On My Plate

Currently the plate of my life is fairly full with things I love.
Trip planning and investigating make me smile.

I am currently planning a spring Cali trip to celebrate my nieces college graduation!!

and then

move her either to
a few towns over in SoCal, 
or to Colorado!!

I am also working on several signs for my granddaughter's 4th birthday party ~ yes I said 4th!

Also investigating home school curriculum,

~hey I take years to make decisions~ PLUS ~ i heart investigating

I am leaning toward KONOS,

even considering purchasing their "in a box" option.

I used KONOS with the boys and I really liked the character trait focus.
Ya know, cause character matters.

Lastly I've been finalizing the details for a summer mission trip to Honduras; I meet with a partner who I am hoping will travel with us and help with the logistics on Friday. I am praying all goes well and that God really brings together just the right team with the perfect skills needed to love on the Honduran people for Christ. Please pray for me as I take these steps of faith.

I didn't really blog about my trip to Honduras.
Some time certain experiences can be difficult to put into words.
Here are some pictures

common road sight

Leaving the feeding center

Ice cream in La Virtud

Steve at Copan Ruins

Do the Hustle

What's your dream?

Are you ready to hustle?

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. 

-the book of James chapter 1

Spend Time Together

One of our more recent caches near a local playground

If you have never gone Geocaching then I suggest you try it out!

Geo-caching is a worldwide GPS treasure hunt. You can learn more about it here.

I use the Geocache app and have been caching with all three of my children, several of my adult girlfriends and their kids,
my husband, students I happen to be mentoring and all by myself. I have logged close to 70 caches in 4 states over the last 3 years.

It's easy.
Using my phones app I search for nearby caches.
Once we find one close-by the hunt is on.

I've Geocached in parking lots, the woods, on pedestrian trails and near playgrounds;
but what I like most about Geocaching is that it brings people together.

Geocaching in the tundra of Alaska

As you navigate the cache there is a sense of adventure,
of teamwork,
mystery and excitement.

We talk as we travel to the cache.
We laugh.
We share snacks and picnics,
ice cream and shakes.

We enjoy the moments together,
we create a memory in our adventure.

Geocaching spans all ages,
all genders, and it's practically free! 
I spent $10 on the iPhone app, droid has a free version, and if you Geocache in your own town it's like a mini vacation right in your own back yard.

Caching on a recent bike ride.

So who's Geocached before? if it's been awhile use this post as encouragement to get out there and find a cache.

If you have't given Geocaching a try then what are you waiting for?

Visit their website,
set up a free acount
and hunt away!

"And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near." Hebrews 10:25

get out and enjoy
-m

*disclaimer, Geocaching has been known to cause quarrels especially when a cache is tough to find or conditions are less than stellar- can you say Mosquito Lagoon, be forewarned and do not give way to quarreling, bickering or the like. Life is too short for that.

40th Bday

I turned 40 last month and to celebrate we headed to O-town for some relaxation and fun!
Here we are on our way home from dinner out at the Hard Rock Cafe.


Hanging out in the lazy river made for a very relaxing day.



Family AND friends--- no better combination.



Me and the bestie.

And of course this guy and I had some fun at Citywalk just the two of us


We stayed at Universal's Cabana Bay Beach Resort- I highly recommend it; newly opened and close to Citywalk, it has 2 large pools, a waterslide, lazy river, hot tub, kids splash area, bowling, billard, ping pong, large sand play area, cabanas for rent and a poolside DJ. Phew! Lots to do or not do.

So that's it I am 40 now.
Life is good.
-m

Down Here at the Blog Hop

I added this picture because as I type this I am craving In-N-Out, now hopefully you are too.

So back in August I was asked to participate in a Blog Hop by Doris at Walking Deeper.

Basically I answer four questions here on this bloggity spot and then I introduce 3-4 of my blogging friends and they answer the same four questions, tag their friends and the blog hopping beats on...

3 months after wanting to sit down and do this, here I am.

Here goes:

1. What am I writing or working on?

I am always journaling. It's therapy for me. Happy, sad, depressed, angry; writing has always been a part of those. 

So I am currently still writing my life in my personal journal, I have kept a journal since I was 8 years old 32 years ago.

I am also putting my daughter Aubry's life and adoption story together.

Am also working on fine tuning or changing my blog look.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I'm not really sure how to answer this as I am not sure what genre my blog would be in?

Life.

Family.

Faith.

I am a little bit of everything around here and this blog is mostly about me and mine, so I guess it differs in that it is about me- a unique child of God walking this unique journey.

3. Why do I write what I do?

I started blogging when I gave up scrapbooking.

