Back to the Grind

Well, after two glorious great good weeks off of work and school, it is time to return to the proverbial grind.  NOT!!  I do not look at getting back into a routine, the kids returning to school, me getting back to work, and healthy kids as a GRIND!!

I'm excited to have a NORMAL Monday back!!  No last minute Christmas shopping...no last minute doctor appointments (Lord willing)...just a "plain" Monday.

Even though the past three weeks have been rough with the never-ending sickness, my kids (especially Finley) have been so great!  They haven't said they were bored even though we were homebound...they haven't fought as much...they've been pretty good little kidlets!

I have so much to do that I feel like I'm juggling a lot of balls in the air...praying I don't drop any of them!!!  My bestie and I are trying to promote our biz on Facebook.  Check us out if you want to!!!  Ragstorichesbyash is our FB company name!!  I am trying to continue to purge my house of clutter (have a post coming soon).  I am facilitating another Beth Moore study starting this Wednesday!  Oh and I have a hubby to love on and children to care for and a house to clean!!!

Just LOTS O STUFF coming up.  Fun, exciting stuff.  I am happy to be starting up so many new things as well as continuing the greatness of everyday life!!

Hope you have a GREAT week dear friends!!  

  

Day 18

Day 18 of CONSTANT sickness in this house.  I would like to say that I'm handling it well, but I would be lying to myself.  Yesterday...not a good day.  Yelling, crying, calling out to God...all by me mind you!!

I had big plans yesterday of being productive.  Even if I was stuck at home caring for sickies, I was gonna get some awesome things done.  Well as the day went on and the biggest kid cried over taking meds and the smallest kid threw up all over my living room floor, being productive went out the window.  I did get ONE thing done...pretty excited about it too.  My mantle is almost ready to be revealed.  This year I decided not to do a White Winter mantle...I just skipped right on to Valentine's Day!  I am so grateful for my bff Ashlee and her encouragement when it comes to decorating.  She has shown me even the tiny holiday's need attention and can be fun!!

Anywhoo....I've chosen today to use the strength the Lord provides me everyday to be productive.  I will tackle the nasty bathroom, I will finish my mantle, I will put away that last Christmas tree, I will NOT LOSE MY MIND OR MY TEMPER.  Today I will not raise my voice at my sweet kids.

And I hope to purge a few more areas in my home.  I think we are going to have to make a dump run tomorrow...so why not fill up a few more bags of crap trash and get rid of it?!!

Source: delightfulorder.blogspot.com via Ashley on Pinterest

Here I go!!!

In Case You Need Laughs {like I do}

Source: Uploaded by user via Ashley on Pinterest

Yup.

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Haha!

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For sure.

Source: joannagoddard.blogspot.com via Ashley on Pinterest

And there you have it....that is what I MUST end with.  

The De-Clutter Dare of 2013!!

Ohhh...that title sounds so ominous and foreboding!!  

Just kidding!!  :} One of my goals for the new year is to de-clutter my home.  And I've decided to keep track of everything I get rid of...you can follow along or if you are feeling overwhelmed by your own home just jump right on in and begin your purge!!!  Please let me know if you decide to do so..and how it's going!!  

So this morning Joey and I (at his prompting) tackled our closet (mind you I did this a few months ago).  SOMEHOW we were able to purge and purge and purge!!!  

Here are our numbers:

37 shirts

10 dress shirts

5 shorts

3 suit jackets

11 pants

11 sweaters

for a grand total of 77 items of clothes!!

Misc items:

2 pairs of shoes

2 purses

1 sheet set

1 bed skirt

for a total of 6 misc. items!

And do you want to know the SAD part....our closets are still full!!  We could probably get rid of more.  Joey was a trooper and really purged...maybe even too much.  Right now his dresser only has 6 t-shirts in it.  I told him I only do laundry on Monday...if you run out, you go neked!!  

So, not a bad start to the De-Clutter Dare of 2013!!  Stay tuned for more updates!!  Hopefully I will take more pics of the upcoming purges...I can't today because as I type this Joey is dumping our load at a local drop box!!!

{A little secret....if felt SO GOOD to get rid of it all!!  I am itching to go do more!  Weird huh??!}

2013

Happy New Year's dear friends!!!!  

I was asleep last night by 10pm...pathetic.

Those were not the plans I had for the evening.  Our family was supposed to be spending time with our bfff (best family friends forever)...but Aidan woke up extremely sick yesterday morning.  After a two hour wait at the doc (by Joey, not me) it was discovered he had strep!  Boo.

I was so sad for him, but I was angry.  Not at him (poor baby has been dealing with a sore throat for a while...but had just started running a high fever) but at more plans having to be changed.  We had to miss out on hosting Joey's family for Christmas because of all the other kid's sickness...the kids have technically been sick since December 18th..and now our NYE plans were ruined.

I was taking my shower yesterday (where I do a lot of my praying) and I was talking to myself God and said I had just had an astonishing revelation.  I have prayed many times about things and God sometimes answers with a big ole YES...sometimes he answers so long after the original prayer that I have forgotten what I prayed for...and sometimes, like I realized this very morning, he gives a flat out NO.  Wow.  Yes, I guess I am a slow learner.  I had/have been praying and asking God for healing over each child during bedtime routines.  A miraculous healing over them all.  But each and EVERY morning they would remain sick plus someone new would wake up not feeling well.  So when Aidan had 103 fever at 5:30 in the morning yesterday I was not a happy camper.  

So as the steam from the shower was clearing out my sinuses I guess it stared clearing up my head!  When  I started to gripe in my head about all the sickness and how I had SPECIFICALLY asked God to keep our family from it I realized that His timing is SO PERFECT.  He may not have miraculously healed my kids, but he chose the PERFECT TIME for them to be sick.  Now don't get me wrong..having our whole Christmas/New Year's vacation spent homebound because of sickness has not been fun, but it could have been so much worse if Joey and I were trying to work AND each kid had started feeling sick during regular school days!!!  They would have missed so much school and we would have missed so much work!!!

THAT is His Amazing Timing!!!

So....January 1st, 2013....you have arrived.  

Dear Lord,
I ask that you would watch over my family and lead us where you want us to go. Guide and direct our paths to follow you. Protect us but keep us strong as we fight for you against the snares of this world. Please bring good health and family closeness. Thank you for each and every blessing and trial that we went through this past year. You are our strength, comforter, Lord and Savior. And Lord we ask your blessings and protection over our family and friends.  Please show them your love and grace and bring each of them closer to you.  
    

Christmas Day!!

And they're off!!!!!!!!

And the aftermath!!!!  What a blessed bunch of kids!

Christmas Gifts: Part 2

It's pretty much a given that every Christmas our parents and grandparents will receive a new picture of our family.  Well this year I decided to spice things up and add a little drama to these otherwise blah frames!!  I LOVE how they turned out....now I want to do a little something to ALL my frames!!  Ha!  

Anyways, here are pictures of what I did to the frames...all the frames came from Hob Lob...which are ALWAYS 50% off by the way! ;)

Burlap rosettes...white buttons...feathers...love!

Rosette and feathers....so pretty!!

Red burlap rosette!!  I love the simplicity of this one.

Have a great day...and keep on crafting!!