Speak into being

With the many hours of traveling that Brad and I have done over the last two weeks, we have had plenty of time to sit down an make goals for 2013.  The list is long, includes "to be done by" dates, and has created quite a few projects for our family.  In making the list it reminded me of something that I wholeheartedly believe. 

I believe that you can speak things into being.  Can I speak everything on my list into being?  No, I probably won't even be able to do half of it (see, I'm speaking something into being there...oops).  Can I speak some of into being.....I believe so. 

One of the biggest areas I see speaking things into being is with relationships.  I can look at my darling Matthew who is about to turn two.  I can look at him and say "Oh boy.  We are entering into the terrible twos.  I can't wait for this trying time to be over.  You are going to be a mess."  I pretty much just said that he is going to be horrible and I'm not going to enjoy it.  Well, if I say that then I probably have that attitude and it probably won't be great.  However, I could look at this little boy and say "We are going to go through some trials, but I will love you through them all.  You will develop new skills and learn so much about becoming your own little person.  I will enjoy growing with you."  I admitted that there will be some trying times, but I chose to look at it with a positive outlook and by doing that I am proclaiming that it will be good.  If every time I get discouraged I quickly remind myself about my attitude then I can make the best of the situation.  The same goes with my relationship with Anna, Brad, and whoever else or whatever else I'm involved with.

I think we would be amazed at what we speak into being.  For the positive and the negative.  I wonder how our outlook would change if we focused on what we spoke into being.  As 2013 quickly approaches, I am announcing that I will do my best to speak blessings over my household and all those that my life comes in contact with.  I will speak good things into being.  When I fail, I will learn and try again.  Bring it on!

The Farm

Over the river and through the woods, to Grandmother's house we go....

That is almost our direct route to our Thanksgiving destination.  Well that plus eight hours :) Brad's grandparents have a farm in KS that we go to each year for Thanksgiving.  Although we would love to be able to host Thanksgiving at our house (mostly so I can do things my way....go figure:P) we are grateful for the opportunity to go each year.  It adds perspective and for the time there takes you to another world.  There is no cell phone service, Internet, garbage disposal, dishwasher, etc.  There is one bathroom for nine people. You travel on a dirt road to the house and the closest town(ish) is around 10-15 minutes away.  You are surrounded by fields and at night you fall asleep listening to the cattle and coyotes harmonize to sing you a lullaby.  As I write this my nose goes up as it sounds terrible, but you know what....we love going.  Anna has been counting the days til we were able to go. Months ago she was listing all things she loved about the farm. 

This is the only time we are able to see his maternal grandparents and aunts and uncles.  He has a sweet grandma who has Alzheimers and a grandpa who I've slowly come to like.  We laugh at some of their quirks such as blaring the TV right before they take their afternoon naps or finding silverware in a cheese drawer.  This trip I enjoyed seeing both my children go and hug Marjorie.  It is fun to laugh at Bill's jokes and discover his humor.  Marjorie and I make a great team with the dishes.

Across the road from the grandparents is one of Anna's favorite parts of the trip....Uncle Bob.  She looks forward to hearing the door creak open to reveal he is there to do chores.  This trip he taught her quite a few things.  First, he taught her the different kinds of cows.  Secondly, he helped her learn to drive.  The first time he took her out he came back and commented that she needed a lot of work. By the time we left she had vastly improved.  She drove Brad and I back on the 4-wheeler and kept a steady pace with the gas and kept a mostly straight line down the road.  Lastly, he taught her the function of cattle.  She fell in love with a cow named Petunia.  She droned on about how you could tell which one was Petunia and how she could pet her.  Well, Bob let is slip that Petunia was going to become steak.  Anna didn't think that was such a great idea but they compromised with a deal that he would at least wait until after she left to sell off her beloved cow.  That's life....  As much as she enjoys being around him, I think he enjoys being around her.  One morning he walked in and called "Where's my Anna?".  I'm so thankful that she has an opportunity to have these experiences.

Brad and I's favorite part is just being able to be around family.  Some of my favorite things about this trip were getting to have a late night conversation with my bil, watching my children be in this environment, being able to help out even though the contributions were small, seeing positive things about people, and just getting away.  I don't know how many more years we are going to get to go to the farm, but I am blessed for the times I have and look forward to the times that we have in the future.

