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. :) 

I want to post an update on how I'm doing on my list of things to do before the start of the new year.
So here is an update on week 1 of 11. I am going to put a number at the start of each one that goes to the number on the original list so you can reference back easily :)

2)I finally just got the final tools I need to give the trunk the face lift it desperately needs. Minus the paint for all the metal portions of the trunk. Haven't quite found exactly what I want for it.
Its so beautiful as it is quite honestly but I just know that we will LOVE it that much more once its all redone.
I have been slowly working on it a little bit every so often to strip out the old paper that is lining the inside.

3) The mirror is all stripped, needs a light sand job and just needs to be painted! I may even work on that more tonight. Really excited that this is o close to being complete!

4) I have started this and have several things sorted out, gave a few things to my sister and am just waiting a little bit to take the clothes to the consignment shop.

5) Sent a card to a friend last week and have a few people in mind for upcoming cards :)

8) I am reading the book "Like Dandelion Dust" by Karen Kingsbury and I am on Chapter 10! Now I HAD started to read this book before the list but had put it down for quite sometime. I did just pick up from where I had left off from and still remembered everything that was going on so I am happy to say that I have a good start on this. There are 28 chapters to this book so this really shouldn't be a problem.

9) Well last week I cleaned the shower, today I started cleaning the washer, and have been making all around really good strides around the house.

6) I did exercise 3 times last week! I was hoping to do it even more than that last week but I am VERY happy to say I did do it the 3 times I put on my list to do.

10) I am so thankful for my son and the fact that I have every day opportunities to teach him new things, get down on the floor with him to play, and snuggle before bed while watching some of a movie. I know not all mommies get that privilege as they have to work to provide for their families.

1) This is probably the one I am most excited to say that I only missed one day last week. And quite honestly I had some really amazing and profound conversations with God over the last week. Its been very enjoyable. I've been trying hard for a long time to be consistent in this area of my life but haven't been. I think it was a matter of changing my mind set of it having to be the first thing I did in the morning to when ever I could do it even if it ended up being before I went to bed. I would still prefer it to be first thing in the morning as it puts me in a better place and makes the whole rest of the day go so much smoother just because I spent some time being alone and quiet with God. I'm not saying that things are then perfect that day, Sometimes they are down right the hardest days all week. I just am at a better place to handle them because I know I'm not handling life alone. Make sense?

13) This is the one thing on my list that is the most overwhelming for me as of right now. :(


oh well. I'm off to spend some time alone with God and enjoy a cup of coffee, then work, and maybe get the Mirror all sanded and ready for paint tonight! :)

12 by 2012

So I was wandering around in the blogging world and came across someone's post about doing 12 things before 2012. I thought this sounded interesting and wanted to know some more about it and then realized that it was something someone was linking up to. So I went to the originator of the 12 by 2012. Danni over at  Oh, Hello Friend created this as a way to push herself to get a few things done before the start of a new year. (I'll let you check out her blog for the full rundown.) A few things that are just lingering. In checking out several of the others who have linked up it seems as though it is a lot of things people intended to do anyways but need the deadline to keep themselves from continuing to put them off. So thank you Danni for creating this challenge and making it a linky party so it'll help keep all of us accountable. Here's to everyone working to get 12 (or more...or less) things done before the start of the new year. And now I'm off to make a physical list so I can put it up somewhere so I can see it and be reminded to follow through on some of this... (like No.6...)

