Wordle Wednesday

To Worship You I Live

Patience Please

I'm praying patience lands in my lap or knocks me upside the head one day soon. 
Tomorrow would be nice.


At work I have lots of it. People even comment on my patience. 


But at home. Not so much.
Take this morning for example. 


Isaak was supposed to be getting dressed. He was way too quiet for way too long.
So I went and checked on him.


He was in his brothers room. This is what I found him doing.

Yes that's all 50 of his brothers overnight pull ups. On his body.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Patience please.


Gentry hates going to bed. He comes out a billion times each night. 
Needing another drink. Wanting another kiss. Hungry. Repeat.


Breathe in. Breathe out. Patience please.


And the fighting. Oh dear Lord....patience please!
Recently Isaak has become very protective of HIS toys.


He woke up in the morning saying....That is my nenano (piano) and Genty (Gentry) does not have a nenano.....


The nenano was the reason everyone went to bed early last night. 


I. Was. Done.


Then I received the call. The call from Great Aunt Ginger offering to take the kids to McDonalds for the evening.


Like sweet music to my ears. 


Thanks Aunt Ginger for giving us the night off. 
Maybe I'll have more patience tomorrow. 
Just Maybe.

Guest Blogger: Tara from Undeserving Grace

I've read many good books and blogs however, they have left me feeling as though I still don't measure up. I'm not a stay at home mom that resembles June Cleaver & Alice from the Brady Bunch mixed with being a pastor's wife and/or has a pastor for a father. 
It seems the authors always have a better gig than me or else I'm lacking in many of departments.


I've had it on my heart for several years to let others know that grace fills the gap for all that we're lacking.

I've made mistakes & even wondered myself if they were forgivable. 

I've never read a book that the author says...I'm a divorced mother of an extremely strong willed difficult loving beautiful daughter. 
Remarried to the man God made for me.
I sin alot and must ask forgiveness 20 times a day somedays more.
I talk too much. 
I'm tired most of the time.
I tend to be cynical.
I complain. 
I struggle with every single one of the fruits of the spirit. 
My thoughts are like crossing a greyhound bus with a hamster wheel.
I cry alot. 
I'm emotional sometimes I couldn't jump off the rollercoaster if I wanted to. 
I'm extremely stubborn. 
I love to procrastinate. 
I struggle to find time for the Bible. 
My crazy self loves to worry about all kinds of ridiculious things. 
I'm moody and often don't enjoy people. God's will? 
O yea I've heard of that before...the list goes on and on...  

The good part is grace is the missing link in making up for all those ugly parts of me. 

I've made grave mistakes and I had no conception of what grace meant. If someone like me, who grew up and went to church 23 years, hit a wall that felt it was necessary to punish myself to pay for my stupidity rather than immediately lean on God for what the Bible says is His "free and undeserving grace." I have no doubts there are lots of people that would live for God if they understood what grace was and how it worked. 

So the journey began and I was determined to find grace. I want my daughter to grow up and know that it doesn't matter what she's done or not done. It doesn't matter how many times she's messed up or how badly she's disappointed the people she thought loved her. 

God's grace is "free and undeserving". 

I'm using my own life experiences to show my life is far from perfect.  I may never fully grasp it all, but my daughter and others will see you can be found on the bathroom floor crying for the one millionth time breathing again after being suffocated by having no hope. But no matter how big or small God paid a great price for us not to take Him up on His offer of giving us a flood of grace when we need it most. 

We tend to think it's too big of a mistake or too small and don't want to bother God with it. Or it's not for you it's only for the more spiritually disciplined.  But thankfully for us those are all lies we tell ourselves that rob us of finding it.

I am every single one of the shortcomings I listed above but that's ok God knows I'm wired that way. 
He's the one that wired me! 
That's the point. 
We only hurt ourselves by pretending to measure up when we know we don't come close.

I've started a blog as an outlet to share the message of grace while I work on a bigger project. I promised God I'd write as long as He challenged me, gave me inspiration and the opportunity to help others.  
The more I allow Him to work the more He works. 
Funny how that works.

Enjoy the journey with me in finding grace in such an imperfect world!

And since it is through God’s kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is—free and undeserved. Romans 11:6
www.undeservingrace.com

Wordle Wednesday

Create your own Wordle Art.

Power Outage

They said it was a microburst. I said it was scary.
39 hours with no power = not fun. 
One night at a hotel and a little bit of worry later. Life is getting back to normal.
We thought the power would NEVER come back on.


It could have been worse. 
Some of our neighbors had trees fall on their houses. 
We had some minor damage and lost all the food in the fridge.
The fridge needed to be cleaned anyways.

It hasn't looked this clean or empty since we were first married. 
When we only had ice cube trays and a bag of frozen corn in the freezer.

Now we have ice cream cones and waffles. Our priorities have obviously changed. 

I hope our trash truck guys bring their muscles this week. 
These bags are heaaaavvvvyyyy.


In the mean time I'll be waiting for our insurance check so I can re-stock the fridge. 
And cleaning...cleaning....cleaning. 
Fall storms bring big leafy messes. 
And those leaves have invaded my house. 


Tomorrow I will have my first guest blogger.  I'm so excited! 
My great friend Tara will be here to write about God's grace. 

Remembering

Watching the footage still brings tears to my eyes and a sinking feeling to my stomach. 

That day changed our world forever. 

Today I am thankful to be alive. 

I never want to take one day or one moment or one person in my life for granted. 

Everything can be gone in the blink of an eye.

Thank you Lord for your grace and your mercy. 

Housework Smousework

Rainbow Watches & Flip Flop Toes

I was browsing one of my favorite fashion websites and discovered this super cute and funky watch collection made by Rumba Time. 

I love the sporty but sleek rubbery design!

They seriously come in EVERY color imaginable!

These are just a few of the colors. I'm boring and ordered black.

You can browse the entire collection here.  

They offer FREE SHIPPING and you can enter code INSTYLE20 to save 20% at checkout! 

Enough about watches.

I must now go help fix my 2 year olds flip flops so he can blow bubbles.

OUCH!

A Camping We Will Go

We are taking the kids camping for the first time this weekend. 
We are kind of cheating. 
We will sleep in a cabin with beds. 
The bathrooms are kind of far away though. And we will cook over an open fire. 
So we are not totally cheating. Just kinda.


I've started preparing our camp fire food. 
Roasted Chicken with Veggie foil packets
You can make them ahead of time and freeze them. 
That way they work as an ice pack for the cooler. 

Chop up potatoes, onions, and chicken breast. Add fresh green beans, baby carrots and lots of spices!


Then add to tin foil, wrap and freeze!

I then packed the foil packets in zip lock freezer bags so the juices don't leak in the cooler. 

Now I just need to get packing everything else! 
Are you doing anything fun and relaxing this Labor Day weekend?