Almost Done!

I cannot believe our move is almost over! It has been such a long process. We've either been packing, showing our house, moving, looking at homes, or thinking about whether or not we should move, since last May. That is seriously insane. It's only by God's goodness that I did not completely lose my mind. Feeling like you have no clue where to put down roots feels a little like free-falling, and throughout that time I was reminded so often about the permanent reality God is, that eternity is. Here are couple sections in Hebrews 11 that I love...

Verse 10, in reference to Abraham, says "For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God."

And verses 13-16 say "These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as is it, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be their God, for he has prepared for them a city."

These verses, and many more, forced me to consider the fleeting situation of house-hunting, both in perspective of my own life and of eternity. How much more glorious will it be to find the home we've been longing for our entire lives? And how much better will my death be when I change my perspective and seek to greet that day with joy and expectation, rather than fear of loss? I can only hope and pray for God to grant me the perspective that will enable me to face death with courage and excitement.

I know that might seem crazy to some of you, but our death truly is the day we find genuine freedom. However, that's not what this blog post is all about. I actually wanted to just give a house update!

We moved officially last Friday and need to be completely finished moving out of the old house by Tuesday. I don't think Mark or I have ever been so happy, excited, and grateful to move. Not just to end the cycle of searching, but because it really feels like home to us (as much as a house on earth can). The paint we chose was a bit more "cool" of a shade of grey than we thought, but once we put furniture in and stared to get a few things hung up on the walls, it looks completely fine. Yes, next time we'll err on the side of being too warm, but it really is lovely, and much better than the dark green that previously covered the walls.

Also, once we were getting all our furniture in place, we started noticing that the ceilings were a lot higher than we realized, and the area in general was a lot bigger than we thought! Let me tell you, after downsizing almost three years ago, then moving to a rental that was quite a big step down from our previous house, moving into this home has been quite a treat. We had only seen it dark, dirty, and vacant, so we didn't realize how big some of the rooms were, and we are so grateful for such a fabulous space.

I am totally planning to host fun events and parties at our house, so if you're local, invite yourself over sometime! We still have quite a bit of unpacking and organizing to do, but we're making good progress and I hope to have most of the house looking good before Asher's birthday coming up in March. I cannot wait to be able to spend time writing instead of packing, cleaning, and unpacking. Moving is always so much harder and so much more work than I remember (even though we just did it in August), and Mark and I both hope to stay in this place for a long time.

Now the good stuff, you want pictures right? Once it gets more cleaned up I will take some better pictures, but here are a few to give you an idea of what the last two weeks have looked like for us :)

Before anything really got moved in, it was hard to tell how much would fit in my homeschool area back there...

Um, yeah, a couch and table and chairs and bench... bigger than we thought!

That island counter is still cluttered, but it's getting cleaner every day.

Finding new places for all our art and decor!

The sport court has been the perfect place for Jovi to ride her tricycle and bike! All the kids love the backyard, and get this... turf! No mud = very happy mama on laundry days :)

We had issues with figuring out we needed to secure the washer's water tube and flooded the laundry room twice in one day. We ended up with super minimal damage, and I ended up blow drying the carpet here to get the rest of that moisture out. Fun times. 

Me conquering Con-tact paper... one of the few DIY projects I can handle.

The pantry transformation! It turned out so nice, I'm really glad I did this before we moved in. 

So there you have it, a tiny snapshot of my life the last week! Tell me you are going to visit? We are ready for a stellar year, where we can settle in, get invested in the people here, and enjoy opening our home for fellowship and fun. Thanks for peeking here into my life on the blog - come back later this week for another post. I know, two in one week?! I'm excited to be working more and more on my writing projects, and I hope you will benefit from them as well. Have a great week, and talk soon! 

Funky Town.

In case you've watched Parenthood... no, that kind of funky town ;)

I have been in a bit of a writing funk lately. Actually, maybe just an overall funk.

Closing on the house got delayed... again. And again, and probably will one more time. But who really knows, because our brokers are not exactly being communicative anymore. Fun, right?

