what i did today

Well, if a wreck isn’t bloggable I don’t know what is. 

This evening we were out shopping.  I took the girls to Justice at Blakeney to use up a coupon that was expiring today.  We then decided last minute to pick up some cupcakes for dessert.  We came out of the shopping area and onto a side road to an intersection where our light was red.  We stopped at the light where it soon turned green.  There was a van across the intersection from us planning to cross the intersection and we stayed put, waiting to turn left.  Just as the van got halfway through, an SUV came barreling about 40-45 mph from our left, ran the red light and t-boned the van.  It pushed the van over onto the driver’s side and the two of them came barreling towards us.  With a front row seat, I saw it happen and as they came towards us, it really was like slow motion and I remember grabbing Scott’s arm and yelling something like “Oh my gosh, they’re coming.”  The hood of the gray van was like a huge gray wall coming towards us.  In the split second, I prepared myself that they were going to hit and possibly come through the front. Part of me braced to get really hurt in the face.  They did hit but the right front of the van mostly took the brunt and thank goodness they had already impacted once and it wasn’t enough to even move our van much.

As soon as it hit, Lexi was crying.  Scott, with instincts from his job, jumped out and ran to the lady whose van was on its side.  It took me a minute to even move and I jumped out and got the girls out and to the side of the road.  It was like an ants’ nest got kicked as people started jumping out of the cars and from parking lots close by to help.  Scott and another man helped the driver crawl through the top of her car and she was amazingly unharmed.  The driver of the SUV was a mother and she had her teenaged kids with her.  They all were ok except the one girl was crying and seemed to have some pain behind her knee.  The driver didn’t even know what happened and asked if the van lady had run the red light.  I guess she wasn’t paying attention since it had been red long enough for the other car to get halfway through the intersection.

Several people stayed around until fire, medic and police arrived. 

One funny sidebar:

As we were waiting, the people that were parked behind us that were witnesses had their dogs waiting in their car.  Suddenly, their car horn starts beeping and we all look to see their Beagle standing on the horn on the steering wheel in the car.  Everyone in the area laughed, lightening the somber mood.  It got really funny though when the couple went over to stop them and realized the dogs had locked themselves in the car.  The firemen there for the wreck had to use a jimmy to get them in their car.

Lexi calmed down pretty quickly.  I was pretty shaken and got teary when I realized just how much we were all spared.  Emma had a little breakdown while we were waiting.  She needed a hug from Daddy and she was ok.  Thank goodness he was there. Really, I would have been frozen.  Mom came to get us to take us home.  Scott was going to get a ride home with our wrecker but the girls insisted they wouldn’t leave Daddy so we all stayed until our van, which was the last piece of the wreck to leave, was towed away.  None of us are sure if our van will be totaled. It looks pretty bad but you never know.  To be honest, I’d like to see ours fixed up. 

I am just praising God no one was hurt.  As we were waiting we were talking with the witnesses and we all marveled at how “good” it went considering.  God is good whether anyone got hurt or not but I sure am thankful to Him that we aren’t.

(we got new lights above the sink.  love.)

Well, this was the weekend I was supposed to spend at Women of Faith but didn’t.  I’d like to say there was a light bulb moment to why that was but there wasn’t.  But that’s not to say there weren’t many small moments that made me glad to be home.  Friday, when no one showed up at the office, I got to spend the afternoon working from home and be there when the girls got home.  And I was home through Friday evening so I could drop the kids off at Scott’s mom’s and go out to eat with a great couple.  Saturday morning I got to put in some volunteer time and then was available when the girls wanted to come home at 10am, much earlier than they normally do.  I did a lot of laundry and I really did clean out my pantry too.  There may have been a bigger reason for me not to go but I loved all the little ones.  I was home, my favorite place, with my favorite people who wanted to be there too.

I got so caught up Saturday that I even had time to start priming the girls’ bathroom.  I finished that up last night and now I’m having anxiety about what to repaint it.  I had planned purple this whole time but we had repainted  the cabinet black when we had it red.  Now, a light purple just isn’t going to look right.  *sigh* I think I’m going to have to repaint the cabinet as much as I don’t want to.

Sunday we watched a friend’s son.  A boy, just a few years older then my girls.  A boy, who my girls think hung the moon. It’s a good thing I got some quality time with them on Saturday because they barely knew I existed yesterday.  After church and lunch, they had him busy playing house and school and even wrote a script for them to perform.  They jumped on the trampoline and played games and watched TV.  The barely visible bedroom floor proved all the fun.

