Every Little Thing

Our house is STILL for sale.

BOO.

But that's ok.  We know our house is perfect for someone, and they will find us soon enough.

Until then, there are a few things we need that we really don't want to buy until we move.  Like a new refrigerator, furniture, TV, washer & dryer, etc.  Especially since our laundry area is outside.  No way am I buying a new washer & dryer and putting it outside in the garage.

Well, our washer has seen better days.  We have to manually start the spin cycle.

What does that mean?

Well, I lift the lid, put my right pinky finger in the little hole that makes it go, then with my other arm, I reach in and grab the side and literally spin it until it gets going.  Then I take my pinky finger out and close the lid really fast.

Every time.

It's ridiculous.

Which is why our house needs to sell NOW.  We've just been praying the thing will keep working until we move.

So a couple days ago my sis (who just moved into her newly built beautiful house! yay!) called me and said, "Hey, we're about to get rid of our washer & dryer b/c it's just sitting at the house we just moved out of and wanted to see if you wanted it first."

I told her, "No thanks, I think we'll just wait it out and maybe ours will last until we sell the house."  No need in ruining a perfectly good washer by putting it outside ya know.

So last night we're swimming around in laundry, and it happened.  The spinner wouldn't spin.  It just refused.  As if to say, "I'm tired of you handling me, let me just die".

:(

So I called her back today to see if they still had it and they did!

And wanted to GIVE it to us.

Later today, I found out that it was only 2 years old, and when I saw it, realized it's about TWICE as big as our old one!

God took care of us before we even needed it, and it was bigger & better!

And FREE!

He loves me.

And this makes me happy. :)

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This is My Life

Heard this today with my own ears:


"How do you spell UP?"


"I WANT GUUUUUUUUUM!!!!!!!"


"Lena, you don't need any gum, you just had that chocolate chip I found on the floor for you."


"5 times 9 is 5."


"I was slinging it around like this and he just walked into it on purpose."


"Yes it's NOT!"


"Come'on Son."


I'll let you decide who said what. 


You just can't make this stuff up.

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27 Million

Need some perspective?



Today is #KEY2FREE and the launch of the new A21 video, "In Her Shoes." Let's help get the word out!
The A21 Campaign

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If I could lasso the moon...

The moon was absolutely beautiful last night.  I pointed it out to Lena as we were on our way to church.  It went a little something like this:


Hey Lena, look at the moon! Do you see it? Isn't it so pretty?


Uhuh, see it, moon! 


...chuch it, Mama, chuch it?


(heart swelling) No, baby, we can't touch it.  It's too far.


Fwy, Mama, Fwy? Chuch it?


Maybe one day, baby. Maybe one day we can fly to the moon and touch it.

If I could lasso that moon, it would be in serious trouble right now!

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Shut up 63!!!!

 Well, I didn't throw up!

My sis ran with me too!

I don't remember ever being that nervous about anything.  It was truly out of character for me.

 

I smiled and laughed a lot.  Awkwardly.  It took me a good 10 minutes to get my number pinned on my shirt.  I couldn't figure out what I wanted to listen to on my run, because I forgot to sync my Twilight music before I left home.  I mean, what else would I listen to on a Twilight 10K run? 

I think just the preparation leading up to this one event was what did it.  Also, I had never actually run the entire distance without stopping before, so I wasn't sure that I could do it.

There were 503 runners

It took a while for us to cross the start line. We were kinda in the middle

This is me parking my gum & pretending not to see the camera guy

This is Malissa cheezin' for the camera guy

The finish line! I took my earbuds out so I could hear my family cheering for me the crickets

Eli sees me. :)

Missing it guys!

Seriously, not stopping!

I felt like a million bucks after this run! Which was surprising, because I just knew I'd be ready to collapse.  Total rush crossing that finish line!

Wait, what?!


Perhaps I was moving too fast.

I wanna do that again! Immediately!

