Adorable

If this little face doesn't make your heart melt, then nothing will! How thankful I am for my sweet baby Josiah.

Eating The Elephant

One of the recommendations in Shopping For Time is to take small steps in completing a major project or "eating the elephant." I will admit that this is a hard step for me. My desire is to complete a project in one sitting, but with two small children who need my constant attention that is not possible. Let me clarify: it isn't possible with a two-year-old who is curious about everything and always wants to "help." Lately, instead of tackling a daunting task, I have put it off because it can't be done at one time.

I was encouraged after reading the book to begin doing a little each day to complete a project that I have put off. We have a bookshelf in our office/playroom area that is very disorganized because I'm not sure what to do with everything. We have another huge bookshelf in Thomas' room that covers an outside door and while it is somewhat organized, many of the books/picture albums need to be moved or rearranged. See what I mean by not wanting to tackle this task?

After sitting down and thinking about it, I realized that before I began rearranging and organizing, I have to find something to do with my many Southern Living magazines (have I ever mentioned how much I love that magazine?). I looked online for magazine holders, but I never could find anything I liked. Finally, I got the brilliant idea to look through all the magazines and cut out the articles I want to keep and recycle the rest of the magazine. I'm sure many of you would have come to that conclusion way before I did!

Right now I'm in the midst of sorting through magazines and it has been a lot of fun. The great thing about cutting out the articles is I might actually cook some of the yummy recipes instead of reading the magazine and saying, "Oh, I'll have to cook that some day," and never looking at it again. Now I have to find a place to store all the recipes, house decorating tips, and fun places to travel.

This elephant (organizing bookshelves) is going to take a long time to eat, but it will be done someday...actually, I'm setting a goal for completion by the end of January. Here is a before look at the bookshelf in the office/play area.

I wasn't exaggerating when I said it was a daunting task! And just a side note: that plant on top of the bookshelf is the only one in my house and it was given to me when Josiah was born - 5 months! If you know me, then you know I have a very brown thumb; I kill everything. One time I even killed a tree by drowning it in water, but that is another story!

Learning & Growing

I realized that I haven't given any updates on my boys lately. So here goes...

Thomas - His vocabulary has exploded over the past two months. I really wasn't worried that he wasn't talking in complete sentences because everyone I have talked to said, "Wait until he is two and he will surprise you." He definitely has surprised us at the things he is able to say now. I love how he says some words such as "football." It sounds more like "futeball." I'm always amazed at how observant he is when he sees an object and knows the word. For example, Josiah has lots of bibs and outfits with a football somewhere on the outfit and Thomas immediately say, "Mama, Jo has a football!" He gets so excited about it and it is so cute!

We are also in the midst of potty training and it is going surprisingly well. I really think bribery in the key. Here is an example of our conversation:

Thomas: "Mama, I have to pee-pee."

Mama: "Okay, let's go to the potty."

Thomas: "More candy! More candy!"

Yes, he has it figured out that when he goes to the potty candy follows. He also tried to use this the other night at dinner. He didn't eat much dinner, but of course he wanted a cookie. We told him he had to eat more dinner to get a cookie. It was only a moment later he told us he needed to go the bathroom - coincidence? I think not!

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Josiah - My sweet baby boy is now 5 months old! He is so sweet and smiley and just a joy to be around. He is regularly rolling over and reaching and grabbing things. Josiah loves his big brother and if Thomas is in the room, he is watching him.

We just went to a four hour schedule because he is such a great napper and sleeper. Most of his naps are between two and two and a half hours. He is sleeping around 12 hrs at night and this mama is so happy to be in bed by 10pm every night!

For now, he is still fully swaddled for naps. I honestly thought he would not need or want to be swaddled by 5 months, but he really likes it. At night, I put him in a sleep sack and because he sleeps sounder at night he doesn't have to be swaddled.

Here he is a couple of weeks ago napping:

Yes, he is as sweet as he looks. I'm so blessed!

The Winners Are....

#2 - Amy

#6 - Meredith

Congratulations! I used random.org and it said it would be the same as drawing the numbers out of a hat, so I went with it!

Thanks for all who participated. If you still want to buy the book, you can go here and purchase it for $9 or $8 if you buy 5 or more. It was a great bible study tool for those of you wanting to use it with a ladies group.

I said last week that I would post more about the book, but the week got away from me. Lord willing, I have a post coming later today!

Oh, and ladies since you both live near me, I will just save the shipping cost and give it to you sometime soon!

