Bring It

As I look at the calendar today, I can't help but feel a little sigh of relief that April's calendar page is being folded up, scribbled with the months plans marked out, rearranged and ultimately gone.

We sold our house officially and moved into an apartment. We've settled in and I think are adjusted. The dogs seem to be having trouble dealing with the fact that they have to share their "yard." They've never had to share.

We started serving in the preschool ministry at our church and celebrated Easter with our families. Baseball season started, I ran a mile without stopping and have run more this month than I have since Jacob was born. Jim and I watched seasons one and two of Downton Abbey and are awaiting June's arrival for season three to be available on Amazon Prime.

Our country experiences horrific tragedy in Boston and West. Jacob got to go to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time. We are busy busy planning a wedding for my sister. Jim and Jacob both recovered from a staph infection and I recovered from a sinus infection. Jim has been busy at work and I've been busy working for my Mom. We're still teaching table groups and mentoring students. We're making plans for the summer.

I'm excited for May. Summer is making its way closer. April was busy and hard. May could be too, but I'm meeting it with a 15 month old, a husband who loves me deeply and a God whose plan for my life is far greater than I can imagine! BRING. IT. ON.

photo cred : Versagram app

A Busy, Busy Weekend

I have a lot of things I need to unpack after this weekend. Nothing too gigantic or life-changing; just little decisions here and there, some weightier than others, that are on my mind and heart. I won't go into too much detail, as some things don't need to be put out on the internet for all to see!

One big thing comes after attending the Love and Respect conference. We were invited by our mentors. Honestly, we wouldn't have gone if they hadn't invited us. It's not that we think we have this marriage thing down perfectly. And it's not that we think we know it all or don't have areas we can improve in. When I said "yes" to Jim, we started getting ready for the big day almost immediately. An important thing was getting pre-marital counseling.  We had EXCELLENT pre-marital counseling. They sat us down for weeks in a row, gave us books to read, things to think about, asked us hard questions that sometimes made us uncomfortable, and even more importantly modeled for us what they preached. As the anniversaries come, I grow more and more grateful for their wisdom and their faithfulness to share it with us because I know we are better for it. I know that not everyone gets the kind of equipping we did going into marriage. All of that being said, there is ALWAYS room to learn and grow. I can't speak for Jim, but I know there were things that I was convicted over and am challenged and want to change to better our marriage. In the grand scheme of things, Jim and I have a great marriage; at the end of the day, I know he loves me and is on my side and I'm confident that he knows I respect him and will stand by him till death do us part. 1 Corinthians 10:12 says it best, though:   "Don't be so naive and self-confident. You're not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it's useless. Cultivate God-confidence." (MSG) God designed marriage, he designed the inner workings of marriage and has a purpose bigger than procreation and pleasure. Marriage is a refining fire, a work in our lives to make us aware of just how much we need Christ. My youth pastor in high school always told us that "who you are at home is who you really are." There is great truth in that. I left the weekend encouraged, thankful, convicted, and energized to ask God for strength to do better. An unexpected take-away from the weekend came as I thought not only how I relate to Jim, but also in parenting and understanding Jacob.

After the conference, we celebrated my Grandfather's birthday and then Jim, Jacob, and I went for a run. I'm doing the Couch to 5K thing (I'm only on Day 2) but we went 1.5 miles at about a 12:30 pace (it has you walk and run at intervals which is less daunting to me than going out and running a mile and a half outright). After Jacob went down, we finished Season 2 of Downton Abbey. If Season 2 hadn't ended the way it did, I'm afraid I would have had to read ahead about the seasons to see if I wanted to invest anymore time in this. BUT, since Matthew proposed to Mary and she said "yes" and Mr. Bates got his punishment moved to only life in prison, I will continue on. But things are going along too well, I'm afraid, so I am a little nervous about what is going to happen. NO SPOILERS PLEASE.

Sunday, Jacob woke up a little earlier than usual, so Jim went to our 8 am service and I went to the 930 service so that Jacob wouldn't have to be at church until noon and could get his nap in. We tried an afternoon nap after church, but that never happened. We headed out grocery shopping, to Bahama Bucks (Jacob wasn't a huge fan of snow cones, but he did like Jim's smoothie!) and then I cleaned the Cube. Janey (our "good" house trained dog that hasn't had an accident in YEARS) peed on the carpet RIGHT in front of me twice yesterday evening. It was like she was trying to prove a point or get my attention. This was after two small run-ins with some neighbor dogs and Jacob pooping in the tub. Anyone who knows me knows that I love animals, especially dogs, and especially my dogs; but I would be lying if I didn't say that there are some days that I wonder if we might need to find them new homes because they aren't cut out for apartment living. : (

BUT Monday is here- a new week, a new start, the end of the month. What did you do this weekend??

Fat Mum Slim :: Photo A Day April

I love these photo challenges. Sometimes I forget a day here and there and then I'd quit because I wasn't keeping up with it. I think this will be a good working solution: I'll take my photos each day (or not and fill in as needed!) and then post them here each Friday. You can join along too!

