Friday's Fave Five

It's going to be another hot one pushing 100 here today. Please stay as long as you'd like to get in out of the heat and refresh yourself.

What a week it has been around here. Here are five of my favorites...

1. Baptisms in the River: Each year we take church to the river. We have services there and then rejoice as baptisms take place in the river. This event is a highlight of the year for me.


2. Homemade Ice Cream: I had this for the second time in two weeks. YUM!

3. Quiet Time: One day this week the children slept in. I took advantage of the extra quiet time... just me and my God. No better way to start a day!

4. Guest posting for Sandy at 4 Reluctant Entertainers. What a fun day this was. To each one of you that has stopped by and even decided to join us here on a regular basis, welcome! It is such a pleasure to have you!

Regardless of how you came here, please pull up a chair and make yourself right at home. We invite you to join in on the conversation anytime! You are most welcome here!

5. Adoption Day. It's official. We are now a family of 5! Need I say more?

Bonus: I have one other moment that was a favorite this week, but I am using it as my Sacred in the Ordinary moment. Stop by tomorrow to learn what it was. I haven't stopped thinking about how blessed I was by the experience!

My week has been full of emotions, new experiences, busy schedules and extra quiet time. What about yours?

Bumps, Bruises, Bandaids and Boys

Hello Friends. Please come on in and kick off your shoes. I am amazed at how wiped I am after yesterday's big event.

Thank you for your kinds words of encouragement and support. Thank you even more for your prayers on our behalf!

I hope you don't mind but I'm afraid I don't have anything hugely profound today. I do have something though.

Our little guy took a tumble. Not his first and not just a small one. He plunged head first into the corner of our coffee table. I'm amazed and grateful he didn't break the skin and need stitches!

You can't see it very well here. He was left with a dark purple line that extends from his eyebrow up his forehead.


Here's the kicker, this happened less than 48 hours before our court appearance and presenting before a judge for his adoption.

Now that I officially have 2 boys, the timing of the above injury and given the increased amount of energy that now exists in my home, this song has come to mind.

If you have a boy or even know a boy I think you will appreciate it. Enjoy...

(Note: The song is only the first 3:40 of this video)

Adoption Day

In less time than it takes to be pregnant...

* A young lady asked us to consider adopting her one year old son that she realized she could not provide for.

* We prayed, discussed and prayed some more.

* We made a trip to the Midwest to pick up the little guy we only knew through pictures. We had never officially met him.

* We spent four days spending 22 hours in a car traveling home... a car seat nestled between our two older children in the back seat.


* We converted a teen and adult home to accommodate a baby.

* We moved our teenage son to the basement as he willingly gave up his bedroom for the newest little guy.

* We hired a lawyer, a private investigator and an adoption agency.

* We completed piles of paperwork and scheduled required appointments to satisfy the process.

* We quickly fell in love with the newest member of our family.

In less time than it takes to be pregnant... lives changed forever. Just four months ago we added a third child and fifth member to our family.

TODAY

* The courtroom will be cleared except for our invited guests.

* We will stand before the judge.

* What we have known in our hearts will become legally official and recognized by the courts...

We are a family.


Rejoice with us...

Today is Adoption Day

The Plans For Today: Guest Post

If you are a regular reader here, don't get too comfy. We're going on a field trip!

I am beyond excited today! I am guest posting for my friend Sandy at 4 Reluctant Entertainers.

We're heading to her place today as I share what I have been learning related to hospitality, what it is, and my role.

If you've never been to her place you will be glad you stopped by. I have read every post she has ever written since day one of her sharing and have yet to be disappointed!

Please come on over and join us. It sure would be wonderful to see a familiar face or two!

If you are stopping by from Sandy's, Hello and Welcome. Please feel free to grab a beverage of choice, kick off your shoes, put up your feet and stay awhile. That's how we tend to do things around here as we together...

* learn to slow the pace of life
* challenge to settle the spirit
* encourage to quiet the soul

Mail: A Dying Art

You walk to the mailbox. You peer inside. You remove the contents. You look through the few envelopes that were delivered. Advertisements, bills, credit card offers..... You walk back into the house flinging the pile on the table to deal with later.

* disappointed sigh*
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You determine that today is the day. You know you must sit and complete this task. You WANT to do it. You know it's important, that it matters. You set out all of the items needed to complete the one task you WANT to do today.

Hours later you drop into bed. The task items for the one thing that you desired to do today remain where you left them... untouched.... only to remain in that place for days to come. You feel badly as you recognize it's importance, the encouragement it would bring, the smile it would create... and yet, it remains undone.

*frustrated sigh*
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I have found myself in both of these situations. I fear we have a phenomenon beginning to occur in our era. We are watching an art form slowly fade away.