I had already scheduled the painters, given our rental agency a move-out date, hired movers for our really big stuff, and was going to call Stanley Steemer, but now I need to rearrange all of that. I've actually been waiting until the last-minute to initiate all our utilities for fear of closing getting delayed, and I'm super glad I did. Our signing date was going to put us in a pinch because of a High School event I need to attend in my hometown, but now we don't even know when signing will be, so we're waiting on that detail. And I'm trying really hard not to look at the house with too much longing. I know it's just a building, and I want my hope to be on Christ and His work, but this has still been a trying process.

In reality, this is all just regular life stuff. No terrible road bumps, no deaths in the family, no financial disaster (unless you count spending all our savings next week), no threat of my husband losing his job, no crises or drama that is completely out of the ordinary. Not for me at least, but there are many for which this week has been filled with far more uncertainty than I can imagine.

In all of the recent drama with Trump's executive orders I have been forced me to look more closely at the lives of refugees and immigrants around the world. My housing troubles seem very small in comparison to the lives many of these people are enduring. I don't even enjoying hiking with my kids sometimes, because they whine and bicker over the course of one or two miles. I cannot imagine endless hours of walking through dangerous territories, or on over-filled life-rafts, or wandering aimlessly through packed tent cities. And this is just a small area of the world, not including the villages, cities, and countries enduring massive poverty and danger on a regular basis. It is heart-breaking, eye-opening, and humbling.

I read a really great article by David Platt about the way Christians should respond, and I think you will benefit from reading it too. If you are not a Christian, I hope you will still read it and see that this is the heart of Jesus, the desire of God - the protect, offer refuge, and give hope.

I am sharing all of these things for a couple reasons. I want you to be updated with our house-stuff. For some reason, a bunch of you are interested in it ;) I also want you to consider your responses to those you witness enduring hardship. Are you cold, uninterested in what you can do for others? Or are you compassionate, but possibly lacking ideas on how to participate in helping those in need? Or maybe you are already actively serving, helping, meeting needs to those less fortunate. In every circumstance, difficult or easy, I think J.F.K.'s quote seems very appropriate: "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country."

I know there are extremely varied opinions about what is best for our country, but we can all look at our family, our friends, and our neighbors, and ask what is best for each of them. Jesus did not look at what was best for himself, but what was best for those around him, for us. If we can take our eyes off our own troubles and can serve those around us with a genuine interest in their well-being, our country will be transformed, person by person, neighborhood by neighborhood. It's too easy to wallow in the challenges we face, but the world needs us to take our eyes off ourselves and get to the hard work of serving each other.

Witnessing all of this uncertainty, both in my own life and seeing it in the lives of others, I am learning how little I actually need to know in order to be an agent of love. It's easy to think we need to figure things out and wrap our minds around everything going on in order to be of use, but it simply isn't true. Loving and serving are effective tools in creating relationship, being a positive impact, and making the world a better place. While our words can be lasting and powerful, our actions are proof of those words. They confirm the words we speak (or type) are true.

As you go about your week, I hope you'll consider the correlation between your words and your works. I hope that for every time you think about your own problems, you are praying for the problems of others. I hope your days are not filled with self-consumption, but investment in the people around you. While history often only highlights people of prominence, it is the individual people of our world who make our lives better, and if we are busy making the lives of other people great, our world will be great as well. Check in with your kids, your spouse, your friends, and your co-workes - see what you can do to make their lives better, not for the sake of being a great person, but for the sake of showing the greatness of genuine love.

New House Adventures!

Finally, the house situation is all coming together, barring any extreme or bizarre scenarios!

I know you've all been curious, and I've shared photos here and there with some of you, but today I will finally give you a bunch of the juicy details about our new place. We get keys on Monday and will spend some time painting, cleaning carpets, and moving over all the stuff we just moved to our current rental this past August. I know, what a pain! But, the prospect of the new place is making the packing less dreadful than I expected.

