Treasure Hunting!

I know I have blogged about it before, but I am seriously a GARAGE SALE addict!!  I get so excited when the middle-end of May rolls around b/c it is the start of garage sale season!!  It is always the thrill of the HUNT that is the most exciting!  I am always looking for a good deal to make our hard-earned $'s stretch the furthest possible!  Also, I am always looking for stuff the kids can use for a bit and then I can turn around and sell them at a local consignment sale for a profit!  It is a way to bring in a little extra money for savings!!

$25 will buy you ... almost new wooden rocking horse (that even neigh's), Cozy Coupe, 2 pairs PJ's, girls sweater, 4 nice long sleeve shirts, hello kitty "bling" shirt, BRAND NEW bottle with all original packing, 2 brand new (in wrapping) DVD's, 3 used dvd's, princess dress up shoes, and Tonka tow truck and 2 cars! 

I think I made off pretty well this morning huh?   Do you like garage sale season?  Or is it more work than it is worth?  

It is so much fun with the kids, especially Sophia!  She is always looking for a treasure!  She is also learning the value of money too! :)  

Playing a sweet tune ...

Sophia loves playing her harmonica all throughout the house!  She especially enjoys playing it first thing in the morning when this mommy is still trying to wake up!!  Sophia and her Grandpa Long really enjoy playing it together!  Jackson isn't quite sure what to think all the time!

Enjoy!

Singing, dancing, and twirling ...

Here are a few pictures from Sophia's Spring Program at school as well as Mother's Day!!

Can you find Sophia's face?  Her teacher's are on the watering can!
  Oh how we LOVE Miss Heather and Miss Pam!

Yes, she is "cheesing"! 

"Thank you Lord"

"Rrrr"

Aligators saying Thank you Lord!

Sweet Girl!

 Mother's Day with my BLESSINGS!!

Love this girl so much even tho some days she drives me crazy!

Best one of all three of us!  One day there will be a great picture ... until then ...

Love her!

 

You can tell these three kids were THRILLED to have their picture taken!
  Sophia is the only one we can bribe with dessert for a smile!  The other two could care less!

Happy Mother's Day to a WORLD CLASS MOTHER!

Mimi and her grand kids!  

I hope you had a wonderful time celebrating the blessings and "Mothers" in your life!

Close to the end ...

Does your backyard look like this?  

Nate and I have struggled to get our grass cut for the first time this spring!  (Well, I guess we can call it spring even though it still feels like winter most days!)  Honestly, it has been pretty close to the end of our priority list!  Most people in our neighborhood have cut their grass at least 2-3 times, and we are ready to purchase some goats and let them chow down on our "luscious greens!!"  When we didn't have kids, it honestly wasn't a problem to get the grass cut or the weeds pulled.  It was usually enjoyable to spend time outside together doing the yard work.  When the original landscaping was put in, the main request was for it to be "low-maintenance."  Two kids later, we have concluded nothing is low maintenance about our landscaping.   If you have decent size mulch beds around your whole house, that in itself = high maintenance.  Pulling weeds ALL THE TIME, spraying for weeds in the grass, putting down new mulch every year, and keep the large amount grass cut with a push mower ... honestly it is overwhelming!

You might be thinking ... it doesn't take THAT long to cut the yard or go pull the weeds each day?  Right?

Honestly, it isn't that easy.  To have a pristine weed-free yard, it seems as though other areas in life have to be sacrificed.  A person only has so much time in the day -- some have much less time than others!

(Disclaimer: For some without a commute like Nate's, I totally understand it is possible to keep up with the yard work when you are home more hours in the day.)

Here are a few reasons we have come up with ...

- Nate spends at least 13-15 hours commuting to work EVERY week!  That is a lot of hours in the car, not around the house doing work.

- We have two small children.  Enough said?  Nap time is the only quiet time in our house!  The last thing I want to do is be out cutting the grass when I can be spending it relaxing my mind, reading a book, doing a Bible Study, or relaxing and connecting with my husband during those precious weekend nap time hours.

- When we wake up on a Saturday morning, the first thing in our mind is NOT yard work, rather it is spending time together as a family surrounded by exercise!  We exercise as a family, that is just what we do! On beautiful days, our natural default is "how can we spend time together outside having fun?"  Yard work doesn't even cross our mind!  Sunday mornings are full with church and Sunday school and usually small group in the evening!