Computers, phones, e-mails, facebook, twitter, blogs... all have come to take it's place. Most certainly these things have at least taken some of the time away from this art form.

For me, the time to complete this form of art seemed to come so much easier in the past. Now it seems there is always something more to be done first, even though this is what I often want to do most.

I have determined I will not let this form of art die. I resolve to make it a part of my life once again. I will blow the dust off of my items used to create this art form.

I know how encouraging it can be. I know the smile it can bring to someone' s face. If it does for others what it does for me, nothing replaces it. Not a phone call, not an e-mail, not even responding to a facebook/twitter status, or commenting on a blog.

For me there is something very uniquely special about it that I can only imagine resonates through the hearts of many others that are also experiencing the quietness of it's disappearance.

A Dying Art

Mail: a card, a note, a word of encouragement...

* thoughtfully selected
* beautifully written
* purposefully addressed
* dutifully stamped
* lovingly mailed

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You walk to the mailbox. You open it and peer inside. The contents are removed. You look through the few envelopes that were delivered. Advertisements, bills, credit card offers, an envelope-handwritten- addressed to you!!

You walk back into the house ripping open that envelope as you are walking. You fling the rest of the pile on the table to deal with later.

You absorb the contents of the handwritten card repeatedly before closing it. You place it in a prominent place to be reminded over and over....

Someone cares. Someone thought of me.......

* pleasant sigh*



This is the scenario I am determining to place back into the lives of others. It may be a dying art, but I won't be the one to let it die.

Sacred in the Ordinary: Signs of Life

I am tempted to search for the extraordinary. I catch myself longing for the incredible. I fight the urge to notice the spectacular. In doing so, I risk missing the most extraordinary, incredible and spectacular of all... the sacred in the ordinary.

My Moment...

As I sat one morning coffee in hand to have some quiet time, I was surrounded by this. My first reaction was to sigh. I didn't have the energy the night before to put all of this away before heading to bed. It is what greeted me.

As I looked at my surroundings, I realized the implications of this moment, of this environment.

The dishes in my sink, the laundry in the baskets, the dust on the furniture and these toys on the floor were all signs of life in my home.

I realized that a perfectly clean house that stayed put together without effort would indicate that my children and my family were gone. Oh how I would miss them! The ordinary mess suddenly represented something so very sacred... life.


What moment did you notice this week?

Read more about my thoughts behind the Sacred in the Ordinary.

Leave a comment or do your own post linking back to here. Be sure to come and leave your link in the comment section so I can come enjoy your sacred in the ordinary moment.


"There is no such thing in anyone's life as an unimportant day." -Alexander Woollcott

How I Grocery Shop

One year ago I changed the way I grocery shop. I did not realize how much I would need or depend on that method until this month.

Due to some unexpected expenses, after my shopping trip last week, I had $30 left in the food budget to get us to the end of the month...14 days.

My first instinct was to panic. After a few moments and calming my breathing, I knew I had to create a plan.

It didn't take long for me to realize I could do this. I could get my family through 14 days of meals on $30 because of the way I have learned to shop. I already had my plan in place. I just needed to be sure I kept to it.


Shop Sales Not Menus

Any given week you will not find my cart filled with what I will be serving that week. Instead, I have learned to look for what is on sale. When I find something on a good sale, I stock up. I have been known to buy 15 boxes of cereal at one time. A few weeks ago I purchased 6 tubs of salsa. Just last week I bought 7 dozen eggs.

Create Menus from Stock

Menu's are planned based on what I already have in the house verses what might be on sale any given week. When I buy a particular item, it is most likely for my stock pile to be served later on a different menu plan.

Produce, milk and other items that spoil are bought week to week. So many other things keep long enough to store until a later date. The eggs I bought last week have a date of August 24. We will eat them by then.




Storing the Stock

I have a small freezer and an additional older fridge. This allows me to buy extra fridge items. (yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese, salsa, milk, lunch meat, etc.)

I do not have a pantry. I have shelving in the basement that serves as my pantry and stock location.

I *shop* from my pantry and freezer when menu planning. I try to use as much as I can from what I already have on hand.

Grocery List Contents

I try to make the majority of my purchases based on what is on sale and what we will potentially need and eat in the next months.

I have a few staple meals that I know are always favorites and the ingredients are easy to keep on hand.


This Month's Plan

Having only $30 left for this month meant that stocking on sale items would have to wait until next month. I already had enough food in the house to get us through 14 days.

It would mean no eating out. Not a problem. We rarely do that anyway.

It would mean thinking through and being more mindful of what we were eating and how much we were eating. That probably wasn't a bad idea to begin with.

I am making one more trip today for a few items we need to get us through next week. I already have it all planned out. I know exactly what it will cost. My carefully thought through list will keep me within my $30.

In the future I will share what I've learned about couponing as it relates to my method of grocery shopping. I will also talk about the differences in sale prices and identifying a good sale verses a better sale.

I am convinced that how I grocery shop has allowed us to be prepared and have more available on less money. How I grocery shop has taught me how to stretch our dollars.

Now, if you'll please excuse me, I have a trip to make to the grocery store.

Wet Jeans

Good morning. Please feel free to pull up a chair and sit for awhile. I'm quite pleased with myself today. I allowed something to take place that is typically a struggle for me.

As I made one last stop before heading to bed, I saw the jeans hanging over the side of the tub. My first response was a sigh. What a mess they represented. What extra work they had created.


Earlier in the day my daughter was attempting to clean the surface of her pool. In the process she slipped and fell in, fully clothed. UGH. Wet jeans...

That same day she wanted to diaper the little guy all by herself. I decided to let her. I usually check her work. This time I didn't. I let her feel completely successful. Later, I noticed he was sitting in a pool of wetness. Upon further discovery I discovered the diaper... around his ankle. UGH. Wet jeans...

I admit it. I have a hard time letting the children do things themselves. I acknowledge that I like things done a certain way. I tend to check and sometimes even re-do their work.

I know this is not helpful or beneficial for them. I know I do this to avoid having a mess to clean. I know I do this because it takes less time for me to do a task. I know I do this to satisfy the perfectionist side of who I am. I know it largely becomes about me.

I realize that allowing them to do things without my assistance will help them learn. Allowing them to accomplish a task will help them feel competent, successful and able. Allowing them to perform will help them to perfect the task and accomplish more with less mess in less time.

I am trying to change.

Wet Jeans

As I saw the jeans hanging there, I grinned. I had changed a personal pattern. I had allowed the schedule of my day to slow enough to permit extra mess, extra work and extra time for these things... for my children.

I had tackled a part of me that does not come so easily. I am learning to allow opportunities for my children to learn, to grow and to become.

Tested Faith

"I learned that faith isn't tested by how often God answers my prayers with a yes but by my willingness to continue serving him and thanking him, even when I don't have a clue as to what he is doing." --Gary Thomas

Operating Room

I had an appointment. A few tests were run. The results of those tests were far from pretty. The results made me cringe.

If those results were not addressed, the future outcome and permanent state of my heart did not look promising. I chose to follow the physician's orders... I allowed myself to enter His operating room.

My appointment was with the Master Physician.

God's Operating Room

I have been seeking and praying for a spiritual heart transplant. The things found in my old heart were far from good. The things found were choking the life out of me... slowly. So slowly in fact that I did not even notice my condition until the tests had been completed and the results were in.

There was first denial of my true condition. Once I accepted my condition there was overwhelming grief. There has been excruciating pain as the ugliness of my heart has been revealed and the cutting process has been taking place.

Just as in any surgery, I have been spending time and energy in the process of healing. The rehab for my heart has been grueling, exhausting and painful. The steps in recovery have not been easy.

Rejoice with me!! As with surgery of this kind... the end results are absolutely amazing. The outcome is unbelievable. The finished result makes the entire process well worth all that was endured to be restored to complete health.

I am getting to the other side of the critical-ness of the operation. I am regaining energy to move forward. Recovery is well underway.

I have been in the very best of hands. I have been spending time in God's Operating Room.

Being a nurse and a believer in regular checkup's I now ask you... have you recently made time for an appointment ... with the Master Physician?

Sacred in the Ordinary: A Shared Intimate Moment

I am tempted to search for the extraordinary. I catch myself longing for the incredible. I fight the urge to notice the spectacular.In doing so, I risk missing the most extraordinary, incredible and spectacular of all... the sacred in the ordinary.

My Moment...

It was early. The children were still asleep. The morning air was cool. I sat next to my husband on the back porch. We did not touch. We did not speak. We shared an intimate moment. We were having personal quiet time with God... side by side.


What moment did you notice this week?

(Leave a comment or do your own post linking back to here. Be sure to come and leave your link in the comment section so I can come enjoy your sacred in the ordinary moment.)

Read more about my thoughts behind the sacred in the ordinary.


"There is no such thing in anyone's life as an unimportant day." -Alexander Woollcott

Friday's Fave Five

My favorites from this week:

1. Adoption Almost Final: We went to the adoption lawyers office and signed all of the final paperwork. We should stand before the judge by the end of the month if the final home study report is submitted soon.

2. Friends: Both of the older children had friends over for extended play time this week. What a treat to help break the monotony of the summer we are beginning to feel.

3. Hot Temps, Cool Water:



4. Books: Nothing like a package arriving at your front door with brand new books. One for each member of the family eagerly grabbing theirs out to begin reading.

5. Niece: I just learned last night that I am going to be an Aunt to my first niece. I have 3 nephews. My daughter is beyond excited that there will now be another girl to join her!

Overall, a pretty good week. What about you?

On Facebook

Are you on facebook? Me too! You can now follow me at My Quiet Corner on facebook. Become a fan to receive updates as they happen.

See you there!

Motive

People see what I do. God sees why.

Where I Am

I'm at the Homeschool Post today sharing some of what I learned this last year as our first year of homeschooling. Come on over and join me.

I'm So Busy

Oh how often I have said these words. How often I think these words.

I wonder, am I so busy doing life that I just may be missing out on life? Am I so busy that I fail to look for and see God in the everyday of life?

I have been challenged with this question in recent days and months.

In my busyness, I am tempted to search for the extraordinary. I catch myself longing for the incredible. I fight the urge to notice the spectacular. In doing so, I risk missing the most extraordinary, incredible and spectacular of all... the sacred in the ordinary.

You may recognize that last paragraph from what I shared Saturday. I am intentionally slowing life in search of normal, everyday moments. Those moments, that if I will just linger in a bit longer, somehow become a sacred moment in the midst of so much ordinary. Those moments, that if I will stop long enough, God will reveal some piece of Himself and His character.

As a challenge and encouragement to my own heart, I will be searching for one ordinary moment each week that causes me to slow, to ponder, to cherish, to wonder, to embrace...


Each Saturday I will share that moment with you in either words, picture or both. I am on a quest to slow life long enough to treasure the sacred in the ordinary.

Care to join me? Finish your week with a moment that you intentionally slowed long enough to be a part of, to consciously set apart from all the other moments of life that flew by.

Look out week! I'm slowing it down!! I'm in pursuit of ordinary moments to embrace and cherish.

Sacred in the Ordinary: A Brother's Walk

I am tempted to search for the extraordinary. I catch myself longing for the incredible. I fight the urge to notice the spectacular.In doing so, I risk missing the most extraordinary, incredible and spectacular of all... the sacred in the ordinary.

My Moment...

Brother's Afternoon Walk

Though 12 years separates them in age, nothing separates the bond they are building. (For those new to our story, God placed our little guy in our home just three months ago.)


What moment did you notice this week?

"There is no such thing in anyone's life as an unimportant day." -Alexander Woollcott

Tracking Spending

I've had quite a busy, insightful and productive morning. What started as frustrating has turned into motivating. I have been crunching numbers. I have been scanning receipts. I have been evaluating the budget.

The last few months have felt increasingly more difficult to stay in budget and still purchase the items we need. I realized this morning it was time to re-evaluate.

I knew we were spending extra on baby items for our new little guy, but I didn't know exactly how much. I am ashamed to admit that it wasn't until I sat down and focused that I fully realized it.

With pen and paper in hand, I tracked what I had been spending, listed the items required for monthly baby needs and the cost for each. Now I know how to attack my spending and look for better deals.

Do you track your spending? Do you have a budget? Do you live within your means? Do you use credit and would like to stop?


Track Your Spending

I have discovered that knowing this information is crucial when it comes to creating and staying on a budget.

Example A: Not knowing what I spend...

I think I spend on groceries: $500
I actually spend on groceries: $800
I create a budget allowing to spend on groceries: $500 (what I think I spend)

My thoughts on budgeting might be: A budget doesn't work! I can't budget! I can't live within my means!

OR

Example B: Knowing what I spend...

I know I spend on groceries: $800
I create a budget allowing to spend on groceries: $500

My thoughts on budgeting might be: I know why I am straining to stay within budget, it is a $300 decrease from what I am used to. The strain has everything to do with my previous spending habits. It is not the fault of the budget. It is not that I can't stick to a budget. It is living within my means which will take some time to get used to.

My Current Situation:

I have a budget in place. There is now money that has to be diverted for baby items that weren't coming out of our budget even four months ago.

Being in the habit of tracking my spending helped me to realize the last few months of difficulty have not been the fault of the budget, but rather my needs list changing.

Budgeting, planning, shopping and spending re-work in the days to come...

Now if you'll please excuse me, I'm off to create a very set menu plan based on food I have in the house and what I have left to spend for the rest of the month.

15 Years Ago Today

15 years ago today I could not explain it. Today I can not explain it. I wonder if in another 15 years I will be able to explain it?

I loved my husband with everything in my being the day that I married him.


How is it possible that with each year that passes, I find that I love my husband increasingly more than I did that day?

.... 15 years ago today....