Balance

Today I'm linking up with Hearts at Home again! This month's topic is all about balance~ Do you have it? Where do you find it? Are you taking care of you while managing a life? Mary Byers' book "The Mother Load" has the tagline 'If you're taking care of the kids, who is taking care of you?' This is a great question because I think once we start pouring ourselves into our kids, the first thing to get dropped from the priority list are our own needs. I was especially guilty of this when my kids were really small because they require so much from us 24 hours a day!

A bit like a teeter-totter, life has lots of ups and downs... I'd love to just find the middle line of perfect balance! But then again, if the teeter-totter always stayed straight, it wouldn't be so much fun, would it?! Okay, so I'm rethinking my see-saw comparison because I think in this case balance is the goal... I'll leave the picture, but trash the analogy!

 I've got to admit that I'm not always the best at this... but I have learned, especially over the last few months that I do a much better job of taking care of those around me if I am continually being refreshed from the inside out by Jesus. The hardest thing is that this takes such a huge amount of intentionality. I have to make getting up early to spend time in His Word a priority.

I have also found that I need to spend time with my girlfriends! I lived for a long time thinking that I just didn't need anyone else, but this was a terrible belief! Now we have fairly regular girls' nights, craft nights, and also a weekly Bible study. We laugh together, pray for and cry with each other~ These times are a huge part of my being better able to manage my home and love on my kids!

So how do you manage it all? Do you have any tips & tricks to offer? We'd love for you to link up and check out the posts from other mommas~ we're all on this journey together!



If I could...

Happy Third Thursday! The Hearts at Home bloggers are linking up again after a break in February. The Hearts at Home conference is this Friday and Saturday, and I'm so excited to be heading to it! I always come home feeling so thankful to have girl time with my friends, time to be encouraged as a mom, and equipped by the speakers and workshops. This ministry has been such a blessing in my life!

The topic for this month is 'If you could have any super power related to being a mom, what would it be and why? We talk A LOT in this house about super powers. Trace and I are pretty into it ourselves, after all, both our littles' names were either straight out of a comic book or inspired by one! But also having a 6 year old boy and his partner-in-crime sister around this place give us more than our share of super-ability talk.

I have a hard time narrowing it down, but I think if I have to pick one ability that would most impact my mothering it would be super speed. Not the most original power, but it certainly would help me get things done around here! I would love to be able to zoom around like The Flash and clean up rooms, do laundry and make dinner... all without breaking a sweat! Then I would have hours to lazily lie around and check out pinterest. (Although it's not really like I don't spend enough time on there as it is...) And wouldn't it be great to be able to just run to the store like Superman and be back in a matter of minutes? The only thing that makes me nervous is that I wonder if spandex is a requirement of the Hero job... not sure I could wholeheartedly go along with that for anything!

So what would your chosen ability be? Any powers you wouldn't want? I don't think I would want super hearing or xray vision... there are just some things you can't erase, and I think those would be dangerous!

Third Thursday Thoughts~ Remember the time?

Well, the Hearts at Home Blog Hop is back in action today, and the prompt for this month was 'Tell us about a time at the playground when that thing happened...' My minds went to several incidents from my childhood, but I decided that it was better to not rehash those. So I tracked a bit more into recent past and my time as a mom.

I can remember one gorgeous day in Nashville when, feeling ambitious and stir crazy all at once, I decided to take my newborn baby girl and 2 1/2 year old little dude to the playground down the street. Remy was itching to just get out of the house and run. We had a great time playing~ the drama came when it was time to go (isn't that always the case?!). I gave Remy a 5 minute warning to wrap up whatever he was involved in. The minutes wound down, and I told Remy that it was time.

At this point I'm carrying Halle in the Baby Bjorn front-carrier, and she was sweetly snoozing. I started to walk towards Remy, and he begins to scream bloody murder. 'NOOOOO!' I reached out my hand to grab his and he screams 'YOU ARE NOT MY MOMMY!'. Thankfully this particular playground was not very busy, and the few other moms who were there knew I wasn't kidnapping this child. But I was nonetheless mortified.

Halle begins to stir, and I knew that she was going to need to be nursed soon. So I lean in and grab Remy, who begins to gag himself. 'I will puke!' he yells as I take his hand and start to pull him to the car. He goes limp at this point and lets his body drag along the ground. I have never felt so humiliated. I look like a crazy, post-partum mess, kidnapping a sick noodle boy from the playground.

Thankfully I was able to get him into the car, though not yet in his carseat. I simply closed the door and walked around to put Halle in her seat first. I strapped her in and made my way again to Remy's side, where he had curled into a firm, sobbing ball on the floor. It seriously took every muscle I had to unfold him and get his buckles secured~ how are they so strong?!

So yeah, that was my finest playground moment... What's yours? I would love for you to link up and check out the other Hearts Bloggers that are 'hopping' along today!!

New Things Abound!