Anna's First Buy

Last week Anna was filled with anticipation.  She was going to make her first purchase with her own money.  It was easy for her to choose what she wanted....something Mom said she wouldn't buy her....a scooter.  We had gone on Craigslist and Walmart.com to look at different options.  Her and I discussed the pros and cons of buying something used versus something new. She weighed her options and choose a pink and silver scooter with streamers.  Now we just had to make the big trip.  Thankfully for her, grandparents were in town and took her before out next trip to Walmart.  They didn't have the one she had decided on, were out of stock on her second choice, but there was a was a Princess one that would do.  Luckily, it ended up being the cheapest.  She loves her scooter!  She has worn out the sidewalks in front of our house with her riding!  The funniest thing is that Matthew chases her up and down the sidewalk or follows her with his little bike :)

It is very important to Brad and I that we raise our children to have a good foundation for handling money.  Personally, I believe that my parents did a great job teaching me about finances.  Brad makes great financial decisions.  When one of us wants to splurge the other one can reason.  We are both frugal and choose not to purchase things we can't afford.  The only debt we have is our house.  We weigh our options carefully and try to think about our future needs instead of what would make us happy right now. 

In attempting to help Anna understand the basics for financial success (according to B and J) we  (and my parents) bought Anna three banks.  Each of them is a Princess.  She picked which Princess went with which bank.  Cinderella is her savings bank, Tangled is for spending, and Belle is for tithe. (Later we will get her another one for long term savings, but in a few years).  We gathered up all her money and divided it out equally.  She will have a notepad for her to keep track of her saving and spending habits.  Not only does this help her keep track of what she does, but it is great for math :)  Our biggest issue to tackle next is that just because she has money in her spending bank it doesn't mean she has to spend it all. 

Friendships

In the last few months I have been rather sad.  It has become obvious that one of my closest friendships has deteriorated.  Although I'm not sure you can label a reason, I think it is just a drifting away.  Losing a friend is one of the worst feelings ever.  I do believe though that in different seasons of life, different people are in your life for a reason.  I'm not lucky enough to have a best friend from birth.  However, I have been blessed to have had several best friends throughout my lifetime.  Even though we aren't close now, I still look back with positive thoughts and memories of them.  They will always have a special place in my heart. 

I'm not a person that needs lots of friends.  I'm not that good at keeping in touch anyway so it is probably a good thing :)  I am married to a wonderful friend.  He is also my rock.  I love traveling through life with him by my side. He balances me out often times and I think I do the same for him. My mom and I have a great friendship and she can be the tough love friend that I need and the biggest supporter of me.  Those two are my best of the best friends I have.  I think one thing I have learned about friendship from them is that both of them can be the people who annoy me the most, and I can be the same to them.  But at the end of the day, we can get over it and the love we have for each other surpasses the anger. In high school and college, my two closest girlfriends and I had completely different views on most everything.  We were able to set that aside and just enjoy each other.  In my opinion, that is what a friendship should be.  You should make allowances for one another.  See the other person as Jesus would see them as my Grandma would say.

I have several other good friends.  When I was younger I used to say that God was my best friend and then I have 27 close friends :P  I never wanted to hurt anyone by saying someone was my best friend even though in my mind I probably had one.  We have been talking with Anna about how she can have several best friends.  She is such a social butterfly that I'm sure if she had Facebook she would be the one to have thousands of friends :P  When we go to church, more people say hi to her than me! 

My mom and I were talking the other day about best friends.  We chatted about what we would want in a best friend and how it is lonely if you don't have one.  I want to know about other people's best friends.  Have you had them for a long time?  What makes them your best friend?  What does it mean to be a friend?

My new hippie love: homemade cleaner

Brad often accuses me of being a hippie.  Yes, I admit that I do have many hippie tendencies that I'm quite proud of.  In college, my best friend Jess got me started on recycling and it has just progressed since then.  My newest form of hippism is making my own cleaner.

I have been wanting to make my own cleaner for while now.  I have looked up many recipes and have a few pinned on Pinterest.  However, I just couldn't make myself try any of them.  What if they didn't do as good of a job?  Really, can vinegar, baking soda, cream of tartar, and hydrogen peroxide do what they claim to do?  The last time I was at the store I told myself that it was the last time I was going to buy a commercial multi-purpose cleaner.  I really hate the smells of cleaner and when I clean I like to not have my children around so they aren't breathing the chemicals in.  And I hate breathing the chemicals in.  On top of those complaints, I haven't been entirely happy with recent brands I have been trying of cleaners.

