kindness

every year my husband and i pick a word to represent the year we are about to embark on. we usually take the last two weeks of the year and come up with some ideas. example: peace, faith, rooted, open, boldness, etc.  my husband came up with some pretty good ones this year, though they are not coming to my mind as i am sharing this, typical. while i was praying for this one word, the word kindness came to the forefront and i knew it was it.  i have a 11 month old and i have been catching myself lately on telling her to be kind.  be kind to the dog, be kind to her cousins and babies around, be kind to mom and dad.  if there was one thing that i would want people to know of me or my family is that we are kind people.  kindness  is it, our word for 2016.

have you ever thought about choosing a word for the  year?  we started this about 5 years ago and really enjoy it.  of course we have gotten through half of the year before and had forgotten what word we have chosen.  but we are committed this year, we think.

my own personal goal is doing the whole “random” acts of kindness for others.  i am really going to try to make this a habit for 2016.  what is the saying? do something for 21 days and it will become a habit? well that is that i am going to try. 21 random acts of kindness for others.  i will let you know how it is going as i do them!

want to join me on the fun?

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What is love?

What is love?
Love is the gentle breeze on a warm spring day in silence.
Love is the soft touch of small fingers wrapped around your pinky.
Love is deep laughter with a dear friend.
Love is a small message on the phone when all hope is lost and all you can do is cry.
Love is the smell of fresh cookies in the oven that you know the kids next door are going to love too.
Love is speaking kindness where there is fear.
Love is supporting loved ones when everything around them seems to be in chaos.
Love is celebrating the small moments of triumph when it took months to get there.
Love is being present in the moment. Being present with your husband, daughter, family, neighbor, and stranger in the street.

Love is what I am looking for and trying to give.

A gloomy day calls for……

It’s a gloomy, cool day here in Southern Indiana.  This calls for some of my favorites……….

1) My favorite “Romance” movie of all time: Pride and Prejudice (the newer version, sorry ladies)  Side note, in college one month, I bet this movie played more than 30 times.  Must had been a rough breakup or something. But today is a fine day to pull this baby out and enjoy the love story between Mr. Darcy and Lizzy.   EEKKK, can I go home now?

2) Hot apple cider.  I am usually a coffee fan, however with the little one on the way, I have stayed clear of caffeine.  I am finding enjoyment in my Hot Apple Cider and Wassail as of late.  Not a big fan of hot tea, so I will stick to these two these fall and winter months.

3) My grandmother’s fleece patchwork blanket.  A MUST! She made this blanket when I was in high school and it is probably my favorite.

4) A oversize comfy sweater, ALWAYS!

5) My “beyond words to describe how much I love this smell” candle.  I have three right now in my home (I know obsessive) and the moment I get home, all of them get lit!

Oh, what a relaxing evening this will be.  My poor husband doesn’t know what’s coming when I get home 🙂 Stay warm and dry out there, go home and kick your feet up.  Enjoy this lovely evening.

Much love.

Welcome Fall….it’s good to see you again!

 

Fall is in the air, finally.  Yes, let me say that again, FINALLY! The season of Autumn is by far my favorite season of the year.  Everything about it brings a smile to my face.  Apple cider, pumpkins galore, the changing of leaves, bonfires, hayrides, football, yummy pies, a big pot of soup, the smell of corn being picked, everything……amazing.  Jonas and I just had a conversation about this, if we could live in the season of fall all year around we would.

My family loves traditions.  I am so grateful for this.  One tradition that comes to my mind, is pie making.  Each month of the year is a certain type of pie, as we are now in October, its Pecan month.  Next month is Pumpkin! We also love having bonfires and get togethers.  This past weekend, my dad (with my nephew) harvested his “Charlie Brown Great Pumpkin”.  This sucker weighed in at 330 pounds!!  That is “alot” of pumpkin pies!  Though I doubt we actually use it for pie making, it sure is a centerpiece of conversation.

 

 

With two months of “wonderfulness” in front of me, I feel excitement and giddiness rising up.  However, my excitement can distract me from the simple things in life. I do not want to race through these months without taking in the small moments that make life wonderful.  For instance, Monday we find out what we will be having, Jonas thinks a girl, and I think its a boy.  We are just thrilled to have a healthy little one.  I want to savor the moment and never forget it.  This small moment among many are what we can overlook and forget about.  The small moments gathered together bring fullness to our lives.  When we stop and pay attention we can see the beauty around us.  That is what I am challenging myself these next two months.  “Pay Attention to the Small Moments of Beauty”.  Will you take the challenge with me?  Will you stop and “smell the roses” if you will?!?

So I start today, ready to embrace the moments.  I wonder what this day will bring…..

Blessings my friends.  Now go eat a Caramel Apple!

Birthday Getaway!

