Mama Monday #1

Happy Mama Monday!

You know as a mama Monday is just not my day.

I'm tired from Sunday...

I'm tired.

The day I hope the kids sleep in. What time did they wake up this morning? 7:40.

Not 8:30. Not 9:00. 7:40.

Nope, Monday is not my favorite day. But after the weekends, this is really like the first day to the week. Sunday to me seems like the last day of the week. Weird, huh?

Anyway, as you can tell I'm a rambler.

Ok, back to Mama Monday.

Mama Monday is going to be a day that we talk about Mama stuff. You know...stuff like dealing with your kids, taking some Mama time, what works for you and me as well..Mama's!

But we also are going to talk about our relationship with our Lord and Saviour. Our being a good mama goes back to our relationship with Jesus. Spending time with Him, helps me. When I neglect my time alone with Jesus, I usually wake up on the wrong side of the bed.

I usually start my morning getting up with Jonathan. He gets up about 6 AM, gets ready for work. I make his lunch and breakfast, kiss him goodbye. Then, while he is driving to work, I read some of my Bible while I wait for him to call me. He always calls when he gets to work. I find that I do a whole lot better during the day if I have that short time of Bible reading. Then, I usually lay back down a try to catch a little more sleep.

Lately, I've been slack in this area! So, this week I'm challenging you and ME to start your morning right! Get up and read a chapter of your Bible to start your day. Ask the Lord to give you grace in dealing with your children or if your single and reading this...dealing with other people can be hard, too! It's a good start to any morning!

What is your morning routine?

Decisions, Decisions...

One thing that I hate in life is making decisions! Are there any more ladies out there like that? 

Growing up, I have to say that I was the bossy sister/cousin...you'd think that some of that leadership skill continued as I got older. Maybe bossiness is different than decision making...hmmm?

Anyway, I have been thinking about blogging more lately. I know I say this then there is a 9 month stretch of nonexistent blogging going on over here, but seriously, I think I'd like to get back into blogging.

Okay. Here are my ideas for posts. I was thinking about delegating certain days for certain kinds of posts. Like...Mama Mondays (Motherhood/children posts)....Weigh In Wednesday (for my lose weight resolution which is going so swimmingly...yeah right! maybe this will keep me and you accountable??)...then maybe one day for a Wife Post? Maybe post with recipes, dress ideas, homemaking ideas...

What y'all think, Bloggy Friends?

Have a great afternoon!  Stay warm!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2015, Y'all! Here at our home we have that stomach bug that's been going around. 😷 If you know me, this is not easy for me...so please pray that Jeremiah is over it quickly! And no one else gets it! Karolina had it last week...which I know it's harder on the one who has it. Please pray that my kids and Jonathan stay well, and that I'll have the strength that I need to handle this. 

Enough about sickness, like every year I have made up my resolution list. I hope this year I can stick with them! 😀

Here are just a few of my top resolutions:

1. Read my Bible through.

2. Lose my weight from having two babies and eating too good!

3. Read 2 books a month.

4. Have one date night a month ALONE! Even if it's at home when the kids are asleep.

These are just a few of mine...what are your goals for the new year? Remember with GOD all things are possible!

Shine upon us

  Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. ~Psalms 80:3

  There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. ~Psalms 4:6

   God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah. ~Psalms 67:1

  The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. ~Numbers 6:24-26

I don't know about you, but our family needs God to shine upon them today. I need it as a child of God, as a wife, as a mother. I need God to bless me today...I need to see the Lord do something in my life. I need His Presence more and more each day. I still need direction as I face this day. I need Jesus...more and more...oh, I need Him! Will you join me in praying for His blessings today? Pray that He shines upon us as child of God, as a nation...we need Him so much!

Lord Jesus, will you please shine upon our lives today, tomorrow, and in the coming days? We need your blessing upon our lives.

My Husband...

   

Tonight, I'm missing my man! You see, he's the kind of man that volunteered for a job that would take him away from his family every week just to he could provide for us a home...

He loves his family...He does this even though its hard on him as much as it is for us! 

He loves singing and leading the congregational music in our church! He loves serving the Lord! He has even passed down his love of leading music to Jeremiah!








                                                         

                                                                                                                                                                 


Yes, I love this Man of mine! I love him! I love him!

~Our Sweet Girly Is One~

It's so hard to believe that our sweet Karolina is one! Time has flown for this Mama!







