An Impractical Wish & a Recipe

Sometimes I get these ideas in my head.

The ones that seem so fun and great.

And then Hubby gets ahold of them.

Here's the latest...

                                                                         Source: godmoves.tumblr.com via Jami on Pinterest

I want one of these. Like, a lot. I mean c'mon, could they be any more awesome?!

                                                                                 Source: flickr.com via Jami on Pinterest

So I very seriously told Hubby I want this to be my next car.
I think he tried to humor me for a second.
Then he started in with "do they have air conditioning? I don't think they are very safe. That thing could never get us to anywhere that we had to drive uphill. Does it seat enough?"
Now of course I don't know the answers to any of these questions.
I have done absolutely no research.
So for now I'll just keep day dreaming about owning one and being thankful I have a Hubby who is a bit more practical then I am.
PS - If you know the answer to any of those questions, let me know. I haven't completely given up on this yet.

Moving on...

Earlier in the month my girl Hannah posted her chicken salad recipe.
I hadn't made it in a long time and she inspired me.
I've made mine a couple times since. I make it in the morning when I know we have a busy day and use it for a quick dinner.

Chicken salad is the simplest thing ever.
I boil and shred 4-5 chicken breasts. This feeds 6 of us for dinner and leaves me leftovers for lunch the next day.


Then the fun part...

I add dried cranberries, red onion, celery and sliced almonds.
After I mix in the mayo {no measurement here, just however you like it} I season it with salt, pepper and paprika.

SO GOOD!
And because I'm weird, I will only eat it on a kaiser roll with potato chips on the side.
Anything less would just be wrong.
Enjoy!

"we encourage" - New Thoughts On No TV

Well it's been 4 months since we did away with our cable.
Were you wondering if we'd survived?
Guess what?
I love it!
The jury is still out on Hubby. He really misses his HGTV. And I do feel a little bad about that.
Just not bad enough to get cable again.
Here's a perfect example why...

This boy already has a slight case of boy-itis.

me - "how was your day?"

him - "fine"

me - "what did you do?"

him - "nothin"

Seriously? 

But things are changing.

I'm less distracted. I don't have the TV on in the background waiting for some breaking news that I can't live without knowing right that second.

Being less distracted means I can focus all my attention where it should be. On God and my family.

When I picked W up from school the other day we had a ton of great conversation.

I truly believe it's because he knows I'm really listening. 

I'm not divided.
I heard so many details about his day. How he felt about things. What his expectations are for the school year.

This alone is worth it to me.

It's worth taking some extra time at night to read articles so I know what's going on in the world.

It's worth being completely out of the loop with the newest TV shows.

And it's worth not knowing which "real housewife" hates who this week.

Of course I don't think everyone should get rid of their TV. I just know myself. I wasted a lot of time on it. I didn't use very good self control with it and it took time from things I "said" were priorities.
I don't want to be the type of woman who says what's important to her or what she believes and then not live it. This is just one way I'm keeping myself on the right path.

What are some things you do to live what you "say" your priorities are?

I never would have imagined living in a house without 400 channels.

Now I wouldn't have it any other way.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:21

I would suggest to you that just as Matthew talks about where our treasure is, we should also consider where out time is.

Thankful - A New School Year

It's always bitter sweet right?

Going back to school.

No more sleeping in.

No more staying up late.

No more High School Musical marathons (that one is probably more about me).

In a lot of ways it feels good to be back in a routine. Even if it's only been a day.

First of all, when did they get old enough to start 2nd and 4th grade?! Rude.
I'm so thankful we are able to send them to a school where the word of God is taught and His name is praised.

We started off the morning with chapel. One of the upper school teachers gave a sermon on John 14:15.

"If you love me, you will obey what I command."



He spoke to the students about what that looks like. He talked about the 2 greatest commandments, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself and why they are harder to live by than they sound.
We are sinful.
 Amen?

I prepared by making lunches last night.
 I know, stop it.
 I even made lunches for the 2 munchkins that would be at home with me. I'm hoping I can keep this up because it made my life a lot easier today.
Also, I'm in love with these lunch containers.
I kind of want to marry them.



I'm thankful today my kids are somewhere safe, where they are loved and challenged.
And I'm thankful they will still do this for me...

Thankful {How Could I Not Be?}

Clearly this blog has been on Summer mode.  

But I wasn't gonna miss another opportunity to link up with my friend Carina.

