freaking lucky

photo: B., Griff, and Park watching the cars go by.

I'm not sure about other people, but my reflective thoughts do not come out in a poetic fashion. I am no poet...I guess beautiful words are not my specialty. My reflective thoughts come to me in this sort of way....
"YOU are so FREAKING lucky!!!"

Yeah, how is that for beautiful? The "freaking lucky" one keeps coming back to me...usually while I'm watching my boys play nice together (he he) and I'm just overwhelmed with love. Or when my husband tells me how much he loves me...or I come home to our cozy house...or when I get to spend time with our great families...or feel such love from friends. I don't deserve this.

But that is just the thing, I DON'T deserve this. And that is the beautiful part. In fact, if I got what I really deserved from my efforts, my life would resemble a pit. A big, fat pit. A slimy one. You think that is an exaggeration, but it is not. Most people with my faith background know this has nothing to do with luck. Some would call this amazing grace...or maybe just say that I've been blessed--which is true. But I apparently like to call it freaking lucky.

I have a good life and I'm so thankful...

junk

An example: my extra food storage. I'm always buying food at the store...just in case! I can't believe I'm posting this picture. How embarrassing!

I am a bit of a pack-rat. It is a terrible, terrible habit. It isn't just annoying but I think it really hinders my life in so many ways. The things of life weigh me down. I'm not sure why I tend to hold onto things that I don't really love...just in case.What is really going to happen if I don't have that ugly pair of shorts next summer? Ugh...so pointless.

But....since we start construction on our basement tomorrow -- I was forced to go through all of my junk and really consider why I was stowing all of my unneeded things along with me from home to home. It has been a long time coming, but finally my closet only contains clothes I love and that fit me. I wish I had a picture of the huge pile of bags and boxes being donated on Thursday...or the even bigger pile of garbage that was extracted from my beloved things. Okay, so I could have a picture of all that stuff, but it is way too cold to venture out to the garage and snap a picture. Let's just use our imaginations and, believe me, I did good:)

I really do feel so good...free. I feel so detached from those material things now. I've always wanted to travel lightly and never ever been able to make it happen. I have a long, long way to go in order to rid our home of all of the unnecessary items and to change my lifelong habits-- but FINALLY, I am on my way... :)

Life Lately

Just a bit of life to share...

I haven't been in blogging mode lately. Nothing is wrong...in fact, lots of things are right and I just don't feel much like sitting in front of the computer most days. This is fine with me because I never want to blog just for blogging's sake, you know? Oh, but I still love this little blog and today I'm in the mood!

My lovely sister is home from school and came to watch the boys yesterday for 5 hours so I could go Christmas shopping without the boys. It was BLISS, I tell you!! Lately I've been thinking that I didn't like shopping anymore, but I was wrong....I don't like shopping with the kids! I loooooove shopping alone. Oh, and I got so much done! It would have taken me five or six trips if I had ventured out with the boys. And who doesn't like an uninterrupted stroll through Target:) So fun!

While on my shopping adventure, I ended up buying my new CD. It is so good! I'm so happy with my purchase. I'm listening to good old Bebo right now and I'm enjoying myself immensley, thank you very much. I highly reccomend that everyone add this to the Christmas collection....

I am finally reading Blue Like Jazz! After years of hearing people tell me how much I would love it and how I should read it--I'm finally doing it! I'm really excited. I'm just a chapter into it so far, but I can tell that I'm going to enjoy the process. I'm typically in a good place while I'm reading something that makes me think and dig deeper.

like grass

“People are like grass;
their beauty is like a flower in the field.
The grass withers and the flower fades.
But the word of the Lord remains forever.”

So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.

1 Peter 1:24-2:3

Whenever I start to drift or even start to wonder again what in the heck I am doing in my life, I remind myself of this passage. I know we've all been there numerous times. Sometimes it seems strange to me that this specific part in scripture totally rocks me...but then again, it is the WORD of God. It is crucial to always return to the basics of my faith--be in the Word, love people, commune with God, and see sin for what it is. Get rid of it....be done with it! I must crave pure spiritual milk, cry out for this nourishment in order to grow into a full experience of salvation. Yes!

things to say...

I have things to say today... good things that seem important to me right now, but I have groceries all over the kitchen and an infant that doesn't seem to like that this is nap time. Also, I tried to write, but the words just aren't coming fast or clear enough today. Maybe I'm just not ready to articulate yet. But let me just say this really quick, I'm still feeling really excited about relationships right now. I like the things that are happening in my heart and in my life with other people. I feel energized, focused, and clear about some things that I feel really matter to God. I found this in my journal this morning--some words I copied down from The Message a while ago. I just kept reading and reading and I really feel like these words were written for me today...