So I write to record my family, it's history and the faithfulness of God along the way.

4. How does my writing process work?

Writing has to come to me.

I'll be doing housework and then a thought process will start in my head.

I begin to write in my brain,

then if time allows I make a mad dash to sit myself down and put mind to paper;

or fingers to keypad.

Once I do a brain dump of all my thoughts often times I walk away.

The therapy of getting that out of my head and into something I can reference later is enough and so I usually step away

other time i don't step away, instead I

edit.

I add pictures and edit before posting. Sometimes this process takes place right after I wrote the post, other times it's days later.

Once it's finalized I hit publish.

Now to introduce you to 3 of my blogging friends:

Reynold's Nation

I have known Allison from 13 years ago. We have done more life together via blogging than face to face and until this past summer only lived a matter of miles away from each another. She's a mom to 5, a kindred spirit in our heart for adoption and foster care children, she home schools, has a Christ-centered perspective on life and recently moved to her dream location of colder weather in North Carolina.

Enjoy getting to know her.

End of the Day

I have known Missy since the late 80's when my family moved into her family owned bed and breakfast  in New Hampshire. We instantly clicked and dad says I moved into her room just days into our month long stay. We were cheerleaders together, had classes together and she was above all my first Jesus believing friend not a relative. I haven't seen her since graduation 20 years ago but the internet brings people together. I love her view on life and her pictures of it.

 Raw

Emily is my most recent best friend. We met about 3 years ago and hit it off right away; we've done a lot of life together. She is the health nut friend we all need, I actually have three of them. She researches and knows about all the vitamins and minerals and drinks and salads we should all be eating and when she blogs about it I like to read it and I hope you do to.

I really have a few other people I'd like to participate in this so I'll just tag them as well.

Can I Be Honest?

Kiki is a youth group girl all grown up.

It was in middle school that she and I landed the front of a rental car for our two-hour ride home from a conference in Lakeland. We listened to  KJ-52 the whole ride. We are forever bound by that CD. I have traveled on mission trips with her and done a lot of chatting over crafts and coffee. College student now, she should blog more often.

Brisimp

This young lady is new to me.

A few months ago Steve and I started helping out, or showing up, at our churches college age ministry and I met Brisimp. A millentials perspective, check her out along with me.

On sustaining

Psalm 55:22
"Cast your burdens on the LORD,
and he will sustain you;"

I am a big fan of casting my burdens on the Lord.
"casting all your anxiety on Him who cares for you" 
1 Peter 5:7

A big fan, but not always a faithful one, but that is another thought.

This morning while reading Psalm 55, I discovered a new side of the casting--
the receiver.

Yes, we cast our burden on Christ Jesus, 
but then what?

Psalm 55:22 was encouraging to hear,
it tells us what happens next--
after the casting, it says
we will be sustained.

"Cast your burdens on the LORD,
and he will sustain you;"

Sustain is defined as 
1. : to give support or relief to
2. : to supply with sustenance : nourish

Could you use support or relief from some burden?
Could you use a little nourishment?

Whatever your facing.
Whatever burden you are carrying,
cast it on Him who cares for you.
then...
trust and believe Him;
   
walk forward in peace
and boldness,
be sustained.

it's actually simple.

Be encouraged.
-m

Child's Desk

I recently made up some All By Myself Preschool Boxes to help teach Aubry how to have some quiet, self time. I pretty much made a shopping list from the list at 1+1+1=1.

I did purchase different boxes. I picked them up at Wal-mart.

I only made 4 for cost purpose and did not label them with days of the week.
That is a little too structured for me
which, is what I love about this idea of an All By Myself Box- it's flexibility.

Here is a picture of our boxes

If you have little ones go to 1+1+1=1 and check out her boxes to see the content and how she puts them together.

Aubry is a little young and very much a play with someone kind of girl, so the All By Myself boxes, or quiet boxes as we call them start with me leading and helping her get started; eventually she'll be able to spend more time "all by herself" allowing me some more Aubry-free-time which will come in handy when we home school.

We also finished the kids part of the "command station" for the house.

Originally we were going to try our hand at concrete countertops but we just love wood so the wood won out!
The iKea buckets house pens and crayon, scissors and markers.
I bought the paper roll station and paper roll at iKea.
The blue stripped bins hold play-dog and misc. craft, like stickers and small notebooks.
On the top shelf two red bins have card games and misc tags and small fun paper scraps.
These Melissa and Doug box of beads and string complete the little shelf area.

I also purchased wall magazine racks to keep easy access to coloring books and paper.

So that's the first phase of the kitchen remodel, my desk is right next to this childrens desk and it is completed as well, so stay tuned for pictures of the real house command center.