet comments and prayers about our house.
it's crazy and i haven't wrapped my mind around it all yet.
i am super excited to have a new house to decorate. :)
i'll keep you all updated when we find out where we're going to live.
holy cow, we're moving in 5 weeks!!!! Pin It

trying not to freak out.

so yesterday i showed you my bathroom redo.

i've been meaning to paint that bathroom for years.
and now i'll enjoy it for a month.
[sigh].
today we signed a contract to sell our house.
in the middle of the school year.
right before the holidays.

yes, i am in a panic.
but trying to sit in God's rest.
He has a plan.
it's going to be good.

deep breaths. in. out. Pin It

i'm so spontaneous.

so last week while i was grocery shopping, i wandered over to the paint aisle.

and hip hip hooray i found a can of mistinted paint that was 

a. not hideous

b. not flat

c. a really good color that would work perfectly with my new shower curtain

i threw that bad boy in my cart and started making a plan.
as soon as i came home from picking the boys up, i walked straight to the bathroom and starting prepping.
and by prepping i mean, i pulled down the shower curtain.

a piece of kitchen foil makes for easy cleanup.

and no, i could not be bothered to move the boys' bath toys.

the boys' bathroom was one of the few remaining rooms that we have never painted.
the entire house was painted with sage green,  flat paint.
this was the bathroom this summer:

 anyone with kids knows that flat paint is a disaster.
it was covered with fingerprints within a week.
and we've lived here 5 years.
so it was high time this room got a fresh coat o' paint.

the mistint is a grayish-bluish color.
i love it.

while the boys plopped down on the couch to watch pbs,  i quickly started painting, while intermittently finding something (food) to occupy sawyer. 
i've learned to paint good & fast.
by the time aj got home an hour later i had a good chunk of it done.

then i left for coffee with a friend with plans to finish when i got home.
hi-ever, i have a super stud of a husband and when i got home i found him in the bathroom finishing up all the painting.
seriously, i lucked out in the husband department.
and he does not enjoy painting.
at all.
now that's a good man.
he took care of the kids, put them to bed, finished my paint job . . . all while i was sitting at a coffee shop.
and i love how it turned out.

when there were just two little boys.
fin wasn't even sitting up yet.

the new shower curtain.
thank you csn!

 i love the modern design & saturated brown.
it's a really thick, canvas-like material.
i have high hopes that it will hold up to my 3 boys. :)

some of my best projects happen when i don't plan them, i just get an idea & go for it.
a few hours of work totally changed the feel of the bathroom.

it sure makes cleaning toothpaste off the counter every single day much more delightful. :) Pin It

titus task fun run & 5K/my boys are superstuds

it was the perfect weather.
much better than last year, what with the mittens and stocking hats and all.
not too hot, not too cold. perfect.

it was on aj's birthday actually.

 aj ran the 5K first.
he had been working on getting his time down.
there were fun activities for the kids to do while we waited.
it was very much family oriented.
and there was praise music.
yay.

it's always exciting to see aj coming to the finish line.
but this was more fun since it was a small race.

he won 1st in his age division. :)
after the 5K we all did the one mile fun run.
aj ran with avery, who was determined to win.

 avery is number 664.  do you see that determination on his face? :)
{sorry for that sub par picture quality, i got it from facebook}

i pushed sawyer in the stroller & chatted with friends.
finley ran ahead of me the entire time.

avery got 1st in his age division as well.  :)
he. was. pumped.

when aj & avery saw finley coming, they ran back to him and ran with him across the finish line.
very sweet.

after the race the boys got their faces painted.
they love themselves a face paint.

 they asked for razorbacks.
and that is what they got.
oh my.

then we walked down the street to the cutest little cafe ever and my camera battery died.
we ate lunch outside and it was lovely. Pin It