honesty

Anyone with children can relate to the after work rush (pick-up the kids, hit up the grocery store, rush home to cook dinner...) and the hustle and bustle of trying to get home at a decent hour.

Well today, the after work rush got the best of me and I left my purse, in the buggy, out in the parking lot, at Wal-Mart. 

Yep, sure did!

I got half way home (15 minutes away from the store) before I realized what I had done. Panic sunk in. I was tempted to drive on the side of the road to get back to Wal-Mart faster. 

My heart was racing. I pulled into Wal-Mart on two wheels. I circled the lot to where I had put our buggy, and no buggy. 

They had all been collected. 

I saw the parking lot guys, asked them, nope, no purse. My heart was about to jump out of my chest. 

My phone, credit cards, debit card, checks, ID...my entire life on paper was in this purse. 

I park the car and Avery and I rushed into the store. I waited in the line at customer service (there's always a line at customer service in Wal-Mart) and just about peed myself with nerves. Finally, it was our turn. I asked the lady and she was overjoyed to tell me my purse had been turned in.

I couldn't believe it. 

She said a sweet customer had seen it in the lot and brought it in. The customer service lady said she had called the last person on my phone list (my husband) to let him know. 

I was still in disbelief that my purse had been turned in. I'm so thankful for good, honest, wholesome people that are still left in this world. 

So, thank you to the sweet person, at Wal-Mart, that turned in my purse!

my valentine

Happy Valentine's day to my true love, Chris.

 There is not a moment that goes by that I do not thank God for joining our souls together; as I could not ask for a better soul mate than my Chris.

It is him (and our children) that makes me want to be a better person.

Since joining our lives together (nearly two years ago), I smile a lot bigger, laugh a lot louder, and love a lot more.

Chris' humor brightens my days, his tender heart gives me warmth, his voice gives me hope, and his arms give me security.

I love you honey, always and forever!

gold diggin' & snow throwin'

We wanted to do something adventurous with the boys this past weekend. We thought about going to Stone Mountain and tubing at Snow Mountain, but the cost and time constraints they give you there didn't seem worth it. I was disappointed because I really wanted to enjoy some snow since I'm pretty sure none will be coming to our house. Chris started looking around on the internet to see what else we might enjoy as a small day trip. After tossing a few ideas, we decided on Dahlonega.

Dahlonega, Georgia is known for gold mining and is a neat little town with cute shops and diners. Trevor has been asking to mine for gold for quite some time, and Avery was excited to find "treasures." So off we went.

We stopped about 15 minutes from Dahlonega to eat lunch. Chris just so happened to look at the weather on his phone and saw a bright pink spot, indicating snow, covering the area we were about to be in. We had no idea when we left the house that it was supposed to snow.


After lunch, we loaded back up in the car and before we reached our destination, we were driving in snow flurries. The boys went hysterical they were so excited, and Chris and I were pretty darn excited too!

At first it wasn't sticking to the ground, but it was golf fall size flurries coming down. The snow was gorgeous, and it was the best surprise from Mother Nature, ever!

We decided to head to the gold mine first. There, we were able to mine for gold. The boys had a lot of fun doing this. Trevor was eager to find hundreds of dollars worth of gold, and Avery splashed in the water as he looked for his treasures. Each of us found a small piece of gold, and we were told each of our pieces were worth around $.40-$.50 a piece. We struck it rich!

 

After we found our gold, we went on a mine tour of the only gold mine in Georgia safe enough to go into. I'm pretty sure I toured the mine when I was in elementary school, so it was neat to go back with my family. Our tour guide was quite the character and told us many stories of the how the miners worked. I couldn't image working in a mine.

 

We ended our special adventure day eating dinner at a pizzeria and having a snowball fight. The snow continued to fall and began sticking to the ground. It turned out to be a great day and we made some amazing memories as a family.

Here is a link to the gold mine we went to: http://www.consolidatedgoldmine.com/

clean thoughts

Some sing in the shower, some quickly jump in and get out, some dance, but for me, I meditate.

It's my prayer time--- my deep, life changing, thinking time.

Jesus and I have a lot of heart-to-hearts while I'm in the shower. I figure if I'm cleaning my body on the outside, I might as well clean my heart as well.

Sometime I cry out to Jesus while I'm shaving my legs. Crying in the shower makes it easier to hide the tears. Sometimes I praise Jesus for the blessing flowing in my life. Praising Jesus in the shower is refreshing, especially when I get those 15 minutes of quiet time. Sometimes I talk to Jesus about my shortcomings as I wash away the germs of my daily life. And it all rejuvenates my soul.

This morning, while I was meditating in the shower, my thoughts went to being a mommy. Of course, as any mother would know, if you get those 15 minutes to shave your legs, washing your hair, and bathe yourself uninterrupted, you're lucky. There aren't many days I get in the shower without hearing "mommy!" Sometimes it annoys me. I just want 15 stinkin' minutes to myself. But today, this particular morning, it made me happy. It put my life in reality.

That sweet voice calling "mommy" was my precious gift from God. To him, I'm the best at everything. I'm the one who heals all boo-boos, makes the juice in his sippy cups sweater, the one he calls in the middle of the night when he wakes up. I am this sweet child's mommy. {Chills!}

I don't know why this particular morning felt different. Maybe it's because I've been stressed and didn't stop to relish in this amazing opportunity to be called "mommy." Maybe it's because I hear it so much and it generally means he's gotten into something  he shouldn't have, or he's requesting juice two seconds after I sit down to relax, or it's disturbing my 15 minutes to shower. But today, I really heard "mommy" for the first time in a long while. And you know what? It felt amazing!

Please don't get me wrong, I love my kids and I'm one of those moms who watches them sleep and thinks about how lucky I am, but I'm human too. I want "me" time. I want a break from "chores" every now and then, I get tired of cleaning spoiled milk out of lost sippy cups, sometimes hearing "mommy" 100 times a day can get overwhelming, but this is my life, and I wouldn't change a thing about it.

I love my shower time, I love my time with Jesus, I love my time cleansing my soul, and this morning I loved hearing "mommy" from the sweetest 4 year old I know!