It's a Golden Life

I got something I've been waiting for/not looking forward to in the mail today. My mom ordered memorial pendants for my sister and I. She also sent ashes so we could put them in ourselves. The tools sent with the pendant are a toothpick (with a design on the end-to make light that it's a tool used to shove ashes into a tube), super glue, a paper funnel and directions. It was hard opening the package and knowing that all that's left of Nanny was inside. I had never seen ashes, let alone push them into a pendant and super glue the lid shut. Although it still doesn't seem real and the pain hasn't gone away-it's not as fresh or deep. You never realize how loud a persons presence in your life is until they don't exist beyond memories. I can still hear her endearing voice call me "Meggy" and the way she said "buh bye". I hope I never forget.

Community group last night cleared something up for me that has been clouding my mind. Everything seems out of balance in life if there is not a focal point of which life surrounds. When we lose our way and wander from Christ, everything else seems to lose gravity as well. What seemed clear before, may not seem clear anymore. Realizing this, I know there are changes that I need to make. Those changes are not going to be easy. Let's face it-usually when other things have taken precedence over reading scripture, praying and quiet time-it's hard to break those habits. For me, "sleeping in" (until 7 am or if my kids wake up before) is my biggest road block from my relationship with Christ. My excuse is always that I just don't have time, but what I'm really saying is that I'd rather fill my time when my kids are asleep with tv and sleep. A sad truth. I am hoping to get to a point where I am filled by the spirit and crave reading the scriptures and studying. ...

I am the type of person that learns the hard way. People can tell me how it is going to be, but I don't fully understand what they are saying or where they are coming from-that is until I go through the situation myself. People tried to tell me that being married was not always "puppy love", but that it took work. I scoffed in disbelief and carried on in my lovey dove world. I walked on clouds with complete disregard for my family and most of my friendships. While marriage is fun, lovey dovey and familiar at times, it. takes. work. Because I am a sinner and Donovan is a sinner, it's hard to reside together! We see each others flaws, broken commitments and ugly attitudes. There's friction. There's disagreement. There's disregard for each other and others. On the other hand, we also see each other's true hearts stripped naked and real. We are able to be real with one another and help lovingly (sometimes not SO lovingly) point out wrongs that should be ...

As of 12:36 a.m., our little girl is three! It doesn't seem like three years have gone by. She is getting sweeter by the day-but still has quite the ornery side. At 3, Halynd is: Wearing a size 7 shoe. Wears a size 2T clothes. Weighs 27 lbs and is 35.5 inches tall. Loves all kinds of food-her favorite being strawberries. We often find her in the refrigerator getting them or find them in her pockets (so she can eat them later). She loves: To be read books. Any book. Pushing her babies around in the stroller or grocery cart. Play makeup and asks for eye makeup on when I am getting ready to go somewhere. To wear dresses and jewelry. Painting her nails. She dislikes: Being thrown up in the air. Spiders. Swimming. Smarts: She has picked up on 'girly' colors but knows a few others as well. She knows circle the best, but doesn't care to learn any others at this point. Vocabulary wise-she talks a mile a minute! Halynd, You are so special! I love being yo...

We have had a busy week here working on the house. Besides chasing Paxton around (because he full on crawls everywhere now) we have been sprucing up the house a bit. We started with the laundry room. We were originally going with brown, but a trip to Lowes proved we wanted something fun. Limilicious was what we went with. It looks great! I'm glad we chose to live a little and pick something out of the ordinary. We put up a folding counter, painted the cabinets white and added a new curtain to pull all the colors together. We had a really fun time working together! We also decided on a color scheme for the living room and kitchen area. Starting off, we picked up an entry table for $20! It was half off the original price so we couldn't resist. We chose the yellow we wanted as an accent and painted the table :) It adds a nice bright pop to the living room. We were sitting on the porch letting the kids play last night and decided to paint the front door the same yellow as th...

Whenever I think of Satan, I do not think of what he does well. I will not use the word good here because Satan is the furthest from good you can go. He is fantastic at causing human emotions to go haywire. Lately, I've been manipulated without even realizing it. I have felt unimportant & insignificant. While its obvious that I will not be important or significant to very many people on this earth, it's imperative to realize that there is a God who loves every part of me. A God who has died for me and doesn't see my ugliness, who loves me despite my sin. At the end of the day, I am realizing how hard it is to stay above the water. Treading gets difficult and often, I sink below the surface. Although its easier to be under the water and not fight to stay up, eventually-I just need fresh air. Treading is worth the fight for air. Going through bad experiences in life that cause great emotion to take over-it gets exhausting and eventually turning back to Jesus is the onl...

I just want to brag a little on my hubby. We are at a point in life where we are insanely busy. I'm talking-busy enough to just live each day without always looking too far ahead. We know we have certain plans on specific days of the week, but mostly just roll with whatever work event, church event, dinner meeting or school work we may have planned for the day. With that said, Donovan still makes it a point to spend quality time with our kiddos. Obviously he needs some down time every so often, but for the most part, when he's home-his heart is here too. He usually puts his little girl to bed (unless the rare occasion she asks for me). He plays with the kids, is loud with them and scares them (a fun game they like to play). He takes them out for donuts and dates. He reads to them and makes up fun stories. He's not afraid to call them out and discipline them. He does all these things that are important-but MOST importantly, he is an example of Christ to them, to me. He ...