SNOW DAY!

today was our first snow day this year

the girlies barely got breakfast down

before throwing on their snow gear 

and running out to the white gold that filled up our yard

they peeled back their layers 

only for a quick hot chocolate intermission

then got right back out there

had i not said it is time to get inside for lunch and school, 

the remainder of our day would have been spent 

making tracks, 

building snow castles, 

filling up the wagon

etc 

and even during school, they asked to do our reading

and any other schoolwork possible

right beside the windows 

so that they could look out at the wonder of it all

and of course i somehow managed to get photos of everything

but the actual playing outside that happened...figures!

everyday grace

friends.

it has been a long and busy couple weeks at our house

we hosted family and friends for 2 weeks straight

which was fun, of course, but also draining

(can i get an amen from all my fellow introverts?)

then, less than 24 hours after seeing our family off

i had to bring my house back into order

AND get everything that wasn't a large piece of furniture off the carpet

now, before you go thinking i like to create strange tasks for myself, 

i should mention that our landlord is selling our house

which means carpet cleaners (hence the pick up frenzy)

then photographers the next day 

(aka more pick up frenzy / stuffing half of our things into boxes and closets)

and now showings for the next 3 days

(try keeping a house showing ready with two toddlers in tow...i dare you)

and amidst all the busy,

there are moments of anxiety, if i'm being honest

about whether the next owner will want to keep us on as renters

or if we'll be out of a house in the next couple of months...

but the Lord has been faithful to remind me that anxiety is not from Him

and He used these verses to encourage me:

"4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."
(Philippians 4:4-8)

i assure you, as a person who is no stranger to anxiety, i know these verses well

and yet, reading them in context as i read my way through Philippians, 

i was even more encouraged by them

for the first time, i noticed that the verses immediately following these 

talk about God's provision in Paul's life

and that subtle reminder was just what my heart needed that morning

then the next morning, as i faced my mountain of tasks

i decided i'd put some music on to help motivate me

so i searched one of my favorite worship artists and let youtube go to autoplay

and song after song, lyric after lyric

i realized that what my soul needed was to be reminded of Truth

how easily we loose sight of it when our world gets a little rocky

so i sang along and basked in the many evidences of grace in my life

feeling incredibly refreshed along the way

and yet again, this morning, as i read my devotional, 

these words leapt off the page at me:

"There is no misery that Jesus cannot turn into ministry, 

no brokenness He cannot transform into beauty"

our current situation is nowhere near misery or brokenness, 

let's be clear about that

i just loved that picture of restoration and the encouragement it brings

there's so much perseverance and standing firm involved in running this race we call life

it's such a blessing to be reminded of Jesus' work in our lives, especially when the going gets tough

there's evidence of grace everywhere - you just gotta look for it!

(lyrics from "Loyal" by Lauren Daigle)

Flashback Friday

it's a grey friday morning

i'm leaving for a girls weekend getaway in less than 8 hours

and instead of picking away at my packing

or cleaning my disastrous kitchen 

or heading out to the grocery store to stock up for the hubby,

who, bless his soul, will be wrangling our wild children all on his own while i'm gone

i've decided to take a moment...

...to sip on my americano

...to listen to a random youtube indie-folk playlist

....to look through these pictures from exactly one year ago

because as much as i've loved the seemingly endless summer we've been enjoying

grey days and slow mornings have a nice kind of feel to them too

also, these pictures were taken
exactly where i'm heading this afternoon, 

exactly one year ago today

and i had this conversation with my girlies this morning:

Me: My babies aren't babies anymore...frown emoticon
A: You're silly mama, babies have to grow up!
Me: But my babies were supposed to stay teeny tiny forever.
A: No mama, that's not how babies work.
I: Don't worry mama, we'll always be your babies.

true story.

apparently, my babies have to grow up - it's how babies work, after all

you know, you get a lot of advice when you decide you want to have babies, 

but they never tell you about that struggle in your heart

the one where you want to watch your babies grow up into who they were intended to be,

while simultaneously keeping them as your babies forever and ever

oh wait, they do

but words can't convey what a mama's heart feels

so sometimes you just need to look through old pictures, 

and gush over your babies

then look up and watch them grow up right before your very eyes

and realize how blessed you are to have the past memories and the here-and-now moments

saturday bloggin' aka photo vomit

i don't normally blog on saturdays

but yesterday we got together with friends

and made tie dye shirts

then we had to wait 24 hours to unveil the final product

and i went a little camera happy

because tie dye

and toddlers

let's just say, i think this will be the first of many tie dye adventures

now on to the photo vomit part...

p.s. if this has inspired you to do some tie dying with your littles, 

here are some "resources" / what we used:

* how to & inspiration courtesy of sheena's first and second tie dye extravaganzas

* this tulip brand tie dye kit 

(except i hit up my local michaels store and used a 40% coupon so it only cost me $10ish)

* $3 t-shirts from good ol' walmart

* dollar store tablecloths left over from the girlies' birthday party:  

...one to do all the dyeing on, so that once we were all done, we could wrap up all the bits and pieces in it and chuck it

...and one more to lay our (still pretty wet) shirts on when we unwrapped them, once again so that we could contain the mess then wrap up and get rid of it easily

the girls still haven't tried them on yet (you have to wash them before you wear them), 

but they're pretty stoked about them, and it was a super fun process!