I went with the Little Black Dress

Many of you know I had a big debate on which dress to wear for the Nutcracker. It has been a while since I've been dress shopping like this. Last year the only dress I needed was for the STRATCOM Ball and I was pregnant, so my options were Motherhood Maternity which had two or maybe three to choose from, tops...makes choosing a dress very easy.

My situation this year is a little different. :-) JC Penney was having a phenomenal sale on their holiday dresses so I took The SB there and met up with Lucy and KJBeth. We were there for three or maybe even four hours! Yiiiiikes! That's a LOT of dress-trying-on!! The SB was SO good. He started to lose his joy towards the end, but so did I. ha ha ha

I must have tried on at least 20 dresses and had it narrowed to three that I couldn't choose between. A gorgeous silver dress (that I had to go to another JCP to get in the right size...), a satin little black dress or a black and gold lace overlay dress. I loved the silver one for this occasion, the black one because it seemed to be the most flattering, and Lucy preferred the lace overlay. I got all three of them to bring home and try on and see what BigDaddy thought and then had plans to return the other two.

I tried them on and had him take pictures (which I later deleted because...well....I wasn't excited about how they looked. ha!) and he said the silver was the least flattering, the black one was "boring" and the lace overlay was the best of the three.

I looked at the pictures and sadly agreed about the silver one. It had kind of a square shaped top that made me look....well...square. But between the other two, I preferred the little black dress.

So...I put the pictures up in the Ju Ju Be Pink Room (yep, that's the diaper bag board community of moms and other JJB fans) and asked for their opinions. :)

The little black dress won in a landslide.

I tried them all on again. Still WANTED the silver one to be the best, but it just doesn't work on me. :( Sad. Such a gorgeous dress! The lace overlay fit very well, but I just didn't love it. :( Back to the little black dress.

(Can you believe all of this over what dress to wear to a ballet matinee?? I'm nuts).

And then when BigDaddy's family came out, I tried them all on for Granny M, knowing I could trust her honest opinion. AND the little black dress won hands down!

Little black dress it is...and because of the sale I got around 60% off!!! It almost feels wrong to spend so little on such a nice satin dress...ALMOST. ha ha

So, here it is, with a little cropped sweater jacket and 4" gorgeous sparkly stiletto heels I vowed NEVER to wear again after my toes went numb from walking in them at the ballet...

Double posting

This post will show up on both of my blogs because I'm not sure if I have the same reading crowd on both but ALL of you need to know about this!!! (And no worries, this is WAY better than just winning an Ergo carrier).

I have mentioned on this blog for sure and maybe on the family one as well a blog I keep up with called My Charming Kids, written by "MckMama" (who, by the way, I want to live next door to! ha). Without going into a lot of detail, her family has experienced a TRUE healing miracle with the birth of their newest son, who is just over a month old now. You can read more about that here by scrolling down and reading the introduction she has for each of her family members on the right side.

Well.....she is hosting a giveaway/raffle/fund raiser all in one!!

All of you photographers need to pay close attention.....the prize centers around a Canon Digital Rebel XSi....but there is soooo much more to it! The fundraiser part comes in that EVERY penny raised in the raffle goes to support three different organizations that are close to her heart. String of Pearls, No Hands but Ours, and The Elison Project. Anyway, I won't say anymore....you need to click on the button on the side of my blog (or this one below):



Once you get there and read all the details, click on the "chip in" and get your ticket(s) for a chance to win a great camera while donating to an amazing fundraiser! The contest goes through the 14th of the month!!

Lots of stuff....

Alllllrighty!

Man it's been a long time since I actually REALLY posted something on here aside from a contest or a giveaway!! So, what have I been up to??? I hoped you would ask.... :)

So, my last post was telling y'all to go vote...and I hope you did. I'm sure it's no shock to most of you that I was highly disappointed in the election results...and continue to be so as our president elect chooses his cabinet. However, I'm done pouting and am praying for him, his advisers and our country.

Ummmm.....let's see....what else....

