Seasons

I don't know about you but I love all of the seasons.
I can appreciate them each in their own time but it also seems like for only so long...
(this mostly applies to winter.)

Right now we are in the season of Spring.

I love spring time and the newness of life.
I love the colors, smells, sounds, and warmth of spring.
Getting the yard ready for summer days spent outside.
The start of the grilling out season.
Getting to go outside and take my little man for a walk or playing on the playground.

With all of the newness that spring brings I realize I am also in a new season of life.

Right now I'm struggling with spring.
I feel like I'm missing out and thus my son is also missing out.

I'm trying my best to keep a right heart-itude and also remembering that this season in my life won't last forever.
But 10-13 weeks can feel like forever....especially with an almost 2 year old.

I am praying that I won't become housebound towards the end of this season.
That I will still be able to on my good days take Monkey to the park.
That we will still be able to get the yard ready for summer and the new season that is to come.

I know there is a potentially long road ahead of me but I am full of this amazing God sized peace.
I wish I could explain it but other than this crazy calm I feel deep inside myself there is no way to describe it. He knows and has already provided me with so much help and support as well as relief from the worst of the pain; I can't do anything else but rest in His arms.

"God is in the midst of her, she will not be moved; 

God will help her when the morning dawns."

Psalm Forty Six Verse Five

Giveaway time!

Yep, Its that time again where I post what giveaway is going on!!

TT&J is hosting a giveaway right now for a $50 shop credit to
We Love Citrus!

Check out just a few of the super cute things you could get using this shop credit:

Mason Jar Lids.

Cute little cloth bags

Sunny magnetic clothespins

Mini clothespins in a jar

And my personal favorite
Beautiful colorful twine! 

How fun is that?!  Go HERE to enter for your chance to win $50 to an awesome shop. :)

(Photo Credit: All pictures were taken directly from welovecitritusshop.com)

....tonight.

I know its been a while again and for that I am truly sorry.
Things have been slightly crazy around here and I've been finding myself very overwhelmed.
But all of those things for another night.


For tonight you see....I'm struggling.
I'm a mom and I probably worry too much but they're my boys!
I've carried them inside of me, I've held them closer to my heart than anyone else could ever physically be.
They are the only two human beings who will have heard my heartbeat from the inside.

Tonight I am thankful for an all knowing God.
The One who formed and is forming my beautiful boys into who He would have them be.
Tonight I am pouring my heart out to God thanking Him for the gifts He has given me.
Tonight I am praying for my two sweet boys to grow into strong men of faith.

Tonight I am thankful for a Godly father for my boys who cares about them just as much as I do.
The one who stands along side me in raising our boys in the way God would have us to.
Tonight I am pouring my heart out to God thanking Him for giving me such a wonderful husband.
Tonight I am praying for my husband to continue to grow closer to God and to listen to God's leading in raising our boys into men of honor and favor.

Tonight I am thankful that God chose me to be these boys' mother.
Tonight I am asking God to give me the wisdom and strength to be the mommy He would have me to be.
Tonight I am praying for peace and rest in knowing that the amount I love these boys is nothing compared to the love that He has for them.

Tonight I am loving these two boys.

A time for everything.....

Wow...so it has been forever since I last posted something. :( Sad day.
Sorry to my few followers. I do have some what of an excuse but not one that explains all of my absence.

I am pregnant! :) Dowe and I are very excitedly expecting a new addition to our family.
Baby #2 due to arrive around July 28th.
Right now as I type this I am 14.5 weeks pregnant and am slowly starting to feel better.
I haven't been nearly as sick this time as I was with Monkey but sick enough that I have fallen behind in lots of areas in my life. So now I am slowly trying to get back on top of things.

I am beginning to feel the time crunch and the pressure of mounds of things I need and want to get done before I get too big to be able to do them. It's really quite funny and interesting the thoughts that go through your mind when you're pregnant for the second time. Dowe and I are quite sure that we are having a girl this time which primarily means needing to clear out the "catch all" third bedroom and getting it to where it can be Monkey's room. There is a lot to do to get that room to where it can be a really nice bedroom for him. The biggest issue I have with this house is how badly insulated it is and the fact that the third bedroom has no heater in it! So we will be forced to have a space heater in Monkey's room which I am not really thrilled about but at this point in time do not have any other options. Unless you know...someone would like to give us a house with some land to it. (Any takers?!...)

So to the real reason I am blogging now....
With having so much to do, being so far behind (both with work for the construction company I work for, and around the house), and knowing how fast this time is going to go by I have got to implement some better habits for myself and my family. I found this great 2012 Calendar on pinterest that is an organizational Calendar http://www.mysimplerlife.com/2012.htm. "This is the year you get your house under control with daily areas to declutter."   It's pretty much AWESOME. It gives one task for each day Monday-Saturday with Sunday being a rest day or a do something to benefit yourself. And the tasks typically are not huge and completely overwhelming. It's typically one smallish thing to do each day to slowly over the year change your house. My mom and I are actually both doing this together. (She has already started...sadly I haven't really yet..but I intend to Today!)