11 Weeks, 14 Items... I can do this!

1. Spend real quality time alone with God at some point in time during the day, every day, even if it can't be first thing in the morning. 
2. Give the beautiful trunk a major face life and get it in our room with the extra blankets inside.
3. Give the mirror a face lift and hang it in our room 
4. Clean out clothes I do not wear and take them to a consignment shop.
5. Send a card to a different friend once a week. (11 Cards in total. 3 of 11 Done)
6. Exercise at least Three times a week in my home. (5,10,15) 
7. Make Home Made Bread Dough 3 Times. (giving me 9 loaves of bread.)
8. Finish reading at least one book. 
9. Make some major strides in the Chaos Cleaning Project. (Including scrubbing the shower, fridge, and washing machine.)
10. Take more time to get down on the floor and play with my son. (not that I don't do this but I also need to make a more conscious effort to do this and take the time to just get right down on his level, not make him come up to mine.)
11. Sit down with Hubby and revamp our budget and really stick to it so we can get out of debt together.
12. Make realistic goals for starting the shop including short term and long term goals.
13. Complete Two Mei Tais.
14. Blog about each thing as I check it off my list. :)

Projects, Plans, and Procrastination.

Projects
I currently have 2  make that 3 Mei Tai Projects going on! YAY!
These are my first 3 paid orders for Mei Tais and I am beyond excited! My first two orders are for two wonderful moms in my church. The first has a little girl who is around 7 weeks old and the second has a boy who is around 14 months. They've seen me carry Monkey around in the mei tai I made for us back a month or so ago and asked where they could go buy one. The third is a surprise so I am not saying who it is for. :) I can't begin to tell you all how excited this really makes me to have real official orders for these already as they will eventually be going up on my etsy shop when I get it up and going!


Plans
Over the last week Dowe and I have had some really good and very important conversations with each other. We actually had probably one of the best pillow talk times ever a couple of nights ago. It was a topic that could have been really difficult to talk about but it was a sweet time together. The three of us snuggled and hugged and kissed as Dowe and I talked. Monkey was in bed with us as he was all out of sorts with the major thunder and lightening storm we had that knocked our power out. As I've mentioned before we have been doing the FPU classes and though we aren't beyond hope in debt we also don't want to be in our 60's and still paying off debts from our early 20's. If you know anything about Dave Ramsey you know he talks about having "Gazelle Intensity" when it comes to getting out of debt. Dowe and I are currently praying about what that means for our family.  I covet your prayers that we do what God shows us in this area.


Our currently plans with this is giving me a more definitive Work time. This will mean that Mommy goes into the office (which is slightly secluded from the rest of the house) and I will be putting in a good 2 hours each morning while Dowe and Monkey get MAN TIME! I am so thankful that with us being on a better schedule this should make that transition easier. 


Procrastination....
Alright...now I'm getting really honest with you here so don't judge ok?
My house is a mess....no really...I mean it...its a mess.... see?....

Living room exploded with Monkey's Toys 

and you can't see all of the unfolded laundry on the couch.

There is a toy box under that pile there...a bookshelf next to that...and a dining room table somewhere in there.

umm...kitchen counter?...Where art thou?

Dishes Dishes EVERYWHERE!!!

Sigh...I told you...a mess!

I have been quite overwhelmed with how bad its been that I didn't even know WHERE to begin! Quite honestly...I haven't even had any sort of motivation to even try to begin to start.
I have been procrastinating horribly when it comes to all of this. *sigh* 


Not anymore!


Well...Yesterday I started. And though I have a long ways to go....I started.

Monkey's toys are picked up, all of the laundry is folded and put away 

I can see counter top!!!! And the dishes to the far right are clean.

And have been put away since I took this picture.

I had a VERY good and productive day (even with a cranky Monkey).

Dowe was blow away when he came home as to how much I got done around the house and I even spent a good amount of time sewing tonight! YAY! Straps are all sewn for mei tai order number one. :) Oh And I even spent time with Kay last night :) She came over for dinner and just to spend time together as we didn't have our small group Bible study.

Random updateish post....

Well its been pretty chaotic around here lately if you couldn't tell by my lack of posts over the last week.


