MAY we be... GRATEFUL

I know its not May just quite yet, but lets face it may starts tomorrow and in my mind it might as well start today ;)

Anyways, if you had a chance to read our last blog then you know we are starting a new Family Challenge this month centered around these 3 things
MAY we be kind
MAY we be grateful
MAY we be joyful

today we are starting with GRATEFUL

this year I have had the privilege to be involved in an amazing ministry at our church called Mom to Mom. it has been an enormous source of encouragement and Joy every Tuesday over the past year. I have been so blessed by the leaders who have poured into me, prayed over me, and even sent sweet notes when I am having a crummy day week (can you say the great Vaseline disaster of 2013) ;) it has also helped introduce me to some of the greatest friends that fill my heart with JOY, and love on me constantly! and as if that wasn't enough I always leave there refreshed and energized ready to take on this crazy job I have called parenting ;)

Each week while I am busy being encouraged to be a Godly mom, my children are cared for by some of the greatest childcare workers ever! They love on my kids, greet them with smiles and hugs, and always tell me "they were great" even when I know sometimes they weren't ;) Being a mom and seeing people embrace your children and love on them is one of the greatest feelings. and I am so encouraged when I hear Gentry tell me how much she loves going to church on Tuesdays and how she can't wait to see her teachers and friends.

So today I am Grateful for Mom to mom, not just for what I get out of it, but for what my kids do too.

 Since today was the last day we decided we wanted to give some gifts of gratitude to our teachers, mine included. Gentry helped me make flower pins and we attached a cute little note to all of them that said "thank you for helping me grow". we talked last night all about how we were going to take them to church and that she would be able to pass them out to her teachers. now if there is one thing you need to know about my child it is that she loves to sleep.. and I often have to wake her up in the morning when its about 8:45 and shes still snoozing. so today when she woke up at 7:30 I was a tad confused. I went in to get her out of bed and she said "I  too excited to sleep" then she ran out of her room and grabbed the bag full of the flower pens and was ready to go. hahahaha.  when we got to chuch 2 hours later she passed out the flower pens to all the childcare workers with the biggest smile on her face!

can I tell you something. I didn't realize it until this morning, but man there is a lot you can learn from your children. Gentry loves to give!!!  it always encourages me to witness her pure excitement and joy that radiates from her while she does it. I am proud of my child for waking me up physically and mentally to show me how exciting it can be to give to others,and  I am grateful for the gift of this small little life that inspires me daily to be a cheerful giver! :)

MAY we be Grateful... and today I am :)

MAY we be...

So the month of MAY is almost upon us and with this comes another month of fun around here... if you have followed our family blog then you know this past Christmas we did the "12 days of Kindness" where we focused on showing kindness to others! Gentry loved it and I did too :)  so I thought long and hard talked with my husband, and have decided we are going to turn MAY into a new fun challenge for our family!

this month we will focus on...
MAY we be kind
MAY we be grateful
MAY we be joyful

I feel like these 3 words have been layed on my heart a lot lately and I am excited to see how we are challenged this month to turn these words into actions! They say if you practice something for 30 days it becomes a habit and that is my hope, that it becomes a habit for us to be kind, grateful, and joyful in all that we do...

I am also going to try to blog everyday, maybe this will become a habit too ;) 

if you would like to join us on this challenge please let me know! the more the merrier :) use #Maywebe2013

We are NOT perfect!!!

 it is easy to look on FB and compare yourself to others and think that every mom has it together, with perfect children, in a perfect house, with a perfect marriage, and a perfect life, but the fact of the matter is, its just not true! not even close!

While I love FB, what I don't love is the fact that it paints a picture of perfection. It only shows people what you want them to see. they don't see the huge mess going on in your house, the temper tantrums your kids are throwing, the piles of laundry sitting around waiting to be done, or the fight you just probably had with your spouse. they see a "perfect" picture of your life...not your real one! its easy as mom to always compare yourself to others...I have struggled with it too and still often do. when we do this we are basically telling God, "hey you know all this amazing stuff you have blessed me with, well I don't like it and I want what others have instead". why can't we be thankful? why can't we change our attitude and be happy for others while also being thankful for what we have?

I have decided that I want to try to be more transparent with the ups and downs of my life.  I want to be more thankful for EVERYTHING! We have been so blessed. in the last few weeks I have removed the chains that once held me back of comparing my life to others.  that is a pointless thing to do, my life will never reflect that of others, because I have different people in my life and a different situation... when we are so busy comparing ourselves to others we don't leave any time to seek out the beauty and uniqueness of what we have been given. and why on earth would we all want to be the same anyways? why would we all want to live the exact same life? that would be BORING! I want to be honest, I am not a perfect mom, I do not have perfect kids, I do not have a perfect husband... the fact of the matter is the only thing in my life that is perfect is My God! I am a work in progress, along with my kids and my spouse. we don't live in a perfect house, we don't have it perfectly decorated, and my laundry is not perfectly folded and put back in its place after being washed. I AM HUMAN! we have great days in our house, and we have not so great days too. we have days of laughter, and we have days filled with tears. the only thing that remains constant in this house is that at the end of the day we love each other and we are thankful! We are thankful for everything, even the fact that nothing is perfect!

when we are so busy trying to be perfect then we lose our ability to be a relateable encouragement to others and let them know that hey, we have days like that too...

so here is my challenge to you; let down your gaurd, throw away that picture of perfection, admit that some days are rough, stop comparing yourself to others, start being thankful for what you have, and when we do this, I think we will all learn that we have a lot more in common :)