And with that, we are on to a new week. I hope you had a great weekend and started your week well!

I know that I need to control my tongue.  Setting out for this week of James, I knew it was a weakness and I figured that these first set of verses about taming our tongue would be where I concentrated.  But for some reason the second half of this chapter about wisdom has grabbed my time:

Who is a wise man endued with knowledge among you? Let him demonstrate it by his manner of life, by his works, with the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envying or strife in your hearts, that’s not wise, don’t glory in it, and lie not against the truth. [That is a lie against the truth, the bitterness and striving and envyness within your heart.] For this kind of wisdom descends not from above. It’s not Godly wisdom, it’s earthly, it’s sensual, it’s devilish. For where envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then it is peaceable, it is gentle, it is easy to be intreated, it is full of mercy and good fruit, it’s without partiality, and without hypocrisy (Jam 3:13-17).

And this commentary for some reason hit home with me:

Now, what marks your life? What kind of wisdom comes forth from you? He says that you should show forth the wisdom by your manner of living. Demonstrate the wisdom. In reality our manner of life does demonstrate the source of our wisdom. And if I am constantly in strife, constantly in turmoil, constantly stirred up, constantly, you know, bad mouthing this person, that person, this thing, that thing, then that wisdom that I have is not of God. For the wisdom that comes from God has such marvelous characteristics, it’s pure, it’s peaceable it’s gentle, easily intreated.

The thing about wisdom is you try to measure how much you have by how much you know and what Scriptures you understand and what great advice you tell people.  But wisdom is about DOING.  Not just knowing.  Not just telling.  If you are wise, the choices you make will be wise.  Like the commentary says, wisdom is measured by the manner of living. 

And I can not let this second idea go: I see so many people, particularly on social media, that are always talking about this person and that person and this thing and that thing and it’s never uplifting.  And they think they are being so wise because they are smarter and have everyone’s life figured it out but really these verses are saying that is not wisdom at all.  And it’s easy to point fingers and say they need to take a look at themselves but then I’m convicted to look at my own words.  Is what I’m saying, in writing or in person, really wisdom or am I just convinced I am right?  It’s so ironic that this study on wisdom comes back to taming my tongue.

So I’m challenging myself and would challenge you to step back, go look at our last 10 Facebook statuses, tweets, blog posts, blog posts comments (!) or think about our last 5 conversations.  Is there envy? Strife? Confusion?  Bad-mouthing?   Truly wise people will be peaceful, considerate, humble and sincere. If we are not characterized by these, we can turn back to James 1:5 (thank you, Marla) “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”  And in the meantime?  

Source: blogaholicdesigns.com via Amy on Pinterest

Amen.

Read other posts on James over at Marla Taviano’s.

Apologies, but no Polyvore weekend recap this week. You’re going to have to read an old-school blog post which to be honest is usually my favorite type of post from my favorite bloggers. At this moment, I’m really hoping you feel the same.

Scott worked this weekend, the weather was absolutely amazing and I was in a shopping mood. We got out Saturday and used a Groupon at a lighting place to score two amazing lamps at buy 1 get 1 free. I couldn’t have gotten a better deal at that place. Friday I had ordered the mirrored nightstands I had been drooling over but they won’t be in for 4-6 weeks. Which bites but I figure I will love it all the more and in the meantime, I’m enjoying the lamps.

While we were out we ran into Dani (what are the chances?!) and I was just too excited since I had been thinking we were due for some girl time. We ate lunch, where at one point Emma asked us, “Why are you guys talking so much??”. We headed out to Nordstrom Rack together where I got 2 cute shirts and the girls got some super cute rain boots. We had to part ways with Dani who had some errands to run so Heather met up with me and the girls and we headed to IKEA to use our free $25 coupon. I’d like to say I bought something fun but I just stocked up on the napkins we use and a few extra cereal bowls for my cereal monsters.

Saturday evening I determined we would stay in so we had sandwiches and made s’mores at the fire pit out back.

Sunday afternoon we had my niece after church and I still hadn’t gotten my shopping out so we went to check out the new Goodwill near us. The girls all got an outfit, I got 4 shirts and a book and we only spent $30. I mean, really? It was like an organized yard sale! I decided to drop in on a thrift store I’ve been meaning to check out but stopped at the gas station and got the kids a snack. I usually don’t let them do this but I let them each get some juice and a snack. When we climbed in the car Emma says, “I feel like we’re on a trip to Maryland.” And that is where I want to push the pause button.