Born via c-section on May 1, 2013 at 12:51 PM.

Karolina has grown so quickly!



Her first smile!


Don't you just love the do?


She is definitely our serious child...a lot more laid back than Jeremiah!


 These were taken at Easter...



Sissy, Daddy, Mama, and Jeremiah love you so much! We could never imagine our lives without you! Thank you, Lord, for giving us such a sweet baby girl to raise for You!

Sorry...

If you read my blog, and are married without children, I am so sorry for not including you in the poll! I can't go back and change my poll, but I'm going to add one for you guys to see how many of you are out there ;)

Thanks, Kate, for reminding me of this!!!

For the Mamas

  For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates; he hath blessed thy children within thee. 

Psalms 147:13

The other day, we had one of those days with one of our kids...you know, one of those days, when you feel like all you do is yell and discipline over and over again. Well, this past weekend was just not a very good weekend for our little family. With the added pressure of not having our own place and things moving slower than we expected, let's just say we had a rough couple of days.

On one of our bad days, this verse stood out to me as I was reading...."He hath blessed thy children within thee." To me, it was such a comfort that God has blessed my children. I know that I need to do my part to teach and train, share the Gospel with them, but God has blessed them. Have you ever felt relieved after reading a verse? Maybe an encouraging article? Maybe listening to a sermon, song?

Sometimes as mamas we need encouragement! Not to be self-centered here, but a lot of times, we tend to be the one that does the encouraging not the one receiving the encouragement. Ladies, I hope and pray that when you come to my blog you can be lifted up at least a little. We surely need it! Especially to be able to be the kind of helpmeet we should be and the right kind of mama. Will you join me in being an encouragement?

People...

One thing you learn in life, in ministry is that you can't always touch people's lives by loving them, speaking to them, or dealing with them in a personal, one on one way. 

That's when prayer is the only way to show our love or even just be able to handle the relationship with that person.

As a friend, wife, mother, and sister, I am so thankful that I have a heavenly Father that I can take those things to...I can pray for anybody at anytime! God is so good to give us the gift of being able to talk to Him.

New Poll

Hey Y'all!
I'm in the process of doing a poll! You will see it on the right hand side of your screen.

I would like to know who is reading my blog...partly because I'm a nosy person! :) But I'd like to get into blogging more and I would like to do blog post that would maybe interest, you peeps!

Please vote! Thanks so much!!

<{Our Future Home}>

Here are a few pics of our future Home Sweet Home:









Please pray that we can get our road put in soon! We are waiting for things to dry out, and as of right now, I hear rain hitting the roof at my in-laws...I will be keeping y'all posted on progress!

{Things I'm Thankful for Today}

I am thankful...

1. My children are playing well together today and entertaining themselves...seeing as Mama's not feeling well today.

2. A hard working husband that provides for his family.

3. A loving man who was willing to take off work to stay and help out today.

4. Jesus who gave me all these blessings!

The Dreaded SiCkNeSs...

Yes, that stomach bug has hit our home for the second time this year!

Notice that Sissy is quarantined! :)

Brother and I are trying to stay well while Daddy is at work...do you know it is hard to keep a 2 year old from wanting to mess with his Sissy? Very hard...I've already caught him trying to hold her hands...sigh...

This may sound bad, but I hope that if he's going to get it that he would go ahead now so they can be sick together...that would make life so much easier for this mama.

Please keep us in your prayers...for wellness for Karolina and that the rest of us would stay well!

For you, Mommy!

I have just read an excellent article on accepting your postpartum bodies...

trust me. It can get pretty discouraging being a mama...trying to lose those extra pounds we put on with our babies.

Love how Mrs. Osborne puts this subject!

We do need to do our best to be healthy and fit and lose our weight...in
time...but so many times, like she said we are so stressed out about what we look like...I can raise my hand here!

Hope you enjoy her post as much as me! Click here

Life keeps going...

It is so hard to believe how fast time flies. Seems like I've said that before :) but it does!

Another thing that is hard to believe is that our little girly will be 1 year old in a few weeks! That is amazing!

Jeremiah and Karolina are both quite a handful and love each other so much! (Though at times, Brother can be a little rough!)

Life is good...God is better! :)

So some new news...

Jeremiah has pottied 2 times in his big boy potty! Yay! Now if we can just keep on!

Karolina crawls and pulls up like a pro, but no signs of walking yet.

We are in the process of packing and getting our own land ready after almost 4 years of renting!