- In the evening, when Nate gets home from work, we immediately eat dinner, clean up the kitchen, play for a max of 30-60 min, then it is usually time for the kids bedtime.  When we haven't seen daddy all day long, the last thing we want to do is have him go spend an hour or more cutting the grass!

- During the weekend hours, we love to relax and have fun with friends and their kids!  Anything we can do to create lasting memories!  Relationships baby ... that is what we are about!

When you add up all these reasons, you can see how the yard just doesn't get cut the number of times when it should.  Slowly, I am starting to realize we can't be "SUPER" people.  We have limited time to do the things in life that is enjoyable to us, and yard work isn't one of those!  I have been a people pleaser my WHOLE life and have struggled with "What do the neighbors think of us?"  "I wonder if they are complaining about our yard and the fact we have some yellow "flowers" popping up (as Sophia calls them), or why the grass is a few inches taller than theirs?" We have been blessed with such INCREDIBLE neighbors that I don't want them to be frustrated with us!  Nevertheless, I have started to realize, we will just have to do the best we can do!   My hope is the neighbors will look past our grass and see our heart for people and relationships!  I hope they will remember the joy in our kids eyes when they see our incredible neighbors and love to go talk with them!

I don't want you to think we have weeds up to our chins and grass as tall as our preschooler!  We keep it looking "OK", but it isn't pristine by any means and well-manicured!  We aren't willing to sacrifice the little, yet precious family time we have to have a yard like the one in the picture above!  So, there will be a few dandelions (even though we put down pre-emergent), our grass will be cut most weeks only one time, and there will probably be a few weeds in our mulch beds, but I have to remember that the time we are spending together is precious in the sight of our Lord!

When I think of trying to scale down the "things" in our life ... I am reminded about this blog post!  It is amazing!  Check it out!   Minimalism: Addition not Subtraction.  So much joy is added to your life when you cut out the "excess!"  I am also reminded by a quote by Ann Voskamp in a recent blog post ... "The virus of distraction is cured by the art of subtraction." 

Are we the only family that struggles with this?  I know there has GOT to be at least one family out there!!

Please share your thoughts .....

White Cloud Puts Green Within Reach

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of White Cloud for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

 

 

Go Long!  Go Green!  My blog is very appropriately named due to my LOVE for the environment!   I love doing my part to be responsible with the blessings I have been given!  I cloth diaper (it really isn’t gross, PROMISE!), recycle everything that can be recycled, we are teaching our children to turn off the light switches when we aren’t in the room and to turn the water off while they brush their teeth, compost, we purchase eco-friendly household products, and we try our best to limit our trash for the week to just ONE bag!!  

 

You could call my love to be GREEN an obsession!  (Ha!)  I recycle ever single coloring page of my daughter’s when she is done with them or they end up misplaced around the house!  Sophia says, “Mom, why did you recycle this?  I am not finished with it yet!”  Ha!!  She is starting to tell her friends and teachers (at the Y), “My mom recycles all my coloring pages I color here!  Ughhh!”  It is hilarious!  Folks, we seriously go through 4+ coloring pages/day!

 

You can find out more HERE!

 

How do you help out the environment, if at all?   It can be so easy to simply start by saving all your newspapers, adds, misc junk mail and recycle it in those awesome GREEN recycle boxes located EVERYWHERE!  I can think of at least 4 spots within 3 miles of my house!!  Regardless of how you help, I know it feels good to help!

 

Another way to help celebrate these moments of environmental responsibility and encourage everyone to keep “Living the Green”: The White Cloud GreenEarth product line!

 

White Cloud is a paper-product brand carried exclusively at Walmart. Find a Store Near You!  GreenEarth is the innovative, eco-friendly line of White Cloud products (bath tissue and paper towels), made from 100 percent recycled fibers.  With GreenEarth, there is no compromise and it puts green within reach.  GreenEarth products maintain the highest standards of quality while still remaining affordable.  All GreenEarth® products maintain a Forest Stewardship Council certification. “Living the Green” doesn’t have to mean breaking the bank or sacrificing quality.

 

Are you on Pinterest?  Check out the awesome White Cloud “Living the Green” Pinterest board!  You will find it full of green living tips and ideas!  Check it out HERE! 

 

Are you ready for some more exciting news? 

 

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1. Follow White Cloud on Pinterest White Cloud Pinterest page

 

 

2. Create their own “Living the Green” Pinterest board White Cloud “Living the Green” Pinterest board

 

3. Repin at least one Pin from the White Cloud “Living the Green” board to their board and include the hashtag #LivingTheGreen in the pin’s caption  

 

4. Visit mywhitecloud.com/promotions and complete the sweepstakes entry form

 

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After reading this blog post, what one thing can you and your family do to help protect the environment?

