How Sending Mail Has Become My Ministry.

I only have  short window of time while dinner cooks and the kids watch Hercules, but I felt the need to write a bit more after Tuesday's post.

Like I said in my last post I am slowly finding a balance between serving in my local church where I see a need, and finding other ways to use my gifts and talents to minister to others.

Obviously serving looks different for every one depending on their church, their gifts, their talents and their life phase. But I thought that maybe it would help to see what that looks like for me right now.

Aside from serving in our church nursery and, of course, taking care of and ministering to the members of my family these are a few ways I have found to serve God, bless others, and worship Him with my life.

I have taken countless spiritual gift tests over the years and the outcome varies. I do believe that, in part, God equips us for a task at hand. But, I also think many just have a God given bent toward certain things. While I have had a number of different outcomes both "mercy" and "encouragement" tend to crop up in my top three gifts.

(There are times when I roll my eyes and shake my head because what I see is my short tempter and tendency to be critical. But I have to remind myself that spiritual gifts aren't about me at all but God's work in me.)

Over the past month or so I have found a rather fun way to combine my spiritual gifts of mercy and encouragement with my God given creative talents, and my love of writing. Through Facebook and Instagram I have been able to participate in a number of swaps, secret sister groups, and Random Acts of Kindness with other like minded women. I have been able to send letters and small packages of creative goodness to other women who needs a reminder of God's kindness and goodness. And it is brought me so much joy!

I've enjoyed it so much that I find it extending beyond just strangers on the internet to people in my every day. I find myself picking up a card at the store because it reminds me of so-and-so or grabbing an extra notepad because I remember a friend saying they were looking for one.

I find myself praying over the letters and packages I send. Praying God will give me the words to share. That seeing a package in the mail will bring a smile to some one's face and remind them that they are loved and a valuable part of the church. I pray that God will prompt me to include the perfect items that will speak to their hearts. I pray that they will feel known. I find myself praying for people I have never "met" that they will come to find a relationship with Christ.

I realize that to many sending out mail and care packages may not sound like serving. It may sound silly and unconventional and not at all "ministry" but for me for now it is a perfect fit.

What are ways you can use your gifts and talent to minister to the body and bring glory to God? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Some gifts given to me lately that have made me feel loved and known and show God's grace and goodness. (Exactly what I hope to do for others.)

Summer Fun

I am part of an awesome, local mom's group on Facebook. Those ladies are really some of the sweetest more helpful ladies I know. Even when we don't see eye to eye on parenting issues it is, for the most part, a low drama group of women who genuinely seek to lift one another up. The past few weeks there have been a LOT of posts about things to do with kiddos that are free or low cost.  I thought, to make life easier for them, I would compile the ideas here so there are all in one place. If you aren't local a lot of these may not work for you, but this may at least give you an idea of things to look for near you!



Low Cost:

Morning Movies at Movies Ten. Their movie list can be found here.

Morning Movies at Regal Movie Theater. Their movie list can be found here.

Free Kids Bowling at AMF bowling ally. (I have this on the cheap list since you still have to rent shoes).

Sheetz for slushies. (You can get the small ones for $0.99 with a sheets card)

 



 

Free (or close to free depending on what you have around the house)

Splash ground at Riverside Park

Interactive fountain at River Front Park.

Sprinklers in the yard.

Kiddie pool in the yard.

Squirt Gun Fight.

Make Popsicles

Construction paper, a magazine, and a glue stick will keep kids busy for HOURS!

Glow stick bath.

Play Dough out side (way easier to clean up)

Make a tent in the back yard (or front yard, or basement)

Make no bake (or preacher) cookies.

Barnes and Nobles has a children story hour every Wednesday at 11:00 am and Friday at 7:00 pm.

Go to the Library.

Pick a topic and learn everything you can about it.

Finger paint in the bathtub.

Fill up buckets with water and let them splash around/paint the side wall or deck ect.

Draw with Chalk.