The house is in Tigard, near Washington Square Mall, which we will be trying NOT to frequent as we recoup our savings this next year ;) We'll be near the Fanno Creek Trail, same distance from our CC community, same travel time to church, and closer to some of my dear Beaverton and Tigard friends. While the neighborhood is not exactly what we envisioned, it's still really nice, and we trust that God has specific plans for putting us there.

I know, I know, you want to see pictures... here are just a few!

This formal dining area will be our homeschool room - it's SO much bigger than the space we are using now! I cannot wait to line the wall behind this with bookshelves and books.

Not fabulous colors, that's for sure, but the space here is great! I'll have two pantries (not shown here) and plenty of room for people to be in the kitchen without bumping into each other.

This is our upstairs bonus area that will double as a guest room. We'll eventually put up removable curtains that hang from hooks in the ceiling to help aid in privacy and such. But what I am really looking forward to is sending the kids up here to watch TV instead of trying to read in the same room as them while their silly shows or games run in the background. 

Amazing, right? That's fake grass, by the way. Yes. We are fake grass people. I'm a little ashamed, but  a lot excited ;)

And now, maybe the best part - the covered patio. Oh yeah, and the pool! I plan to sit here, looking at this view a lot this summer. I'm also really excited to finally get my kiddos swimming regularly and have a great way to do a low-impact workout during the hot months. 

There are lots of other rooms with that lovely yellow color from the kitchen, mostly all the bathrooms and Mark's office, so a paint job is definitely in order. All the rooms are a good size except for Jovi's, but she'll just have to survive. We won't have a soaking tub in the master, but there is a giant empty space where one should be, so eventually we will have a small remodel going on in there, maybe next year.

So what do you think? We were not looking for a pool, and rarely even looked at homes with a pool, even choosing not to look at some that had a pool and no yard, but this house just grew on us. With homeschooling, having a mud-free zone for the boys will be a life-saver! And with all the rain we get in Oregon, the covered patio will be super nice as well. I'm already planning on doing a lot of reading there - both out loud to the kids and on my own.

I hope many of you local friends will invite yourself over in March and beyond! We really want to make this place a lovely oasis, filled with life-giving fellowship. You can pray for our stress levels, our stamina, and our ability to love well despite feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. We are already feeling relieved about finding a place to settle in for a while (we are aiming for 3-5 years - baby steps) but there is definitely a lot that needs to be done.

Thanks for checking in with me and asking me about the house over and over. After the crazy summer we had, it is so good to finally be able to purchase this place. It only took seven offers! Ha! I will keep you updated via Instagram and hop back over here during the next week or two. I can't wait to get settled and fill you in on all my plans for this little blog of mine. I hope you're ready for an amazing 2017!

My Big Three and My Biggest Plan.

I love New Years, and I usually make some resolutions, but this year I just never got around to putting them down on paper. After reading The Accidental Creative last year, how I look at my life and my perspective on making progress have changed. I don't think having a bunch of goals is necessarily the best way to ensure you accomplish what you hope to, so instead I'm choosing to narrow my focus and make plans along certain priorities.

In his book Todd Henry recommends having a "Big Three", three main priorities you are always looking at, three goals for the month, three projects, etc. More than three and you're spread too thin. Less than three and you'll get easily distracted and stop moving forward. So what are my big three? Aside from my service to God and my family (which always come before everything else), I am focusing on...

- Homeschooling
- Writing
- My Oils Business

Each week and each month I will have certain objectives and planned tasks in order to keep me on track. I'll have to actually look at my planner, but more on that later. I want to spend a short amount time here on the blog on each of those priorities, and today I'll start with homeschooling.

Several days ago, I was in a major funk. Hardly functioning really, just taking care of daily stuff, completely irritable, and hardly able to think a single thought to completion. I was certainly not my best self. In all reality, I get like this semi-frequently, maybe every other month or so, it's really hard to nail down why. Anyway, I felt like my life was always going to be this under-whleming normal, the person who is always needed, and while often appreciated, I just wasn't feeling like the this life was the best use of myself. I was spending a lot of time thinking about my goals, my ambition, my lack of energy, my giant load of responsibility, and none of it was fitting together enough to make sense.