I have been organizing, filing and shredding BOXES of papers. I like to think I'm an organized person and mostly I am. But some of you who think I do an awful lot of cleaning and organizing would be appalled to peek into a few closets or the desk or filing cabinet! I hate to say it out loud (or type it out loud I guess) but I hadn't properly filed a single bill since we moved in two years ago!! Yikes! It took a few days....and to be brutally honest there are still some things that need sorting and filing. HOWEVER, all of our bills and important paperwork has been taken care of. And I had a huge box of things to be shredded....and tiny little cute "pretend" shredder that requires things to be trifolded before they can fit in the shredding slot.


I also attended a Ju Ju Be trunk show. What is this, you ask? Well...I have mentioned in the past how much I love Ju Ju Be diaper bags....seriously the only brand I will ever own/buy again and I can look you straight in the face and say they are worth EVERY penny on the price tag! (Not to mention, they donate part of the profit off each bag purchased retail to breast cancer research!) So....they are a smallish company that isn't very old and so it can be hard to find a good variety of their bags in boutiques and stores in a lot of areas, so they do "trunk shows" which is where the rep shows up with a bunch of different bags and patterns and does demonstrations, there is usually a discounted price on the bags, maybe some giveaways and some little freebies. For those of us who are JJB addicts, it is a wonderfully fun time to check out everything we haven't seen before in real life!

So, that great little boutique I told you about a couple months ago called Milkworks?? They hosted a trunk show and you can bet your booties that I went! And it was fun. :-) I bought a Christmas present for someone and a couple BeQuicks to use for various things.

I also hang out on a message board for Ju Ju Be and so I took some pictures of the different bags to post on there to share the love. :-) Here are some of those pics....

(The BeQuicks laying flat on the table in all the different patterns and the MiniBe's propped up against the window)

(BePrepared, BeRightBack and BeSpicy)


And along these same lines....(I'm almost done with the diaper bag talk...I promise...) I won the Real Mom Giveaway from the Ju Ju Be website!!!!! Every single week, they have a giveaway. Sometimes they ask for recipes or ideas and sometimes it's traditions or memories. I nearly lost it when I opened my message to see that I had won!

And what does winning mean??? ANY diaper bag from their line that I want in ANY color/pattern it comes in!!! Woah! So I went with the BePrepared in Black and Silver. My reason being that it's a large bag that I wouldn't be able to justify purchasing on my own, but one that would sure be nice to have when I needed a big bag for an overnight trip, road trip, babysitter stay....etc. And they have some fantastic patterns, but since I plan on keeping this bag forever, I didn't want to get a pattern or color scheme I would get bored with or lose the love for, so I figured Black and Silver is great. (Aside from it being Raiders colors...hmmmm) And here are some pictures of this lovely bag that I have already used once! :-)



Ok, enough of Ju Ju Be talk. :)

BigDaddy and I went out on our first "date" since The SB was born a couple weekends ago. We went with another couple to dinner and a movie. The SB stayed at Lucy's house. He did great and they loved having him. :-) I was sure he would cry when we left or when he realized we were gone, but Lucy said there was not one tear shed! Yay!

We went to Granite City for dinner which was spectacular. Roberto was absolutely cracking us up. I hadn't seen either him or his wife since last year's Christmas party and I had forgotten how fun they are. We walked over to the new digital theater and watched the new Bond movie and I was actually really surprised that I liked it! I had never seen any other James Bond movies, but I might go back and watch the last one!

And I'll start bringing this monster long post to a close here. :) I just have to tell you all that I got a GREAT deal on a new camera on Amazon during their black friday sale. It is Christmas for me!! I got a Canon PowerShot SD70IS and it came in the mail TODAY! I love it. It is cute, compact, takes great pictures, has a quick reaction time and has more features than I can read about in one evening! I mostly just played around with it....I'll read and figure out how to use it better another day. :-) The first pictures taken with it were of....The SB, of course!


This is RomRat in mid air, jumping up towards me...he's got a good solid foot and a half between him and the floor when I snapped this!