Blow bubbles.

Make cards to send to family.



 

Special Occasion Ideas

If you are looking for something a bit more exciting, but still some what reasonable, most of these activities can be done for less then $10.00 per person.

Splash Valley Water Park in Roanoke.

Amazement Square in Lynchburg. (Hint check out The Clutch Guide for a 2 for 1 coupon!)

Hill Cats Game. (Their web site if FULL of discounts including kids club which allows kids to attend all 70 home games for free, as well as dollar pizza nights and Half Price Tuesdays.)

Mill Mountain Zoo.

Fun Center Putt Putt.

Funquest (Has tons of specials on roller skating, the indoor jungle gym, and laser tag all summer including a Christian Music night and $1.99 Mondays)

Bounce About.

 

*Be Sure to join Groupon. Typically you can get



 

READ!!!!

Join the Dig Into Reading program.

Read If You Give A Mouse A Cookie and make cookies.

Read If You Give a Moose a Muffin and make muffins.

Read a book about Johny Apple Seed and eat apples (or color apples or something with apples).

A great list of books to read to your daughters this summer from Virginia Sole Smith. (I must also add the Betsy Tacy books to this list if you haven't read them to your little girl yet it MUST go on your summer reading list)

Ten books to read to your 4-7 year old by Sarah Bessey.

Check out Our Cultivated Life for a tutorial on how to make you own summer reading board game!

 

Pinterest

Here are just a few links I discovered on Pinterest that sounded like fun!

Sewing Cards by Handmade Charlotte

My entire pinboard of printable paper dolls.

These Sponge Balls  by One Charming Party so sound much better than waterballons!

 

Make Your Summer Bucket List

These are few of my favorite fill in yourself bucket lists available for printing at home to fill out with your own ideas.

Bugs Bucket List

Simple Bucket List

Summer Schedule Ideas

Color Your Own Bucket List

Summer Bingo Board (Great for vacation)

 

One other thing I always do is give my kids each a note book at the start of the summer. For older kids this is a great way for them to keep track of their summer adventures. For mine (4 and 5) it turns into more of a place for them to put stickers and glue stuff, but it still helps keep them busy.

I'm still working on setting our summer schedule and bucket list. Abi just got out of school and most schools don't get out till tomorrow so I'm giving myself a week or two to figure it out. But once I do, I'll be sure to share what we are doing this summer.

 

 

 

 

 

Giving Thanks

Psalm 37:25
I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.

 


Thanksgiving ALWAYS preceded the miracle.

 


Choosing to give thanks, knowing He will provide.



Choosing to see life through the eyes of saints and poets.

30 Before 30.

 

 



So tomorrow is my birthday and I finally finished making my 30 before 30 list. It was harder than I thought. Trying to come up with 30 things I wanted to do in the next year that were PRACTICAL and DOABLE. I mean sure there are a TON of things I would love to do but for various reasons (money, baby coming this summer) it's just not possible. But eventually I did it! The interesting thing is, without meaning to I ended up picking a LOT Of things that fit well with my new years goal.

2013 Goals:

To be more intentional...

*In relationships

*In finances

*At home

*In memory keeping.

Not everything fell into one of these four categories but a lot did. So without further ado....

30 Before 30

Personal:

1. Memorize 30 verses.

2. Read, finish, or get rid of all MY unread books.

3. Fill up my half-used journals/smashbooks.

4. Sew the Super Tote pattern by Noodlehead.

5. Do one Show.

6. Make 500 things.

7.  Cook a recipe a month off of my pinterest boards.

8. Visit Bush Garden's again.

9. Submit an article to be published in a magazine.

10. Plant SOMETHING.

11. Learn How to drive stick shift.

12. Try at least 6 tutorials off of my pinterest boards.

Relationships:

13. Invite our neighbors over for a cook out.

14. See one of my far away friends again. (Missy, Amber, Mary, Andrew, Laura, Colleen)

15. Go away with Josh for a night.

16. Send 30 snail mail letters.

17. Go away with friends/sister for a weekend.

Finances:

18. Pay off 3 debts.

19. Save $1,000.

Home.