I'm super excited to tell y'all that I've been brewing something behind these scenes for quite some time. You know if you've been around here for a while that mommas are heavy on my heart, and Hearts at Home is an organization that I love. Not just love in a 'went to the conference and it was good' kind of way, though I did and it was... Love, like I am so inspired by their ministry toward strengthening moms and building up families kind of way.

Shortly after I attended my first conference last March I knew that I wanted to be involved more. So I began to pray. I contacted them and have been in touch since the spring, just committed to praying about ways that I might be able to work with them. And now things are becoming clearer. These girls, Jill Savage and the team of Spirit-led women that she has on staff, are amazing! I am thrilled that I'm going to be able to be on their volunteer staff going forward. I am going to be working with the Marketing team in a few different capacities. For one I will be the Social Media Coordinator, a part of the army behind the Hearts Facebook and twitter feeds. So hop on over and say hello, even 'like' us if you can! I will also be involved in Hearts blogging, including the Blog Hop that I have been connecting with over the summer. I would love for y'all to join in~ I'll let you know when it gets back up and going!

The other part of what I will be doing is coordinating the Go-To Girls, which is pretty much a sweet name for mommas all over the country who are as excited as I am about what Hearts is doing and want to go out and tell everyone about it. These are the girls that get 'insider' info about the conferences, upcoming projects, etc. This is a pretty new area, and I'm excited to see what develops!

I am feeling very blessed that things are working out as they are... God's timing has been evident for me as I've been sorting through all the 'should I' and 'could I' thoughts.  Now I'm leaping in with both feet because I feel Him directing that way~ Ready to make a splash!!

I hope y'all have a wonderful weekend! We are having our first service of baptisms at our church, and we are baptizing 5 adults~ I cannot even begin to type how excited I am!! God is so good!

Ways I Am NOT (or Refuse to Admit but Probably Am) Like my Mother

Just the idea of this post cracks me up, because if you know me and/or my mother, you have probably started a list just from seeing the title. I'm linking up with Hearts at Home again this month, and would love for you to join in!

Truth be told, I am probably a lot like my mother. And I think I have finally passed the age when I didn't want to admit that. I would like to think that the biggest way in which I am like my mom is that of her faith. My favorite 'picture' of my mom is the image in my mind that I have from 15 years ago, the morning after our world was rocked to its core. I awoke after tragedy to hear my mom playing the piano. Singing praise songs to a God Who was still the same, even after everything as we had known it had changed. She was singing the words to an old song called 'Bless God' that goes something like 'Bless God for all he's done, Bless God for Christ his son. Let us magnify him, for he's holy.' I want a faith that remains unwavering, even when life is anything but steady. Her faith legacy is something that I want and hope to also instill in my little people.

I AM crafty like my mother. She is one who flips things inside-out in the store and says 'I could make that' often. I have this same phrase in my arsenal. She has bin after bin full of random craft supplies, fabric, and other things that 'could be' something else if worked on a bit. I have quite a supply of materials, myself. You just never know when you might need a truck load of pipe cleaners...

I AM a bit of a pack rat, if left to my own devices. I am a collector like my mother and tend to store up things that 'I might use eventually'. Now, don't get me wrong, we aren't (YET) on the path to the show Hoarders, though she is closer than I am to that point. I am married to a man who hangs on to nothing, so I am leaning further away from this trait every year. But the tendency remains...

I AM NOT a crazy dog lady. Mom has a tiny little fluff-ball of a poodle named Phoebe, who she has recently taken to carrying in a sling. Yes, a baby sling. She even went so far as to take a bike ride last week with the dog in a sling. I fear she may get picked up by circus people.

I DO NOT wear colored eye shadow. This one makes me laugh just typing it. My mom has forever been one who likes to 'put her face on' before going out. I am definitely not that way. I am a Burt's Bees and maybe mascara on a fancy day kind of girl.

I DO NOT eat broccoli. Enough said.

I DO NOT play piano. This is one I wish I could do... mom started playing when she was very young and still plays. I started lessons, but like many things in my childhood, I quit.

I DO love a good tea party, or just a reason to get people together in general. I grew up with many regular reasons to get out the pretty dishes, whip up a fancy dessert and entertain. And let me just say, any day truly can be a good reason to entertain. I can remember open houses, basket parties, Bible studies, and many other occasions that we would somehow manage to stash the mess under the beds and have people over. Just for fun. And I think this has a lot to do with my love for get-togethers now.

So are you like your mom? I can't wait to see the other posts!

To My Teenage Self~ Third Thursday Thoughts

Hey, y'all! I just realized that I had my Miscellany Monday post ready to go and never hit 'publish', so it's been sitting under drafts... no wonder it's been so quiet around here! I'm trying to get back into the swing of things after my week in Florida. I cannot say enough how much your prayers and kind words meant to me last week. Dad's surgery went great, and he is home and healing. The trip was even more healing for me, I think, but that's for another post. I'm still trying to wrap words around all those thoughts.

