Set Free

Dear Hy-Vee employee, Today I had a toddler yelling and screaming the whole way out of church after hearing an encouraging message and I was pumped for the week.  I had to sit in the car listening to my three-year old cry her eyes out of hunger and overly tiredness, instead of talking nicely with my husband about applications to the sermon. After lunch and toddler asleep I ran to Hy-Vee.  Alone.  It was going to be great!  I walk in and get delighted that a few things on my list are on sale today.  I am lucky to get a free sample of frozen chocolate pie.  What 25 week pregnant woman would say no to chocolate pie?  Especially months of losing 20 pounds and puking nonstop! I found the shortest line to check out (I wanted to get home to enjoy piece and quiet while toddler was still asleep and hubby is home).  A male at the register and you were the young lady to put my items into bags.  You seemed nice and efficient so I could get out fast...

In the past years I've personally experienced some things that desperately needs to be brought to the surface.  How do I say this lightly? The Church has to take a step back and rethink some things.  There is a definite difference between grace, mercy, and acceptance.  Giving grace and being supportive is not saying "I 100% agree that this is good.  I accept you because I agree with you." Let's support and love on people because that's what Jesus would do. Show love and kindness to parents.  Include them. Let women lead connection groups and allow them to speak up at church. There needs to be a stronger ministry for high school graduates through newlywed life. There needs to be support for those who life looks different then what God had originally planned. Let me explain: Growing up I would think such poorly about those who lived differently than me.  Why do they think getting drunk on weekends and going to church like no...

It's been two months since my last post.  I shared the news we were expecting again!  The months didn't fly by necessarily.  I just didn't take the time to post. Updates on our little family include : --Not long after that post I had a weekend of less nausea and so we went to the doctor that Monday (8/10/15) to check on the baby.  Strong heartbeat and moving around like it was a jungle gym!  I was so surprised and so thankful to see everything going well.  However it also made me really confused.  So, now what?  Will my sickness return?  Is it going to get better or worse?  And...we could still lose this baby. --The next few weeks I had some REALLY bad nausea and constant puking that came about unexpected.  It was horrible!!  But each week it got better and I had some "functional" days if I had help with Ellie and breakfast.  It also helped if I didn't have to cook. --Labor Day weekend was my first time OUT of ...

Ellie has something she wants to tell you.... She's pretty excited and knows Mommy is sick because a baby is growing in my tummy.  The same day Ellie's hair clip made it's way out we got a positive test!  It was quite the day!! And my morning sickness started earlier and stronger than any other pregnancy I've had.  That has definitely been the hardest on me.  I just wish I could enjoy being pregnant.  I wake up in the night feeling like I have the stomach flu and the next day it starts all over again. Last week we had our 8 week appointment and our little baby measured just fine and had a good heartbeat of 167 bpm! Right now I take it a day at a time -- moment by moment-- and just pray this baby stays healthy and is doing just fine.  The sickness hasn't given me any breaks so so far I don't think there's going to be a problem.  I'm almost to the mark of when we found out Alex didn't have a heartbeat (and I'm more sick with ...

....I just don't like it. This week I posted an article about hating Matt Walsh .  With the post I said "truth" which let me clarify with what I meant. I wasn't saying the title of the article was truth.  I don't hate a blogger.  What I was referring to was hating how he goes about his blog .  Christians share his blog posts cheering for his beliefs.  And I shared that article because I strongly disagree with which he goes about doing so. I'm not someone who likes backlash on Facebook.  I don't enjoy strong disagreements on Facebook.  So I apologize for bringing that into focus.  That was not my intentions.  My desire was to share that I'm not a Matt Walsh fan in what he says and does on his blog . And that's why I don't comment when someone isn't willing to read the entire article.  Please don't read just a few lines and strongly disagree and start putting it out on me.  Ask my intentions and don't be quick to judg...

Ellie turned 2 1/2 years old a couple months ago, and things have certainly changed since her two year old birthday! Here's some of the awards Ellie could be given: 1. She is the best at going to the bathroom anywhere but the toilet. 2. You always know what cup is hers, it was placed in ketchup. 3. She can get Daddy to dance. 4. Her ability at hiding things that belongs to someone else. 5. So affectionate. Grandma getting kisses 6. In-tuned to other's feelings. 7. The loudest screamer. 8. The talent of knowing how things SHOULD go, where things SHOULD be placed, etc. 9. Knowing where everything belongs. 10. The best at introductions. 11. What the temperature of water needs to be. 12. Sounding like a lion. She definitely keeps us on our toes!  Well, literally her toes.  She still walks on her toes.  Everyone knows where our Ellie is....we're either calling her name out to come back to us, she's a lion, screaming in frustration, or hopefull...

After a busy week house sitting at my parent's house I had hoped to return home all ready and pumped to get my house back in order.  It needed a lot of cleaning done (I skipped cleaning the week prior.)  The day we were going to return home I woke up with awful allergies.  Today is the first day I actually feel more like myself.  This week I was pretty bummed.  Ellie was getting over a sickness and I was miserable. Movies, puzzles, reading books, baths, and grocery shopping filled our week.  I felt so down about the fact I couldn't get our house back in order with the normal weekly cleaning.  I just did what I had enough energy to do (sinus' made it hard to breathe). When a thought comes into my mind 50% of the time it happens within minutes of receiving that idea.  25% of the time it ends up happening within a couple days.  The other 25% it doesn't happen until that idea pops back into my mind. Today I had the idea "I want to shower an...

When Jon and I were first married I was a nanny for a two year old.  She was sweet and shy, but also full of things to say.  She loved to read books and loved arts and crafts.  She also liked to go on walks and swing.  I watched her for just over a year because Jon and I moved away. To be honest my least favorite age is 2-3 years old.  It's a hard age.  I like doing more advanced puzzles, games, and activities.  My favorite ages are 4-6 years.  For some of you that might seem like not much of an age gap, while others know exactly what I mean. But when I was a nanny I didn't mind her age at all.  Her personality was more like a four year old.  She was well behaved and mined her manners.  She was also fully potty trained.  Her and I had a lot of fun together.  She is such a sweetheart. Now what? "Must get this phone off!" I have a two year old.  In about a month my daughter will be the age of the girl I wa...

Hello stranger.  Sorry we've been away for so long.  Wifi is needed, because smartphones are not a fun way to write a blog post.  Then our laptop needed fixed.  Life has been really crazy lately... Especially when you realize the last post was October. Update posts must be made, here's a few: --Christmas (4 celebrations) --Bathroom Finished Product --Ellie updates & --Toddler Life Let's start with the bathroom! When we moved into our house March 10, 2014 it looked like this: We had to use the bathroom in our basement.  It stretched me for sure.   Read about that stuff here.   It was hard because Ellie wasn't walking yet and the mess of renovations really ended up everywhere.  She was crawling around in the living room or kitchen and getting the dust on her pants!  I had to get creative when I had to use the bathroom or for normal bathroom use.  We used the kitchen sink more often. And then I wrote in detail update...