dinner for friends

several weeks ago

we were blessed to have a quickie visit 

from two awesome ladies!

ashley & i are bloggie friends

that became real life friends.

i love that girl

& feel like each time we're able to chat

which is rare & usually only for a few minutes

it's like no time has even passed.

my girls love her too.

she swings through atlanta every once in a while

& fortunately

we usually are able to hook up.

amelia & i met at ashley's home a couple years ago.

she is super cute & super funny.

she has the best laugh.

i love spending time with her!

we whipped up a quick & simple dinner

& spent the rest of the evening

chatting and laughing and talking about clothes & shoes

& jewelry and decorating

and boys and exercise and other awesome things.

my girls think i'm pretty cool

since i have such cool , fun, hysterical & YOUNG

friends like ashley & amelia.

i told them while i'd give anything to have them as real life neighbors,

i'll be more than happy to visit with them when ever i can get it!

we made pioneer woman's stuffed shells

giada's asparagus and prosciutto

crunchy italian bread

caesar salad & my own personal giada made home made croutons.

i can't remember if we served desert

& if we did, what it was.

but i do remember a special evening

with wonderful friends

and all my family together

(even trevor dropped by to meet the legendary ashley)

sitting around a my kitchen table 

that was painted white & looked awful

& counting my blessings

that i call these two women my friends.

 

 

 I thank my God every time I remember you. 

philippians 1.3

step two: a grateful heart

when my girls were younger, i placed two small journals on our kitchen table.

a thankfulness journal & a prayer request journal.

they were nothing special as far as books go

but my hope was that these little guys would pack a powerful reminder to each of us

to find something each day in which we were grateful

&

a physical reminder to pray for others.

i'll be honest

every page isn't full in those books

but i do have a keepsake of sweet prayers

& sweet reminders of things their hearts were grateful for.

i wrote last week about some things i need to do 

in order to get my time and my priorities in line.

the first and obvious step for me personally 

is spending quality time each morning reading scripture.

the second step

is cultivating a heart of gratitude.

i saw this little gratitude journal at one of my favorite stores in Seaside

but you can grab it here 

 

i've placed this journal

once again,

beside our kitchen table.

my prayer is that each of us will take a moment to reflect on something

each day

that we are thankful for.

something each day

to remind us to look for the good

to look for miracle in the simple every day

to be wowed by the things that might otherwise be taken for granted.

i think many of us have been blown away

& inspired by Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts

let me share a few of Ann's thoughts~~

"when I give thanks for the seemingly microscopic, I make a place for God to grow within me." 

"Eucharisteo—thanksgiving—always precedes the miracle."

& possibly my favorite~ 

"Being in a hurry. 

Getting to the next thing without fully entering the thing in front of me.

I cannot think of a single advantage I've ever gained from being in a hurry. But a thousand broken and missed things, tens of thousands, lie in the wake of all the rushing.... 

Through all that haste I thought I was making up time. 

It turns out I was throwing it away."

ann voskamp

~

my hope for you today

is no matter where you are,

whether your personal gratitude journal

(whatever that may be)

is overflowing with blessings

or your gratitude is truly a sacrifice of praise

lifted up when your day is painful or your heart is dry,

that we each take the time

& enter what truly is in front of us

&

find that for which we are grateful.

i'm betting the length of that list would

blow us away

xo

sponsors & books

i frequently read blogs through my google reader. 

when i do so, i miss out on many of the fun links or advertisements
that are usually listed on the side margins.

so,

at the risk of looking like a giant commercial

i wanted to just give a quick update on a couple of my sponsors
(listed in the side margins)

and some of their current specials.

first of all i wanted to let you know
that the Life to the Full line over at Dayspring
is currently 50% off.
( clicking on images will direct you to the correct sites)

also, they have a great line of back to school items too.
i love this one~

while i'm way behind in the actual book club,
(featured in the early part of summer)
i highly recommend
 kelly minter's latest book,
The Fitting Room: Putting On the Character of Christ

you can start here & watch the videos if you so desire.
between angie, jess & kelly
i can't think of a better way to spent book club time!

i'm really tickled to share with you

Grace for the Good Girl

releasing in September.

my review will follow in a couple of weeks....

but it's good ya'll.

really good!!

Easy Canvas Prints are offering 20% offfree shipping
a free 8x10 for all orders over $60!


i have a list of a few i need to order myself!