My family is from the north but we moved South when I was 3. I’ve spent my entire life since then on an 8 hour road trip back and forth at least twice a year, sometimes more, to visit all of our extended family. Something that is engrained in me is getting out of car, feeling fresh cool air and buying a drink and snack at a gas station. There was something comforting about Emma knowing that feeling. I wanted to pull out of the gas station and head north on the Interstate. I wanted to stop at a Sheetz and eat a steak sub and drive through some winding mountain roads. OK, maybe not the roads. I get carsick these days. But still, I got a little homesick this weekend. So any family reading, know that I’m thinking about you and miss you guys!

For the record, the thrift store we went to was a complete bust. I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning the girls’ bedroom while they all played out back. Seriously, it was like a bomb had gone off. While I love the girls’ love of books, it was ridiculous how many stacks of books where everywhere. They’ve decided that playing school is a great activity after school and that requires lots of school books, pens, pencils, markers, book bags and of course stuffed animals as their students. I also rescued AT LEAST 8 cups and probably a load of laundry from the floor. I guess I had gotten accustomed to the mess and didn’t realize how bad it had gotten.

I wrapped up the weekend by cooking some French Breakfast Puffs to bring to work and watching Friday Night Lights rack up two Emmy’s. Woot!

So we’re on to a new week. This Friday is the Women of Faith Conference in Charlotte courtesy of BookSneeze. Let me know if you’re going to be there! I’m excited to see Natalie Grant, Karen Kingsbury and Laura Story, the singer of the popular song “Blessings”.

Congrats, Lana!

Disney on Ice is quickly becoming an annual favorite.  And to be honest, I’m not quite sure how many more years Emma is going to be interested in going.  I’m planning to happily savor these sweet little girl moments while they last.  And I’m especially excited about Disney on Ice this year as they are featuring Tangled!  How exciting will it be to see Rapunzel skate around with her long hair, frying pan in hand chasing Flynn around? 

I’m very excited for TWO things I can offer you today.  First off, use the coupon code ICE to save $6 on Saturday and Sunday shows.

But the very best part is I have a FOUR pack of tickets for the Thursday 10/6 show to give away.  Just leave a comment here telling me your favorite Tangled character.  If you haven’t seen the movie, just tell me your favorite Disney movie.  I will pick a winner next Thursday evening. 

Since the addition, Scott has been taking a nice long break from any larger projects around here.  I don’t blame him; he put in a lot of hours.  But this weekend it was time and I wrote Scott a honey-do list.   We knocked a few things off, even a few that weren’t on the list like clearing out his garage that was a T-total disaster since the addition. 

My favorite project from the weekend though was my jewelry holder to finish off our new closet.  And what I love most about it is it was less than $5 for us.  We already had an 8’ piece of wood and the stain.  So it was just up to me to buy the eye hooks and two pieces of metal rod.  After I stained it the same as my shoe rack, I simply lined up several rows of eye hooks, alternating its placement between rows.  I left the first few rows for necklaces, 3 rows in the middle to put a bar to hang my earrings and finally a last row of hooks for my scarves, belts and smaller purses.

So here it is on the wall after Scott attached it with a few screws.

You can see how I placed the eye hooks here.  I’m happy with the horizontal spacing but to be honest, I really should have increased the vertical spacing between each row.  I did 6” vertically and 1.5” horizontally.  For the earring section, I did 3”.

Lexi loves jewelry and helped me sort it out and hang a few things.  OK, for real, she hung up two necklaces and then skedaddled.

Here it is completed:

The necklaces on top:

 
I even hung matching rings on the same hook.

Rings and bracelets were hung from the last row in the necklace section:

Here is the earrings section.  Again, 3” was not long enough for some of my earrings.  Who knew earrings could be so long? 

Now I have NO excuse not to wear jewelry!

And finally, I have a small collection of jewelry that I just don’t see me wearing, some of it still with tags on.  If you see something of interest, let me know and I can text/email you a clear picture and drop it in the mail for you.  I just couldn’t seem to make myself trash it!

From left – two HUGE hoop silver earrings, a black/silver bracelet, silver necklace with black rectangle pendant, silver and blue necklace, white/silver multi-chain necklace, a set of gold/amber necklace, bracelet and earrings; black/gold/diamond earrings, small pearl necklace, silver bracelet, gold bracelet, silver bracelet, silver/teal bracelet, Easter bunny silver pendant, Noah’s ark pin, green Dragonfly pin, frog pin, silver anklet and small hoop earrings.