A while ago I posted about the Chaos Cleaning Project and what all that meant to me.
"For God is not a God of disorder but of peace" 1 Corinthians 14:33

This verse has really hit home for me and has made me realize that God is a God of order and structure.

He wants for our lives to have order and to have peace.

Well a little while ago I was reminded of this at my church's ladies group meeting.

My dear sweet friend Melissa shared about her passion of being organized and why she wholeheartedly believes it is something that God is passionate about. She also shared this verse...

"a time to keep and a time to throw away" Ecc.3:6b

WOAH!!!This is something that so many people (myself included) have a really difficult time with.

More often than not we want to hold onto the little things when it would better serve our families and ourselves to throw it away. Ecclesiastes 3 talks a lot about how there is a time and a season for everything.

This time and this season in my life I need to embrace that it is time for me to throw some things away and to stop holding onto things that truly do not matter. I have some big plans and big goals of things I would like to do this year including how I want to decorate the new baby's room (if its a girl I have several fun projects I want to do which I promise I will blog about as I do them.)

But I cannot accomplish the things that I would like to do this year with my home in its current state.
I am finding that sometimes it really is more important to just throw some things away over holding on to it thinking I may need it or use it some day.
I also want to put some of the things that I have been holding onto for that "someday I want to do this" to good use and either have it be something worth while or it is time to just let it go.

I would like to ask you all to help keep me accountable in this too.  I tend to have good intentions, plans, and ideas but not always the best follow through. So please join me on this journey and print off your own copy of the Declutter Calendar or if nothing else please feel free to post comments to check up on me and share your favorite cleaning/decluttering tips!

So I am now off to start throwing away some things and organizing things that are worth keeping and trying to find real homes for them. :) 

A day full of giveaways!

Hey friends!

Just wanted to let you know of a bunch of giveaways going on today in the blogger world!

Over at Tatertots and Jello there are several giveaways going on!

Heal my Sole is offering a $40 shop credit! You can check out Heal my Sole's website HERE to see what types of things they offer. Personally I would love to try out the Dead sea salt and the cucumber melon massage oil!

Next is a $50 gift certificate to Wine Sunday!
Visit Wine Sunday's Shop HERE

I love a good glass of wine now and then but it takes me a while to actually finish a bottle.
Putting the original cork back in can be next to impossible sometimes! So this would be my first pick of things to get from their shop.

I mean who doesn't love a beautiful hand crafted wine stopper!

isn't the wine bottle light just BEAUTIFUL?!

Royal Design Studio is giving away a free stencil (up to $50, with free shipping!)
You can check them out HERE to see what all they have to offer.
My favorite is probably the Endless Circle Lattice 


Oh My Crafts is giving away a $50 Gift Card!
Just think of all of the awesome stuff you could get HERE!
I know I AM!

Cottage Coastal Store is giving away a $100 Gift Certificate!
They have some really beautiful things...Now personally I know my husband is not a fan of "beachy" "nautical" things but they have some other amazing options such as these HERE

Last but not least Jo Totes is giving away the bag of your choice!

Now obviously you HAVE to go check them out HERE

But I'll show you a couple of my favorites :)

Cute right?! and its for your camera!!! :)

Anyways...There is your day of giveaways! Thanks all to TT&J!

Go enter one, or two, or all of them! Leave me a comment saying you did. :)

I'm off to put in my last entries for some of these myself!

Silhouette Cameo Giveaway!

Hey guys....I know 3 posts in one day! GASP!
But I just HAVE to tell you about the fantastic giveaway going on over at T&J

It's for a Silhouette Cameo!!!

Isn't that just BEAUTIFUL!

I would like to win this so I could create some stencils to be able to etch on glass.

Example: 

I really really want to etch my last name in all of my Pyrex dishes as my mother in-law and both married sister in-laws all have the same Pyrex I have and we never can tell who's is who's. Plus all of those church dinners would be that much easier making sure you ended up with the correct dish!

besides...isn't that just BEAUTIFUL?!

plus there is TONS of stuff you could decide to do with it!

I am officially drooling over this product and crossing my fingers that I would win this giveaway!

Quicksilver Creations Giveaway with Pinapotamus

Hey everyone.
Yep, Its happening again! There is an awesome giveaway out there for you all to check out.

Quicksilver Creations is giving away a $20 Shop Credit towards anything in her shop!
Or you can also put it towards a custom order!

Just take a look at some of the beautiful work Quicksilver has for sale in her shop!

The last picture is an example of some of the custom stamping she does.
Who wouldn't want to win this?! Just take note that you have 5 steps to complete to get 1 entry to this giveaway and to receive a second entry you can blog about the giveaway (As I am doing right now!).

Like it, Love it, WIN IT!