Oh, one more thing....after we went and had 9 month pictures taken of The SB, I came home all inspired to decorate for Christmas because it snowed last night. It was a much much longer process than I had anticipated, having never decorated with a VERY busy 9 month old little boy before. What should have only taken an hour at the most dragged on into almost four hours of decorating and rearranging. Initially I was sipping on eggnog (I had NEVER tasted it before today), listening to Josh Groban's Christmas album and having a ball...by the end I was tired and frazzled and ready for it to be DONE!!

But now, as I sit here in my jammies in the dimly lit (and mostly clean) living room, I am very glad I put the four hours into it because I am enjoying the twinkling lights and nativity scene and stockings and...well....here it is

(We went with the little tree up on a table to be a little more baby proof...)

And presents behind the babygate so they would survive til Christmas Eve...

And our stockings!

The entertainment center....

A closer view of my hand-made Polish nativity set from Elim Christian Center in Lwowek Slaski, Poland. (And I happen to know where you can get yourself one like it if you want! *wink)

And a closer view....

Ergo Baby Carrier Giveaway!

Someday I will get back to actually "talking" on here...but I have to tell you all about this GREAT giveaway!!!! I have one of these and LOOOOOOOVE LOVE LOVE it. :)

Win a Free Organic Embroidered Ergo Baby Carrier Hands Free System from Along for the Ride

Go check it out!! :)

One of my fave online boutiques!

Little Dudes and Divas is a fantastic boutique...the customer service can't be beat!

I organized a donation for a family in Omaha and ordered the diaper bag from Maya at Little Dudes and Divas, and when she found out what it was for, she donated a couple items as well! THAT is amazing. :-) AND if you notice on my family blog, I have them linked as one of my favorite businesses! LDD has my loyalty in regards to online boutiquing! :-)

Go check them out...

Visit Little Dudes and Divas at www.littledudesanddivas.com

Check out the Little Dudes and Divas Blog www.diaperbagnews.blogspot.com

Join the Little Dudes and Divas Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/diaperbags

Some Giveaways!!! :-)

Well, I have been contemplating a serious post to put up here, but just haven't been in the mood to blog lately...let alone about anything serious SOOO here's a super fun blog! There are THREE awesome giveaways at www.babywearsprada.com!

And before I tell you about these, I have to tell you that my SIL won the Baby Bella Maya giveaway of a matching blankie and booties! How cool is that?!!!?? :-) Knowing someone who wins is as fun as winning myself! :-)

#1: GiGi Blanki Giveaway....Gorgeous custom made little security blankis, bibs (aka drooli's) and all sorts of other fun stuff....the giveaway is for a blanki and a drooli! Goooo check it out! I had a ton of fun playing with the different options until I chose which one I would want. :-)

#2: Princess Patch Giveaway....Talk about some bling! These are super fun bling'd out shoes for your LO. I picked the Rock Star black converse shoes for The SB if I win. :-) The little girl shoes are sooo adorable too! A fun splurge item!

#3: Bling Around The Rosie Giveaway....this is a great giveaway for the little girls in your life! Fun sparkle on fun shirts that are washable and durable! Now THAT's a product that could only be designed by a mom! :-)

Just go to the website, pick what you want, make a comment and voila, you're in the running!!

Go Vote Folks!

I hope all of you who are eligible will get out and vote today! We are a blessed nation and people to be able to have a say in our government and it's not a right to take lightly or for granted!!

I also hope you will vote based upon truths rather than emotion. I hope you will vote based upon conviction rather than eloquent speeches.

There are even some businesses giving discounts or freebies with an "I voted" sticker. Check out Starbucks, Krispy Kreme, Chik-fil-A, Ben and Jerry's....and maybe others???

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Speaking out again

A wonderful lady I know posted this video to her blog and I agree and like it so much that I am sharing it with you.



What this young man says has not been said enough and unfortunately is never reported in the media. They somehow always find the disgruntled soldier or soldier's family to put on the news...more sensational that way because who wants to hear that things are improving and going well? That sure doesn't help ratings!