 

Review and Giveaway: "Deny Yourself " by Lisa Chan

New film helps women navigate an “all about me” society selflessly

"If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me." Matthew 16:24

How often have we read over this scripture without even considering what it truly means?  What does it even look like (in a practical sense) to deny yourself and take up your cross?

Lisa Chan answers these questions in her second DVD of the True Beauty series.  You may recall my review of her Be Still late last year.  In the same video format, she examines this very question.

Here are a few thoughts from the DVD:

"We want to feel total acceptance and love from God, but we don't like talking about laying down our lives and denying ourselves to follow after Christ."

Our culture is extremely self-indulgent and has a "I want it all mentality" ...  How do we live out our Christian life while all of this "self" focus is in our face?

Jesus stretched out his arms, endured the cross, and separation from God and yet we don't want to forgive someone that has really hurt us in life.  Rather we want God to forgive our sins while we hold a grudge against the other.

Denying yourself gives you freedom and allows you to experience true joy in Christ.

Push through selfishness, push through fear. He came to give us the abundant life, but we must be willing to seek Him with all that we have.

MY REVIEW:  I really enjoyed this second installment in the True Beauty series.  Lisa has a very poetic way to share the scriptures and relate it to our life.  Her DVD's bring such peace while I am watching and listening.  It very calming to my "hurried" soul!  She tackles a hard scripture, yet allows the listener to seek from within to answer the question for themselves.  Lisa has included another personal reflection guide with her DVD.  In my opinion, this reflection guide allows you to get the most out of the lessons learned in the DVD.  She proposes many good questions that take soul searching and personal reflection.  These are the types of questions that will force us to grow as Christians.

Here are a few good questions ... (without giving them all away!)

What message from the world have you bought into that makes the cost of following Christ seem so overwhelming?

When did you last follow Christ to the point of denying yourself?

Have you missed out on anything while you were busy following God?  Was it worth the cost? Would you do it again if given the same chance?

I hope you will take the time to consider these questions and search for answers within your soul.

One final challenging thought she suggested is this, "Many want the salvation Christ offers, without the submission that comes with it."   Are you one of the many?

WATCH IT:
Watch the trailer: HERE
Watch Lisa: HERE discussing God is Better
Watch Irene: HERE discussing The Simplicity of the Word

BUY IT: HERE

WIN IT:  David C Cook publishers have graciously offered up a copy of the new DENY YOURSELF DVD and Reflection Guide to one Go Long! Go Green! reader.   Please leave a comment below with a way that you have found you have denied yourself to follow Christ OR if you regret choosing your "self" over following Christ!  Please include your name and email address in your comment.

It is encouraging to one another to see practical ways we can "deny ourselves" and follow HIM!!

This giveaway is open to ALL and will end on Sunday at April 14th at midnight. The winner will be drawn via random.org and will have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be drawn. Please, no PO Boxes.

Disclaimer: I received this product free of charge. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I was not monetarily compensated for this review.

WINNER: Action Bible

Congrats to KELSEY!  She is our winner for the ACTION BIBLE!!  

Thanks for participating everyone!  I hope you will check out their website and look into purchasing one!  What a great resource for your kids!

A Special Day with Mama!

My parents offered to take Jackson for 2 nights, so I could spend 100% of my time and energy with this sweet girl!  I have tried to pack full our schedule with fun special events that will create lasting memories!  I have learned that it isn't the $ spent, rather the effort I put forth to figuring out what makes this girl smile the most!!

Today we dropped Jackson off around noon and headed to Subway for a girl's lunch!  I love that Sophia will eat the turkey sub JUST AS I LOVED IT: loaded with veggies, spinach, black pepper, and oregano!  That girl doesn't complain and loves every bite like her mama!

We came home and read tons of stories and she took a nice long nap!!

After her nap I surprised her with an afternoon of fun!  First we went to Shear Fun to have her nails painted! (Best $6 I have spent in awhile!).  The girl that did her nails took lots of time and even added a top coat of silver sparkles!  Sophia LOVED every minute of this!!  Can you tell by the pictures?

Pretty nails!

Just before this picture, she leaned over, kissed me, and said, "I love you mommy!"
(Insert HEART MELT!)

After we left Shear Fun, we headed across the street to our new Goodwill!  We love looking for treasures, plus I can't pass up the 50% off clothes rack for kids clothes!!  She told me she would find a really good treasure and she sure did ... a handheld Barbie computer, batteries and all ... $2.99!  Oh yeah!  It has some great learning games and challenges for her age!  

After leaving the Goodwill, we headed to our favorite frozen yogurt spot in Avon, Orange Leaf!!  I LOVE Orange Leaf so much b/c they have 15-20 different flavors of frozen yogurt that is self-serve.  You pay by the ounce.  Good thing for us is that we have excellent self-control and only get about 2-3 oz each.  Plus I had a $3 off coupon, so I was able to purchase our "treat" for $1.04!  She enjoyed EVERY SINGLE BITE!  Believe me, I did too!!

Of course this is a STOCK photo ... not our dessert!  

When we got home, we had a yummy dinner followed by her favorite ... A POPCORN PARTY!  We watched the first half of Monsters, Inc together while eating homemade popcorn!!

I think this little girl is having fun, what do you think??  All for a grand total spent for the day $17.06!  Not too shabby huh?

Tomorrow we are headed to the Children's Museum with my sister and cousin Hannah along with the library in the evening.  Thursday morning we have a play date with a good friend and then we are headed to Trader Joes and Whole Foods to stock up on our yummy treats and "clean" food!!

I forgot how easy it is with just a preschooler ... wow!  Such a nice break!! :)

REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY: ACTION BIBLE

"People don't usually think of God like this, but God is the original action hero.  Everyone is so impressed when Superman blows a car over with his breath, yet God created the whole universe with His breath.  Superman may save the day with his strength, but Jesus saved the whole world with His death ... The action you read about in these 750 pages is nothing compared to the action that will occur once you put this book down.  How will you answer God's call to action?"  (Doug Mauss, General Editor)

With an introduction like that, don't you want to pick up a copy of "The Action Bible: God's Redemptive Plan?"  The Action Bible is an excellent source for supplemental Bible story reading with your children!  It contains the major stories of the Bible (215 of them) starting in Genesis and ending with Revelation.   

Internationally recognized artist Sergio Cariello has created attention-holding illustrations marked by rich coloring, dramatic shading and lighting, bold and energetic designs, and emotionally charged figures.  Of note, Sergio worked for Marvel and DC Comics.

I have taken a few pictures for you to get an inside view.  I used the crucifixion pictures as we are getting close to our Resurrection Sunday celebration!  Can you feel the emotion that must have been felt by those along the street as Jesus walked by?   The look on Jesus' face in this picture takes my breath away.  He knew what was ahead of him ... down that long road ...

Another shot of Jesus with the thief on the cross.  The close up of the crown of thorns on his head.  

MY REVIEW:  The Action Bible is a comic-book style picture Bible for children ages 5-8.  I would imagine that older children would also enjoy this as well!  The stories are in chronological order and shown in the appropriate setting.  Since I have been studying Genesis this year in BSF, I looked through intently at the pictures of Genesis and was very impressed with Sergio's illustrations.  The characters ages are depicted correctly as are the emotions.      

As I mentioned above, this is an excellent supplement to your child's actual Bible.  As with most children's Bibles, the stories are "based on" the actual scripture verses.  The author includes the specific chapters (sometimes verses) under the title.  For example when Jacob's sons are reunited, "Family Reunion Based on Genesis 45-47."  When the pictures are "based on" the actual Bible, one must remember it is somewhat subject to the author and illustrators interpretation.  You will find commentary, extra-Biblical comments, and other information in the stories.  Once again, you find this with most children's Bibles.    

As one reviewer said it so clearly, "The Bible came across as a continuous historical account of God relating to man with a redemptive plan in action (rather than as disconnected morality tales about heroes of the past).  

Most of you know, my little guy is only 18 months old, so he wasn't a candidate for a review for this Bible.  My 4 year old daughter LOVED looking at the pictures!  The first day she sat for over 45 minutes flipping through the pages!  I have a friend who has two sons, ages 5 and 8, so I thought they would be the perfect candidates to review this book.  Both sons were THRILLED to see The Action Bible sitting on their coffee table when they arrived home from school.  They recognized it from other kids at church!  They both couldn't put it down.  The 5 year old was really drawn to the illustrations, however some of the content his mother had to simplify.  However, the 8 year old was the perfect age to fully enjoy this book.  His mother said it was the "perfect reading level and content for my 3rd grader.  It was a great way to draw kids (especially little boys) into the stories of the Bible."  I also had her review the devotional and she really enjoyed it.  Her 3rd grader really was able to find practical application from the lesson.  The lessons were perfect length and had a great learning format.  