We (me and the kids) get to visit my family for a few weeks! So excited...

My golden birthday is coming up! (Not that I'll be 50 or something, but your golden birthday is when your year falls on the number of the day you were born...I'll be 28 on the 28th)

So...that's what's up here at our house! What up in your neck of the woods?

Big News!!!!

Hey, Everybody out there in blog world! Life has moved on!

Baby number 2 has arrived! Well, 3 months ago...hehe...

Introducing KAROLINA FAITH:

Born on May 1, 2013 weighing 8 pounds 1 ounce 20 inches long...

I'm sorry for the lack of posts! Hoping to get back to blogging more! So keep a watch out for new posts!

To be a woman of prayer...

Source: Uploaded by user via Jennifer on Pinterest

Following Joy...

Joy is such a simple word, yet so many people can not seem to grasp it. Even Christians...

Like I said earlier this month, my word for this year is JOY.

I want my life to be so filled with real joy. Not a fake happiness that is totally based on my surrounding, feelings, and experiences. Real joy is totally based on Jesus. The same place that our strength comes from. The same place that our peace comes from. Jesus!
This year, I want to follow joy...Follow Jesus!

One thing that I have learned so far this year is that joy comes in being thankful to Jesus for what He has given me. I have been reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. I have to say that I do not agree with everything she writes (ex. Bible versions), but what she has to say about joy and thanksgiving is so true! I need that...I am so ungrateful. yet I don't even realize all the blessing that are right in front of me.

This year, I'm taking a simple journal and just jotting them down when I see a blessing. The thing I love about her book is that she came to realize that the everyday life, the common house work, day in and day out is where the blessings lie. Not in extraordinary miracles...yes, the Lord does and has done great things for us, but just being able to live, breath, is enough. It is enough to know that I'm forgiven!

Another thing I've realized so far this month is joy comes when I realize who i am in Christ. I am nothing, yes, but in Christ, I am a daughter of the Most High God! Amazing! That He would take me, with all my faults, my failures, my sin, and make me a child of His! Yes, I could shout for joy! I want to raise my hands in praise to my King...I'm His girl! God is so good!

These are the things I want my children to see and know from me. If they never learn anything else from their mama, I want them to know what real joy looks like. I want to be a happy mama. A Joy-Full mama.

So, will you join me to follow joy this year? Do you know any good books about joy? Thankfulness?

We are also learning the Sermon on the Mount starting with Matthew 5. So far we have learned the first 2 verses (it is two verses a week until the end of the year), and today is the start of verses 3 and 4. We would love for you to join us!

Happy Thursday! Happy Joy Hunting!

Jennifer's Daybook...

For today...January 8, 2013

I was trying to think about what to post today. I have been wanting to blog, but not really knowing what to blog about. We are at that boring time of year as far as events go. But...it's nice, too. No rushing here or there! So nice!

I have been getting my house in order...I feel like I'm nesting earlier this time! How early did you start nesting when you were expecting? Seems like with Jeremiah it was closer to my due date, but maybe my memory is not so good!

I've been cleaning, redecorating, baking, and trying to get my life more organized. Maybe the Lord is helping me start now before we add our second little blessing to the family???? Maybe I'll set new and better habits, but I know that for the first few weeks...months...year...life is not necessarily scheduled. Ok, I exaggerated. Maybe not year! :)

These things are on my to do list for this today/week:

• Bake a breakfast food for the week
• Mop bathroom floors
• Dust Bedroom
• Iron clothes for Wednesday night service
• Clean closet
• Clean our drawers- Jonathan's, Jeremiah's and mine
• Spot clean kitchen floors
• Thank you notes
• Clean oven and stove top
• Clean refrigerator

These are the extra things to do along with the normal cleaning that I need to do...I was extremely busy yesterday...puttering around the house...but you know what? I enjoyed it! I chose to rejoice in the job Jesus gave me! It made my day a lot better!

I'm learning gradually how to rejoice. Learning joy comes from learning thankfulness to God. It is a life long process. One that I need to learn oh so much!

I pray that I'll be more joyful this year in the tasks the Lord gives me!

Well, I better go. It won't be long before my little man will be awake. Have a wonderful afternoon!
 

Dear Mean Ol' Mr. Devil,

Just thought you should know....

Today.

You are not going to win!

Just needed to tell you that!

Thanks.

Jennifer

Psalm 5:11

"But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee."