A Life of Gratitude

Wanna be happier?  Well, recently on KLOVE I heard about a study that proved that gratitude is guaranteed to alter your mood. The study was done when folks were feeling really depressed. They were asked to list several things that they were grateful for. It could be something important like a loved one or something as simple as a song on the radio. Just naming some of those things changed their moods drastically.  I've been thinking a lot about that so throughout the day, if I started feeling blue, I intentionally thought of things I'm thankful for. It worked. Just thinking of my children, my husband, the ability to be a stay at home mom, having enough food to eat or an upcoming vacation to enjoy took the focus off of whatever was bothering me and made me feel happier. I've been writing this blog for two and a half years now and I must say, I already knew the information KLOVE shared. After choosing to live a life of gratitude, paying close attention to Go

The before picture....not too sure about all this This milestone happens much later for our children than most but it has finally happened for Evan. He had his first hair cut tonight! He still doesn't have much hair overall but he was starting to get a rat tail in the back and several really long hairs in the front. It took some convincing but Bryan finally talked me into cutting it. Evan did surprisingly well. You'll never guess how we got him to sit still....we rubbed a Q-tip in his ear. No, I'm not kidding! He absolutely loves having his ears tickled with a Q-tip so, Bryan tickled his ear while I snipped the hair. He never even flinched. He looks so grown up with his hair trimmed and parted a little. Oh goodness, he is getting so big! What are you guys about to do? Evan is leaning in for the Q-tip...he loves it! This is literally all the hair we cut! All done! Look at that sweet face! He just had to comb his hair all by himself! Today I am than

This evening my little family went for a walk on the greenway behind our neighborhood. I was pushing Evan in his stroller and Bryan was helping Dylan ride his bike. We've ventured down the greenway many times before but for some reason Dylan was scared to ride his bike tonight. Bryan was standing right beside him and there is no way he would let Dylan fall but it didn't matter, Dylan was fearful. As I witnessed this interaction between father and son, I couldn't help but compare it to my own relationship with my Heavenly Father. I know He is always with me but apparently it occasionally slips my mind because I am often fearful. Just like Dylan, I have no reason to be afraid but I am.  But why? Dylan was focused on the terrain or the what-ifs instead of being focused on his daddy walking right beside him. He could have been completely confident in his dad's ability to keep him safe but he wasn't. I'm the same way. When I focus on the bills, the pain, the house t

Bryan and I decided to take the boys to a Grasshoppers Baseball game today. If you know Evan, you're probably already guessing that this was right up his alley! For the first 30 minutes, he just sat quietly, starring at the game. Dylan loved being able to walk down to the front row. He was really hoping they would give him a foul ball. He also had an up close encounter with the mascot who stole Dylan's hat and put it on his big nose. While Bryan and Dylan were hanging out on the front row, Evan got really fussy so I took him to the concessions area to walk around for a bit. While we were gone, a fly away bat landed in my chair! If I had been sitting there I would have gotten hit in the head for sure. So, we decided to take the boys to a different area where getting hit with something was less likely. Dylan and Evan both enjoyed a jumbo bag of popcorn. We left at the 7th inning because baseball is a really long game for a 5 year old and 19 month old! As we were leaving we heard

We had a very relaxing Saturday evening with our good friends, the McAfees. The idea was to make homemade vanilla ice cream and let the kids play outside together. We did have lots of fun playing outside but we ended up eating homemade soup instead of ice cream! Somehow this silly Mommy brought everything we needed to make the ice cream, except the paddle that goes in the ice cream maker. So, we made it the "old fashioned" way...we stirred. And stirred. And stirred. Everyone took a turn or two and it eventually got  somewhat thick. There was a lot of slurping and even some sucking through a straw but it was still yummy. We had the perfected evening to enjoy playing outside. The kids rode bikes and scooters, played corn hole and all 4 of them tried to squeeze in the sandbox. The adults played HORSE and although the guys probably won't admit it, the ladies won! (Technically Brandi won but both of the guys got out first!)  Today I am thankful for sweet spring

If someone had told me 10 years ago that at the age of 30 I would start knitting, crocheting  and canning homemade strawberry preserves, I would have laughed very loudly! I have picked up some very domesticated habits in the past 6 months. I think my Grandma Davis would be very pleased. I just wish I had discovered how much I would enjoy these things before she passed away. She would have been the BEST teacher and probably very eager to teach me.  I have to say, making homemade strawberry perserves really isn't quite as scary as it sounds. For a minute, I even felt like I knew what I was doing.  Although I'm the only one in my house that will eat preserves, I think I might attempt making stuff like this more often. I might even try grape jam next! We picked the berries by hand Soaking the hulled strawberries in sugar Boiling the strawberries  Its ready for canning Boiling the cans The finished product YUM YUM YUM Today I am thankful that m

Last night Bryan and I were watching videos on the "I am Second" website. If you've never visited this website, I highly recommend it. It contains video testimonials meant to inspire people to live for God. These are the testimonies of all sorts of people, from your "average joe" to well known actors, athletes, and musicians. We watched several of these videos but one testimony has really stuck with me. LeCrae is an American Christian Hip Hop artist who is on fire for God! His testimony is so inspiring. There was one thing he said in the video that I haven't been able to get out of my head. LeCrae said, "Jesus is the Source of my significance." I have struggled with self esteem issues my entire life. As a child, a teenager, a college student, a young teacher, a new wife and mother, I have searched for significance in a million different places. Once I truly surrendered my life to Christ, I finally found that significance. I've been perplex

High Point Pregnancy Care Center's Memorial Garden Part of our Connection Class (Sunday School class)            Before Picture     After Picture                                                                               Before Picture                                                                                  After Picture                                                                                                                        We had 23 bags of yard waste! Today our Connection Class (or Sunday School class) enjoyed cleaning up the Memorial Garden at the High Point Pregnancy Care Center. The center defines this garden as "a place for remembering the lives of children lost through miscarriage or abortion thereby promoting healing for their families." What a special garden this is!  Our class was able to clean out 23 bags worth of yard waste and tons of sticks. We also planted lots of flowers and small bushes and cover

"How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity." Psalm 133:1 I can't believe that Evan is 19 months today. He is really growing up fast! I have really been aware of how big he's getting this past week. He and Dylan have suddenly started playing together (and fighting some too.) For the past year and a half the boys have enjoyed playing beside one another but they've rarely played together. Now, they have started playing with each other, chasing one another, hugging one another, and conspiring with one another. I'm starting to see that Bryan and I might have our hands full with these brothers! Playing with Ninja Turtles They have so much fun together. Daddy had to play too! After Evan was born into our family, I came across Psalm 133:1. I marked it in my Bible and wrote "pray over my boys" beside it. While reading my Bible yesterday, I saw this verse again. As I read it my heart smiled because its so

Some days it seems like I am overly aware of God's sweet blessings. Today was one of those days. My boys haven't been feeling 100% for the past few days but this morning, when we woke up, everyone was mostly back to normal! Later in the morning we met some friends at Ingram's Strawberry Patch. It was a beautiful day and the temperature was perfect. We rode a tractor to the patch and the boys (and the mommies) picked lots and lots of strawberries. As I looked around at all those bright red strawberries, I couldn't help but see little gifts from God laying all over the place! If you think about it, it truly is amazing how  fruits and vegetables just grow right out of the ground. We definitely take those gifts for granted. After the strawberry patch we toured the farm and saw several different kinds of animals. Evan said "goat" for the first time and started making chicken noises. It was adorable! Then we went to our friend's home and ate a yummy lunch. I th