As I scrolled through Instagram (for maybe the tenth time that day), I came across a friend's post where she quoted a few lines from a book a friend gave her. I don't know all the people I need to thank for making that happen, but Amanda is one if them for sure! Here it is:

"When we are consumed by God's glory, we forget to worry about our own. When our eyes are fixed on Him as the source of all goodness and truth and beauty, we accept that we are not. When we are enamored by His worth and majesty, we can stop being so enamored with ourselves. And fascinatingly, when we seek God's glory, we'll be able to appreciate it in the people around us. Instead of seeing them as threats to our own glory, we will see them as beautiful reflections of His."

This quote is by Hannah Anderson in her book Humble Roots.

Isn't that the perfect reminder? I was so busy trying to figure out my own life, I could not even begin to enjoy my role or look for the silver linings in all the difficult parts of being a homeschool mom, much less lovingly invest in my kids (which is the pretty much the whole point). What makes this quote, this truth, even more refreshing is that our current culture doesn't say this, and much of popular Christianity today does not say this. Famous authors, accomplished people, and many well-known Christian women tell us to look in our heart, to find our true desires, and make those dreams happen. At what point do we admit that our hearts are askew and maybe we have no clue what is really best for our lives?

We are so focused on ourselves that we despise the "inconveniences" we encounter every day, and we miss all the things God is putting in our way to lead us down a better path. If that path is more tumultuous, more painful, or simply less glamorous, we despise it or question how it can possibly be good. We don't actually believe that a life filled with service, alternate plans, and less consideration about our own dreams will actually be better, more fulfilling, and more worthwhile. I think I believe this, but my heart and these tumultuous bouts with my mind prove that I don't believe it as much as I'd like to think.

So what does this have to do with my homeschooling? What I really want is to make my plans and be willing to relinquish them, to be after God's priorities in our schooling time more than my own ideas of what needs to happen and how. I made my agenda for the year, and I want to focus on meeting my kids needs in schooling above my other ambitions. I want to gladly sit down and read to them without resentment, without worrying about my other tasks, without rushing through. I want to savor them, and more than just that, I want to earnestly seek out what God is doing through our homeschooling to grow in relationship with my kids and other homeschool families.

In all of my big three priorities, I need to be reminded of one thing: God's glory is most important. My kids seeing God in my behavior is more important than my shower, bigger than the inconvenience of spilled milk, and far superior to my agenda of getting my seven-year-old to memorize three types of consumers. If I can stop, look to see how wonderful God made each of my children, and look for the way to love them well, my homeschooling endeavors will be accomplished.

For some of you, seeking God's glory might mean handing over the schooling to someone else, or maybe it means asking for help when you don't want to admit you are struggling. It is totally possible that God's glory means pursuing that fire He put in you above a lot of other things in your life. What this decision-making, priority-setting process really comes down to is willingness. How willing are you to drop one thing and move on to whatever it is God is asking you to step into? How hard are you clinging to hopes, dreams, ambitions, or goals that are not God's goals for you and your family? This is a tough pill to swallow, I hear you.

As a very ambitious, type-A, goal-oriented person, I am trying to swallow this pill the best I can. But each time I come back to this idea, every time I remember I am after God's work (not my plan), the pill slides a little further down, bringing more peace and less craziness in my brain. We need to admit we don't always know best, and confess that sometimes we are irrationally clinging to goals that do not make sense in God's kingdom. We have to see that being a person, a mom, a wife, an (insert whatever your main identity word is here), does not actually revolve around us, but around God's work, around His agenda, around His purpose for us in that role.

Why on earth would we want to miss the exciting work of God's plans being forefront in our lives? We really think we know what is best for us, but I know wholeheartedly that we don't. It's time for us to admit it, come face-to-face with the fact that our pouting is mostly about our selfish wants, and less about God's holy work. I want to want what God wants more than the other things I want (still with me?). More than I want to get my own way, more than I want to have everything under my control. I finally feel crazy and overwhelmed enough to admit I cannot figure out my life and my purpose on my own. It feels surprisingly good, I'm not sure why it always takes me so long, or why I constantly forget. The peace we can gain from simply allowing God's work to be the most important thing in our lives is completely unreal. It's not a fair trade, and we are definitely getting the better end of this deal.

