1LW #7

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I keep telling myself this because it is important. Life is good, I am blessed. I see this line all over the place, we live in Austin Texas which is a fairly "Hippie Dippy" town as my chiropractor calls it. Lots of outdoorsy types and "adventure" stores. You see this brand in all of them: hats, shirts, water bottles, stickers, you name it. They display cute stick figures "adventuring" with catchy phrases.

As I sit tonight writing this post, I think about all of the different "life is good" shirts I've seen. I agree, life is good, but not because I am riding my bike, kayaking,sitting next to a camp fire. Life is good because... I am a child of God!

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I am a Child of God! However I am not perfect...This is a little bit harder for my to wrap my brain around. This week was a challenge. The weekend, while really fun, I didn't get even half of the things on my to do list accomplished. Major downer moment, not POSITIVE thinking. Monday was, well a MONDAY. I had bad news at work, that frustrated me to no end. The had 2 parents get very frustrated me over the phone, 1 of them yelled, the other yelled and cursed. Not easy to stay positive through. I can home from work, hubs asked how my day was and I had to admit, it wasn't good. He was great, supportive and encouraging.

I decided that I went about the entire day wrong. Not an easy thing to admit to yourself. I realized that I had to make a change in me in order to see a change in others {duh!}.

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Today I was determined to do better, be Positive no matter what. This morning I ask God to help me do a few things: Only speak kindness, no gossip, don't get frustrated, don't talk about ANYTHING negative. I knew that one pray wasn't going to be all I needed. I ended up praying for these things several times through out the day. Once I had to stop my self mid-sentence when I realized what i was about to say, and a few times I caught myself before I spoke at all. Amazing is the power of prayer.

It was a wonderful day, all happy patients at work, happy employees, happy me and happy hubs. I think that the entire point of this awesome weekly link up is to help keep us accountable. It easy to write a post at the beginning of the new year and talk big. Then you can fade away as the weeks pass on and most likely no one will ever post you a comment ask how you are doing with that 1 Little Word you talked about back in January. I feel that God has put an amazing group of women in my life at just this time for a special purpose. I started blogging when I met them and can't truly tell you how therapeutic an experience it has been for me. I'm going to continue to pray my prayer each morning and through out the day, I have a few other things I through in there too that I am working on giving over to God.  I just have to rememeber...

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...and by the life that is waiting for us, I know that is the life that God planned for us.

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It'sTime, for a Missional Community

Hubs and I moved to Austin in June of 2010 from our hometown of Midland, located in West Texas. We came to Austin for hubs new job and I was in the middle of finishing my Bachelors in Nursing from Texas Tech University. Of course leaving our parents was the hardest part of the move for me, aside from that it was leaving our church.

We had found a church to call home after getting married and really enjoyed attending services there. We never joined what they called a COM group, or community group, it just never seemed like the right time.

When we moved to Austin there was so much happening that find a church was something we talked about but didn't really move to do. Hubs started the new job, I was staying home and running Elle Dee Designs while finishing my degree and working when I would travel the 5.5 hours "home" at my old job.  In December I finished my degree and by Spring we were both talking a grad class. We had heard about The Austin Stone from a friend who use to live in Austin, but hubs was nervous about the whole meeting at the high school concept.  We shopped around a little, went to a church service, decided it wasn't for us and went back to looking at websites and listening to the sermons from our old church.

In Spring, Hubs decided that he wanted to check out The Stone and we ventured over for our first visit and fell in love with an amazing group of people who are in love with the Lord. We've never looked back. This is where we feel God wants us to be and we are excited about it. We attended regular Sunday services for almost a year before we decided that we wanted to be involved on a smaller more intimate level. We looked at all the Missional Community groups online and narrowed it down to groups in South Austin near us, couple with and without children in our age group and so on. We ended up joining the first group we attended and love all of the people in it.

Part of the concept behind Missional Communities is that they believe that you are on mission, which means you should be serving...somewhere, anywhere. Our group recently discussed and decided to serve the South Austin Pregnancy Resource Center.

We met up on Saturday for 3 hours and did anything they asked up. Men tackled a rather large yard, ladies sorted baby clothes for their "boutique", we cleaned from top to bottom, helped with mail outs, and dropped things at goodwill and the post office for them. We had a great time fellowship and serving. We plan to serve here once a month as a group.

I can't tell you how happy I am that God has provided this Church and these people to be in Austin with us. Pin It

A few of my favorite things...

Fridays are the day that I have reserved for sharing a recipe and pics of my cooking for the week. I do this mainly to keep me accountable to cook dinner at least 1 night a week which was on the goals list for this year. So far so good, except that this weeks meal was not healthy, was not fancy and I forgot to take pics. We had whole wheat pasta shells, with ground turkey and creamy vodka sauce {I of course sprinkled a little sharp cheddar on mine}.