And....that's all I am gonna say about that (for now anyway...wink)

Feeling a little sentimental...

I'm sitting here wrapped up in a throw that used to belong to my Gram.

It came in a box today that Mom sent me. I had forgotten she was sending it to me, but I was expecting the au jus mix, remote caddy, toy for The SB, birthday card and camera....but when I opened the box and saw this throw on top, I immediately knew what it was....I picked it up, buried my face in it and sobbed.

Gram has been gone for more than ten years now but I don't miss her any less. I won't ever get to hug her again, but being wrapped up in a blanket that belonged to her is a nice feeling. I think about her a lot, especially because I know my mom would give nearly anything to be able to tell Gram all about Mom's grandbabies.

She has missed some exciting things in my life, but anytime something extraordinary or special happens, I think about her and how fun it would be to share those moments with my little Gram...

Something on my heart...

As the election draws near, there is something on my heart. It has come to mind a couple times and then yesterday in my quiet time, I came across these verses that jumped out:

"For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths." (2 Tim 4:3-4, ESV)

So, I implore you all to evaluate where you're at, seek truth and vote accordingly.

And...that's all I'm gonna say about that! :)

Guess what I did today?!

Well, I did something else today that a few years ago I would have probably told you I wouldn't do....I made my own baby food! I've been toying with the idea for a while. Here is why I took the plunge:

1--I raw feed my dogs, but jar-feed my baby?! That's messed up!

2--I can make time for it since I am a SAHM

3--We just got a food processor about a month ago

4--It is WAY cheaper

5--It is WAY healthier

6--I know exactly what is going into my baby's tummy!

7--I get some sort of odd satisfaction from doing things "from scratch"

So....here's my first adventure. I chose pumpkins because it's October, I love the fall and pumpkins are yummy!

Step 1: Go to the store to find a "sugar" or "pie" pumpkin....only to find the only baking pumpkins available are also the only painted/decorated pumpkins?! (Why does that make sense???)

Step 2: Talk to produce manager to ask if there are any non-painted baking pumpkins...to which he replies, "I don't think so, why?"

Ummm....because I plan to bake them?? ha ha

He said the paint is non-toxic and washes off so he will give me whatever painted pumpkins I want for the pie pumpkin price, rather than $5.75 each!

Step 3: Wash silly paint off of baking pumpkins

Step 4: Split pumpkin in half and place face down in 1-2 inches of water in baking pan

Step 5: Sprinkle a little cinnamon to add some spice taste!

Step 6: Bake at about 400 for about an hour

Step 7: Scrape meat out of pumpkin and put it in the food processor


Step 8: Food process. :-)


Step 9: Spoon into ice cube tray (each cube is roughly a serving size...how convenient!)



Step 10: Freeze!

(That's where I'm at now...)

Step 11: Remove cubes from tray, put in labeled freezer bag, and remove servings as needed!

Yay!

I also have sweet potatoes baked and waiting to cool so I can do the same. :-) Then it's peas and green beans and apples and apricots and carrots and bananas and avocados and.....well, you get the idea!

One serving in a jar of organic baby food? $.50


One serving of pumpkin made at home? $.04...yes FOUR CENTS!


The feeling of doing something healthy for my baby? Priceless....

I love give-aways! :)

Ok, in case you haven't noticed, I love give-aways...especially "mama give-aways!" :) So....you have to go to Mom Most Traveled and see her See Kai Run Giveaway!! She does some other great give-aways too, so even if you're not in the market for some ADORABLE shoes for little feet, check in and see what else she might have up her sleeve...and read some reviews! :)

Another fun giveaway!

If you roll on over to Baby Wears Prada, you will see two more giveaways! (They do this all the time...how awesome, eh?) I'm here to tell you about the one for Baby Bella Maya matching blankie and booties! The blankets look to-die-for soft and the booties (0-6 and 6-12 mo) are SO adorable! The combo would be perfect to tuck into a stroller and have the cutie booties peeking out from under the blankie! :) They even have styles for boys!!! :)

Just some pictures

I have put three new posts (or maybe four??) on our family blog as of yesterday!! So if you want the skinny on the last couple weeks with the fam, go check it out! :)

I took some random pictures when The SB and I went to the park so I thought I'd just post them here cause I don't know what else to do with them. :)

(Isn't he the cutest ever?!?)

