Who do you have in your corner?

I'm not proud to admit this but my personal time with the Lord has gotten to be, for lack of a better term, dull. I've always felt that if I just put my trust in Him that everything else would fall into place, however, if I don't take the time for Him and listen for his voice I often get in my own way. The AWESOME thing is He's always there, he won't turn his back on me regardless of the mess I may make of my life trying to forge my own way. He's got my back, He's in my corner, ALWAYS!  Hebrews 13:5b say "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Isn't that a comforting thought?

I'm a work in progress, always will be, God will always be at work in me until the day I take my last breath. So for now I take comfort in the fact that I can "work" on spending more time with him and listening for his voice. I have this great devotional book call God's Purpose for Every Woman by Lysa Terkeurst. I like to just open it up randomly, and absolutely love that no matter what page I turn to it's like "here Kari I wrote this just for you!" Love that feeling.

Open my ears Lord, help me to listen....

Finding Joy in The Journey

"Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me." Psalm 51:12

What happened to my JOY? From my childhood, to my teens and in to my late 20's I can remember feeling quite happy, satisfied and yes even joyous about life. As I've gotten older, taken on more responsibilities, and gone through some pretty major life altering events I've begun to feel the joy being sucked out of me.  At times feeling unhappy and just plain ready to throw in the towel.  Or as in the words of my recent devotional (and the reason why I am writing this to begin with) my tank has run dry! This is not to say that I have no reasons to be happy or that my life is so miserable that I can't face the world anymore, no I'm afraid it's that I have lost sight of whats truly important! It's not the overwhelming mess piling up on my countertops, it's not the Mount Westover pile of laundry blocking a clear path thru the laundry room, it's not the 3000 emails, or the never ending list of things I NEED to get too ASAP, no my friends it's the joy I get to see when I watch my children laugh and play, when I take the time to sit down with them and engage and savor every minute, or the swelling of pride in my heart when I see Christ growing in there hearts and minds. The sad fact is I've become too involved in my problems, or what I can't get done, what I haven't yet accomplished, the fact that I am not Susie Homemaker or "I have a plan" Paula!  It's hard to admit that I may never be the person I WANT to be, but the important thing is, it's ok, as long as I am the me that God calls me to be! 

So here begins my Journey!  As I approach an upcoming birthday (WooHoo another year older) I realize that now is as good of time as any to start my Journey to a life with purpose, laughter, contentment, and most importantly JOY!  Watch out world!

Frozen Yogurt Bites

The word NO seems to be a large part of my vocabulary lately. Mason: "Mom can I have a fruit roll up for breakfast" Me: "No" Eli: "Mom, can I be ungrounded and play the Wii" Me: "NO" With out intending to I feel as though the word NO is almost an immediate response to some of the things my kids ask of me. The truth is my life can be somewhat of a chaotic mess. I  tell myself I'll take more time to do things with the kids when I get organized and the house is ALWAYS clean. The thing is the mess will always be there to take care of, but the moments I spend with my kids watching them play will be gone in what seems like a snap of my fingers. Anyway, before I get any more sappy my point is I need to learn to lighten up, let go of my expectations for myself a little and learn to say YES! So the other day when Emma asked if we could make frozen yogurt bites again I figured what the heck, I even gave up the right to do it myself and let them have full control. It's these little things that I hope they remember some day.

If you've never made these before they are SO easy and seem to be a big hit with kids (at least mine anyway). Use any of your flavored yogurt and spoon it into a ziploc bag and snip off a tip, make it small otherwise it comes out in huge globs. To make it even easier you can use gogurts and not have to mess with the ziploc. Squeeze onto a cookie sheet, place in the freezer (maybe 20-30 minutes), pop them out and ENJOY. Eat fast they melt quickly especially on a hot day.  Yes, I got this lovely idea from Pinterest!

Recycled play

So I ♥ Pinterest and it's plethora of wonderful ideas. (Yes I said plethora, hey it's my blog and I can!)  Free and easy and I'm so on top of that! Just a simple empty laundry soap container and we had a good 20 minutes of fun. We even cut it short because Daddy came home and wanted to play baseball. Can't wait to get it out again and let them play.

OH SNAP!

Snap Happy. Having a bit of fun with my new toy and some photo editing. I'm no professional, but still a lot of fun.

Mud!

"Huh? Why?" This is how my kids responded when I ask them if they wanted to get dirty and play with mud. If you can't tell by their reaction this is something I've never invited them to do. Even my husband was a little leary of my idea but I figured what the hey, I want summer to be fun and full of excitement and if a little dirt gets them excited for 20 minutes or so, who could it hurt.  Here's to a happy and free summer!

All in a days work.....

My To do list may be a mile long and my house appears to look like a tornado ripped through it but we we're busy having fun.