Maddy, Mommy,Daddy Date Night Jar

My husband and I have made it a tradition to each go on a date once a month with our daughter, Maddison.
We usually take the first two Tuesdays of the month and my husband will take her out one week and I will take her out the next.
We have been doing this for sometime now and we realized that we were doing the same old same old each month, movies, Chik Fil A, Frozen yogurt etc...... and we wanted to get creative .
So I stumbled through my cabinets to look for a fun vessel to use for our ideas and I cam accross this fun glass container. It previously had cookie cutters in it but they were always a pain to get out so it worked great for me to repurpose it.

I then took some fun pink scrapbook paper in honor of Maddys' favorite color and cut it into 6x3 inch pieces folded them in half then got to work on a list of fun "dates" that we can take Maddy on. Some of them costing money and some of them free.

So now when the day is approaching for one of us to take her on a date she can just go to her "Date Jar" pull out a pink slip and it will be decided what we will do
Here is a list of the dates that I put in the jar (these will have to be updated as weather and seasons change)

1. Hot cocoa and cookies at The fountains
2. Library Date (go to the library, read some books and get some for home)
3. Sushi dinner (Maddy loves "sushi")
4. Home Depot Date- To get some fun plants for a few pots that she decorated
5. Art Museum Date
6. Art Beast - Art studio in Sacramento
7. Go on a "photo shoot" (this would be one she would do with my husband, I would not be able to help her at all)
8. Movie night and popcorn at home
9. Cupcake decorating contest
10. Pedicures with mom
11. Maddy's Choice (she can pick whatever (in reason that she wants to do)
12. Fort Night (make a fort in maddys room, have snacks and read books)
13. Park and picnic date
14. TuTu making party (Maddy LOVES TuTu's and anytime she can get a new one puts a smile on her face)
15. Wacky Tacky
16. Dollar Bin shopping0 What kids doesn't like the Dollar Spot at Target. Give Maddy a budget and let her shop
17. Go to the Zoo
18. Maddy's Movie pick
19. Flower Planting party
20. Make cookies and take them to the fire station
21. Easter Egg Hunt (anytime of the year)
22. Craft Night- Grab whatever paper, scissors, glitter, crayons, boxes, etc and see what you can make
23. Open swim at the indoor pool (this would be most fun in the winter when she hasn't swam in awhile)
24.Wii Night

Here is the finished product

Mold Me and Move Me

I recently gave my testimony to Fuel High School ministry at our church and leading up to it I was rather nervous, being that this was the first time I would share some very intimate and personal moments in my life with a group of (mostly) strangers. Not to mention they were teenagers who had no idea who I was and why would they care what I had to say?

When I was approached with the opportunity my immediate response was Yes! I knew the Lord needed to use me and I couldnt let my fear get in the way of His plans. As I was preparing for this time in the weeks prior I struggled with what I would say, how I would present it, what details to go into and what to leave out. I didnt want it to be too scripted but at the same time I knew I had to have a game plan. So I mapped out what I would say to an extent and figured the Holy Spirit would take me the rest of the way.

The night came for me to speak so with my husband and a few great friends there to support me I "took the stage" and boy oh boy did the Holy Spirit show up for me. Not only did I refrain from tears (which if you know me this is HUGE) but He spoke through me and it was awesome! As I was coming to the close of my story and I was sharing what God has done for me and how the Good News was Great news for me something unexpected came out of my mouth
"dont let your selfishness trump Gods glory"

 I finished my story and I didnt really think about it until later that night and I just couldnt get the phrase out of my head.


"Dont let your selfishness Trump Gods glory"

How many times do we allow this to happen?
How many times do we selfishly do what we want and we leave no room for Him, His plans or His glory.
How many times in our own selfishness do we accomplish something and He doesnt get the glory?

I would love to say that this isnt the case in my life, that I am never selfish and I always put His plans first but that would be a big fat lie!
His plans are usually scary ones, uncomfortable ones and challenging ones and I find myself always second guessing what I know He is telling me because I am being selfish, because I am scared.

What I can say is that I am a work in progress. The more and more I let Him guide me the more I am leaving room for Him to be glorified through me. The more I draw closer to Him the less fear (though it is still there) I have for what His plans are.

I dont want my selfishness to trump His glory.

Lord, mold me, move me and make me uncomfortable.

What is it all about anyways?

The more and more I talk to real moms about real life the more I realize that we are all a lot more alike than we think. From our struggles, pains, children, husbands and our walk with the Lord. Where we once were and where we are now, we are constantly comparing ourselves to one another not knowing that we are all more or less in the same boat.

When I first came to know the Lord I was carrying around this weight and worry about what everyone around me thinking. I was afraid to go into my past because in my eyes no one had any idea of the struggles I had, no one had made the same mistakes and they had no idea where I was coming from. Everyone around me had it together, their kids, marriages, jobs, households, finances, appearance and there was no room for my errors.

As I started to allow myself  to be vulnerable with people and "be real" I started to realize that not everyone had it as "together" as I thought.

After all we are all humans. We have faults and we have struggles. It was freeing and encouraging to be open with other moms about real life and to share in the joys and frustrations of life.

So here I am putting myself out here to be real, to share my struggles, my life, what works for me, what doesn't, crafts, DIY ideas, recipes etc... It will be a mish mash of goodness but it will be My Life as I know it.