One of those days

Do you ever have those days when thoughts are pinging around in your head and you can't quite capture them to get them organized? I feel like I'm standing in one of those cool money booths where the money flies all over and you have to grab as many bills as you can!!! (And honestly I would LOVE to be standing in a money booth right now....)

I went to the ladies' bible study this morning and wowza! That's the only word I can grab hold of and pin down right now. I'm sure in a few hours I'll get more to share, but yep....all that I can say is "Wowza". (In a good way, of course!)

And....I've been keeping up with a couple of my blogging friends...ok, so I have NEVER met these people, but my cousin turned me onto their blogs and I FEEL like I know them. My Charming Kids is phenomenal and the last week-ish has been a bit of a roller coaster and when I read yesterday I had giddy "GOD IS AWESOME" goosebumps reading the latest news on unborn baby Stellan!!! And then, this morning, Cous asked if I had been reading Confessions of a CF (cystic fibrosis) Husband and I hadn't....so I went over there to catch up and now I'm having "God you ARE awesome, even when we don't understand it" sort of feelings. I don't know Tricia but right now I'm sitting here at my computer feeling like I just read this sad news as it relates to a good friend.

And...all I am going to say in closing is God is moving here in this girl's heart and there are big things a'comin! (I just don't know what cause all of those thoughts are still pinging!!!)

Til I talk again....

T-Rae :)

Ok, where was I??

Well, the "documentary" was not a documentary at all....sigh. It was a typical Fox News playground argument amongst adults. Why oh why can't the media report the facts and let me make my own judgments?? I don't care what Blah-blah political analyst thinks about what Joe Schmoe down the street said about the facts....I just want the straight facts. Ah well...

Anyway....Milkworks is AWESOME! :) I am not feeling the "roll" I was on so I'll just leave it at that (or not....). It is an amazing set up, with fantastic sales clerks (all of whom I found out in an email earlier this week are breastfeeding educators!) They do various "clinics" on different topics. The one they're focusing on now is on cloth diapering and they show the different styles of cloth diapers, how to properly care for them and help you figure out what works best and how to switch over if you want! I would love to go to one of those, BUT it's at 7 pm and runs for an hour which means it would be a late night for me! I did ask about daytime classes like that and she said they would look into it! :)

Ok, I'll stop rambling about a boutique none of you are close enough to see. ha ha

Here's the link to it though:

Milkworks

Here's the link to the cool mama cards/notes business. You'll laugh, you'll cry....

Motherhood with Attitude

I'll blog about The SB's poor teething struggle on the Family Site later this evening (maybe).

Um, let's see...OH! Spiritual Gifts survey...

So the guesses were:

Faith
Administration
Leadership
Evangelism
Service/Helps
Mercy

Well....I would have said something in the realm of Admin and Leadership too....BUT here's what the inventory said were my top three:

Service/Helps
Giving
Mercy

They "won" by quite a bit too! Next was Exhortation. Evangelism was the lowest.

And actually, I totally agree with the inventory! Those things come naturally to me, really. All of that comes out pretty interesting considering I KNOW my calling is in leading a missions organization, eh??? I can't explain it either...

Some stuff...

Ok, I have a few minutes to quickly get some stuff on here! :)

One of my friends took me to the COOLEST baby boutique I've ever set foot in! I have been to a few here in Ourtown and after the fourth one I called Mom and asked her what about me would bring out the "snotty" in boutique sales clerks, because they all seem to be thick with attitude. I had one lady tell me I could change The SB in the clothes changing room but "not to leave the dirty diaper in there". I was appalled. Seriously....do I look like a rude, irresponsible, selfish type of person who would leave a dirty diaper in a boutique's dressing room!?! Sigh...I haven't been back there. Anyway....we went to this boutique because they were listed as a store that sells our beloved Ju Ju Be diaper bags and they said over the phone they had "quite the stash" and neither of us had seen a "stash" of JJB diaper bags!

