what if you only had a week?

Today I went for a run.  It was snowing and sunny at the same time and it was glorious.  I made it through without Lucy tripping me or dragging me through any mud puddles which equals success.  I came home and caught the last three minutes of a movie Brian had been watching.  I think it was called "One Week."  I was able to catch the premise in those last minutes and by the title that nudged the me to ask myself, "what would I do if I had one week to live?"  We all have these moments every once in a while in life when we are reminded that this life we live on earth can be taken away at any moment.  In James 4:14 it says: "yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes."  What is my life?  It was funny that this movie was on because this has been on my mind lately.  I have been thinking about what legacy I would want to leave, what story I would want to tell if I knew I had just a week.  What regrets would I have?  What would I not have said?  If I were to die today {Not to sound morbid or like a wacadoo, I just think it's a good thing to think about.} I would regret not telling more people about Jesus.  I would {hopefully} get to heaven and he would ask me why I didn't.  What would I say?  "Uhhh, I didn't tell more people about you because, uh, I was afraid of what people might think of me."  Which would sound so completely lame but would be the complete truth.  Or maybe I would say that I thought if I told them, they might reject me.  I'm already nervous to post this.  But, then I remember this verse I randomly stumbled upon this week while thinking about all of this:

So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.  What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.  And do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Rather fear him who can kill both soul and body in hell.

-Matthew 10:26-28

I am reminded that I should not fear what others think of me.  What I should be concerned with is what Jesus thinks of me.  He is telling me here that I should be shouting the good news of Jesus on the housetops, so this is my housetop.  I cannot tell you how Jesus has changed my life since I began really following him a couple of years ago. {If you would like to hear about this, I would be happy to tell you.  Let's go get a latte.  It will take a while.  It is a perfect love story.}  What I have felt God impressing upon my heart is that if I claim to follow Christ and I truly believe what he says, that means I believe there is a heaven and there is a hell.  There is a hell, folks.  God tells us in his word that this life we have here on earth is a vapor.  It's nothing compared to the eternity that waits for us.  It's forever.  Jesus so desires you to be in heaven with him.  You need his saving and he so wants to save you.  But he is the only way.  You can try other roads but they will all lead you to a dead end.  No matter where you are in your life.  How screwed up you might think it is or how perfect you might think it is.  You need him and he wants you.  Not only does he not want you to go to hell, he wants to show you the fullness of his love.  He wants a relationship with you now.  He wants to teach you about his grace and his mercy.  Today.  He wants to give you his perfect peace.  This is what he has done for me and it's unlike anything I have ever experienced.  My hope is that if you are reading this and you don't know Jesus, I mean really know him, you might want to.  Or at least be curious.  I would love to tell you more.  If you have questions about Jesus or why I so desperately want you to know him, please ask.  Whether you are a facebook friend, a dear friend, or you stumbled upon my blog at random.  I can't say I will know the answer, but I will find it for you.  I am available.  That said, this pretty much wraps up what I wanted to say:

grateful

Being a mama ain't easy business.

Sometimes it's hard.
Last week it was hard. 
I got mopey.  Real mopey.
I had a pity party.
On Saturday I stayed in my pajamas all day and ate lots of sushi.
I decided this week will be better.
I have so much to be grateful for.  Too much to be grateful for to be mopey.
So much in fact, I decided to make a collage of everything I am grateful for:

Okay, I guess that's not everything I'm grateful for.  But there's a few.  With all of these things and a little bit of razzle dazzle, this week will be a better week, I do declare.  I'm sorry, Michael Scott and Dwight Schrute are also two people I am super grateful for.  Here's to a great week ahead, peepsies!

three whole months

a tribute

Today this handsome fella turns 27:

This means I have known him for 11 years, dated him for five, was engaged for three months and married to him for one year and eight sweet months.  All of which have been a pretty big, action-packed love story that still amazes me when I ponder it.  I love him so and I love the life we have built together.  Some of the things I love most are as follows:

1. He is a man’s man to the core.  He hunts and fishes and loves to work on his trucks. 
2. He says phrases like “doggone” and “howdy.”
3. Because of #2 older folks love him.  In fact they love him so much he often comes home with “goodies” they have made him.  These goodies include things like pie and jars of chutney (I very much dislike chutney.  What is that stuff anyway?) and birdhouses and also this little masterpiece:

Now I’m not actually sure what this is supposed to be.  I do know that it will not take up residence on my front porch which is where Brian attempted to place it.  But it does have character and so does the lovely gentlemen who made it, Art.  He is 89 and loves my husband.    (Brian wanted me to be sure to give Art a shout out and that I didn't "make fun" of him.  Just for the record I would never poke fun at Art.  But this is how sweet my husband is.  Heart of gold I tell you.) 