My husband and I both feel that as long as parents don't shy away from teaching the actual Bible, The Action Bible is a great supplemental overview book for kids.  It teaches them how to appreciate the Bible as a whole as well as God's redemptive story that He has planned from the VERY BEGINNING of time!  The Action Bible is probably the most complete and comprehensive picture Bible.  It will draw them in by its "fun" nature, so as a parent you don't have to "make" them read their Bible.  It helps relate true Bible stories with what they currently enjoy in life: super heros and action heros!  It also will teach them that their faith is to be ACTIVE, not passive!  How many adults don't realize this truth?    

If you are interested in other resources, check out the devotional and the handbook.  Both are incredible resources!  The devotional works well with The Action Bible, but also could be used as a stand-alone resource.  I think the devotional would be perfect for your 7-9 year old!  The practical application is fantastic!  

Also, check out their WEBPAGE and find free coloring pages, BATTLE GOLIATH (game), see samples of the artwork, as well as watch the Action Bible Trailer!

WIN IT: You have an awesome opportunity to win your OWN copy of The Action Bible.

Please leave a comment below of any memories you have reading a Children's Bible or why you think your son/daughter would enjoy this Bible.  Also, please make sure to leave your EMAIL address so I can contact you if you win!

This giveaway is open to the US and will end on Monday April 1st at 8am. The winner will be drawn via random.org and will have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be drawn. Please, no PO Boxes.

Disclaimer: I received this product free of charge. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I was not monetarily compensated for this review.

Life is NOT an Emergency

Each morning I have been trying to read through my new devotional book, One Thousand Gifts Devotional: Reflections on Finding Everyday Graces by Ann Voskamp.  Most of you know of my love for Ann's powerful writing!  She has been given an incredible gift of writing and uses it for God's glory!  Searching through my daily life, looking to find all of the "gifts" the Lord has given me truly has made me a much  more thankful, introspective person.

Here are a few excerpts from the devotional to give you a taste of the deeper thoughts she provokes:

- How do I fully live when life is full of hurt?

- ... but to choose to live as one filling with His grace?  Choosing to fill with all that He freely gives and fully live - with glory and grace and God?  I know it but I don't want to: it is a CHOICE!

- A lack of doxology leads to depravity! (WOW!)

- If all the dismembering wickedness in the world begins with an act of forgetting - the the act of literally counting blessings literally re-members us to God!

- Deep chara joy is found only at the table of the euCHARisteo - the table of thanksgiving.  Is the height of my chara joy dependent on the depths of my eucharisteo thanks?  So then as long as thanks is possible, then joy is ALWAYS possible.

In the most recent entry I have read, she speaks of recognizing grace.  Ann speaks "Calm, Haste makes waste.  Life is not an emergency.  Life is brief and fleeting, but it is not an emergency.  Emergencies are sudden, unexpected events - but is anything under the sun unexpected to God?  Stay CALM, enter the moment, give thanks!  I can always give thanks because an all-powerful God has all these things - all things - always under control... Time is not running out.  This day is not a sieve, losing time.  With each passing minute, each passing year, there's this deepening awareness that I am filling, gaining time.  We stand on the brink of eternity."

I thought this passage was INCREDIBLE!  So often in life we run through it, going to the next activity, next minute, the next hour, next day all the while, we forget to enjoy life in the moment.  With little kids, it is especially easy to consider life an emergency.  I am always running late to get Sophia to school, to get to MOPS, to get to a class at the Y, always another dirty diaper to change, 100 chores to fit into a few hours of naptime.  The daily life becomes "urgent" when in fact, it really isn't.  I need not think of life as a sieve, rather life as getting fuller minute by minute I am given grace to go about our life.   Ann said, " Father you are giving me more time to recognize the significance of the Story you are writing on these days.  Cause me to see more of the beautiful moments you place in my life.  I want to slow down and taste your goodness."

Wow, what an incredible prayer!  After reading this day, I was truly convicted that I need not treat life as an emergency, rather, treat it as days FULL of ways to see God's goodness and grace!

If you are looking for a devotional that is inspiring and easy to fit into your daily life, I strongly recommend Ann's.  The link is in the top paragraph!

Do you see life as an emergency?   How can you join me in recognizing God's goodness and grace?