By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that's not all:

We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us.

We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.

Click here to read more from Romans 5...

I don't know, but that just makes me want to jump up and down or something:) Happy weekend to you all. We're off to the lake again, this time with my sister and her new boyfriend...oh my!

This above picture was just for fun because no post is quite complete without a photo:)

another little list about my life...

I have too much to do today to be blogging, but I just felt like I needed to get on and write a bit to clear my head and gear up for the rest of my afternoon. Ever feel like that? However, I have nothing really important to write, but I decided to join Jenn, and try out this meme. Enjoy!

Four Jobs I Have Had:

-A clerk at Akers United Drug

Public Relations/Administrative work at these places...
-Imagio J Walter Thompson
-Thomas C. Wales Foundation
-LATCH (non-profit housing)

Four Films I Can Watch Over & Over:

-Top Gun

-The Notebook

-Sweet Home Alabama

-Nadia (childhood favorite)

Four Places I have lived:

-Florida

-California

-Idaho

-Maine

Four Favorite TV shows:

-American Idol

-Grey’s Anatomy

-House

-Hmmmm…does Thomas The Train count?

Four Favorite Foods:

-Pizza

-Maple Bars

-Chocolate Chip Cookies

-Cheddar cheese

Now I’m saying these are my favorites…not necessarily my staples:)

Four Websites I visit Daily:

-Google Reader/News

-Gmail why doesn’t everyone have gmail? Love it!

-Biblegateway.com

-Blogger…yeah!

Four Places I Would Love to Be:

-On an air mattress…in blue water…in the Bahamas…with no children to worry about. I think about this all of the time.

-Camping

-Siena (Tuscany), Italy…we would move here in a heartbeat if there was opportunity.

-With my little family… in our little home…enjoying each other. This is, after all, the best place to be:)

Idol Fun...

Tara and I felt like little eighteen year old girls at the American Idols Live concert on Friday...it was so fun! We even had our "Blaker Girl" t-shirts and might have exhibited a few signs of a mini-crush:) Actually, the older woman in back of us really did think we were eighteen--Tara was so pumped! The woman was shocked when we told her we had five boys between the two of us!

Our quick trip was a wonderful diversion from the norm of running households and caring for children. We were able to escape to a world of little responsibilities, if even for 24 hours! *My husband asked me to edit this post to make everything clear--for the record, we were gone 29 hours:)* The concert really was better than either of us expected. For me, it was so exciting to see how these kids have gone from young singers to talented performers in just a matter of months--amazing! I love music...but even more, I love seeing people grow in their gift. I think it is a beautiful thing. Gosh, these guys were good. Really good. Some of the Idols that hadn't caught my eye in a big way on the show really stood out on the tour. I definitely want to go again next year because it makes the whole season feel complete.

I got to thinking about how silly it might seem that two adult women were so excited to go to an American Idol concert. Right after Parker was born, I seriously think I did nothing if it wasn't related to babies and raising children. I was consumed! It really didn't take me long to figure out that I needed to still do things that I like to do. I had become one of those annoying moms--oh no! So now, American Idol is something I get to do for fun after the kids are asleep. I get to check out for a couple hours a week and allow myself to be entertained by some (mostly) talented people. This past season, Tara and I reverted to eighteen year old girls every Tuesday and Wednesday night. I've found that this type of fun is so important for me. We're in the thick of raising children during their formative years--very serious business most of the time. God has entrusted us to bringing up little human beings and this is the most important and challenging job we will ever have. I've found that I am a better mom if I allow myself some time doing things like this...along with other things I enjoy, including writing on this blog. Of course, I also need to be responsible with my time...so I better get offline. It is all about balance!

speaking of music...

Thanks to my husband, I'm heading off today to go the the American Idols Live concert over on the other side of the state! I'm going with a good friend and we're leaving all FIVE BOYS with our husbands. It will be an overnight trip and I will be leaving Griffin (overnight) for the first time--thank goodness for stocked up milk in the freezer! I'm so excited to spend this time with my friend, Tara...and to see the concert! It should be an interesting experience since we'll both have NO responsibilities for 24 hours :)))

I'll share some pictures or something when I get back. Happy weekend everyone. Have fun boys...and don't get into to much trouble. Promise me...no ER trips!