Showing posts with label bible study. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bible study. Show all posts

5.08.2015

This Week












Finished reading Sister. It was so good, I couldn't put it down!  I am still working my way through One Thousand Gifts along with our bible study guide, and I am telling you, every.single.page has inspiration for seeing God in our days.

Working on my 1000 Gifts list.  I'm on 799 currently and I think I'll be sad when I hit 1,000.

Eating through all the food in our fridge & pantry that will expire over the summer.  This makes for some interesting food combinations in our days!  #wastenotwantnot

Missing blogging everyday.  I think I am going to try to get back to it.

Loving the kindness of the people in Marshall.  The boys and I ventured to the post office (about a half mile away) one afternoon and came back each carrying a fairly large box.  At least three different people stopped their vehicles on the dirt road as we headed back home, offering us a ride.  What they didn't know was that the boxes were filled with toilet paper, and light as air!  I filled them in, and gratefully declined their kind offers.  It warmed my heart though to be extended such kindness.

Dying for Screen Free Week to be over.  It has been the most challenging thing I've done in a long, long time.  I'm tired, I'm overwhelmed and I'm grouchy.  Can I be honest here?  TV time is the only break I get.  With no family or friends here to help out, screen time is my crutch.  Need a shower in the morning? Turn on Doc McStuffins.  Need to make an important phone call?  Hand out the tablets.  Want some quiet time to blog after lunch? Pop in a DVD & enjoy the serenity.  Going without has pushed my sanity to the brink.

Looking forward to a break from my beloved children.  Have I mentioned that I'm ready to be surrounded by family & friends who will gladly take them off my hands for a few hours?!?

Laughing at Wyatt's tongue sticking out when he's super focused.  He was cutting earlier this week and the whole time that little lizard tongue of his was hanging out of his mouth. It cracks me up!

Proud of those big brothers for reaching 160 Accelerated Reading (AR) Points this month, and excited that they got to be part of the end-of-the-month assembly at their Daddy's school.  In the whole school only two kids read more than them. #mombrag

Shining with my new cell phone case!  For months I've had Josh's old cell phone case, a lime green Seahawks case, and finally my new cover came. It is sparkly and girly and I love it!

Choosing to not overdo it this week.  I gave up my daily workouts to make room for quiet time in my day.  I wanted to make some time to delve into God's word without the children running about, and if we're being honest, I am too pooped at the end of the day to give Him my best.  So I have been getting up at 5:30 every morning in order to have 45 minutes to myself before the boys wake up.  I'm still deciding whether the alone time is worth the trade off of less sleep.

Feeling Guilty for not making "real" dinners these days.  We're trying to get outside and stay outside as much as possible, so dinner is often chicken nuggets or fried eggs on toast.  I feel bad about it, but I'm not sure it can be rectified.

Crying about my upcoming due date.  If my pregnancy had stuck in October, I would have had a baby May 25th.  Instead here I am, nine months later, still not pregnant and not sure if I should be.  Not knowing what the future holds is really hard for me, and knowing that a pregnancy could be challenging out here makes me hesitant to try again.  Not to mention I'm not sure my heart could stand a third miscarriage.  What set me off was sorting through the boys' closet in preparation for our trip home for summer.  Folding baby clothes into totes, choosing what to store, what to ship & what to give away, tore my very heart in two.  Sometimes I just wish I had a glass ball to look into.

Grateful that despite my sad emotions, my anxiety has not reared its ugly head lately.

And lastly,

Enjoying Jack reading his first chapter book.  (Junie B. Jones!) It makes my mama heart so proud!  If nothing else came of screen free week but that, I consider it a win!

Happy Weekend!

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5.01.2015

This Week






Loving having creamer for my coffee (Amazon came through!), cheese for my children (thank God for Uncle Samuel!) & snacks from my sweetest friend Kori.  #iamsohappy  #itsthelittlethings

Accomplishing big things in school.  Like finishing all 140 lessons of Saxon First Grade Phonics.  It feels good to look back and see all the progress we made this year.

Craving girl time with my mom & sister.  Soon & very soon!  I can't wait!

Enjoying all the time I have for reading now that my boys are older.  I finished Orphan Train yesterday and am excited to pull something else off the shelf for the weekend.  Also enjoying brainstorming ideas for a summer book club with my blogger friends Ashley & Tabitha.

Prepping for our three month vacation.  It is a lot of work to be away from home for so long.  I have about six lists going currently-- Things to Ship; Things to Pack; Things to Buy...  This is when my Type A organization comes in handy!

Blessed by my amazing marriage.  That husband of mine was hand picked for me, and I adore him.