However, it has been full of exciting, fun, and wonderful moments. Totally worth the chaos.
I have been cleaning up a storm! The house is FINALLY really starting to shape up again. (a lot of thanks goes to my husband who has been helping me out tons and tons.) I was reminded once again on Sunday about how "God is not a God of disorder" and that I need to get my life back in order and living a God Honoring life. 
Not that I'm doing anything crazy bad but I feel like I don't honor God as much as I should with how I take care of my house and my boys. He has given me a roof over my head, a hard working husband with a decent job, made it possible for me to stay home with my son, and this beautiful little boy to take care of. 


The new schedule is going really well and I must tell you that I really am loving it! I never thought that just having a little bit of guaranteed alone time in the evenings between the time Monkey goes to bed and the time Dowe gets home would be so good for me! I'm really finding it makes me a better wife and mother. I find myself spending more and more time with my boys and less time feeling like I'm losing myself. I think I may have found the cure to my identity crisis and found myself again. 


Dowe and I are planning Monkey's first birthday party. I still can not believe that on Friday he's going to be a year. We're having a Fish themed party as our son LOVES fish. Dowe and I got Monkey a 10 gallon fish tank for his birthday. It is in his bedroom and has been quite therapeutic for him. He has started taking better naps again in the afternoons and sleeping better at night since its been in his room. 
We're hosting his party at our church this Sunday and I'm really excited for it. I honestly use to think that throwing a first birthday party was silly and unnecessary, however, it is on Dowe's side of the family, almost a right of passage. And now I'm honestly so thankful that we are throwing one. I honestly believe its helping me be excited and happy that Monkey is turning one instead of sad and depressed that a whole year has gone by so quickly. Don't worry...I will post pictures after the party. :)


Monday was Memorial Day. We went to my sister in-law's for the day. It was WONDERFUL. 
My husband is one of eight kids and so getting all of us together is a lot of times just...crazy. There are 6 kids ages 3 and under with another on the way (Second oldest sister in-law is expecting around August), and when we all get together there is a grand total of 19 people. And that is just the immediate family! So as much as we all LOVE getting all of us together, it is difficult to get good quality time with anyone really. Having just the seven of us together was really nice. My sister in-law cut my hair (THANK YOU!!!), we played games together, sat and chatted, and just all around got to enjoy each other's company. We went to a parade in town which was a blast. Just an all around WONDERFUL day with them. We have wanted to get together all winter and it finally happened thanks to the men having the holiday off.




Monkey and I have been spending a lot of time outside. He really doesn't care for the feel of the grass so he stays put for the most part on the blanket I lay out and just plays with the few toys I take out with us. Its been nice as I've been able to spend time reading while he's playing. More often than not, I lay on the blanket with him and become "jungle-gym-mommy" as he climbs over me.  We have lots of fun though. It really makes me wish Dowe was home during the afternoon/evening time that we go out though as he loves being outside too and its really relaxing. But I am so thankful for his job and how hard he works for us. 


Also a few little fun things about my Monkey as of lately...
Monkey took his first steps on Sunday!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :) :) :) (Can you say Excited Mommy?!)
I am mostly excited about when it happened because Dowe was home and was able to see it with me! Monkey is still pretty chicken about letting go and just walking but he is getting more and more brave and doing it more without being coaxed. :)


(*** Disclaimer: I will be talking about our experience with breastfeeding in the next section so if you don't want to know then skip the next paragraph and we'll catch up again real quick at the end. :)   ***)






 Also for those of you who don't know, I have been breastfeeding Monkey for the past year. We had a little bit of a rough start and a bumpy patch in the middle but over all have had a great experience with breastfeeding. I was very determined from the beginning to nourish our baby that way and had a fantastic support system. (I couldn't have done it without the 1000000% support of my husband and both of our families being supportive as well as my mom giving me tips, ideas, and encouragement.) However, our time with breastfeeding is coming to an end. I have always said that I was alright with nursing up till 2 years of age but then that was my cut off point. Monkey has begun to ween himself and I am ok with it. More than anything I wanted to make it past the 6 month mark as I knew how important that was nutritionally for him. Then we went through a really horrible time with baby food back in January and had to go back to strictly just nursing. When we went to reintroduce baby food Monkey refused to eat it. Finally when he got enough teeth in to bite things we started regular foods with him. He is now down to nursing 3-4 times a day. It is slightly sad in a way as this means my baby is growing up but nice and exciting at the same time. It will mean it'll be easier for Dowe and I to go away for our anniversary in a couple of months and I am greatly looking forward to being out of these nursing bras and back into regular ones. (ahhh to feel like a woman! haha) Plus it does mean that it gives me more freedom of being away for more than 2ish hours and not having to worry about getting back at a certain time for the next feeding. I will miss that bonding time to a certain extent but I am also thankful that he is doing this on his own and that I am not forcing him to stop.  My little boy is getting so big! :)










