Oh the Bliss!

Want to know one of the best pieces of advice ever given to me? I will tell you, because I feel like we've gotten closer and because I go on all the time about loving Jesus more and saving the world and you hang with me, so you deserve to be privy to such a treasure as this. First I should tell you that my first real crush was on Prince William. Not this one: This one: When he was young and his sweet mother had just tragically died. I don't even know how i knew about it, but I did and my heart was so heavy for him because I felt like he wasn't going to be able to be sad or happy or anything as long as he was living within the palace walls. So I wrote him a letter, dead serious here, I wrote him and told him that if he ever needed to just "get away" he could come stay with me and my family and I would tell everyone he was an old friend from Mississippi. (How he was going to mask his British accent with a southern drawl was up to him). Needless to say he did not tak...

I don't think I'd consider myself a judgmental person, but I was (thankfully) called out on this recently and it stopped me dead in my tracks. Not only was it judging- it was gossiping, and if there's two things I really don't like it for SURE is judging and gossiping. (Shout out to a good friend who called it when she saw it - LOVE THAT!!) I've been thinking a good deal about this and have come to the conclusion that I've never considered it being judgmental before because I'm super sweet about it. Mmmhmm, sweet like strawberry lemonade on a hot summer day. I say things like, "Her ...* i nsert annoying personality trait *... is not really my favorite thing about her." Or I spin it like it's my problem and say, "It's a challenge for me to like that about him." Or I twist it into something positive (ha!) by saying, "I'd really like to work on not being like that girl." See what I did there? Pretty smooth, eh? NO! It...

I worked in a restaurant years ago (I'm old enough to say "years ago"!) and just about every Friday night a couple would come in and sit at a table for hours. And pretty regularly, just as they were finishing their meal, the husband would take a stroll around the dining room and find the youngest couple in the place and tell us servers that he's got their bill. The man and his wife remembered what it was like to be young, newly married, perhaps with small kids at home, and even though they weren't dripping with money themselves they knew - odds were - they had more money than the young couple. So without ever saying anything to the young couple, the older couple blessed them in such a cool, tangible way. I LOVED being the server of the young couple and getting to tell them their check had been taken care of!!! But I also loved being the server of the older couple because they generously gave without expectation or pride. I am tempted to wallow in the "whoa is...

I am surrounded by AMAZING mothers - of course one is my very own mother, and another is my fabulous mother-in-law, who faithfully and willingly and (most of the time) lovingly put other's needs before their own. And for you - dear mothers who I'm blessed to do life with, I am so thankful, so so thankful. I do hope you are lavishly loved by your kiddies all day and feel the full blessing of Proverbs 31:28. "Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:"

They're HERE! These fantastic necklaces all the way from Uganda are here, in my house, ready to be in YOUR house - and around your neck. :-) A group of women in Uganda hand make these necklaces from recycled paper. They roll the beads by hand, dip them in varnish, and thread them onto the string. Prior to learning how to make these beads, most of the women "picked trash" or turned to prostitution to provide for their children. But now these women have a commodity, and a community. "By purchasing these necklaces, you help a mother earn make a sustainable income to provide for her family. We are also proud to donate to Amazima Ministries' feeding program from the profits of these necklaces. The feeding program, run by Katie Davis, provides food to children and their families in the same area of Uganda. It is a beautiful, full circle story of the body of Christ." And to make the circle a little wider, 147 Million Orphans allows adopting families, like my ...