Maybe this all seems a bit vague to you, so I'll tell you some tangible things I'll be doing to ensure God's work is my priority.

1. Reading my bible and praying for others will come before Instagram and Facebook. It seems like a no-brainer, but seriously, it can be a problem.

2. Speaking kindly to my children will be a daily goal, sometimes hourly, often every few minutes. Children forgive, but they are shaped by our tone, and this is something I am working really hard to get a grip on.

3. Homeschooling will come before my other priorities. Before trying to get caught up on business posts, or reading, I need to ensure I am using my time for my kids' education without resentment for how it inhibits my schedule. Their educational needs will change, and right now, and for the next three to five years, what they glean from my personal input is huge. It needs to be extremely important, set-apart, and seen as a glorious opportunity to fill my kids up with God's goodness and the beauty of the world He made.

So that's my general homeschooling agenda until summer. Overall, I'm seeing how the biggest investment opportunities we have revolve around people. People are influenced by people. Maybe they are motivated by dollars, by prizes, or prestige, but people rarely find peace, love, or a healthy identity because of those things. So in my big three I will be looking at how I can invest in others the way God would invest in them. Being a good friend, a reliable neighbor, a stable and comforting mother - these are the qualities that I want to see affecting my big three this year. And I'm convinced that as I follow God's lead in these ambitions, no matter what other hopes or dreams fall apart, I will be content knowing I've put a seed of God's love into all the passions I've pursued and into all the people I've invested in.

Final Winner of the Year :)

I am still in shock that 2016 is coming to an end. Honestly, how did this whole year go by already? When I look back at things that actually happened, it feels like forever ago, but at the same time I cannot believe a whole 12 months has already come and gone. I feel sad that a year is so short to me now, and I despair imagining my kids will be adults in what feels like a day. However, all of this reminds me to cherish my time with them amidst homeschooling chaos, fatigue-induced melt-downs, and accidental messes.

Alright, enough of my reminiscing and self-reminding jabber, you want to know who won, right? Of course!

Congratulations to.....


Chickie Brewer!!! I will email you, get your address and ship that giant, beautiful, bible out to you this coming week.

Thanks to all you lovely readers, to BlogAbout and The Blythe Daniel Agency.

I will have a moving update for you next week, which will mean fewer book reviews and giveaways the first couple months of the year, but I hope my blog will still contain some wonderful gems and surprises. You all have made my writing better, my blogging sweeter, and my ambitions more clear while reading and encouraging me throughout 2016. May 2017 be another year of growth despite pain, joy despite hardship, and love despite the challenges of life.

See you all next year ;)

Last Giveaway of the Year!

You guys, we are at the end of 2016! Can you believe it? I am still trying to figure out how this happened. A whole year has come and gone since I decided to blog here regularly and I feel like I am living in a different world than the one I inhabited last January. A lot has changed, and not just my circumstances (though some are very much the same), but I have changed too.

Today, I do not have a warm, inviting, Christmas or Holiday post for you. I'm much too off in the head for something as typical as that. Instead, I'm going to share some tid-bits about the fabulous bible I am giving away and save the Christmas shenanigans for another day. This post is made possible by The Blythe Daniel Agency and BlogAbout, and there are some affiliate links tucked in here too.

I used to own a really cute, pale-pink bible when I was a young girl. Later, it was upgraded by my parents to a thick, black bible with my name in gold letters printed onto the front. I still remember waiting at the book store with my dad while it was done. That black bible was my "go-to" for a long time, up until I was married and beyond actually. Pages are crumpled, highlighted, coffee-stained, and falling out from the spine. I now own a lovely red bible with a gorgeous floral print on the cover. It's a standard ESV bible, without any study-notes or space, and a concordance at the back that leaves me wanting. All this to say, I was very excited at the opportunity BlogAbout gave me to review this lovely NKJV Journal the Word Bible.