This is so much fun! (Um, check my calves)

This was such an exciting day for me! The trail was absolutely breathtaking, and the Christmas lights were awesome.  I can't wait to run this one again!

Approaching!

Winning!

Woohoo!!!

Disregard the old guy, notice the love in the background

We did it!

My friends and family really made this day special for me.

My mom and dad came up to watch, and my sweet friends were so great to send me messages saying they were praying for a great run and then excited congrats after.  

Including one ecstatic phone call from my friend Anna, who I thought would burst from excitement for me over the phone.

And texts like this:

Shut up 63!!!! I am so 

super proud of you!!!!! For

real. Like seriously!!!! No 

kidding!!!! Yay yay yay yay

Made my day.  God has truly blessed me with more love and support than I could ever dream of!

Oh, and not that it matters, but here are my results!

Official time: 1:03:37

Placed 235 overall (out of 503)

Placed 16 in my age group (out of 50!)

Not bad for my first 10K!

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Say What

Tomorrow is the big day.

No, not the Alabama/LSU game.  Although I am excited to see it.


Tomorrow is this...

And I am running it.

I saw this a couple months ago and decided I needed a REAL goal to get myself into shape.  One that I couldn't back out of easily.  So I signed up and paid before I had a chance to change my mind.  At the time, I could barely run 3 minutes.

But I've been training.  And now I'm prepared.  My goals are very simple:

1.  To finish before the Jolly Trolley sags to pick up last participants.
2.  To finish in less than 70 minutes.

Before today, I have been super excited about this.

Now I just wanna throw up.

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Sometimes I can be a little impatient...

Could I get one of these for 3rd grade English please? That would be great.



Then I could just stand there and watch them learn saying Show me.

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Grateful

Some days, like today, I realize how much EASIER it would be for me to send my kids to school and go to work.  But then I realize that it's not about me...

It's all about them.  Homeschooling is both a sacrifice and a gift.  But it is worth it ALL.  What a gift God has given me!  I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a homeschool mom!

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Number One

Today was a great day.

Firstly, I had a Thirty-One Gifts open house at my home and it went really well! No thanks to my friends though! (You know who you are) I can't believe y'all didn't at least come eat a cupcake. You had 4 hours to do this. Gah.

But my sweet family came and a few friends, past hostesses, and customers too!

It was really exciting getting to show off all my new Thirty-One stuff.  I had the most fun setting everything up and preparing the food.  It's been a really long time since I was the hostess, and I didn't realize until today how much I have missed it!  So, I will be doing this again.  Hopefully soon.

Secondly, I realized why I will continue to be a part of Thirty-One Gifts for a very long time.

Let me tell you about two of my guests that came today.  They are the mother and sister of a very courageous woman who is currently in the process of adopting a child from China.  She is a hard working single mother and she is doing everything in her power to get to her daughter in China.  In case you didn't know, it costs A LOT of money to do this.  Her mother recently had a Thirty-One party as a fundraiser to help.

Yesterday, I was able to write out and hand this lady a check for an amount I wouldn't have been able to just give out of my pocket at the moment.  Because of Thirty-One.  When I delivered the order to her mother, I invited her to my open house so she could come see the new products.  She and her other daughter from out of town came by and the daughter was telling me how grateful she was that I had helped her sister out by doing the fundraiser for her.

But I'm the grateful one.  This adopting business is so much greater than any of us realize, and I got to be a very small part of that process for this family.

I hope I get the opportunity to do this again and again.

Sometimes I feel like I don't have what I want to give, but God has given me this WAY of giving that I would have never thought of on my own.  He always makes a way.  When it seems like there is no way, He just makes one.  I am so thankful that I have found this company.  Because of Thirty-One, I have been able to give in so many ways that I couldn't have otherwise.

There are so many reasons I love Thirty-One, but this has to be the NUMBER ONE reason.

Giving freely.  There is just nothing more rewarding than that.

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So you think you can dance?

I found this video in Photo Booth the other day, and I just couldn't keep this jewel to myself. Enjoy!

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