Playing Catch Up on Products I Like

I haven't had a new entry for this label in a while, so here are 2 of my recent favorites:

Skippy came out with a new All Natural Peanut Butter! I LOVE IT! I got hooked on the all natural PB (thanks to Jen) and couldn't bring myself to buy any of the name brands w/ hydrogenated oil and other junk in it anymore. And now that Skippy came out with this one, I have to hold myself back from eating it by the spoonful! I love that it doesn't separate. This one is MMM Good!

And another thing I can't get enough of... Clementine's! If you have never had these small oranges, you GOTTA try them! They are super easy to peel, seedless, always juicy, and just the right serving size! My brother introduced me to them a few years ago and everytime I see them, I have to get them. At Publix lately they have had cratefuls on sale for only $4.99 for a ton of them! Aiden even loves to peel them himself... I think he could eat like 10 a day!

Simplifying My Life

There are just WAY too many ways to complicate life these days. Way too many ways to get caught up in the busyness, hustle and unimportant things that distract our finances and time... things that can be better spent elsewhere. Along with my resolution theme going on in my blog lately I think this is one way God is calling me to assess my life in... simplifying.

There are many ways I am accomplishing this goal... in little ways- keeping up with dishes, laundry, implementing a cleaning schedule, making a daily schedule for myself and the boys, picking and choosing the real valuable and fruitful things in my life over the time-taking, mundane, etc. So in another way to attempt to simplify our lives, my husband and I decided to sell our house.

We only built it and moved in a little over 2 years ago, so it was not an easy decision. We love this house and picked out every detail thinking long term with it. There are multiple reasons we decided this would be the wise thing to do, I won't bother you with the details, but ultimately we believe this will simplify our lives even more so that we can spend more important time and finances in more important areas right now. There will always be a chance to build a great home in the future... but we need to make sure we are being wise in our present to be able to do those great things in the future.

Anywho, the reason I write this blog is 2 fold: please be praying with us to sell this house quickly and to actually be able to make some money off it to pay off debt. AND to challenge you, where is God calling you to simplify?

Discipline...ouch

Discipline has been on the forefront of my mind lately... not just because I have a 1 yr old and 3 yr old, but because I feel like I am facing a real season of walking in discipline myself. I heard this quote from a Pastor I truly respect. 

"Don't be exhausted simply because you are undisciplined." - Pastor Jim Laffoon

It's ok to be exhausted from other reasons, working hard, etc... but to find yourself exhausted simply because you weren't disciplined to do things such as work out, use time management, being lazy, etc is not excusable. 

I like to read a Proverbs a day (to keep foolishness away, har har) and today I came across Prov. 5:21-23, summarized says "For a man's ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all his paths...He will die for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly." Wow... I have a lot of analyzing my use of time to do. I don't want to be a fool. 

It's a new year, and a great time to evaluate how disciplined I am, or are not, and start to change some things. What are your thoughts?

In The Year 2009....

{must sing the Late Night with Conan Obrian way} :)

It's that time of year again, where we make the New Years Resolutions.... here is what I reslove to work on:

1. Keeping my New Years Resolutions, haha

2. Discipline (My hubby and I are in the same boat with this one, maybe we can spur each other on and actually keep to it then!) in the 4 areas: physically- eat right and work out; mentally- expanding my brain and my children's brain w/ reading and learning, emotionally- see #3, and putting effort into communication and romance in my marriage (coming on 6 years in 17 days!!!) and spiritually- consistant QTs! Not quite times, QUALITY TIME w/ Jesus.

3. Work on my initial reactions. I admittedly have a frustration/anger/stressing problem. These tend to be my first reactions to my situations. I DO NOT want to default to these emotions anymore.

4. Going Deep. I want to make a concerted effort to get deeper in my relationships, stop the surface stuff and connect with friends/ family/ God. 

5. Stop being Mediocre. If I'm gonna Blog, I want to be a great Blogger; If I'm gonna cook, I wanna be an excellent cook; If I'm gonna be a mom, I want to be a great mom; If I'm gonna be a wife, I want to set the bar; If I'm gonna be a follower of Christ, I want it to bring transformation...

That is just the top of the list, I have many more goals and prayers in my heart for this year... I think New Years is the perfect time to re-evaluate where you are and where you want to go. What is in your heart?