Last weekend, Jonas and I enjoyed a quick birthday getaway to St. Louis.  We have some dear friends that moved there a couple of years ago and opened their home to us for the weekend.  I don’t know about you, but a short weekend trip can either be stressful and tiresome or relaxing and fulfilling.  It was definitely the later.  Jonas got to choose where we went for food and activities and let me just say, my husband has great taste!  Let me highlight the areas we went to.

Strange Donuts

Now with me being preggers and all I was quite reluctant/giddy about going to this.  I have been craving a blueberry cake donut for weeks now and I thought this was my chance.  As we pulled up to the store, I ran inside with excitement.  I searched and searched for that one perfect warm donut and natta!  These donuts where much more “sophisticated” than my blueberry cake donut. With a small melt down rolling on inside of me, I choose a french toast donut and slowly dragged my feet outside.  Now, I must say that I was able hid all of this from my husband because he still doesn’t know the disappointment I felt over a small donut, but Jonas was in heaven.  He enjoyed it so I sucked it up and smiled on.  If anyone ever goes to St. Louis and wants to try some crazy tasting donuts, try Strange Donuts.  But learn from me don’t expect your simple donuts, your hopes will be left at the door.

 

St. Louis Basilica

Our second stop was the Basilica.  Small background: I was raised Catholic until College.  I then began going to protestant churches in which I met my husband.  Jonas was raised Southern Baptist and was not fond of the Catholic Church in the beginning.  However after much time in seminary and talking and learning about the Catholic Church, we both have come to have a great respect and honor for the rich history of the catholic church.  Jonas is a history buff and combine that with anything church history, he is in his element.  This basilica has the most beautiful mosaics that I have ever seen.  The ceiling of this church is completely covered with them.  It was absolutely breath taking.  The ceiling looked like it was glittering with gold.    It was wonderful.   Jonas and I could of sat in there for hours.  We treasure places like these.   If you ever get a chance to go, please do.  You will never forget it.

 

St. Louis Art Museum

First of all, this museum is free!  Second, they have 3 floors of art, from the 1300’s to now.  It amazing.  My favorite piece is below.  Water Lilies by Monet.  This piece took him 25 years to complete and it’s huge!  I sat and stared (yes just like the movies) at this piece of art for a long time.  It was beautiful.  Unfortunately I was not able to go through the entire museum but we will definitely go back!  Jonas and I love art.  He studied art for a couple of years in college and I took a few classes for leisure.  When you learn about art in high school or college, some may tend to zone out or not think about the time and effort that is put into this magnificent pieces. I most definitely did that.  I heard about DaVinci, Picasso, and Monet in my schooling years, but never thought about seeing them in person.  I am so glad I had the opportunity to last weekend.  Monet was definitely my favorite.

 

 

Salt and Smoke Restaurant

YUM, YUM, YUM! Best BBQ ever!  I beg you please, go to this place.  You will not regret it!! This place has such a fun atmosphere, great service, and awesome food.  I had the house salad, BBQ Sweet Potato Chips, Jonas’s BBQ, Corn Chowder, and Mac and Cheese.  It was all wonderful.  Our friends, who live in St. Louis, said it was the best in town by far!  So please again tell your friends, try it out!

 

 

The birthday weekend was a success.  To top it all off, I made my homemade carrot cake that I make for him every year only for his birthday.  It’s delicious if I do say myself.  Happy Birthday my dear!  Until next year…..

 

Have a delightful weekend!

A Beautiful Distorted Mess

Ever since the devastating news came out regarding the death of the great Robin Williams, I have been hesitate to write or share about his death and the impact it has had on me as of late.  Now someone might ask, how would it impact me?  Well to be straight to the point it’s the depression and mental illness that has been cursing through my mind and soul.  It’s the many faces that come to the forefront that I know well struggling daily with a mental illness. Now that weeks have past, the conversation surrounding mental illness has dwindled but the millions of people dealing with it increases.  It’s a funny thing when you are processing something or facing something in your life, how the same topic of conversation arises with friends, family, and strangers.  This past week, for instance, was exactly that.

My husband deals with depression and ADD, and has dealt with it from many, many years.  Some people understand and others do not comprehend the effect depression has on someone.  Before my husband, I just thought depression was just someone who was sad or down for a little while.  But I was in for a wake up call.  Depression is so much more than that.  My husband explains it like a dark pit with no hope and no way out. I sometimes feel like I am in the pit with him when he is in that dark place, but I can still see the edge and the light shining in.  I cannot say I know what people who have depression feel like, but I do have the experience of seeing it first hand.  If you know of someone who has it, please please be gracious to them.  They might be unmedicated, they might have no support around them, they might feel so alone that they don’t want to be here anymore.  Depression is real, active, and strong.  Without the right support, guidance, and medication its a dangerous disease.  I am thankful that my husband has found friends, a counselor, and medication that we have had more good days than bad as of late.  It’s a good feeling to see the light in his eyes each day.

So for those of you who want to know more, watch his video below.  My husband found it and explains depression perfectly.  Please pray for those dealing with mental illness.  Depression is just one of the many out there.