Well I think thats enough of a random update....I probably should get a couple of things done before Dowe gets home (which will be really soon!) Hope you all had a good Wednesday!




TOOTLES! :)

The End in the Beginning.

Well this concludes the first week of the new start.
Hubby is off for the weekend from work, Monkey and I are slowly starting to adjust to the new schedule, and I am looking forward to being back on Second Shift.

Who would have thought that the one thing I hated most (being on second shift for the past two years) would be the one thing I would look forward to most!

When Dowe was applying for supervisor we thought we had two options. Stay on Second or move to Third. After much prayer and consideration, along with a pro-con list, we had decided to make the move to Third. We asked God to do his will and that we knew that whatever happened we knew it was His best for us.

Just before the factory made a decision I began to realize how difficult Third would really be. I would no longer have my husband in bed beside me every night. A time I have really come to cherish with him. We tend to do a lot of our best talking just before drifting off to sleep together...plus I LOVE to snuggle. I love laying in bed with my head on his chest getting to listen to his heart beating and the rhythmic sound of his breathing when he has fallen asleep. He usually falls asleep before me but laying there in the quite listening to him more often than not puts me to sleep.

I began to question our decision to make the move to Third.
But then, God always has a plan.

Dowe's Brother, AirBear, also works at the factory. They both worked on Second together for a long time just with different roles and responsibilities. Then back around two months ago AirBear took another position that landed him on Third. Dowe questioned if his brother would really like being on Third and reminded him that once he had moved to Third he would be there for a year. This was all before there was even any thought that the Second or Third shift supervisors would be leaving.
Because AirBear and Dowe are brothers, Dowe can not be his boss. Thus making it so Dowe could not go to Third.

 I am thankful. God had a plan. He always has a plan. We just don't always realize what those plans are and need to learn to trust that He has our best in mind. He knows the desires of our heart even when we do not realize what those desires fully entail.

I am looking forward to the new schedule and how it works with being back on Second.
Monkey has been in bed and asleep the last TWO nights in a row by 10:10pm!!! (our goal again is to have him in bed at 10pm.) I am of course up a little later tonight as I am finishing up this recap of the first week of new beginnings but am headed to bed myself shortly.

A few goals for this up and coming week are as follows:

• Spend Good Quality time with God EVERY DAY
• Make Mother's Day Cards for my mom and my mother in-law
• Make my "Baby Backpack" (Monkey has been very clingy lately and wants me to hold/carry him all the time but he is already half my height and weighs 23lbs at 11 months...So it gets very tiring.)
• Continue working on Chaos Cleaning
• Put in as much time for work as possible this week (I need to make up for the lack of working I did this week...ugh.)
• Continue planning Monkey's Birthday Party and begin to buy things for it

New Beginnings.

Tomorrow starts a whole world of new beginnings for my little family.