Today I'm linking up again with Hearts at Home, and the question is "If you could go back in time and tell your teenage self one thing, what would you say?".  At first I brainstormed a long list, including 'please do not go through this terrible grunge phase'... but the more I thought about it, I think it comes down to something that is tied up into so many other mistakes and regrets. If I could whisper one thing into those pierced up, self-centered little ears it would be this: find Love. And if I could speak beyond those two words, I would say 'it's not where you're looking'. 

The hardest part of this is that I know my teenage self wouldn't listen. If I could shake me and guarantee that I would hear, I would know that so many other voices were already saying the same thing. God is Love. In Him there is no darkness, there is limitless grace and patience and wisdom and an all-encompassing, abundant Love. It isn't where you're looking at all, Mandy. Temporary acceptance doesn't equal love. Admiring glances at skinny jeans after the daily binge and purge does not equate to the abounding love of your Father. Find Love by looking deep into His pages, falling further into the arms of the One who created you. This Love will carry you through years of hurt and confusion. And this Love is there just waiting to be found.

Now if I could speak those same words to this 30 year old self and believe them as much as I know them! 

So what would you tell your teenage self? 

My Favorite Homemade Dish

Hi, girlies! It's Third Thursday, so once again I'm joining in the hop with Hearts at Home bloggers. The question this month was 'What's your favorite homemade dish?'. I struggled with what to say, because I don't consider most things I make homemade... I make and bake a lot, but I use lots of quick cheats and shortcuts. When I think of 'homemade', I think of slaving away for hours in the hot kitchen... climbing uphill both ways in three feet of snow... Okay, maybe I'm just being hard on myself. 

I decided to share with you today a SUPER TOP SECRET recipe that was handed down to me in my sweet Granny's handwriting on the recipe card. (I only call her Granny behind her back~ she hates that. Something about her mother being Granny, but the name totally fits her!) My Grandma is a small, southern pistol that makes a ton of wonderful things when working in her little kitchen. Her Pecan Pie is my absolute favorite. 

Pecan Pie

Beat 3 eggs slightly, add 2/3 cup sugar, 1 cup white corn syrup, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/3 cup melted butter, and 1 tsp. vanilla. Stir in 1 cup pecans and pour into unbaked crust. Bake at 375* for 40-50 minutes until knife inserted in middle comes out clean.

This is my grandma's original recipe... now for my variations~ I use halved pecans (granny uses chopped). I also use 1/2 cup corn syrup with 1/2 cup maple syrup because I like the darker, nuttier flavor. For the crust, you can use a purchased, frozen pie crust. I typically make Martha's simple pate brisee or basic crust like this if I don't want to use butter.

Sorry the only picture I could find right now is this terrible yellow one, but you get the idea~ this pie is gorgeous every time! I'd love for you to link up and check out the other H@H bloggers today~ I can't wait to see what awesome things they're cooking up!

I Believe in Miracles

I'm so excited to be blogging with Hearts at Home today! Hearts at Home is a wonderful organization for moms, and I'm thrilled to be blogging along-side them for the first Third Thursday Blog Hop. You should definitely check out their site if you aren't familiar with H@H... I have been so blessed by the wealth of resources and support they offer!

Today's question was: Have you experienced any miracles in your life?

I think, had I been asked this question several years ago, I might not have answered with certainty. I absolutely believed that God works miracles, but I think my small mind was on the lookout for grandiose things- you know, pillars of smoke and parting waters.... But what I am discovering as I live out these days with my sweet little ones and family and friends is that there are miracles all around us. And God is doing things, big and small, that can only be accredited to Him. And the thing is that some of the tiniest things are, to me, the most miraculous!!

In an effort to change my attitude and cultivate an attitude of everyday gratefulness in our home, I am trying to note the miraculous everywhere. While pulling a splinter out of Remy's finger this morning, I noticed his tiny fingerprint. The thought that God intricately printed my boy with tiny creases on his fingers that are like no others on earth?! That is amazing!

And while brushing the soft ringlets in Halle's hair, I can't help but think that God knows their number. Those same curls that seem to get so tangled and take forever to comb out (and admittedly don't get combed out on crazy days!) have been counted by our Maker.

I love knowing that He hears our hearts! Several weeks ago as our Fusion group met, I received a text that one couple wasn't going to make it because their 9 year old, Faith, had a 104 temp and splitting headache. They were on their way to the ER. Our group stopped the study and began to pray. Later that night I received an update that just when we were praying, Faith's fever immediately dropped to 99 and her headache went away. They didn't even have need to go to the ER. God is good and is faithful to answer! I'm just pretty sure I haven't been looking for the things that were right in front of me all along!


So what about you? Have you witnessed any miracles in your life? In what ways do you see God working around you? I have found that as I have been keeping my eyes open to see Him, they are everywhere. I would love to hear your stories and for you to link up! (I've never tried one of these hops, so we'll see how it goes... we all know I'm a bit technologically-impaired...)

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