Book Giveaway!!

Would you like a copy of the book Shopping For Time: How To Do It All and NOT Be Overwhelmed? If you do, then you have a chance to win it here!

There were two extra books ordered for the bible study and no one used them, so I decided that I would give both away to my blog readers. Since there are probably only two of you who read this (and my father-in-law, but he won't be entering the contest!), you should have a great chance of winning it, if you want it!

Just leave a comment and let me know why you want the book. I'm going to use random.org (as long as I can figure out how, if not, I'll do the names in the hat method) to pick two winners next Monday, November 16th. Looking forward to reading your comments!

Needy

Last month, I taught a 4-week bible study on the book Shopping for Time: How to Do It All and NOT Be Overwhelmed. The book's authors are the girltalk bloggers and I enjoyed it so much! They offer five tips to help you use your time wisely:

1. Rise Early
2. Sit Still
3. Sit & Plan
4. Consider People
5. Plan to Depend

All of the chapters were helpful, but the second and fifth chapters were especially meaningful to me. Today, I'll focus on the second chapter and another post will cover the last chapter.

If you know me well, then you know that I don't like to sit still. I am always moving and doing. The moment my feet hit the floor, I'm ready to go. It amazes Josh that I can be up for 5 minutes and already washing the dishes or clothes, or vacuuming the floors. The first thing I normally think when I wake up is, "Oh, I need to do _____ today," and most of the time I want to do it right then, especially if it is a chore that I dislike.

However, from the time I was a teenager I learned the discipline of sitting still with the Lord in the mornings. I'm the type of person that cannot have private worship in the evenings because I'm too tired or I make too many excuses. It was much easier to get up earlier as a teenager (I had to go to school) or as an adult without children (I had to go to work), it is MUCH harder to get out of bed now that I have children. Why? Because sleep can so easily become an idol in my life. If it were up to me, I would go to bed by 9pm every night. Sometimes when we tuck Thomas into bed, I just want to snuggle up next to him and it is only 8pm! Yes, my children do sleep all night now, but it is still a struggle to get up most mornings.

What I am learning is that I desperately need to sit still with the Lord now more than ever. Why? Because I can't meet the needs of my family in my strength - I am weak and frail and utterly sinful - I need Jesus! And until I read this book, I never realized how prideful it is not to spend time with the Lord. This is how the authors explained it:

Conversely, choosing not to sit at Jesus' feet makes a statement. It says to the Lord, "I can do it without you. I don't need to read your Word or pray or listen to your voice. I am competent all by myself, thank you very much." These are frighteningly arrogant words we're saying, if not with our mouth then with our heart.

I am ashamed to say that my heart has often uttered those words. Oh, LORD forgive my prideful and conceited heart and give me grace to call out to my Savior!

What am I doing in light of reading this chapter? I am committing to rise early (their first tip) at 6am and to sit still at Jesus' feet because I am truly lost without him. Am I prone to fall away? Yes, as the hymn says, "Prone to wander Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love." Am I prone to legalism? Yes. Sometimes it is easy to think that I can "earn favor" from God or that he loves me more, but he doesn't.

Are you needy? Then join me in sitting still and communing with our Father in heaven. I promise your days will be more peaceful and you will actually look forward to rising early.

Fall Fun

I have a confession to make: We are okay with Halloween. Not a scary, blood and guts Halloween, but one where children dress up as their favorite Disney character or who they want to be when they grow up. It is fun for children to pretend and to get free candy! Josh & I both grew up trick-or-treating and never thought of it as an evil holiday. I know that many believers disagree with celebrating Halloween, but we both have thought through it and think that it is harmless in the way we observe it. Are there people who take it to an extreme? Sure. But every holiday can be taken to an extreme. We just view it as a time to have fun with our kids and eat candy!

With that said, Thomas was a train engineer for Halloween and he was so cute! Josiah was himself. He is only four months old and I don't dress my babies up until they are old enough to walk. I don't think he felt deprived because Thomas got to dress up and he didn't! We went to our church's fall festival and then to my in-law's fall festival. Thomas was able to play some games and win a small tractor, which he has not put down since Saturday night!

Below are some pictures of Thomas. After looking through the pictures, I realized we didn't take any pictures of Josiah. Oh, now I remember why: he was sleeping the whole time! I also included some pictures of a little art project I did with Thomas on Friday.

Any of my other readers participate on Saturday? Or do you not agree with Halloween and didn't observe the day?

Cake I made for the cake-walk.