 

alrighty

thanks for allowing me to interupt my regular scheduled entries.

have a great weekend!

introducing josh & the joy of red TOMS

i ran over to athens earlier this week to take savannah a little
"congrats on your new sorority" gift, also know as red TOMS.

move in day was totally hectic & the girls hadn't finished decorating their dorm

so

i had reason #2 for a visit.

of course as soon as i got there i realized i had left my wide angle lens at home,

hence the choppy photos.

 savannah & i have talked a few times

about how fortunate and blessed she is

to start off her college life on such a good foot.

she is seeking out others that love the Lord

& finding so many on the same page as she.

her roommate Mckinley is a major answer to prayer.

they have such a great connection already

& seem as if they've known each other for years.

she wasn't able to visit with us that day...

she had classes.

imagine that.

i also got to meet josh.

josh is trevor's roommate.

i've heard big things about josh~

"josh is so cute"

"josh is charming"

"josh is such a great guy"

(sources will go unnamed)

& 

he was indeed!

these four are going to be life long friends.

they already seem like a hilarious sitcom.

to all the moms & dads out there

who've raised the Josh's and the Trevor's and the Mckinley's...

what an honor & blessing it is to see such great young adults

who i'm certain 

bless those that they are around

encourage each other

& 

will change their world.

i can't wait to watch it happen!

step one

yesterday i woke up with an awful headache.

went in & snuggled with caroline as i woke her up

wishing we didn't have to go to school and could stay in bed all day.

wrote my balance post.

ate yogurt & some yummy homemade granola

after finding out my cholesterol is high.

moments after pushing the publish button, received a call from a precious friend.

we shamefully admitted to each other

that we both haven't picked up our bibles in a while

& really spent time with the lord.

we cried about sending first borns off

& how our babies aren't really babies any more.

we shared about how thankful we are for loving & loyal hubby's.

how as mama's we long to have our families together

& whether its for good & happy things or not

it's just plain hard when one is gone.

we talked about the power of prayer

& having accountability.

my headache got worse

the computer was blurry 

and it was entirely too bright outside.

i climbed back in bed.

for hours.

spent most of the day there

& then climbed back in again after dinner.

i feel much better today

no more gosh awful headache.

but the truth is,

one of the main reasons i feel so off

i'm certain

is because i haven't been in the word.

i'm so ashamed to even admit that.

while my bible is laying right beside my computer

it's much easier for me to open my laptop

than to open the scriptures.

it apparantly is more important to see what others have to say to me

than what He does.

the other day, caroline picked up my 364 bible.

it's a great little paperback version that takes you through the scriptures

in chronological order in a year.

she said "mama, you left your book mark in april. want me to move it over to august for you?"

she was being totally sincere.

i'm an open book here on my blog

but i really want to be more intentional

about journaling with paper and pen.

there have been so many specific answers to prayer in the last several days

that if i don't write them down, i fear i'll forget them.

so

first step in operation find balance

is the obvious.

it was my new years goal months ago.

& apparantly, changing my diet

to fish, chicken and oatmeal

is step two.

wink.

ya'll have a great day!

~

Psalm 119:105

Your word is a lamp to guide my feet

and a light for my path

balance

i need some balance.

not only do i need balance,

i need to figure out exactly what's out of balance.

i assume it's balance that i need

because whenever something feels out of whack

physically, mentally or spiritually

something's out of balance right?

hence my conclusion.

i'm not feeling very creative

& maybe not even very motivated.

maybe it's just post summer weirdness.

sometimes i feel i'm not very intentional with how i spend my time in the summer

so maybe that's left me in a place that feels out of focus.

maybe it's the fact that i'm in the process of adjusting to our new family dynamics

after sending savannah off to college.

i vascillate daily between joy for all that's awesome in her life right now

and the fantastic orchestration of so many good & perfect details

and

honestly just how very strange it is to have a child leave the nest.

i'm ok.
really i am.

just feeling sort of in a weird place

&

figured i could come here and share that with you.

& speaking of you,

(i want to end this downer of a post on a good note)

i want to thank ya'll.

i continue to be so blessed and encouraged by those of you

who leave sweet comments or send me notes and emails

of encouragement.

YOU

are a blessing that i don't ever want to take for granted.

thank you

&

as for me,

hopefully i'll feel all straightened out soon.

i'll keep you posted!

~

 

James 1:17

 Every good and perfect gift is from above,

coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, 

who does not change like shifting shadows.