JaNEWary

" Though no one can go back and make a brand-new start, anyone can start a brand-new ending."

-----Carl Bard 



I have decided I like January.  JaNEWary.

It's so...quite.  After so much fuss with Thanksgivng and then Christmas, it's nice to have quite.



But it's also needed.  It's the time for fresh and new.  And we all need fresh and new.

It's a time for daring yourself to do more.  Or less.  To do better.   Be better.

"...life is either a daring adventure or nothing."

----Helen Keller

It's a time to determine to be determined.

"It's never too late to be what you might have been."

----George Eliot

January is a time of laying down roots.  Forming new habits.  Making new promises.  Or resolutions.  Or goals.  Or whichever you prefer.



January is like my husband.  He isn't afraid to do the work.  Likes to help others.  Loves to be a part of accomplishing a task.  But never wants to be in the spotlight.   He's a behind-the-scenes kinda guy. 

January is a behind-the scenes kinda month.  It lays the ground work for all the other months following, but receives no glory.

It's the time when we make the most effort. 

We eat healthier.   We wake earlier.  We speak kinder.  We forgive faster.
We read more. We give more.  Of our time.  Ourselves.  Our treasures.


 We clean out.  Reorganize.  Re-think.



We love deeper.  We try harder.  We reach wider. 
We look ahead....for better days to come.

"My children will not remember the words of wisdom

 I've passed along over the years,

nor will yours remember the good advice you've given.

However, etched in their minds and planted in their hearts

is a permanent picture of who you are

and how you've lived before them."

------Dorothy Kelley Patterson

Happy JaNEWary~

I'm just a girl

I'm a girl that has way more to do today than I can count, and no motivation to do it.

I'm a girl that loves January because of the newness that it brings.  But today the warmer air gives me Spring fever.  I want green grass, blooming flowers, warm sunshine, and late afternoon breezes. 

Source: hgtv.com via Barbara on Pinterest

I'm a girl whose house is filled with the smell of homegrown peas cooking on the stove and wishing I had way more of them left in the freezer than I do.

I'm a girl who desperately wants to find a solution for sleepless children who wander in and out of my bed ALL night long!

I'm a girl who loves not many things more than warm sunshine shining through the windows and a cool breeze blowing through the house.

Source: 4.bp.blogspot.com via Catherine on Pinterest

I'm a girl who needs to be reminded that real love comes with no strings, so my chalkboard says, "The true measure of loving...is to love without measure."

I'm a girl that loves progress.

{little progress beats no progress :-)}

I'm a girl that heard a story today that has left me broken.  Sad.  Inspired.  Thankful.

I'm a girl who woke up this morning feeling sorry for myself, and was then bopped over the head by God.  Literally.  It felt like it.

I'm a girl who is forever grateful that God allowed me to be born in a free country where women and children are treated as human beings and not slaves.  Where we are cared for and loved and not brutally beaten, sexually mutilated, starving, and homeless.  Where we are protected from those unimaginable acts.

I'm a girl who is heart-broken for those women and children who are not so blessed.  Who are and will be raped multilple times a DAY, sexually mutilated with sticks and left for dead.  Not only the women but CHILDREN are treated no differently!

Make Way Partners slideshow

Listen to Focus on the Family to hear Kimberly Smith's personal story.

I'm a girl who wishes with all my being that I could rescue every single one of those precious children and beautiful women and bring them to my world!


***Mute the playlist at the very bottom of this blog before playing the video.

I'm a girl who feels completely overwhelmed.  What in the world can I do?  What in the world can we do?



Please, please, please visit Make Way Partners.  There is so much information to help us learn and understand what is actually happening RIGHT now as you read this, and what we can actually DO to make a difference!

I'm a girl much like most of you.  One who lives in my own little world, consumed with my own little routines, doing my own little life. 

While there's a girl somewhere with no hope to be in her own little world, doing her own little routine, living her own little life.

I'm a girl, counting...counting...counting my blessings.

Perfection



"Now the God of peace...make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." Hebrews 13:20,21

When I think of the word perfect, I think "without fault". 

That's me!

Yeah right!  Snottyfinclothes! {It's not even close!} MadGab-1996-with Jeff and Rebecca Taylor. Remember that one Beccer?!!

Okay. Sorry 'bout that.  I'm back.

Anyway, thank God, I don't believe He means "without fault" when he says we will be "perfect in every good work...".  Remember the verse... "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus..." Romans 3:23,24

Don't you love that word GRACE?!

What about this one..."But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

So why do we expect life to be perfect?  Why do I think my husband should be perfect?  My children?  My family?  My home?  My floors?  My yard?  My vacations?  My skin?  My waist?  My clothes?  My hair? {okay Kimberly, I know you  would disagree with me on that one .}  But you get the point.  You know where I'm coming from.  You have those thoughts.  And if we're really honest, we are super hard on ourselves, but we're super-duper hard on others. 

Critical?  Maybe just a little?  Yep.  Even us christians.  We can rip somebody apart with our criticisms.  "What was she thinkin' wearin' that?"
 "Look at that house, they live there?" 
"Did you see how her kids were acting?  I'd tear mine up if they did that."
 "I think they could use a new car.  I wouldn't be driving that hunk-a-junk around."

Yeah, we say that.  Come on, you know it.  And we always say it with a little bit of a "I'm just a tad bit better than you" attitude. 

