my blessed life

Hello, sweet blog friends! Are you excited that summer is here?  I sure am!  Our family is ready for our annual, long break from regular schooling and is looking forward to lots of fun over the next few months.   I am also happy to be back in blogland!  I've missed it a lot and hope to find a better rhythm over the summer--one that is more sustainable for me in this season of life.   Some things that we have planned for this summer are family reunions, summer reading programs, a birthday celebration, vacation Bible school, a Great American Road Trip, maybe even camping--if I can talk my husband into it! What do you have planned for the summer months?  I'd love to hear about your plans!

I know it's been a while.  And I've missed being here.  I hope things are going well with you. Life has been fast and furious around here these past few months and I simply needed to step away from so much time online in order to keep my sanity. I had lost my zeal for blogging.  Sort of lost my direction, in a way.  There are so many voices out there telling me how to improve my blog, how to make more money from  blogging, how to promote yourself better...  I just got tired of it all. I needed a little break.  So I took a couple of months off and it's been good. ***** Life has been a bit hectic lately and I am desperately trying to be intentional about how I spend my time.   More intentional in my walk with Jesus.  More intentional with my children.  More intentional with my marriage.  More intentional in my home. Believe me, I'm not getting it perfect.  In fact, most days I fail miserably.   Bu...

You may have noticed (or not) that I've been a little sporadic around here lately.  I know I haven't been posting like I usually do.  I guess I've been feeling a tad burned-out and also wanting to focus more on home life. So you may see less of me at least for a while, but I'm still here posting when inspiration hits (and I'm sure it will hit often this time of the year!).  I'll be focusing more on my home and family though.  This time of the year is often more busy than others and I want to be present .  Fully present. And right now I'm busy with Thanksgiving preparations~as I'm sure you are, too!  No travel for us this year, thank goodness, but we do have family coming in from out-of-town to visit and there is a fun weekend in the works. I'm already so looking forward to the yummy food, too!  My mom, sister, and I have been busy planning our menu together.  I can't wait!  Although I feel like I'm getting off easy on dinner preparat...

Just popping in to say " Happy Monday " to you all! I know I've been a bit scarce around here lately, but I am focusing on getting my strength back after surgery and getting back into the swing of things here at home. I'm also working on getting back into my blogging groove as well, but that takes a little longer:)  However, I've got some really good posts that I'm currently working on and am excited to share with you soon. Meanwhile, I hope that you're having a great Monday and that you have a wonderful and blessed week! ***** Don't want to miss a thing here at My Blessed Life? Subscribe by email today!

This month has been so incredibly busy.  I still can't believe that it's nearly over.  And May is shaping up to be a total blur! Sometimes you just have to let some things go and hang on for the ride.  I feel like that's what I'm doing these days.  There is just so much going on at this time of the year every year. End-of-the-school-year wrapping up, Mother's Day planning, church yard sale, special church events, science fair, co-op, upcoming mini-vacation, finalizing yearbook pages for our homeschool group, special ladies' events at church, helping my mother because of her broken shoulder, helping my husband every way that I can because he wears too many "hats", trying to plan our garden, ...the "list" never stops, right? And sometimes I don't do so well when I'm feeling overwhelmed.  I really just want to curl up on the sofa with a pint of Graeter's Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip ice cream and watch hours of Psych.  No...

Just wanted to share this great quote with you today from Christin at Joyful Motherin g.  I am so enjoying getting to know her heart and I appreciate her nuggets of wisdom. Today I'm busy keeping my own priorities in order: cleaning up the kitchen, doing homeschool with my kiddos, helping my mom work in her newly-remodeled kitchen, ...and more! I hope that you have a wonderful and productive day as well! Blessings! ***** Don't miss a thing here at My Blessed Life!  Subscribe by email,  follow this blog, and "like" the Facebook page today!

Well, here it is ...the last week of the Early to Rise challenge .  And I have learned a few things about myself.   First of all I have learned that being a night owl is deeply ingrained in me.  I absolutely love those late hours when the kiddos are {hopefully} asleep in bed--I do have a night owl daughter, too--and I can relax, watch a favorite show, work on lesson plans or another project, read a book, even make a late-night run to the store ...whatever I want to do.  Sort of like if I got up early before everyone.  And while in my mind I would really like to flip-flop this to get up earlier than everyone else, it never fails that I get this massive second burst of energy every night around 9 and the kiddos are all tucked in.  To go to bed early would literally require sleep-aid every.single.night. because even when I've gotten up extra early it doesn't make me any sleepier at night.   Secondly , I've learned not to condemn myself if I don'...