New Job for hubby! YAY! Yes, My love got the job! He is now Supervisor and starts in the morning with training. We're so super excited. I cannot tell you how honestly excited I was to be washing his work uniforms for the last time this weekend so we can turn them in tomorrow! (In fact I even stayed up a little later tonight just to finish drying and folding the ones to turn in so they will ALL leave the house at the same time tomorrow!) Yes he will have a uniform still but as silly as this is I like the new style/colors he gets with this promotion. Plus they wont be as hard to clean now. :)


New (more normal) Schedule for us. Both of my boys (Hubby and Monkey) were asleep in bed at 10pm. Seeing as Dowe is training on First Shift for a week or two before going back to second we have decided to try to get on a better schedule starting tonight/tomorrow.  I especially am looking forward to this and am interested to see how it goes.


New Budget. As I have said before we are taking the FPU class at our church and with Dowe's new job we have to redo our budget and I'm actually looking forward to it this time! :)


New Ministry outreach with my church. I am going to be the coordinator of a meals ministry for families who have just had a baby, lost a loved one, or are having serious health issues. 


New Goals. I have a whole list of new goals, some starting tomorrow and some starting in a few weeks when Dowe goes back to his shift. So here they are.....

• Get rid of things we do not need/want anymore. Yes this has been part of my Chaos Cleaning To Do's but with Dowe's new job we are seriously considering the fact that we will hopefully actually be able to get a place of our own fairly soon instead of renting much longer. I do not want to move things we do not need/want. 
• Read more books.    I am a book lover. Have been since I was little. However, since I have had Monkey I have not really had much time to read. I am hoping that I will be able to put him to bed at 10pm, and then spend that time from 10pm till around 11:30pm when Dowe will get home from work reading.
• Do More Crafts!    I am also a craft crazy! I love to crochet, knit, scrapbook, sew, even cut pictures out of magazines and do collages. You name it I probably like it or would at least try it! (Can also use time after baby goes to bed for this.)
• Be More Consistent with my alone time with God.  Though I have been doing better as of lately than I have ever been before, I still am not doing it every day like I need to. Something always seems to come up. :( I am hoping that I can get up a little before Monkey in the mornings, have breakfast and do my devotions.
• Spend more time out doors. As the weather is slowly but surely getting nicer I want to be out doors more.  Cleaning up the yard, cleaning out the flower bed, going for nice long walks with my boys, cooking out, whatever! I just want to get out there and get some fresh air! (this one really isn't too difficult to do but still.)
• Be more consistently doing Elimination Communication with Monkey. For more information on this look up the book "The Diaper Free Baby"
• Take  better care of myself so I can take better care of my boys.
• Look mad hot for my husband for our anniversary trip. This means being able to wear whatever Pre-Baby stuff I have that he would want to see me in for our little get away sometime this summer. (Possibly including a 2-Piece Swim Suit....GASP!)

Those are all of the ones I can think of right now but if I come up with any more I will let you know. :)
But for now I need to get myself to bed so I can also get on this new exciting schedule! :)
Good night world.

Grocery Shopping.

So as I have said before Dowe and I are taking Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University class at our church. We have really been enjoying the class and though we are not even half way through, it has been life changing. Dowe went to college, I did not. However, just from his years in college we have quite a bit of debt. Since starting this class we have paid off over $3,000 worth of debt! That is huge. We also know that we will have all of our debts (school loans and car loan) paid off in the next 5 years at most! This is also huge as our loans would have taken MUCH longer to pay off without the knowledge we have gained from this class.


But now down to what I REALLY want to blog about today.


Grocery Shopping!


UGH!!!! I HATE IT! 
Let me explain farther. I ENJOY the shopping part. Picking out things to make for my family. I love to cook and to try new things. However, I HATE the sick to my stomach feeling I get in the pit of my stomach EVERY TIME I get to the checkout line and I hear the BEEP-BEEP-BEEP as the items I have selected get rung in and I feel what little money my family and I have fly out of our hands.  I usually only go grocery shopping once every 6 weeks (at most) other than for a few little things here and there in between (mostly Milk.) But the main part of our grocery shopping I do in one trip and not very often. So this means I have one grocery cart piled high for more than a month's worth of dinners. 