If you want to know more about Fat Mum Slim's Photo A Day challenge, you can go here!

20 : On My Mind - I've constantly got my to do list out thinking about all the things I need to do that day. I feel like the last couple of weeks have been extra overwhelming in getting things done.

21 : Fire - I love candles. I've tried the Scentsy thing, but there's just something extra special about lighting candles. Our favorites are Yankee and Bath and Body Works

22 : Blurry - I was trying to get a picture of Jacob playing, but it didn't quite work out

23 : Time - This is my favorite area of our apartment. It's in our living room. I put some cube shelves right behind our couch and our books are stored there. The clock is centered on the wall, flanked by the lamps and rows of pictures.

24 : I Saw This Person Today - My sister Emily and I (along with my Mom and Jacob) went to pick up her wedding dress and see her venues.

25 : Life is - Life is getting better. We are on less meds than we were last week, and hopefully all on the mend for the long haul.

26 : Childhood - Jacob is completely obsessed with cars. I'm constantly finding them all over the apartment. Anything with wheels is a "car" at this point.

Link Love

I thought I'd share some posts today that I've flagged recently as good reads.

First up, this post entitled Motherhood in an Overloaded World. I am completely guilty of feeling like I'm doing everything wrong. There are so many decisions to make on a simple grocery shopping trip that it can stress me out. "Sometimes it can be easy to lose perspective that those choices are gifts, because they are, they represent space and freedom- don't forget that." She goes on to advise us to make the decision, move on and change it if needed.

Next up? This post from Clean Mama has a printable for Homemade Cleaners. She is working her way through these cleaners and how she makes and uses them in her home. Honestly, there are some recipes I try for these and I don't feel that they work as well. Plus, I've found some natural cleaning companies that make natural cleaners that work. However, they're more expensive, and when you're trying to live on a smaller budget, these homemade cleaners may do the trick. 

This last post is from Rachel (who also wrote the first post I linked to). It's called 10 Mindset Goals for Moms (but I think it would apply for ANYONE) and I think it's a good read.

And I Would Drive 500 Miles...

See what I did there? Do you have that song in your head now? Well, if you didn't, now you do. You're welcome. My connection with that song? Seeing it framed with a picture collage at the home of a family that I was close to in college and who did our premarital counseling/officiated our wedding. Miss you guys!

Back to regularly scheduled programming. I drove over 500 miles today and spent 12 hours in the car. We left home at 8 am, drove two hours south to pick up my sister. We then drove two hours northeast to pick up her wedding dress. The dress was beautiful and so was she. We found our bridesmaid dresses and also found a replacement bridesmaid for one who decided she couldn't participate. No hard feelings, just wasn't working out. We drove two hours southwest to see the church where my sister is getting married and the venue for her reception. They are both awesome. We decided on shower dates and had fun, too! (Jacob learned how to pick his nose) Then we drove the rest of the way back to drop Emily off at her house and then two hours north back home. We arrived around 8:45.

Emily- I know today was a little bit stressful for you. But we have almost 200 days to amend things and it will ALL WORK OUT. I love you and am here to help, even if it means calling to vent about something or making save the dates. Thanks for letting me be such a big part of your big day!

Currently :: On My Wishlist

1. My earbuds broke. I had a million of those things at one time (from all the iPhones/iPads/iPods we had amassed over the years) but I think I either got rid of them or they broke and now I have none. I don't need any fancy or expensive. Earbuds are like sunglasses and watches to me: I use them a lot, and don't want to have to be careful with them so I buy cheap ones so it's not some huge let down when I break them.

2. Tickets to a Texas Ranger game. I can't wait to share baseball games with Jacob.

3. Pedicure- it's been a while since I had one. I've tried to DIY, but I get carried away and end up giving myself an ingrown toe nail.

4. A new iPhone case: my Otter Box rubber outer-shell is stretched out or something. It doesn't fit perfectly around my phone and has lumps in the seams. It's annoying to me (I know- first world problem, but I'm just being honest here) and it makes it easy for Jacob to get into it. This Speck Candy-shell one in blue/black is my pick.

Do you have any current wish-list items?

Where A Kid Can Be A Kid

We took Jacob to Chuck E. Cheese's for the first time on Friday. My Mom had just returned from a week long trip to North Carolina for a work conference and she wanted to celebrate. There weren't a TON of things he could do but he liked listening to the puppets perform on stage and watching my siblings play. He also loved playing any racing games (or just sitting at them, honestly) and driving. Jim and I had our fun too. We got 200 tickets which was enough for me to get a bag of cotton candy. Yum!

He spent the night with my Mom on Saturday night. Jim and I went to bed early and I slept in. We went to church and then tackled our storage unit. We got it all organized and also got the crates from my in-laws that we had stashed there during the hectic move. We'll get the ones from my Mom's house this week. Add in some grocery shopping. cooking two delicious meals (Zucchini boats with a bacon gremolata and Quinoa Fried Rice) and the fact that I'm coming down with either a sinus infection or bronchitis, and you have a weekend!