As I was going through my pictures and thinking about the last week it really struck me...

how could I ever not be thankful?!

Don't get me wrong, I have my moments, but they are so far from where my heart should be.

I could probably write a book but here are few things I am thankful for today.

A full day with my people at the beach. Hubby took the day off and we ended our Summer in style. {technically my kids don't go back to school for another week, but it pretty much feels "over"}

The moments I catch between these two. J is constantly making friendship bracelets. It couldn't be more special to me that she chose to make her sister one. I'm so grateful I was standing there to see it {and take a picture of it, of course}.

This morning Hubby and I were laying in bed reading the book of Jude. W woke up earlier than normal so I told him to go grab his bible. I was blessed to lay there with my husband and son, listening to them discuss the Word. I was blessed to hear W asking questions and the discussions that transpired from those questions.

Thankful.

"we encourage" - Help a Sister Out

Hey friends, listen up. This post is super important to me.  A friend I love a whole bunch is trying to bring her baby girl home and we can help. Plus you get a rad necklace out of the deal. Let's do this people!
"For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will- to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves." Ephesians 1:4-7

Hello! I'm Carina and I blog over at a punk, a pumpkin and a peanut.

I am mama to three little rascals, lover of vintage and coffee and chocolate, among other things.

For the last year, my husband and I have been waiting to adopt our fourth baby.

We have two biological boys, and one adopted, and feel so excited to be adding to the sweet chaos that is our every day.

Two weeks ago we got the call that we'd been chosen to adopt a baby girl due this August. 
And we are over the moon.
We know that God is already writing our love story with this little peach
and His hand is so evident in the details.
You can read more about all of that here.
The reality of adoption is that it takes a serious chunk of change to make it happen.
Like $25,000 when all is said and done.
We've saved and saved and had a little pancake breakfast to get the ball rolling,
but we are still well away from that number.

We are not ones to ask for something without offering something in return,
mostly because it makes us feel weird.
I've been making jewelry for my little etsy shop for the last few months and
after a lot of thought, I decided to design a few adoption necklaces to help make up some of the difference.
I am dreaming big here: my goal is to sell 100. My dream is 200.
300 would knock our socks off and put a serious dent in that total.

 Would you consider helping us out?
Spread the word and buy a necklace (or two)...
you'll be helping us bring our baby home, supporting adoption
and you'll even get something pretty in return!
And please come follow along on this super exciting journey -
it's sure to be an adventure!

shop  blog  twitter

Thrifty Love Gift Exchange, Yah Baby!

It's that time. Woot woot! The "thrifty love gift exchange" should be complete. 

I had so much fun thrifting for this little swap. Any excuse right?

{to ensure Carina doesn't accuse me of being fancy again I will only use the word "thrifting", not "antiquing".}

My bad.

My partner was Cynthia. Go check out her and her cute family. I haven't received my package of goodies yet so you'll just have to hold your breath and wait for another post. I know, it's killing you.

To satisfy your anticipation, here are the fun finds I sent her...

A super cute rose glass salt and pepper shaker set. I wanted to keep them, but alas, in the package they went.

And this embroidered dish towel. In love. I may or may not have bought one for myself that said "Sunday". Hypothetically.

I hope you all had fun with this! We will most definitely be doing it again.

Oh and side note, I had this stuff wrapped and in the box and was about to tape it when I remembered I hadn't taken any pictures. The postal worker thinks I'm insane.
So link up, can't wait to see every one's goodies.

Cuz I Only Take Pics With My Phone

Let's discuss Just Dance. I can do about 1 song and then I need a nap. I've gotten old. Also there is a considerable amount of brain power required to remember which songs we have to skip because the songs are not appropriate. Can't they make something in between "Promiscuous Girl" and "Dora the Explorer"? And let's face it, the most inappropriate songs have the best beats. Oh well.

My mom and I took the kids to see my Grandparent's.  I love watching them together.  Although I could do without the singing frog they are listening to in this picture. I may have to hide that one of these days.

"Mom, there's blood in my donut!" So clearly my kids have not eaten enough donuts. I promise to remedy that.

I've had a tough week with this one. Tough may actually be an understatement. This morning during my quiet time the Lord shined  a light on some things. I'm so thankful for new mercies every morning. And for the Lord reminding me it is my responsibility to nurture this relationship. To make sure he knows I am his biggest fan.  I'm done being luke warm and discouraged in my parenting of him.

"We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you."
Psalm 33:20-22



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