20. Establish some of my favorite childhood traditions in my family.

21. Purge 100 things from my house.

22. Plant SOMETHING.

Memory Keeping/Blogging:

23. Attend a class/seminar/conference to improve my blogging.

24. So SOMETHING with all my photos.

25. Learn how to really use my camera.

26. Post a tutorial on my blog.

27. Write/Finish a list of 1,000 gifts.

28. Spend a day taking a photo every hour.

28. Take the same photo once a month for a year.

29. Take a photo a day.

30. Blog every day for a month.

I am great at  making lists but not very good at sticking to them, so we shall see how it goes. I've actually already broken a lot of the goals down into smaller ones, like how many verses I need to memories each month and how many cards I need to write so that I don't get to next April and realize I'm really behind. As always with me one lists leads to another so I am already making a decent dent on number 3 as I make list after list.

What would be on your list for the next year of your life?

Birth

I had a couple posts planned but last week but life happened and they just didn’t. Last Sunday I sat down to write about my Birth Story  for another blog I write for. The Motherhood Collective is a great Mothering Blog. I am definitely different from most of their writers, which is one of the things I love about writing for them. I like getting to be a voice from another point of view, and love that they encourage that and seek to minister to and build up moms from all walks of life and parenting philosophies.

It was an interesting process to look back and work through what was going on in my mind that day five and a half years ago. All of that was definitely still fresh in my mind when we met with my doctor on Tuesday to discuss C-section number three. We were presented with a LOT of information on repeat c-sections and consecutive pregnancies.  There was a lot of information and suggestions to processes and I think that's what I spent most of last week doing. Most of my brain power last week was used to sort through and filter all the options.

The result of a lot of thinking is that we might actually try for a V-BAC this time. Obviously there is a chance it won't work, but this is my last chance to try, and for the sake of my health and my husband and I am willing to give it a go. Of course, it will only work if I go into labor naturally, on my own, before my scheduled c-section on August 1st. There's a lot of "ifs" involved, but it is assuring to know that whatever the outcome of it all my God is in control and so much bigger than all of this.

In the process of writing my birth story and sorting through photos to get them printed I stumbled across a bunch of pictures from the girls first weeks. They were just to cute NOT so share!

 

 

Maddie Goose.

"Teddy Bear" (as she now insists on being called)

Cannot wait to meet our Tacy Rae!

Noticing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is so easy to look around at our life and think "This isn't what I signed up for" or "How did I get here?"

We look at our big plans. We look at our facebook feed. We look at our favorite blogs. We wondered what happened. We wonder why we don't have the life we so desperately want when every one else makes it look so easy.

The funny thing is, I think if most of us slowed down and looked around we would realize that we are in fact living the life we wanted. Our lives, for the most part, aren't that different from the blogs we drool over. We bake, we take walks, we go for ice cream, we do special activities with our kids. The difference between our lives and the lives of the people on the other side of the glowing screen and polished blogs is documenting. The ONLY way that "other" woman is different from us is that she taking the time to notice, document, and dwell on the little moments. She takes time to make much the life's small celebrations.

Like ice cream for dinner on a hot Thursday night.

Baby's in diapers on hand-made quilts.

A big jar of pop beads.

A baby dedication.

The first watermelon of the season (even if it is a bit early).

Hot dog fingers.

So here is to noticing my life more. Lifting up prayers of gratitude for simple moments. And capturing the beauty in the mundane.

Now We Can Have Easter

This post started out as a Facebook status. But it was just too good not to blog about.  I am sitting here at the computer bemoaning the cold weather when my 3 year old looks out the window.

Maddie: "The snow melted!!! Now we can have Easter!"

She was so excited, so full of hope, so full of life. I wondered if that's how the women felt when they realized Jesus was no longer in the tomb.