Happy to have Jack's glasses fixed (again) by the amazing Karen.  She fixes glasses, loans cheese to those in need, and inspires me daily to live closer to the Lord.  What would I do without her?!?

Rereading One Thousand Gifts as we begin our Ann Voskamp bible study.  This book.  Every page has something underlined, and I walk away inspired every time I pick it up:

"In naming that which is right before me, that which I'd otherwise miss, the invisible becomes visible... This dare to write down one thousand things I love.  It really is a dare to name all the ways that God loves me."


Looking forward to going home! I can't believe it's May, you guys!  We did it!!!

Grateful for a care package full of avocados & raisin bread.  Yum.  Joan knows the way to our hearts!

Loving the boys playing with their stuffed animals and the clothes from Build-A-Bear my Aunt Linda buys them for every birthday.  They discovered their car seats in the playroom closet and are loving playing with them.

Working on a plan for Screen Free Week which starts Monday.  Lots of outside activities planned, along with games, puzzles, reading and a slew of Pinterest ideas I have pinned but not yet completed.

Struggling with going to bed.  The sun is rising at 6:35am and setting at 10:56pm.  It is bright before we wake up, and staying that way until well after Josh and I are in bed.  It makes it hard to want to go to sleep when it looks like it's 3:30pm!

Laughing at Wyatt pouting.  He gets so mad when I tell him no.  He'll kick and growl and stomp.  Then when I put him in timeout, he folds his arms, furrows his brow, and sighs dramatically.  He cracks us up.

I hope you have a happy weekend.  
My goal this weekend is to slow down.  
Because as my Ann reminds us, 
"The hurry makes us hurt."

***

4.30.2015

Church

Every Tuesday evening I go to church for bible study.  It's one of my favorite times of the week.  A time for prayer and fellowship and learning.  I'm so grateful for those couple of hours away from my house, and in the presence of other ladies who understand life out here.

My last church experience ended badly, over a decade ago, and the pain for a long time was raw and unhealed; a wound.  But coming to this church and making time for me, has healed that wound into what is now a painless scar.  I still bear the marks of what happened, but the pain is gone.  And I am so grateful.




***

When I show up, the kids are still leaving Truth Seekers, and I love the opportunity to visit with them.  I adore these girls.


***

And on the walk home, I love contemplating how I'm going to apply all that I've learned to this life that I'm living.  The thought for this week:

"The most important aspects of our lives cannot be rushed.
We cannot love, think, eat, laugh or pray in a hurry."
-James Bryan Smith

4.24.2015

This Week







Loving the new pens I got from my friend Kori!  They write like a dream, and come in every color a girl could dream of.  Best mail I got all week!

Reading How To Be a Woman.  I am cracking up and underlining like crazy.  I finished If I Stay, and I'm sorry, but I hated it. I didn't super love the book, and I thought the ending sucked!

Looking forward to our new bible study by Ann Voskamp.  It's about 1000 Gifts which I read a year and a half ago and constantly refer to.  So excited to fill my soul with inspiration.

Wishing that we had cheese.  We are on week two of no cheese, and it's getting a little hard to be creative in the meal department.  Meatloaf? Check.  Sloppy Joe's? Check.  Golden Mushroom Soup Patties? Check.  And for lunch? PB & J everyday.  We'll be so happy (like, jumping up & down, throwing the good confetti excited) when the cheese Uncle Samuel bought us arrives!

Craving more of the awesome creamer people sent me in their care packages.  I drank through it all and am waiting for more from Amazon. (#becauseihaveaproblem)  In the meantime I am drinking Hazelnut, but only because I'm desperate!  (I prefer vanilla caramel).  I know, #firstworldproblems.  What can I say? I'm a mom, I don't sleep a lot, and a warm cup of coffee makes me a much kinder homeschooler/human being.

Nailing my goals for April!  Not swearing, blogging everyday and working out five days a week! I am killing it! Woot Woot!

Thankful that Jack traded beds with Logan, so he no longer fears mummies under his bed.  That kid and his anxiety can wear me out emotionally.  He's so similar to me, it's eery.  And I am often at a loss as to how to guide him through it.  So Jack's big heart gave me a free pass this week.

Enjoying the apple muffins I made with Wyatt earlier this week.  I took the apple cake recipe my mom gave me, and mixed it with the streusel recipe I found in my Betty Crocker cookbook and made muffins instead of cake with caramel frosting.  The kids like them, and I love them!

Laughing at the boys wanting to snuggle together in Wyatt's bed.  We barely fit, but they loved every second of it!

***

PS- I will be compiling a post about life in rural Alaska soon, and would love to answer any questions you may have about rural living, homeschooling or our family in particular. As you know, I'm an open book, so please ask away!