1000 Truths

One of my new cherished spots has been sitting at our kitchenette in the morning and having none or maybe just 1 little monster sitting next to me. It's a lot less quiet when there's more than just me, but sometimes it lends its way to a nice dialogue. 

So on a beautiful cloudy morning, I had this conversation with James.

James to me: Mom, why isn't the sun out?
Me: James, the sun is always out.  Just because we can't see it, doesn't mean it's not there.  Sometimes we just can't see the sun, but it's always there. 

I'm tearing up as I write this because as I said those few sentences, this is what I heard in my heart :
The Son is always there.  Even when I can't see Him, He is always there. 

Hebrews 13:5
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

Content with cloudy, rainy days?  Content with the effects of the recession on our household?  Content with a Budget????

Jeremiah 29:11-12

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

 

...Or Content that My God will never leave me.  That My God has a plan of good for me.  So I will hold on till I receive my blessing and be content that the Son is there, even when I can't see Him. 

I am going to try to commit to keep a log of 1000 truths.  It is sort of like the 1000 gifts/blessings book that most of us have read.  But I want to be reminded of and even try to look more fervently for the biblical and Godly truths that surround me even in the hard places of life. 

This is #1.  My God will never leave Me.
This is #2.  My God has a plan to prosper me, Not harm me.

Used Grounds

So, reading the last post I did  IN FEBRUARY makes me giggle.  Have I stuck with making clothes for me and Olivia? Um...No.  I've made her a few things, but that yoga skirt and other dresses I tried to make for myself failed miserably.  However, I did learn something...sometimes it's better to just wait for sales and let someone else make it.  This body isn't as forgiving as it was before children.  

But I did start running today.  Only 2 miles in the gym, but it's a start.  I might start training for a 1/2 marathon in December so I thought I should get started. 

Here's what's new with me: Inspired by a friend, I now make my own facial scrub. And let me brag about it, it's very cost effective, smells good and makes my skin look and feel incredible!  Wanna know the secret????  Coffee Grounds.  Yup!  This might not work for you if you don't like coffee or don't like the smell of it, but I do, on both counts.  So I make my pot of coffee in my French press. Enjoy the cups of coffee and then strain the water out, or you could keep a container for leftover coffee in the fridge for cold coffee. I keep the grinds in a tupperware in the fridge and then I mix some with coconut oil.  Olive oil would work too.  This by itself would work great.  I, however, add some of my essential oils to it to get some cleansing action. I add a drop of lavender (for soothing) and some thieves (for anti-bacterial).  After I wash it off, I follow up with my soap which gets the oil residue off.  But this works great as a body scrub too.  Just make sure that the coffee is ground coarse so you don't tear up your pores. 

I hope this little trick finds you the same greatness that it does me.  :)

Still here...

I'm still here but here's what I'm not:
*Not Running
*Not motivated to cook
*Not motivated to clean

Here's what I am doing:
*Reading the Hunger Games
*Making Strawberry Jam
*Planning my clothing for the rest of this year to include making all my clothes for Olivia and me...

This is what I'm really excited about.  I was wondering if I could make it through the rest of the year with only buying minimal clothes.  I can make skirts for me and Olivia and not need to go shopping. I'd like to buy her some t-shirts so I can put fun pictures on them, but making girl skirts are so easy! I"m collecting my virtual library of sewing blogs and I have plenty to look at! As for me,  I found an easy yoga skirt pattern that would be perfect for this summer.  Now onto some homemade shirts for me and it will be a stress free summer!

Olivia Marie Holdgate

Our sweet little baby girl! Although this 2 1/2 year old isn't so baby anymore.  She's mostly into size 3's if the 2 is cut small.  She wears size 7 and loves pink.  Purple is a close second. She loves skirts, dresses and shoes.  Still not crazy about tights or footed Pj's. 
She is into princesses, ponies, and baby dolls!!  She is constantly carrying around a baby doll on her hip, talking to her, feeding her, making  her go potty, pushing her in a stroller. 
She also got into those Littlest Pet Shop toys, squinkies and zoobles while at her cousins house. 
As much as this little one enjoys the girl stuff, she is pretty tough and holds her own with her brothers. 

Ryan Francis Holdgate

My Sweet Ryan.  One of the sweetest boys yet so passionate, energetic and sometimes, my parenting nemesis.  He is the most photogenic and it's a lot of fun hearing the stories he makes up.  One of my favorite things that he does is a mish mash of songs.  He'll combine Jesus Loves Me, with the Itsy Bitsy spider and Hello Mr Turkey, all into one song.

Ryan is built very athletic and reminds me of a soccer player.  We put him in soccer this fall, but he wasn't very interested. 

He loves superheros, especially spiderman.  He loves to dress up in a cape, or his spiderman outfit or any other costume he can find. 

He wears a size 4 but can still wear some size 3 pants.  He LOVES pajamas!!! 

He's just starting to get into legos, but still has a hard time following the directions, but he's getting there. 

Great is Thy Faithfulness!

This is the song that came to mind today:

The Steadfast Love of the Lord never ceases
His mercies shall never come to an end
They are new every morning
New every morning
Great is thy Faithfulness O Lord!
Great is thy Faithfulness!

How have you seen God's faithfulness lately?

This might be my favorite time to blog

When I get to talk about my children. I always said I would never be that mom who could only talk about her kids.  But when I start thinking of funny things, of hard things with children, I just can't close the flood gates.

As has become tradition for my sister and now myself, we write Christmas posts for each child. 

I'll start with my first: James Alexander Holdgate

 Going on 7 years of marriage, we have seen alot of ups and many many downs.  However, these children are a major part of the ups, and I guess downs, too.  However, I am continually amazed with watching my children grown. I couldn't find a picture of our little butterball turkey so here are 2 pictures that show a bit of who this blessing is. 

Is is not uncommon to find James, like this picture shows, hands deep in a project. This happens to be a lego set he purchased when he decided he wanted to make some money to buy a toy.  So, we gave him a few extra chores and paid him for it. 

James is super smart and his mind is a sponge.  He absorbs all the information at school and we are only privvy to a portion of that.  Every now and then we'll have a conversation with him and realize just how much his little brain is working. 
He loves school.  Did I say that already, well, He LOVES school!! He loves to do his homework, he loves to draw and make his own paper books with his drawings.  He loves to build.  He loves to explain things to a point where we have to ask him to stop talking and give someone else a chance. 

He is growing out of size 5 and wears size 11 shoes.  He prefers his crocs but will wear tennis shoes when needed.  He, like his dad, would be happy if all I ever bought him were polos and khakis.  Yup. 

He hates tight clothing and tight shoes.  He does not like to wear clothes around the house, but we are working on it.  He does not prefer fruit but has discovered he does like cantalope.  He eats a peanut butter sandwich for lunch, EVERY DAY.  He loves to eat cereal in the morning with his dad. 

So, what would be a good gift for James? Any sort of new project or tool; any sort of new coloring supply, puzzles, legos and cool t-shirts.