Today was different. 
As Previously stated with taking the FPU class we are now on a budget. Cash in hand, I went grocery shopping with both boys in tow. Calculator in hand we stayed under budget and hopefully have enough food for 2 weeks. Today was the first time in the almost 2 years my hubby and I have been married that I DID NOT feel sick as our groceries were being rung up. 
I had to change my entire mindset today. I felt like I had nothing in my cart as I went up to the checkout.  I've gotten so use to shopping once for more than a month's worth of food that this was a really difficult shopping trip but it was actually pretty enjoyable. I'm really hoping I  actually have enough groceries in the house to last two weeks but haha we'll see! :) 




In the next two  weeks (before the next "major" shopping trip) I have a new goal! 
Thanks to a friend I heard about "Extreme Couponers" and though I do think that some of these people are excessive and potentially even slightly neglectful of their families, I do feel the need to learn some of their ways. Can you imagine?...Never having to pay for tooth paste, toilet paper, and other necessities again?!  NO we are NOT talking about stealing! These women and men have learned how to use the manufactures and store coupons to their advantage and sometimes even get PAID to take products out of the store!!! 
Just a few weeks ago my friend Kay and I were talking about coupons and where she clips them off the internet. I told her I really need to start doing that and I actually started looking at coupon tips on the internet. I started feeling like its not worth it and I wouldn't know where to start! After reading about these "Extreme Couponers" and saw video clips of TLC's new show, I started looking into it more. Now I do not plan to become EXTREME but I would like to be more fugal and wise with the money God has given my little family. I am so thankful for the income we have (even if it is small) and that my husband is will to and works so hard to provide so I can stay home with our son.

Change

How is it possible that one single word can mean so much and cause so many different emotions and reactions? new, different, unknown, anger, hurt, excited, scared, thrilled....Change.


I think that a lot of the time the word "Change" is a scary one.
More often than not we think of change as being bad. Things being new and changing are scary and we don't know how to handle what we feel we have no control over.
But change can also be good, welcomed, and needed regardless of control.


My little family and I have been experiencing some changes as of lately:


Monkey (our 10 month old son) experiences change every day of his life as he grows and gets ready to walk. He learns things so fast and surprises me everyday! I know this may sound dumb or like I am making it up but my son says over 15 words! The latest word: "Ti-ter" that would be how he says Tigger. Tigger has become the new favorite and he HAS to have him to sleep at nap time and bed time. :) We also know this is what he is saying because Monkey will point at and say "Ti-ter."




Dowe's (my Husband) Job: Change with a prayer request attached to it.  Dowe's Boss "J" is leaving the Factory. Dowe is currently at the highest position he can be without being part of the management team. Until just a week ago this wasn't a possibility as there are only a handful of management positions and once they're full, people tend to stay there for years. 
So the prayer request is that my husband would get this position if this is God's will. We have been praying about his job situation for quite some time as he is our source of income. We weren't sure if he should be looking for another job or if we should just wait. Currently, we feel the answer is wait. We are really trying hard to be patient and not get TOO excited. But it is difficult just waiting knowing it could be a couple more months of waiting. The Praise in this though is that the Factory Manager told Dowe, when he went in to talk to him about the job, he had already been thought of and was already being considered for the job. So that is very encouraging and exciting. 




Dowe and I have been taking the Dave Ramsey FPU class to help us get out of debt and become wiser with the money God has given us. This has caused us to make several changes in the ways we deal with and think about money. Including making a budget and trying our hardest to stick to it! We've just started the budget portion so I'm sure you will get updates on how it's going in the coming weeks/months. :) 
We're also starting to look at the possibility of buying our first home. This is all very exciting change but also a little challenging. 


Which brings me to a question for you all: What are some of your favorite money saving tips for grocery shopping as well as favorite inexpensive meals? I am working on trying to get my shopping list around and seem to be really struggling with it as of lately. So any help would be warmly welcomed!

Soak up the Son.

So yesterday was more or less a "wasted" day as far as working on things in the house 

I have those every so often....I think we all do. I hope I'm not alone at least.

