Merry Christmas!!

I am finally posting the finished picture of my christmas decorations. Hope you enjoy! Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!!!

No Media = Less Distractions

I chose to remove media from my day in order to remove distractions and focus on Me (not selfishly but to get things in order in my life)! Isn't it ironic that when you begin to remove things from your live others just tend to move in on it. I have been thinking of so many things I could be doing on the internet lately since I decided Not to be on the internet. Someone asked me to be their friend the other day on Facebook. So of course I joined and got into adding pics, comments, etc on there. Also I have been searching for things such as a play kitchen on Craigslist for Zeke for Christmas as well as other gifts and looking for events around town for New Years Eve. If you have ever searched the internet you know that when you start looking for one thing it leads to many many others.
So starting today for the next 19 days I will allow myself 30 minutes each day to blog and check email, and anything else I need to to. After that I will put up the computer.
God has still changed somethings in me during this time so far. My communication with Mike has gotten better. We both have been a little more patient with eachother. I have been letting things go that I can't control. We have enjoyed our time together with and without the kids. Abi has gotten on more of a schedule and Zeke has been going to bed easier and taking better naps. God has blessed me in all these areas! Abi has even been sleeping til 7:30 am for the past week. (no 5am bottle)
Getting up early is still a challange for me. Mike and I are going to work together to both get up earlier in the AM. This also means we will be working together to get to bed earlier as well.

God Bless!!

Live each day to the Fullest

I was encouraging my sister yesterday to live each day to the fullest. I thought about what I had said to her and decided to encourage myself with the same advice. Each day we have 24 hours we will never get back. I hope to not waste that time worrying about something I cannot change, arguing with my husband or anyone else about something that doesn't matter, not allowing my kid to be a kid because it will make a mess. I hope to enjoy each and every minute of every day! Letting go of having everything figured out and everything "looking" perfect. I am gonna let it all go (within reason, of course) and just enjoy this life God has placed me in one minute at a time!

I tend to look forward to the next big thing on our calender instead of enjoying each moment so right now I am enjoying my kids napping and me relaxing while blogging. About to clean up the house before my amazing hubby gets home. Then we will be going to have a date night! Thanks tosh for keeping a kiddo for us!

Remember to enjoy every moment, you will never get it back! Hope everyone who reads this has a wonderful day!!!

Christmas Decorations

I was beginning to decorate my home for Christmas this year and thought I would post a few pics. Last year I started a tradition of purchasing picture frame ornaments and framing a picture of each family member each year. So we put up the tree. Put on the lights. Added our picture frame ornaments from last year (I haven't bought any this year). Then Zeke and I made the rings out of construction paper. He was so good at helping me with the tape. I also purchased a Window cling thing of the nativity scene for our front window. I am going to hang blue lights there also. I am also planning to make an angel topper for the tree out of construction paper. It is amazing what you can do with things you have around the house. I am posting a couple of pictures from this morning and will post a few more when we finish. (we have to go out and get an extension cord to finish!) One pic is of Zeke and his car. We made a wreath for his car! I thought it was too cute!

Gift Cards

Some places offer specials that when you buy so much in gift cards you get an extra gift card. For example if you buy $25 in gift cards you get an extra $5 in gift cards. If you are planning to shop at these places it would benefit you to purchase the gift cards and get the extra cards!

Just a thought!

Tom Thumb gas - $1.27 per gallon

Today I got gas for $1.27 per gallon. If you shop at Tom Thumb you probably already know that for every $100 you spend you receive 10cents off per gallon of gas. Well, did you know that if you have earned more than one of those you can add them together?? I did not know this. I had earned 4 and was able to save 40 cents per gallon of gas today! Pretty Neat!

Day 2 - No Media

I made it to Starbucks this morning! Abi woke me up around 5:30am so after feeding her I was dressed and off to Starbucks. I got my Nonfat Caramel Machiato and found me a very quite corner and spend some awesome time studying the Word of God! I have been drawn to several passages in Proverbs. I continued to meditate on Proverbs 31:12. I have had much energy and patience today. I made a to do list this morning and accomplished more than 3/4 of it. I also had time to make pizza for lunch and run a couple of errands this afternoon. It is amazing to me how diligently changing one area of your life affects all the other areas.

I struggle with not reading other blogs, etc when I am online blogging. I have been checking Craigslist, etc for gifts for Christmas and ordering pictures, etc. I want to be more diligent to only get online to blog.

I will be back tomorrow with another day of No media!

Day 1 - No Media - Proverbs 31:12

Proverbs 31:12

"She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life"

Wow, what a scripture to start off this amazing time with the Lord. Please tell me I am not the only one who has ever been mean, hateful and down right ugly to their husband. I hate to admit that this is how I was over the weekend! I am astonished at some of the things I said to my husband and really emberassed about some of the ways I acted. I believed so many lies the enemy was telling me and in turn took everything out on him. I was on my period over the weekend but I do not want to lean on that as an excuse but to notice that this is the time during the month that I struggle. I hope this drawing to the Lord will help me to do better in 28 days when I am faced with this struggle once again.

I am going to work on memorizing this scripture this week. I will also be working on getting up early to spend time with the Lord. We have a Starbucks across the street from where we live and I plan to walk my little self there tomorrow at 6am!

When I read Proverbs 31 or a book about being a good wife/mom, I sometimes get discouraged and think that those women must have super powers to be able to do all those things in a 24 hour period. To me it is impossible. What I/we have to take notice of is that they do have super powers, Jesus! If we are consistantly communing with him everythings is so much more possible. I believe for me it has to be the beginning of my day. I have tried to work it into the later part of the day and it does not have the same effect. So for tomorrow, I will attempt to arrise early and spend those early moments with my Heavenly King! Then I will be better prepared to serve my Earthly King!

Menu Plan Monday - Week of Dec 1

We will be going out of town later this week so my menu is short.

Monday - Pasta with Veggies
Tuesday - Homemade Pizza, Salad and Brussel Sprouts
Wednesday - Taco Soup

I wanted to add that the Pumpkin Pancakes I made last week were yummy! I got the recipe from Money Saving Mom. I also tried the Pumpkin Dinner rolls from MSM as well and they were a huge hit. I made a tester batch last week and decided to make them for Thanksgiving. My family loved them. They were easier than I expected.