Well, I could look at this week as a bust.  I have not been much of a "fun mommy" .  I sure have not been "early to rise" .  And we are playing catch up today on school work since I had a few sick days this week. But that's okay. Sometimes mama gets sick, right?  It's not fun, but it happens.  And while I rarely get anything that really knocks me out of commission, this week I apparently had the flu and it took me down.  So not a good time. I'm happy to be feeling more like myself today though, even if not 100% yet, mostly better is good, right? And today I'm grateful . Grateful for children who have been {mostly} helpful to me while I've been sick. Grateful for my husband who has been wonderful, even though this all meant he didn't get a home-cooked meal for four days after he got home from Egypt. Grateful for the flexibility of homeschooling. Grateful for a new day. Grateful for grace. ***** Don't miss a thing he...

Well, if week 2 of the Early to Rise Challenge is any indication ...I am just not a morning person and probably will never be.  However, I did have a strike or two against me this week. 1. My husband is out of town and I always have a harder time going to sleep at night when he's not home.  This week was no exception.  I never feel worried or afraid, I'm just wide awake.  It's annoying.  And 2. I'm wondering if taking Zyrtec late at night (bedtime) is giving me that dragging feeling in the mornings.  I'm supposed to take it for a month to clear up some fluid I have behind one ear and the doctor said I should just take it at bedtime since it makes one sleepy.  I have not personally noticed feeling any sleepier right at bedtime, but since it's a 24-hr pill I'm wondering if it's causing me to have problems waking up. I need something to blame, right?  ha! So here's my run down of each morning this past week: Friday: woke up extra early ...

Last week I briefly mentioned that I was joining in with Money Saving Mom's Early to Rise Challenge for this month.  And I thought it was time for an update (it's been a week already!).   And what a week it has been!  Not much has gone according to plan and there has been sickness (stomach but) to deal with.  But isn't any week that you give yourself a challenge like that?  If something can go wrong it will, right?  Or at least it seems like that sometimes. And being the dyed-in-the-wool night owl that I am it has been a very tough week of waking up for me.  I must confess that I feel like more mornings have been failures than successes.  It's just plain ol' hard for me to go to bed early and wake up early.  The mornings that have been successes have been very enjoyable though.   Being married to a night owl makes it a bit harder to even want to change, too.  I don't like going to bed at night alone and I really...

I've never been a morning person. Never . As long as I can remember I've wanted to cozy up in my covers and stay in bed as long as possible in the mornings.  I still feel that way.  And it would have worked out okay, I suppose, since I also married a night owl and we had a night-owl-child, but then we had our second child. Yep, he's the one morning person in this family of four.  I'm pretty sure God's still laughing over that one. Since growing up, I've certainly realized the benefits of being a morning person--just because one isn't one doesn't mean that you don't have to actually get up and function like one.  It's just really hard. And as I've grown older I've also come to realize I just don't like to talk to people for a couple of hours after I get up.  It's my processing-this-whole-waking-up-thing time with my coffee.  Of course, that doesn't always work out so well as a mother.  Sometimes I am brutally awakened...

illustration by Susan Branch~I {heart} her! Hello there!   Long time, no see! I've missed you all! It's been a long, busy, rough, crazy few weeks around here.  And I am desperately trying to get things back in order.  Does that ever happen?!  I doubt it, but I have to make an effort, right?;) I really just meant to take off the week of Thanksgiving since my parents were moving here and I was busy cooking up a storm.  But then the next week came and it was just soooo busy that I could hardly catch a breath, what with decorating at our church, getting ready for our church's Christmas banquet, trying to keep the kids focused enough to complete their school work, and ...you know, the usual .  I thought, "Oh, yeah, this week will be the one where I get back on track."  Right.   Instead I got my first case of strep and my first ear infection.  So.Not.Fun.  I now know why babies just cry and cry when they have ear i...

Just dropping by to say "hi" and let you know that I won't be posting regularly this week since we are busy getting ready for Thanksgiving and helping my parents move.  I will be popping by now and then though, you know, because I just can't stay away;) Have a wonderful week yourself and I'll be back soon!

I need the world to slow down. Just a bit, please. I feel like I have been in a whirlwind lately. I suppose that's normal when you're still settling in from a huge move, remodeling a house, starting back to {home}school and adjusting to becoming a pastor's wife. And that's just the big stuff. There's all the little oh-so-daily stuff, you know. Don't get me wrong: I am loving this ride! I am just feeling a bit overwhelmed lately with the enormity of the changes in our lives. We are so very happy in our new hometown and state. I couldn't be happier with the way our kiddos are adjusting, which is perfectly. They love it here! I do, too. I am just in desperate need of some organizing, I think. I start to get a little nuts when things at home aren't in order. And that's how I've been feeling lately. I so love for my home to be a true haven and right now I'm not feeling it. We have so many projects going right now and it seems like ...