Things have been slowly getting better around the house though. I have gotten the living room cleaned up and have been keeping up with it for the most part. I will confess I do have 2 loads of clean laundry partially folded the rest waiting to be folded in here but that is NOTHING compared to how it has been.

The dining room is slowly but surely getting a little better. My kitchen is in need of help right now along with the laundry room. But I am getting there. The bathroom seems to be the one room I have the easiest time keeping up with and almost always looks great. 

Monkey's bedroom really isn't too far from being where I would like it to be.  I think more than anything I need to hang some shelves so I can get his books out of boxes and where we could see them to pick new ones out to read instead of the same ones all of the time. 

I am finding it difficult not to decorate his room more than anything. He really doesn't do anything but sleep in his room at this point in time. It would be nice to be comfortable spending time sitting in there reading together.

  

I did reorganize his closet not long ago which has made my life so much better! I did cry slightly in putting away some of his little baby clothes. So hard to believe he is almost 10 months!

Hubby's and my bedroom is also getting really close to being done. We spent an evening together rearranging the furniture and though it has taken some getting use to, we both love it. We feel like there is more space in our bedroom and we both have night stands now instead of just me. We are really looking forward to and praying about getting our own house. But until God directs us to the right house we need to make this place something we can be comfortable in and be able to relax.

  

I enjoyed reading the book of James for my devotions this morning. 
James 1:27 really is my all time favorite verse. Look it up sometime :) 

Monkey and I went for a walk back a few weeks ago when it was actually warm out...you know before we got this last round of snow. It was sunny and comfortably in the 50's so how could we not go out and soak up some sun?! We left around 4pm and didn't arrive back home till 6pm! Walking the whole time. Ok, so I walked and Monkey took in the whole world around him. :) I only wish Hubby could have gone with us. 
I also must admit that it is really nice to be able to look out my window at 7:40pm and still see a little bit of daylight left! I think that is my least favorite part of winter with being a stay at home mommy....Little to no sun and too cold to take Monkey outside. 

Well I'm off to clean a little more around the house and then work for my parents :) 
Hope you were able to take some time out of your day to soak up the Son and some sun.

Chaos....

Yep, that word seems to sum up my life as of lately... especially my house. Ugh. 
Loads of clean unfolded laundry piled high on both the couch and one of our chairs leaving only one chair able to be sat in,Loads of dishes that have been waiting to be done for what feels like forever, Piles of bags of jars of baby food that my son refuses to eat, 
unopened mail, garbage, dirt, junk, trash, dirty diapers,....AH!!! 

"For God is not a God of disorder but of peace" 1 Corinthians 14:33 

The other morning as I was doing my devotions I came across this verse. 
Disorganized....chaotic.....stressful.... 
That is how I feel as of right now when I look around my house. 
I feel guilty about taking a few minutes to sit down and relax when there are so many things that I SHOULD be doing. And quite frankly it drives me crazy to look at! 

I think the hopes that we won't be living here for much longer has allowed me to put things off and not deal with how much stuff we have or finding permanent places for things. But I'm realizing more and more that if I take the time to deal with the Stuff now when we do finally get a place of our own it'll be easier to move with less. 

I want to be able to sit in my own house and be at peace. To be able to just relax and love on my boys. I know there are things that still have to be done on a daily basis but once the major stuff is complete the keeping up will be much easier. 

So with all of that being said, I am setting a goal of finding things a permanent place, organizing my house, and getting rid of the junk we don't need! I would like to set a definitive time that I will feel like the house is completely organized. However, I know that I do have a 9 month old in the house who some days does not allow for me to get much done and thats ok. I will be blogging about what I do accomplish the days I am able to work on things as well as letting you know how many bags/boxes of junk I am able to get out of here! (Even if it may be disgustingly embarrassing.) And maybe hopefully this will inspire you to be able to make your house/room/office space/whatever else a place of peace.