I know.  Don't fall out of your chair.  But I do it too. Gasp!



"Encouragement is oxygen to the soul."---George Matthew Adams

We all fail.  We all make those--- mistakes.
Deep in our hearts we know we need to be encouraging wives, mothers, friends; but somewhere between laundry, errands, housework, poop, sickness, responsiblities, we lose the energy and motivation to build others up.

"Reckless words pierce like a sword."  Proverbs 12:18

Unfortunately, this week my children were the receivers of my "reckless words." 
My only hope is that I can soothe those wounds with the balm of words that "minister grace unto the hearers".  

And lots and lots of hugs and kisses!

If you're one of those stinkin' perfectionist, cut yourself some slack. And by all means, let's share some grace.


"There are high spots in all of our lives, and most of them have come about through encouragement from someone else."
---George Matthew Adams

Go forth and be a grace-giver!

Projects for 2012

Looking around in the shed, John says, "Well John Luke, there's a bed and a table.  I give it a week before your mama paints em' and I'll bet she paints em' white."

I can't stop!

I think I have a condition.  Not sure what it's called.  I love to move things around.  Change things out.  Throw things away. It gives me a sense of accomplishment.  And I love to paint everything I can get my hands on.  Krylon spray paint is my new best friend.  And he's right, I'm on a white kick right now.

Therefore I have made a New Year's Project List:::  After I wrote it out, I wondered if we should just tear the walls down and start over.  But after thinking about that thought for approximately .5 seconds, I decided on a big fat no! I'll stick to the project list and we'll do it a little at the time and I'll save my sanity and my marriage :-)

So here we go:::

1.) Update hall bathroom {paint the walls, new vanity, sink, faucet, toilet, and shower curtain.}

2.) Replace kitchen floors.

3.) Replace light fixture about kitchen table.

4.) Paint living room, hallway, playroom.

5.) Add built-ins around mantel and T.V.

6.) Paint Allie Beth's other bed and night stand and set it up.

7.) Clean out playroom and add more shelving.

8.) Replace curtain rods in John Luke's room.

9.) Hang pictures, etc. in John Luke's room.

10.) Tear out all the front flower beds and re-do.

11.) Sod the bare spots in the backyard.

12.) Finish painting the exterior of the house.

13.) Brick new back steps.

14.) Paint exterior and interior doors.

15.) Add white subway tile backsplash in kitchen.

16.) Replace kitchen sink and faucet.

Okay, so now that I'm a bit overwhelmed and going stir crazy to get started, I'll go wash some clothes and pray for patience and volunteer helpers.

Peace out~

The power of positive



"Marriage is the greatest institution ever invented!  It can be good, or it can be great, but it should never be ordinary." ------Neil Clark Warren

Let me guess.  When you first got married, you fully intended to be a positive wife.  It was your desire to be uplifting and supportive from the moment you blissfully uttered your marriage vows and promised "until death do us part."  But somewhere between the honeymoon and the happily ever after, you found yourself struggling to be the poster child for affirmative spouses. 

Your responsiblities increased.  Your husband's attentiveness waned.  And suddenly you weren't the wonderfully positive wife you always thought you'd be.

Me too! At my wedding I had the blissful picture in my mind of lovingly greeting my husband at the door each evening (looking like I just stepped off the cover of a fashion magazine, of course), kissing him on the cheek, and thanking him for the flowers he'd sent me.

We would magically sit down to a delicious, home-cooked meal, gaze into each other's eyes, and intimately share the details of our day.

Oddly enough, it hasn't played out that way at our house.  How about yours?  If I'm gazing into my husband's eyes, it's probably because I'm trying to get him to help with the kids or take out the trash.

 Back in the day I really did think I was Cinderella and I had darn sure married Prince Charming.  And in ways, that was/is the real deal.  But as you all know, sometimes A War Zone would more accurately descibe this happily ever after.  Things happen.  Things like disagreements, opinions (of course his are always wrong), sickness, sadness, disappointments, people, jobs, bills. You know.  Life.  And the biggest wamy of all.  Those little critters that steal your sleep at night and every square inch of your king size mattress.  Your peace and quite.  Your routine romantic dates. Your privacy in the bathroom.  You know what I'm talking about.  Those little people. 

They look a little like this:::



And this:::

Now please don't misunderstand me.  We still do love each other just as much as we did in those blissful days.  Actually more than we did back then.  We've grown together in new and different ways.  Sometimes because we wanted to and sometimes because we had to.

I really do love that man I call mine.  He is truly a blessing and I am thankful for him.

I wonder sometimes when my Prince Charming is raining on my parade, if it just might be because I put too much responsiblity on him to provide the joy that only God can give. 

"Too many married people expect their partner to give that which only God can give, namely, an eternal ecstasy." -----Fulton Sheen

On those cloudy days, being positive is not necessarily on the top of your list.  I understand.  But in my case, it wouldn't hurt to be a little more positive.  We women have so much influence on the men we share life with.  It is the down right truth that we set the tone in our homes.  You know like the old saying goes, "If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."  Ain't it the truth!

I'm reading this book The Power of a Positive Wife.  It's positive!  It's practical!  It's powerful!

Go get ya' one!  It'll do ya' good!

Some excerpts taken from The Power of a Positive Wife.