4.  He is so, so funny. 5.  He loves food as much as I do.  We started off the day with this lovely breakfast:

Yes, I did make hash browns in my waffle iron.  Thank you, Pinterest.  They were crispy and cheesy and deee-lish.
6.  He also loves animals as much as I do and was so gracious when I told him asked him if we could adopt this little girl:


7. He loves Jesus and prays with me daily. {sigh}
8. He has become the best daddy to our baby I could ask for.  {again, sigh}
If you know us, you know we have had a long road to the life we have today.  I love and appreciate this man more than I can express.  Here's to you, honey.  Hope this is the best birthday to date.


lately

What I should be doing right now is cleaning.  My house is a bit of a mess disaster.  But, writing sounded more appealing as does pretty much anything besides cleaning.  So, here I am, to my husband's dismay, blogging.  Sorry, honey.  The past few months have been the best in our entire life.  I thought I'd share a bit of what's been happening.  Brian has been able to work a bit less because things have been a little slow with work, as they always seem to be during the cold, winter months.  This is fine by me because we've gotten to cozy up with our little love bug {Lola} and soak up this blissful time of being new parents.  Boy is she growing.  This makes me sad.  I want her to stay little.  Forever.  Her hair is also growing into what appears to be a bit of a baby mullet.  But a cute mullet. She already has a little sense of humor.  She thinks sneezing is the funniest. thing. ever.  She also wants me to mirror her facial expressions or whenever she sticks her tongue out.  When I don't because it's 3:27am, exhaustion has taken over my body, and I may have fallen asleep while feeding her {ahem}, she yells and gives me a look like "hey, mama, aren't you supposed to be a responsible adult and not fall asleep while feeding your two month and three week old baby"...kinda like this...

 and as I am quickly jolted back into reality from the dreamland {where I was sleeping in until noon, sigh}  I quickly appease her demands, she smiles the biggest open-mouthed, drooley, toothless grin and I melt. {see below}

She has also decided as of late that sleeping in her bed is not as fun as sleeping with us.  I was the mama who said my little peanut would never sleep in our bed because our bed was our bed.  It was our sanctuary...blah blah blah.  If you are a mama who has been able to stick to this idea I have complete respect for you.  But I love waking up next to this little drool face.  There will come a day in the {very near} future when she will have to sleep in her own digs, but until then I'm soaking up all the sleepy snuggles I can. 

Besides this, I have developed a Pinterest habit I need to kick.  I would like to knit a sweater, spray paint and distress the majority of my furniture, bake a ridiculous amount of treats that have no business in my oven, make all of my own cleaning agents, put heart-shaped elbow patches on my sweaters, run another marathon, make shelves from old fence boards and all of Lola's clothing.  From now on.  Thank you, Pinterest.

called to give

There has been something on my heart lately:
A couple of months ago I was reading about the famine in the Horn of Africa and it broke. my. heart. Completely. Thinking that I live in complete abundance; I waste water and throw out spoiled food daily when there are people, babies and children dying every minute because they are starving makes me literally sick to my stomach. Since we have been blessed with Lola it really hits home. It breaks my heart when we are driving in the car and I have to listen to her cry for ten minutes because I know she is hungry and I can't feed her until we get home. I cannot imagine the heart break of mothers in Africa who have to listen to their babies cry for hours on end because they are hungry and cannot provide food. As a mother it brings me to tears. Did you know that today more than a billion people in the world live and die in desperate poverty? They attempt to survive on less than a dollar per day. Close to two billion others live on less than two dollars per day. That's nearly half the world struggling today to find food, water, and shelter with less than the amount of money I spend on my morning latte. It's disgusting. Now I know that I can't fix this. The small donation we make every month won't fix the problem. But as mother Teresa would say, "if you can't feed a hundred people, just feed one."

I got my monthly newsletter from Seattle Union Gospel Mission a few days ago.  They. are. awesome.  They have been seeking the homeless and handing out packages with blankets and inviting them into their shelter to be warm, fed and hear the gospel.  Blankets are cheap and there is a huge need and you can buy a blanket here: https://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/297BRLZ186IIY.

If you love Jesus, many of these people are our brothers and sisters.  We are called to give.  Jesus said, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” Luke 3:11.  I think we all have an extra tunic or coat or some extra food in the cupboard we could swing by the local shelter.  If you can't feed 'em all, just feed one.