After being in the store for less than five minutes, MamaHuskerFan said, "This is like your mothership!" And wow was she right!!! They had a ton of JJB diaper bags, BabyLegs, baby slings and carriers and cloth diapers, and swaddle blankets and all sorts of other fun baby stuff that I love to look at. We spent a long time drooling over the diaper bags and admiring the different styles we hadn't seen before and the patterns we hadn't seen before and sharing with the sales clerks what we loved about JJBs and how they really are the best diaper bag on the market and worth the seemingly high price tags.

The sales clerks were all wonderful! They were sweet, friendly, attentive but not pushy...it was awesome! Initially I thought it was odd that the boutique was attached to a lactation consulting "business". Then, one of the founders of this little set up explained it....MilkWorks is a non profit organization whose goal is to help mamas breastfeed and overcome obstacles in breastfeeding and also to connect moms together for support groups, play dates, etc. BabyWorks is the boutique and the proceeds from there go to support MilkWorks!

There were a few women who founded it together, and for the life of me I can't remember the lady's name I was talking to! But she asked me about my Ergo Baby Carrier and said they were going to be getting some Beco Baby Carriers in.

Ok, this blog entry is going to be cut short because my cousin just told me about a show coming on that I have to watch:

http://www.foxnews.com/hannitysamerica/

Documentary on Obama's early years....I'll get back to MilkWorks later...

Just real quick....

I have some stuff I want to blog about but am currently busy with a poor teething little boy! But...I want to jot this down to remind me and let you know!

1--I'll give the answers of the Spiritual Gifts survey.

2--I'll summarize The SB's poor battle with FOUR teeth coming in at once!!

3--BETH MOORE HAS A NEW STUDY ON ESTHER and I'm PSYCHED! :-)

4--I'll tell you all about an incredible boutique/non profit set up that I LOVE!

5--I'll share with you a fun, tongue-in-cheek and make-you-cry mama site. :-)

So stay tuned.....

Run down of my Saturday...

Today was one of those days when your plan falls through, so you go to a second plan and that falls through....so then you give up on planning all together!

Plan A:

Get up and be on my way to Thetownover with The SB to sit at our garage sale with TheHuskerFanFam by 8:00 and make some mooooney! Hang out there until 1 or 2ish and then come back to Ourtown. Plans ended there...the rest of the day was free-flowing. :-) ha ha

Plan B:

The SB overslept, I wasn't as organized as I had initially though...so the new plan was to get going as soon as possible...which turned out to be 8:50 am. I called MamaHuskerFan who informed me things weren't going as planned there either and I might want to hold off coming for about an hour.

Plan C:

Go back into Ourtown to get cheap gas at Sam's Club, run the Jeep through the new carwash and THEN head to Thetownover for the garage sale around 10:00.

Plan D:

The SB is teething, so he was upset the entire time I was getting gas and washing the car, so I decided to come home before going to Thetownover in order to feed and calm The SB...and THEN leave for Thetownover as soon as possible, hopefully around 11:00 or 11:30.

Plan E:

The SB was too wishy-washy...happy one minute, crabby and sad the next...thus all plans to go to Thetownover were thrown out the window....with a new plan to spend the day hanging out with my poor teething The SB.

Plan F (I should have just stuck with Plan E..but nooooo....):

The SB seemed to be in much better spirits and I got a wild idea to actually USE the carpet steam cleaner Mom got me for Christmas since my living room carpet NEEDS a bath. The plan was to...
1. put together steam cleaner
2. clear out living room
3. move all necessities downstairs so we could stay out of living room
4. have The SB hang out with BigDaddy downstairs while I vacuumed the living room
5. steam clean the living room carpet
6. allow to dry
7. put everything back
8. the end

Somewhere around step 4 my plan went all haywire....

The SB decided he wasn't feeling well enough to hang out without being held and fed. The vacuum belt broke so I called the company who is mailing me another one...on Monday.....which should arrive within 7 to 10 days....which leads me to.....

Plan G:

Take care of The SB until he was in better spirits, put the vacuum back together, put the living room back together, move everything back upstairs and give up on all other plans of planning the rest of the day.

So far, plan G is going according to plan. :-)

Strength of Scripture

Normally I wouldn't post back to back like this, but I was just re-reading the passages that were referenced in last Thursday's study I told you all about.

So I'm not going to "talk" here, I'm just going to quote Scripture...it's awesome.

Isaiah 58:6-12, English Standard Version

"Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.

Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, 'Here I am.' If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,

if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.

And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in."

Thanks for reading and letting me share. :-)

It's Monday!!!

Years ago we had a youth group from Farmington, MO come out to Hometown and work on the church. They also did a musical/play. One of the songs was about Monday...

"It's Monday all over again and it feels like the week is never gonna end..." and I can't remember anymore. I have the tune in my head but all I hear is "it hits you....mmmmmm...and then Friday....mmmm...and it's Monday all over again..." ha ha That circles over and over in my head on Mondays though!

I have no idea why I even shared that, but there you go! ha

So I took a Spiritual Gifts survey over the weekend. I had gotten the hand out the very first ladies' bible study about a month ago and just hadn't sat down to really focus on it.

You can download it at:

http://www.lifeway.com/downloads

If you haven't ever taken one, I would encourage you to do it. There's on right or wrong...it's the best kind of "test"! :)

I'm curious for those of you who know me, what you think my Spiritual Gifts are. When I saw my results I thought, "Oooh! That makes sense!!" BUT if someone would have asked me what they were I would have probably given you a slightly different answer! However, after taking it I agree with what the test decided my gifts are.

Don't worry, in a couple days I'll tell you, but I am just curious what you may have thought. Here are the options listed in the survey:

Leadership
Administration
Teaching
Knowledge
Wisdom
Prophecy
Discernment
Exhortation
Shpeherding
Faith
Evangelism
Apostleship
Service/Helps
Mercy
Giving
Hospitality

So which three do you think I scored the highest in??

One crazy ride...

I don't know if this post will even make much sense....but this has been one crazy week and I'm still trying to process my morning.

This is all good though.

In the past I have been someone who likes to KNOW I have a specific block of time set aside to really dig deep in bible study. I've always had a hard time with cutesie little five minute devotional books....oh how God must be smiling and shaking his head at me now! I say that because I have been going through a crazy dry spell for a while because with a baby I don't get to pick when I do anything! I'm happy to shower before noon. So picking when I would sit down for an hour to dig deep wasn't happening, so neither was my personal relationship devotional time.

So what did I do? I joined a ladies' bible study with a Beth Moore type layout...five lessons during the week and then the teaching is done on that week's homework. I thought it would lend some sort of accountability to my personal time in the Word. Instead, it made it one more thing to put on my to-do list...which turned my precious time in the Word into a chore. That breaks my heart!! It's a rut I readily fall into and then wonder how in the world I fell back into that??

So...what did I do? I didn't get my lessons done, so I didn't go to study....and since I felt like when I had any opportunity to study I should be working on my homework lessons, I didn't do ANYTHING because I couldn't find the length of time I needed to do the homework lessons. Hmmm....then I felt like I was starving to death.

So what did I do? I emailed a couple mamas off of a diaper bag forum board...yep...you read that correctly! BUT I had seen Christ in these mamas through their posts so I know their hearts, and they have young children so I know they can relate. One of them said to grab nuggets when I can....and she mailed me two "cutesie" devotional books for moms. Another one reminded me that it shouldn't be a chore hanging over my head and to take the moments as I can and otherwise spend the day with God in all my activities. And the third one suggested we start an online sort of no-pressure study but more of a way to support each other, encourage each other and pray for each other.

And NOW I LOVE my "cutesie" devotional books. I have one that is set up with weekly nuggets and one is set up for daily nuggets. And I tell you what....every one of them has spoken volumes to me and made me realize I was a devotional book snob before. So I get a little nugget and I hold onto that nugget and I think about it and pray about it and apply it all throughout the day. It's wonderful. And I no longer feel like I HAVE to get my homework lessons done. I open my book as I am able, I get done what I can get done when I can and I went to study for the first time this morning and it was incredible.

Through all of this, God has been reminding me that when I feel the fullest is when I'm reaching out to others and I have had several opportunities as of late to encourage, support, minister...whatever and I feel SO alive! :-)

This morning the study was on mercy...and the speaker used a lot of illustrations from a mission trip she took to Guatemala and it brought back to me the feeling and excitement and faith of my trips to Nicaragua. She referenced several verses that were marked in my bible from times of study on those trips and I have a newly awakened sense of missionary-ism. :-) (It's my blog, I can make up words....ha ha) I'm not sure where that will go or what to do with it, but it feels good and I'm excited about it and plan to put it into action!

That doesn't mean I will be announcing in a week that I'm packing up and moving to Africa. To be honest I don't know what it means, but I just know it's a reconnection that I was desperately needing.

Ok...this is one loooong post and if you made it this far, I congratulate you! :-) And thanks. And in a little bit I'll be posting a more light-hearted fun blog. :-)

Some late night ramblings

I went to bed an hour ago...and I can't sleep....so I decided to get up!

Part of what I was thinking about was how incredible some of the blogs I've been reading are and how incredible the faith of the bloggers and the testimonies in their lives...and what in the world do I have to say that even compares??

I read in awe about Confessions of a CF Husband and the summary. My cousin had mentioned that page before but I hadn't spent much time reading...and I wish I had then! It's a blog about incredible faith in the midst of trials and God-only blessings and miracles through all of it!

I cried as I read about MckMama on My Charming Kids and her most recent doctor appointment. I am amazed at her faith and transparency through such a scary pregnancy. I don't know them, she has no idea who I am, but I bought one of the Stellan Will Live bracelets because I want a reminder to pray for that mama and that incredibly loved unborn baby Stellan every time I look at my wrist.

My wrist already has a prayer reminder on it...it's a green lymphoma awareness bracelet. Initially I got it because of a dear friend of mine...an adopted nephew of sorts....who is battling this ugly disease. Caleb just celebrated his 20th birthday in the midst of chemo treatments. And a couple months ago, this bracelet took on more meaning when my only living grandpa was diagnosed with Waldendonstroms Macroglobulinemia which is a very very rare form of lymphoma. And then within the last month I also learned that one of my aunts is battling another form of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. A year ago I didn't even know what lymphoma was and now I know more about it than I ever wanted to...

Rambling on a happier note....The SB is 7 months old today. :) What an incredible little blessing he is in our life!! I sing "You are My Sunshine" to him at least once every day and he lights up in a huge grin...but I don't think he knows that I mean those words. In the midst of tough days, worn out days, stressful days, or sad days....it just takes a look at that gorgeous baby boy and I see hope and the future and innocense and trust and happiness and learning...I see sunshine! :)



BD, The SB and I had a great evening together. I am so blessed by my family. We're far from perfect and we have our struggles, but at the end of the day, we have each other and there's comfort in that.

Well, as I look at the clock I know that if The SB decides to wake up sometime tonight I'm going to be very unhappy that I didn't fall asleep when I went to bed over an hour ago....so I'm going to go try again!

Be blessed,

Teri Rae

First things first...

I already have a family blog, but that is more of a place to keep family and friends up to date on the goings on in our lives. I was thinking after reading another blog this morning that I would like someplace to just "think outloud" or to rave about my favorite items to make life easier or rant about the ones gone bad...and of course still a place to brag a little on my family. :)

I don't know what this blog will end up as or look like by the time it's well established, but for now it's my little personal corner of cyberspace. I will never come here to vent with the intent of offending, but I also will not mince words because this is, after all, my little soapbox. :) You can disagree, we can discuss and I'm fine with all of it! :)