While I was gone, Brad finished off my bottle of bathroom cleaner.  I decided that tonight I was breaking down and making my mixture of vinegar, water, and dish soap bathroom cleaner.  First, I have pink dish soap so I was very happy with the color (which is amazing since I used to adhore pink).  I enjoyed that I didn't feel like my esophagus was being chemically burned and best of all I didn't mind that Matthew kept coming in and out of the bathrooms while I was cleaning (well, maybe I minded since he kept getting into everything!!).  The skeptical me was still a little concerned with how the cleaner would work.  And what do you know, it was great!  It got off some marks that my previous bathroom cleaner couldn't get off!!!  I hate to cleaning my house as most of you know, but I tonight I couldn't wait to go clean my second bathroom!  In fact, I can't wait to try out more cleaners and try this one tonight on other things!  Brad is already heard me rave about this cleaner four or five times tonight :P 

I am definitely going to switch to using this cleaner and trying out a few other ones.  I will admit though that I am still going to keep around a few commercial cleaners like Soft Scrub, Pinesol, and one other one that helps with hard water stains.  But goodbye the rest of you commercial cleaners!

Becoming an adult: The credit card

After two years of trying, I finally got my first credit card today.  Yay!  Why did it take two years to get a credit card you may ask...well, it was because my credit score was a 0.  This is not because I racked up thousands of dollars in bills or didn't pay my bills.  It was because I have never had a loan and I always pay on time and in full.  It has been a battle and our banker was frustrated for us at the situation.  I have always chosen not to have a credit card because it was never something I wanted to tempt myself with.  I know that I would never have abused it, but just didn't want to have one. 

My not having a credit card was never a problem until Brad (who also had never had a credit card or anything) and I tried to buy our house.  Neither of use had any credit and we were told that it would be eaiser to handle things if we just went through a manuel underwrite with just Brad.  We knew that we wanted to work on the situation so next time both of us can sign for the house.  And I am a worrier and want to have a credit score for just in case something would happen to Brad and I have to take care of the two little people in our house.

The thing that frustrated us the most about the whole getting a credit card for me was that we have been wise with our money.  There are so many that aren't that have a credit card.  If I would have just gotten on in college where they hand them out like candy I wouldn't be in this situation.  It is pathetic that in order to do certain things like buy a house you need credit.  It should be more based on your records of paying bills and the such.  Why should I be punished for making good choices?

Brad would prefer that there were no credit cards in wallets. He is a big Dave Ramsey fan. But we both can agree that credit cards have their advantages. We only use his for whatever gets us points for the month and pay it off at the end of the month. Neither of us could handle owing money!! Also, there may come a time when we need to have a credit card, so it is safety tool.

But alas, the fight is over and now I can join the millions of other people with plastic in their pockets.

Monkey say, monkey do

This morning was woken up by Matthew at 5:30.  He went back to sleep, but alas, I could not.  Usually when this happens I just lay in bed til either Anna or Matthew wake up, but today I decided to get dressed.  I thought of all these projects I could get started on, knowing full well that all I was going to do was check my e-mails, Facebook, and Pinterest.  As I was checking my electronic life I was hit with the thought of "You could be spending your time doing your devotions".  Hmmm, at this moment, I don't remember the last time I did a devotion.  Anna and whoever is putting her to bed that night do devotions before she goes to bed.  We make sure it is a priority that she sets aside some time every day to thank Jesus for what He has done and spend time in His Word.  That is all well and good and I see the benefits of doing this.  The problem inlies with the fact that now she is fine doing that but when her or Matthew notice that their mom doesn't take the time to do it, then it could lead to them not making it a priority in their lives.  What I do is what they will do.  Obviously as they get older they will make their own choices no matter what example I set, but I am the one showing them what to do now and in this area I'm failing them.

This concept of monkey say, monkey do also falls over into how Anna and Matthew perceive the world through conversations Brad and I have.  For instance....Anna refuses to go to a class at the YMCA because she doesn't like the teacher.  When asked why she doesn't like her, she will reply that it is because the teacher is so disorganized.  Hmm, a five year old upset because a teacher is disorganized....that probably came from mom complaining about it.  She probably would have had no problem had she not overheard me saying something.  Or how about the times when she complains about the kids being too loud or how rude it is when parents take their kids out when they are visibly sick.  Or let's go to the fact that my daughter has an attitude when she talks at times and when I hear her I hear myself.  Ouch. 

I look at this sometimes and I think, well, at least I'm seeing this now before Matthew is too old and can change a few things.  But then self-doubt creeps in and reminds me that I probably won't.  I hope that I truly do because I do want to set a good example for my kids.  I want my marriage to be an example to them.  I want them to look back on their life and think "I really want to be like my mom in how she did this..." or "I remember my mom in the Word and being an example of someone who is a follower of Christ..".  I want them to model characterisitcs that I find important.  I don't want to say "do what I say, not what I do".  I fail daily, but hopefully the desires of my heart will help me to change and be the example I want to be.