The thing I'm even more proud of than cooking this week... I did all of the grocery shopping alone and got kuddos! Since hubs does, ohhh 99% of the cooking at home he usually wants in on the shopping too. This week was a little crazy with coming home from vacation and heading straight back to work {you can only survive on cereal for so long}. So I headed to Central Market, picked up all of the usual goods and didn't forget anything that I can think of. Hubs has told me several times, thank you and how much he appreciated me taking care of it. Maybe this Proverbs 31 wife thing might be okay (see previous post).

With that being said I decided that I would do something a little more fun, My favorite 5. I have done this type of post in the past with 5 things I'm loving right now and I had fun, so here is a current version. Enjoy!

#1 The Lucky Elephant - The Mega Wrap... Rainbow Sundance GOOD LUCK ELEPHANT Leather Wrap Bracelet. Need I saw more? It's so fun and totally on my wish list.

#2 Barnowl Primatives - Wash Your Hands and Say Your Prayers Typography Word Art Sign Horizontal. I saw a similar sign years ago and loved it. I looked everyone for one and could never find it. I think I need this in my office at work:)

#3 Tisa's Creations - Shut the Front Door Card. Now you can purchase the cards individually if you have someone specific in mind to send it to, or like me you can buy a pack with 1 of each color and send them to everyone!

 

 #4 Cut the Cake Designs - Address Card File Rolodex Green Bird on a Branch. I love this open concept, I have the most boring Rolodex and my address book is cute, but this is awesome!! On the wish list for sure!

#5 Designs by Taylor2U - Custom Map Necklace: HAVE IT!! I have a beautiful custom crystal map necklace with Italy on it {its on the list of must visit places} I also gave my mom one last year with Scotland {she loves tracing her genealogy}. It is a great gift for a bride or anyone special.

So there it is, My Fav 5 for this week. What is on your love list right now? Did you check out any of the shops on my Fav 5?

SPOILER ALERT!!!

Monday starts the Weight Challenge at my job and I am totally in! Everyone participating throws $20 in the pot. Challenge last 1 month and who ever looses the most percentage WINS the entire pot, which is currently $160! A few of our docs even added to the pot but are going to sit on the sidelines {so nice of them}. So here we go....starting weight will be posted on Monday...I can't believe I'm going to tell ya'll how much I weight! This might just help me knock out that goal of loosing 10 lbs!

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SNAP...THE Premiere Craft & DIY Social Media Conference

As many of you know I am new the blogging world. I've been following and reading various blogs for years, but just this year decided that I would jump in and start writing my own. It has only been 2 weeks and I can't believe the commitment that this has been. I am thinking non-stop about topics and projects. My husband laughs every time I pull out my notebook from my purse and start writing. It's never a 1 line idea, it usually ends up being a page of bullet points. I have more ideas than days in the week and have a list of back ups in case I ever run out of ideas.

I decided that I needed structure to my blog, something that my readers...okay hopefully future readers will enjoy and come to count on. So while I sit at my desk from 8-5 I make lists and write and daydream. Oh! Did I mention that in addition to a full time job as a Pediatric Nurse I have my own handmade business? I love sewing and have been making Children's clothing for 2 years now! Elle Dee Designs has grown beyond my wildest dreams, but I know I can still make it even better.

The Queen Bee Market has been something I have followed since they started and I think it looks amazing! I keep trying to decide which event I should make my way out to So Cal to attend...then I read this awesome announcement from SNAP!, THE Premiere Craft & DIY Social Media Conference in my opinion, that they are teaming up with Queen Bee Market and hosting the Mother of all awesome events. Even better they are giving away a few tickets. This got me thinking, I totally need to enter this giveaway, I would love to attend, could learn so much, meet some awesome fellow crafters and bloggers and hubs would be so happy if we could save on some of the expenses.

So there it is the reason I really want to win the tickets to SNAP! So please vote for me starting January 21st - January 27th!! I promise to learn as much as possible and hopefully my readers will benefit as much as I do.

Thank you!


You can check out SNAP! @ http://snaptheconference.com


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Foodie Friday

I did it, week 1 and I cooked dinner twice! Saturday night I cooked a great dinner with my mom. Green chili casserole, it was tasty. Some how I made it through the entire cooking process and didn't take 1 picture.

Sunday night I had a second chance. We went for something easy since there were so many of us and decided on Taco Stack.

Heres what you'll need:

2 lbs ground turkey (or beef)
2 cans tomato sauce
1 can pinto beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can classic Rotel
1 packet of taco seasoning
1 packet of ranch dressing seasoning

additional you will need:

Fritos
Lettece (shredded)
tomatos (chopped)
black olives (sliced)
Sweet coconut (shredded)
salsa
avacado (sliced)
chesse (shredded)
sour cream
cooked rice
Walnuts

Brown the ground turkey and drain any additional grease off. Rinse meat with warm water and place in stock pot with first set of ingrediants. Allow to cook for 30 minutes on low-medium heat.