 

An Unexpected Joy

I had seen it in movies and heard about it from friends and family. You listen intently and try to store it in your brain for later. For me, I didn’t know how to respond to it at first. Nothing of what I heard came to mind. All I thought in that moment was, “SERIOUSLY?!?” 🙂 Jonas was gone at work and I was home alone. I sat there and stared knowing from that moment on, our lives will be forever changed. Yes, you got it, we are expecting. An unexpected joy.

We knew for about 6 weeks before we told everybody. 6 weeks and keeping it hush, hush was tough but needed. We were able to process and pull it together alittle bit. We needed that space to just be our little family. Now, as I sit here 3 weeks later, questions, comments, concerns, ideas, poking, looking, and the small squeaks of joy are all around me. Don’t get me wrong, its good to listen and learn from those around me who have been in the world of motherhood. I need to start carrying around a notebook and pen everywhere I go. But to be honest, its overwhelming at times. I am so thankful God has given me 9 months (now 6 months) to prepare. PRAISE JESUS!!

So our journey begins.   I look at the next 6 months with so many emotions, really.  Excitement, fear, joy, worry, many more.  But I embrace the journey and everything that comes with it.

Blessings to you today.

To 5 Years!

Today is my 5th anniversary to my Kentucky boy, Jonas.  Our story is an interesting one, full of ups and downs and laughter and tears.  I can’t believe it has already been 5 years.  Here’s to my dear for another year.

“We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when you find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutual weirdness and call it love.”  Dr. Suess

 4 Year Anniversary- Every year we celebrate our anniversary by going to a Bluegrass Festival in Owensboro, KY.  Here we are last year.

We moved to Indiana in the summer of 2013.  We lived in my grandma’s home for awhile and then we bought our very first house!!

After 4 years of blood, sweet, and tears, You finally got your diploma…you graduated!!!

If anyone knows my husband, he really, really really, loves oreos.  So we celebrated his birthday in style!

Jonas has always wanted a dog.  I was always hesitant on this, but we finally added an addition to our family, Miss Penny.  She is such a blessing to us!

Our dear friends came to visit and surprised him for his birthday!

Our favorite season is Fall and thankfully we enjoyed a beautiful fall in our new home!

One thing we love to do is travel.  We got to travel to Ohio for a dear friend of mine’s wedding!!

We experienced our first snow/winter in Vincennes.

We were unsure how Penny would do in the car, but she did great! This is us taking our first family trip!

I am a huge Christmas fan.  I even gave a speech in college on Christmas 🙂 Our first Christmas in Indiana!

Our niece Maeley Kay.  She absolutely loves Jonas!  They are best friends.

We got into our first wreck together…..

We made gingerbread houses!

I had the grand idea to paint my cabinets in my kitchen. It took alot of convincing!!

Probably wasn’t the best idea 🙂

Then I had another awesome idea to renovate the entire kitchen!!

 In the middle of it, we found the ants……

But after 2 months of dust and chaos, we came to the other side of it. We survived the renovation!

We love experiencing new places and see old friends.  We were able to join a few of them in Georgia for a retreat. It was beautiful.

But this wasn’t.  We came back to this….we almost killed each other on the way home!

 We added some new landscaping to our home!

We love working on new projects and use our creative juices.  Here is one of them!!

Happy Anniversary babe, what a year it has been.  And I know that this one will be even better 🙂 You are my best friend, and I love you dearly.  Thanks for walking this journey with me.

Much love. Forever Yours.

DIY Project Weekend!

What a weekend it has been!  Recently Jonas and I have been finishing up our renovation project in our kitchen.  I will post at a later date the before and after pictures!  Saturday morning I got the itch to paint something, the husband wasn’t to thrilled on the idea, but I put on the charm and he was in!  We made our way to Lowe’s to find the perfect colors!  Now some of you might know this about us, but if you do not, we love color!  We have tons of color in our home!!  I will share  pics one day 🙂  As we we stood in the spray paint isle which seem to be like 20 minutes, we finally settled on a green and yellow.  Excitement was in the air while painting, but then doubt crept in!!! I brought them into the kitchen after drying and thought “NO WAY! Way to bright!”, but after awhile they have grown on me. I think I will distress them a little bit to add some character to them. I will let you know how it goes when I finish!   Here are the painted bar-stools in the kitchen!

Now we didn’t stop there!  Fortunately we didn’t have to paint this next project! As Jonas and I were enjoying our lovely and calm Sunday afternoon, Jonas found, in our  local classifieds, a gorgeous piece of furniture that screamed US!  We love it when we find things that are perfect for our style.  Without hesitation we contacted the lady and it was up for grabs.  We got a steal on this because we didn’t have to do any work on the piece.  NO sanding, NO painting, just clean and decorate! Here it is:

Isn’t she lovely!  I smile every time I walk into my living room now!

Oh, What a glorious weekend it has been!

Blessings.

The Faith of a Child

Need a smile today?  Watch this!