Day 31- Last day of "7" clothing challenge

Cheated on clothing again Friday, that makes 3 times of cheating this month (I did better last month, oh well) it was all for my kids though! It was Field Day at their school and the PTA had special different colored shirts made for the whole school. They made a beautiful rainbow picture. It was worth cheating for, we had a blast! =D

Am I happy the clothing challenge is over? Yes and no. It was so nice having my wardrobe simplified. It was extremely nice to not have to think long and hard about what I should wear before going places.  I still really need to downsize all of our closets.  We still have an excess of choices.  My family did not join me in the clothing experiment and boy, did they wear a LOT of different clothes this month!!! It seemed like a crazy amount to me when I was doing laundry, of course I did let the laundry pile up a bit, but still it was a bit overwhelming!  Sooo ready to clean out closets more than ever now and start giving away possessions to those who REALLY NEED them!  This next month may  just be my favorite one!

Eggstravaganza at church was fun today. So appreciative of all the hard work the church staff and the volunteers did to make it so wonderful for the kids.  My kids had 4 friends from their school join us at the event, they all seemed to have fun! :)

We are officially on Spring Break now and we are planning on making it a real break! So thankful to God for blessing me with my husband and my children. I love spending time with all of them together, creating family memories to last forever! As long as I take pictures, I should be able to remember!! ;)

Day 28, Month 2- French Horn?!!!

Yesterday we took our son to band tryouts at the middle school he will be attending next school year. (Yes I wore my peacock blue dress again)!  It's interesting to me how depriving myself of things makes me appreciate diversity and variety that much more, our lives would be boring without them! Our God the CREATOR of variety and diversity, is soooo AMAZING!!!!! I'm so thankful for His provision for me and my family! He is truly awesome!!!  Looking forward to wearing anything I want again starting April 1st! :)

So back to band...  We went to tryouts, and after Eli passed the music test, he was able to try many different instruments.  First we tried Percussions since that was first on his list, he did wonderful, I thought for sure that's what he would pick...but then we tried a few more. I thought if he didn't play percussions, then maybe Saxophone, which is one instrument I love!  My 11 year old son did not want to try it, because of it's funny sounding name, but I made him try it anyway. So after trying a few, my son chose the French Horn. The French Horn?!!! I was not expecting that! He is getting more excited for middle school now, I really hope and pray he likes it!

It was nice having my mom join us for dinner last night!. I love her and I'm so thankful for her!!

So after talking with my  wonderful Father-in-law about me planting a garden, he said right in front of my husband,  that "it would cost more money than what I will get out of it!", So...  I'm willing to shop at Farmers Markets for now, but I still want to plant fruit trees. Maybe even a small strawberry patch. We shall see...

Day 27 of Month 2- PTA

Sunday I cheated on "7" clothing again (gasp!) I wore my Kidz Praize t-shirt again along with all the Kidz Praize peeps. We served an outreach with our songs of praise and choreography at an assisted living elderly home.  I always love serving there, just the smiles and thank you's we get from the residents are soooo worth it! I love how our South Hills Church children bring them happiness :)

Yesterday was a cleaning and a little bit of Easter decorating kind of day...I'm surprised I decorated for Easter this early! So not like me! I usually wait for a day or two before, I'm working on being more on top of things though.

Had to cancel my scheduled PTA Nominating committee lunch today, due to their being only a couple of people willing to serve on the board next year...we need parents to step up! A few of us were talking and we're thinking parents just might not realize how much the PTA actually does for the families at school...we provide the family back to school breakfast, which is always well attended.  We help with Fall Festival, Pumpkins and Poems contest. We help provide for families who need Thanksgiving meals, Santa Shopping fun for kids, Nevada Reading week activities & books, Teacher Appreciation week of gifts and luncheon, Moms and Muffins, Dads and Donuts, Snow cone party's, field trips, skate nights, plus raise funds for wish list items for the classrooms & teachers etc.  The PTA supports the school in a big way!  What would the school do without PTA??? My son told me I had to be on PTA board again next year, I think at the time he forgot he would be a big 6th grader at a new school next year, but when he said it, I realized just how much it means to him that I serve and stay involved at their school. I do it for my kids, for my community and for my God.  May God be glorified in all that I do, for without Him I can't do one single thing.  Thankful for the life He breathes into me, may it be pleasing to Jesus always.

Day 24- weekend fun!

So I must have a lot of pride that God desires to change about me, because He keeps refining me, when I least expect it.  Refining hurts, but I'm truly ok with it, if it will change me to lean harder on Christ and become more and more like Him every day. I don't want to remain the same, and He is not letting me, so I can be thankful that my Father God is answering my prayers.   I left out details for a reason, some things I only share with my husband, so if you ask him and he decides to gossip about me and tell you, then I guess you'll know the details too! ;)  He won't though, he's a man of integrity I know I  can trust :)

Been having a great weekend so far, so glad for my peacock blue dress, it really is comfortable.  I wore it again today and my son asked me why I was so dressed up, he said I looked like I was ready to go meet the U.S. President; Apparently he didn't notice me wearing it last Friday, Tuesday, and again yesterday!  He's ALL boy alright.