We cheated and used mom's awesome rice cooker. 15 minutes and you are ready to serve. I love this thing!

Places additional ingrediants in individual bowls in serving area.

 

Fritos, rice and bean/meat mixture are placed in bowls first and then can be topped with additional ingrediants to each persons preferences.

Great food for family gatherings and larger groups. What was for dinner at your house this week?

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Thankful Thursdays

1. My awesome and powerful God, who loves me unconditionally
2. My family
3. My marriage to a Godly man
4. My new soon to be sis-in-law
5. A job, when so many are without
6. An amazing group of new Christian friends
7. Desire to blog
8. Desire to be healthier (i've needed this one for a while)
9. My new niece or nephew that will be here this Fall
10. Safety as we have been traveling
11. Time with my husband
It's simple and sweet. What are you thankful for today?

Linking up for thankful thursdays with:

 



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1LW #2

Last week I pledge to have year focused on being Positive. Easier said than done. I never thought about being a "Debbie Downer" as my husband calls it.

I spent time praying about it and talking with my mom and husband about it. Since they are the two people I talk to most I figured I should let them in on my personal challenge. Hubs and I traveled to my parents house this past weekend, and mom was their to be encouraging as well as accountable. When she heard me talking and thought it might be about to take a turn she would smile and remind me to be positive. It was AWESOME, I loved it...and yet so hard. It made me acutely aware of how often my month says something negative. A few times I was able to change the direction on the conversation while a few others just had to be ended because their was no good to come out of them.

Thank you God for a mother that holds me accountable and encourages me!

Their were several other areas of my life that I want to work on too.

My marriage for instance. Hubs and I are still newlyweds (two years) but have been together for 8 and still find things that really get at each others nerves. I imagine that this never completely goes away. Several times I wanted to complain about a disagreement we had or he didn't do what I wanted him to do and then realized that nothing positive comes from that conversation.
I recently purchased the Bible on CD for him to have in the car. I thought this was an odd request, but he kept mentioning it. We got it in the mail just a few days before we started on our 11 hour round trip drive to visit family. We chose a book to listen to and little did I know the amazing discussions that would stem from these CDs. We listened to all but the last 2 chapters of the book of Matthew. We stopped and rewound, paused and discussed, asked questions and thought of questions to discuss with my family when we arrived. It was wonderful!

I felt so blessed to have a husband that has the same beliefs as me, yet so suprised to see how we inturpret things differently sometimes. I continued to read my bible and pray almost daily, I missed 1 day of reading because of the traveling. I feel that God is working in me to be a better wife, a stronger child of God and a Godly women to influence others. 

I ordered a book this past week called, My So-called Life As a Proverbs 31 Wife: A One-year Experiment...and Its Surprising Results. I had hoped it would be here in time for our trip but didn't arrive in time. Fingers are crossed that it comes in todays mail so I can read it on the plane tomorrow as we head on a little trip just me and hubs.

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January Photo A Day Challenge and a few other things...

It's January 2nd, which means Christmas is over the New Year has started. It's time for some goals, challenges and changes. I have a list... and what better way to stay accountable than to post it on a blog where people can read it and then check in on the progress.

So here they are...12 in 12!
1. Read at least 30 books (exact list is in the works)
2. Lose 10 lbs (this is an ongoing goal that I'm not very motivated to work on)
3. Continue to Pray and read the Bible daily.
4. Continue to stay away from Red Bull (going on 4 months)
5. Grow my business and reach 2000 facebook fans and 400 sales on Etsy.
6. Stay involved in our Missional Community & actively volunteer with them.
7. Exercise at least 5 days a week...and change it up sometimes.
8. Continue to faithfully tithe.
9. Purchase Living room furniture.
10. Cook dinner once a week.
11. Update business website to contain all items and keep it updated.
12. Get Family Pictures made, just me and hubs.


You may not think they are so bad, but let me tell you. I don't cook, I love caffeine, I dread working out and the living room really doesn't have any furniture in it.

I'm still working on the list of books, I have had some great suggestions from friends and family and am continuing to add them and will post when I get it composed under the 2012 Book list tab.

The one thing that I didn't add to the goals was school. I want to decide if I'm going to go back to school, but feel that the pressure of making myself choose this year might be the wrong kind of pressure.

On to the fun stuff....
I was reading on Facebook this morning and two awesome blogs that I love: Nest of Posies and JessicaNdesigns are committing to a Photo a Day Challenge for the Month of January. I figured I would join them and maybe this would jump start me to blog more regularly.

So here it is the January Photo A Day Challenge using Instagram. Make sure and check back at the end of each week to see an update and at the month to see all of the pics together and join JessicaNdesigns linky party!



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