"The darkness has passed! We still have hope!"

I was so ready for spring. For warm weather. For sunshine. For hope. For life.

When we walked out of church Palm Sunday and the snow was falling I was crushed. I remember cold Holy Weeks, but never quite THIS cold. Never SNOW!

It also seems like there is so much turmoil around us in general right now. Facebook feeds are full of friends on opposite sides of the same issues calling for action, for boycotts, for their right to be heard.

And I think back to how confusing, and conflicting, and cold that first "Holy Week" must have felt. How overwhelming. A triumphant entry, a desire for salvation from their oppressors, the realization Christ hadn't come to over throw the Roman government. Watching the man they thought would save them die on the cross..... death... cold... "snow".... but then.... but then HOPE!

May this last push of winter remind me of the need for spring.

May this reminder of death remind me of my need for life.

May this darkness draw me to the light.

"Sorrow lasts for the night, but JOY comes in the morning"


Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight,
At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,
When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death
And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.

Rambelings

I'm not sure what it is, but every time I sit down to write I just can't quite bring myself to actually do it. Nothing seems to flow quit as easily as I would like. Maybe it's this nasty cold settling in my chest, maybe it's my weird sleeping schedule lately, or maybe I'm just to lazy to put in the real work of writing.

It's easy to say "I write" or "I blog" but just saying those things doesn't make it so. Real writing happens when you are willing to put in the time, day in and day out. When you sit down and take pen to paper (or fingers to key board) even when your mind feels blank. And so today that's what I am doing. Simple writing, because not writing doesn't feel right.



As you might remember I did a post sponsored by Tinyprints a while back. I finally ordered my products and got them in the mail this week!



I wasn't sure I was going to keep the calendar notebook for myself so I put a favorite family saying on it rather than my name. As soon as I opened it up I new I would have to keep it!



It's so bright and colorful. I normally like weeks laid out and you can get that if you get the Erin Condrin Life Planner. Because it doesn't have the weekly break down I'm not sure I'll use it as a planner or if it will be more of a catch all for lists and deadlines ect. Either way I truly do love it!!



I may not be writing much here but I am writing daily. I have been participating in 30 Days of Thank You and I have been writing a thank you note every day to some one I treasure. It's been so much fun.



I've also been journaling on a pretty regular basis. I've been processing through the misscairiage a lot and am almost ready to share some of my thoughts in this space. I've also been writing for a few other blogs!

You can read about how having 5 women in my family suffer from cancer has changed how I live my life over at The Clutch Guide.

I will also be writing for The Motherhood Collective a few times a month starting this month. My first post doesn't go up for a few more weeks but if you want to check out their blog they are doing a give away featuring The Goose Beary Shop!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I'll be back soon with thoughts on my Abi Bear turning 5!!

Day 11 Onetober and 31 Days in the Life of Me.

October:

For the month of October I will be participating in two challenges. Onetober: One Dress, One Month, One Cause and The 31 Day Challenge. You can read more about these here and here.

Day 11

Hello friends! Are you tired of seeing the same dress over and over again? I thought you might be. So, no outfit picture today. Honestly, I wonder if you might be a bit tired of hearing from me so much in general. I promise, next time I do 31 days I will make sure I have a much more interesting topic. For today though, I thought I would share some things that have been inspiring me lately.

Our local Joann Store is moving and they are clearing out all the stock. I went a little crazy and bought a ton of fabric. Loving these combinations together.

We went to Barnes and Noble's today and I fell in love with this issue of Artful Blogging. It was so beautiful and inspiring. I didn't buy it but I really want to go back and get it. Thinking of subscribing with whatever Christmas money I get.

One of the reasons I passed on the magazine was because I broke down and bought the new journal and book I have been drooling over. I actually got a deal since I used swagbucks gift cards for the book. Got to love free stuff. I'm now so inspired to journal again and have a bunch of lists and quotes from the book already jotted down.

What have you been inspired by lately?