I ended up buying an ESV Study bible about the same time my Journal the Word bible came, and that made starting our church's bible study that much better! It was perfect having several different bibles and using blueletterbible.org as a reference to understand the Greek Paul originally used when writing to Titus.

First off, the beginning of this bible has several pages of explanations - the purpose of the King James scholars,  format of the bible, the old and new testaments texts, stuff like that. Then, it jumps right into the actual bible - just the bible, with lots of room on the side for notes. My bible is large text, which made making notes even easier. There are lines in the margins so it's easy to make your notes clean and orderly (as long as you have a steady hand - gulp). At the very end of the bible, there are several lined pages for notes, and that's it! So simple!

Here are a few pictures of what I've written in my bible from my time studying Titus.

I just love seeing those margins start to get filled in and words highlighted in vibrant colors!

Taking the time to look at what these words are in Greek was so helpful for increasing my understanding of what Paul truly meant when he was writing to Titus. It was pretty mind-blowing, actually. 

The outside of this particular version has a black, hard-cover, is large-print, and comes with a built-in, ribbon bookmark. It also has an elastic band that wraps from the back cover and loops over the front, to keep your bible in the best shape possible. That might be my favorite part besides the large margins. Don't you think it's super handy? Well, if you don't think so now, you will if you win this bible and start using it!

So how can you win this? I'm so glad you asked :) It's super easy. Click below to see what options you have and share, share, share!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Did you enter? I hope so. I will draw a winner on Saturday and hopefully one of you will have a great opportunity to study the bible more deeply with this beautiful version and be able to keep track of the things you are learning from God's written, Holy word.

As for my commitment to write weekly, I'm not sure if I will continue this year. I thoroughly enjoy writing, I love to speak, and I cannot help sharing what I learn, but I am finding myself torn between so many endeavors lately. I have a few book projects I'm working on, schooling my children is not only close to a full-time job, but it is mentally exhausting, and I recently started sharing my love of Essential Oils intentionally, running a business with one of my little sisters. There are many more endeavors I wish I could pursue and it's hard to constantly sift through all of them, but I do want this space to be a help, and place of encouragement, and a blog that leads people to knowing God more deeply. I want all my readers to live with courage, pursuing the things the Holy Spirit leads them into, and I'm just too unsure of what that will look like for me this year to commit to anything specific in regards to the blogging frequency I hope to maintain. Besides all of this, we FINALLY bought a house and will be moving at the end of January (I love packing and unpacking, and I am going to say that a hundred times to try and make it true). Don't worry, I will give you a nice update on all of that soon enough.

Anyway, all this to stay, I hope you keep coming back here, and I hope I can inspire you to live for God in whatever your hands find to do. I will do my best to keep you updated on all our family's shenanigans, and we'll see who our lucky winner is this Saturday! Enjoy the end of 2016, and tell me what your favorite resolution this year will be. Good luck!

Broken Winner!

Thank you to The Blythe Daniel Agency, BlogAbout, and Zondervan for making another awesome giveaway possible!

It seems a little contrary to win something about being broken. I mean, it's not fun to admit you're broken, much less being willing or even excited to work through that brokenness. But actually, our random winner is someone I know and love, someone who works hard not to hide her brokenness from me...

Congratulations Darlene Fleary!! You won a copy of Ann's The Broken Way DVD and Study Guide! I know you'll love it.

For all you other eager-beavers, I have another giveaway next week that I'm a little behind on. It's the NKJV Journal the Word Bible. It's huge, and large print, but perfect for studying God's work carefully and taking notes as you go. Stay tuned for that.

I will try to post a little update next week between my giveaway and winner post - my kids will be with Grandma and Grandpa for a bit, so I'll have some time to study, write, and even think in peace and quiet. Hallelujah, right?! Thanks again for sticking with me during this season of busyness and often silence. I hope it won't always be this way, but I am striving to be willing to live well in whatever season I find myself - broken, busy, failing, barely scraping by, thriving, whatever! Maybe not today, maybe not next year or even next week, but someday I'll live like that forever. What a relief!