Friday night was a great South Hills Church Womens Ice Cream Social, it was wonderful meeting new people and we stuffed 4700 eggs for our Easter Eggstravaganza coming up next Saturday. It should be awesome!  Praying for lots of new families to come join us!

Today my girl and I lived it up at Paradise Nail Bar getting pedicures and manicures, while our boys went to  watch the Monster Trucks.  It was splendiferus!! I want to own a massage chair now, It felt amazing!  I did learn I'm extremely ticklish when someone is  pumicing my feet though, and my legs are sensitive when rubbed with  a lot of pressure...ouch! Over all an unforgettable amazing experience.

We were happy to meet up with our family for dinner at Red Robin, then we went back to shopping for some really great deals! Ended night with Frozen Yogurt. Feeling so blessed to have a beautiful daughter that I can pour into, lavish with gifts and share a fabulous time with! Thank you LORD Jesus!!! :)

Day 23- Hunger Games

Got back a little while ago from a night out with good friends to see the midnight showing of Hunger Games.  Ummm, yeah, I didn't read the book so, Um yeah! THAT was a different movie!  I was thinking who was the crazy madman mastermind behind this story?! The movie was entertaining, kept my interest all two and a half hours of it.  Yes I would watch it again and maybe even read the books.  Made me really think about all the very young service men and women who have fought or are fighting now and giving up their young lives daily for our country. Offering up a prayer for each of them and I am so very thankful to them and their families for their many sacrifices for our freedom.

Day 21- Up late, so might as well blog :)

As I typed a smiley face in the title of my blog, I wondered, will there ever be better graphic options? Maybe there already is and I just don't know about them! I am kind of slow on technology, I mean I still have a regular Ipod, not a touch one. I don't own an Ipad or Kindle, and my computer is super old, I'm surprised it still works! Actually I'm not, it's because I've named it, just like my truck. I once heard from a good friend that if you name your items they will work better for you! As I was putting away my beautiful purple Ikea dishes tonight, I remembered how much I love stuff, and how much things actually do bring me joy. That sounds kind of sick doesn't it? It's true though! I like things, especially pretty things. I love teapots, hummingbird figurines, scented candles, picture frames, decorative crosses, oh and I just received a beautiful purple cross from my loving friend Molly, just because she loves me, the best reason for a gift! :) She's awesome! So putting away my dishes tonight got me thinking, If I love pretty stuff this much, those who don't have it would also love to have it too right? Do you think that's true? Do you think the beautiful little girls in Haiti, would love to have there very own pretty porcelain tea sets to play with? Or do you think it would be pointless? I actually think they would love to have one to play with! Much like the stickers we were handing out that they went crazy for and couldn't get enough of... I bet each of them would absolutely love to own their very own little tea set and I would love to sit down and have a tea party with them! That used to be one of mine and Belle's favorite things to do together, dress up and have a tea party, especially after her morning kindergarten, she would request that we have a tea party together for lunch... I really miss those days with my baby girl.

So how can it be done? Can it be done? Should it be done? I'm full of questions, I know. I know they still need fresh running water in Phaeton, Haiti, so worrying about how to get a tea set into the hands of each of the little girls just seems ridiculous in a way :( Is it though? Feeling like I want to do something...something bigger than what I'm doing now. Lord Jesus, please provide and help me to live with open hands all for Your glory.

Day 20 Month 2 of "7" Fast inspired by Jen Hatmaker

So it's now day 20 of wearing the same 7 pieces of clothing all month long... I still need to do laundry more often!  It's weird how when you iron a shirt you've already worn and haven't washed, the smell of deodarant gets stronger on it.  I'm bored with my jeans and t-shirts, so now any chance I get I will dress up in my turquoise peacock pattern dress that I chose as one of my 7.  It's so pretty and so comfortable it makes me want to buy more dresses like it!  Excessive much? Yes, I  admit, I am. 

Yesterday and today allergies have been getting the best of me.  Sore throats are never fun.   Too busy to stop though, so much to do and so little time. I did however spend a few hours in worship, prayer and study of God's Word yesterday...I was hungry and needed to feast at my Lord's banqueting table...and it was good. God is so good. I love that He will always meet us right where we are at.  Sometimes I wish I could remain there at His feet, in His presence forever... I'm holding onto His promises for eternity in Christ.

I might start blogging in the day...I just get too sleepy at night.  And we have changed our family nightly Bible reading and prayer routine to a more in depth one, which I am loving, yay! But it's almost impossible, for me to blog any earlier....well goodnight! My eyes are closing!