It's official. I turned the big 4~0 today. No, I don't really feel any differently. It's just kind of weird to say *forty*. I almost didn't tell you, but I knew I'd have some of my *old* friends out me on Facebook anyway...ha And Vince is officially calling me a *cougar* LOL You see, I'm 4-1/2 years older than him. There ... I just told the world (at least those of you who are reading this:) There was a time when I would have been uncomfortable telling that, but since certain celebrities have really , truly robbed the cradle in recent years, 4-1/2 years just didn't sound like a big deal anymore. So I am enjoying life and being my own age (no one ever guesses he's younger anyway~which just irks him...heehee). Besides, I hear that life really begins at 40~so let the fun begin!

There's something about getting into a routine and schedule that helps you start to feel *planted*. Last week we started back to school and began to regain some normalcy in our days. Since our move it's been so crazy because of the unpacking of boxes, painting rooms, etc., that there has seemed to be no routine at all. Unless you count my daily cup of coffee w/hazelnut creamer...a must in my life! When my schedule is *off* though, I feel *off* in general. I guess I should be more flexible in that way...and I do try, really. But it just takes a little time to find my groove in a new house, with everything in a new place. Yesterday I could feel things beginning to click~and it felt so good! I've been in desperate need of getting organized with my cleaning schedule. It seems like I'm always dropping one of those proverbial balls that I have in the air: homeschool, cooking, cleaning, remodeling, laundry, etc. So I revisited that little plan I came up with just abou...

We did it! We finally got unpacked enough and got our new learning room organized enough to start back to school! Frankly, I was starting to get worried...ha Today went very well though. So far I am extremely pleased with our new curriculum choices for math and language arts. Now, if I could just actually get some lesson planning done... And get the finishing touches done in the learning room, so I can blog it! In other news, it has been a bit of a traumatic week...pet-wise. Last weekend a sweet friend (who had asked my permission beforehand) brought the kiddos their very own little fish tank with two goldfish. Well, on Sunday we noticed that The Princess' fish was pretty lethargic...dead, actually. She was sad, but she handled it fairly well. And we went to the store that evening and let her pick out a new goldfish. Well, today during our school time~the fish tank is in our learning room~we noticed Mr. B's fish was acting funny. And then he was dead. It was a...

(in Put-in-Bay, OH) I feel as though I dropped of the face of the virtual world this past week. Well, really this whole month so far. This past week though I have not had time to blog at all, even though the thoughts are swirling around in my head. If you follow my tweets (and you should, right? just kidding;) then you may have been keeping up with our comings and goings. We have been on family vacation! Whoo hoo! And it's really been a lot of fun. We really haven't been on a true vacation in about three years and this was the first one we've been on that's just been the four of us (no extended family). And while we do love our extended family and enjoy traveling with them, it has been fun with *just us* this time around. We started off last weekend by driving to Tennessee where Vince spoke in the Sunday morning service at a church there. Then after lunch with our pastor friends there, we changed into traveling clothes and took off! Sinc...

Hey, Y'all! I'm out of the house for a couple of hours today to run errands and get some wifi at our local Starbucks:) It's been a crazy week of moving here! And I've been missing blogland. You can only do so much on a phone and a tablet...ha We've been in our *new* house for a week now~well, sleeping there for the past 3 nights, the rest were in a hotel~and we're busy digging out of boxes. Right now it seems like an endless task, but I know there will be an end. We've also started doing some painting and today Vince is starting that project for the learning room that he's been dying to do. Yea!! I'm sorry I can't post any pictures today, but as it turns out the usb cord wasn't in Vince's laptop bag after all. Oh well, we should have internet at the house within a day or so and then there will be LOTS of pictures! I've already taken lots of *before* pics:) And that's my little update: moving, closing on our n...

Yes, I should be packing boxes for our coming-sooner-than-I-realized move, but I thought it would be nice to take a mental health break and use this as an opportunity to re-gain perspective (which gets totally out of whack during stressful times like these) . So today I'm linking up with Sue at The Homeschool Chick . In my life this week… I am busy packing up our house for our move next weekend. I also sent off my daughter to church camp for the first time and sent my husband off on a missions trip to The Philippines. Yes, it's been a very busy week! In our homeschool this week… We are still on our summer break. It's been more of a break than I intended due to our move, but that's okay. I did get our curriculum for the Fall all lined out though~yea! Places we’re going and people we’re seeing… Well, Vince is off to The Philippines, The Princess is at Camp Dry Gulch USA and Mr. B and I are busy doing some fun stuff together ...