December 18, 2013 By 2 Comments

December 18

Today for our kindness advent we preloaded all those trinket and gumball machines outside our local grocery store.  This was rather quick and fun.  And I did let the boys each use one quarter.  They both chose skittles.  Huddy was all like, “These Skittles sure are hard.”  I was all like, “Yeah, that’s called stale.”

I love doing all these different things with them.  I love talking it over and discussing…like how we would feel if we were the ones who found all the quarters in the machines.  It’s fun to hear what they are thinking.

Tomorrow we are taking some school supplies Ms. Flowers needs to her classroom.  Anything that involves Susan is sure to be fun.

And two quick things.

1)  Today is elf day at Harper’s school.  How flippin’ fun right?!?!  Josh was working out of town most of last week and Harper was pretty sad one night when she was going to bed.  She was missing him bad.  To make her smile as I left her room I sang part of Buddy’s Christmas gram from the movie Elf.  “I love you, I love you, I love you.”  My voice getting higher and higher.  No smile from Harper, but through her tears and without missing a beat she replied with, “Oooh!  What’s a Christmas gram?  I want one.”

And yes, we are the people who still have pumpkins on our porch.  We’re dual celebrating.

And 2)  Today and tomorrow are bake days.  We have lots of baked goodness to share because…cough, cough…baked goods can change the world.  Today was gooey butter cake, nutter butter balls, oreo balls (which are nutter butter balls just subbed oreos) and chocolate chip brownie Oreo cups (smushed break & bake chocolate chip cookie dough in a muffin tin, then an oreo on top of that and then a spoon full of brownie mix…bake 15 minutes @ 350…yeah, that.)  Tomorrow we’re rockin’ snickerdoodles, chewy M&M cookies and Andes mint cookies.  Can I get a Amen?  God bless baked goods.

Happy Wednesday!

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August 9, 2013 By 18 Comments

Be.A.Blessing

At the beginning of the year I thought about what I wanted my 2013 goals to be.  One of them was to be more intentional in blessing others.  In fact, on my little green index card I simply wrote ‘intentional blessings’.  I also wanted to listen more to God.  I so struggle with knowing if it’s Him half the time or even just obedience in general.  When He put something on my heart I wanted to follow through…especially when it came to something He was spurring my heart to do for someone else.

This hangs above Harper’s bed.

We say this to them all the time.  These two things are the important ones.  The ones when everything else fades away these will be the everlasting ones.  We can talk to them about it all day long, but if they don’t see us doing it…us acting it out…us really loving Jesus and others…then I feel like our words are lost.

This year I have tried to do my best to follow through.  When Jesus says…’send a gift card’…’write a note’…’encourage that person’…’bake cookies or gooey butter cake or cupcakes’…and yes, I’m pretty sure Jesus loves gooey butter cake…when He puts even a twinge feeling in my heart that I am suppose to act, I’ve tried to do so.  I’ve lacked…I haven’t always been obedient…I haven’t always obeyed with a cheerful or pure heart…but I’ve tried…I am trying…and Jesus has showed me grace.  I know I’m in major need of His grace and forgiveness. Every.Single.Day.

When Monday rolled around and school started memories came flooding back to the time when I was a kindergarten teacher.  I remember the stress, the overwhelmingness, the desire to be my absolute best for those kids, the figuring out of the kids…and parents.  I remember how crazy the first week was.  And I felt God nudge my heart to encourage and love on our staff with baked goods.  You may laugh…and that’s cool…it makes me laugh too, but I’ve been working on acting when Jesus says ‘act’.  So I got my bake on in order to encourage our teachers and staff because they so deserve some encouragement on their first week back.  Baked goods can change the world.

This morning I dropped off iced sugar cookies (cookie recipe and Royal Icing sort of recipe), Nutter Butter Balls, Gooey Butter Cake and chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  A) I love having an empty refrigerator and B) It was crazy nice to see lots of smiles as Harper and I wagged in all those baked goods.  My kids watched and helped me bake this week.  They asked where these things were going.  They taste tested and approved.  And we were given the chance to talk and show them a way to love and bless others.

It wasn’t expensive or extravagant or hard and that’s one of the most beautiful things about blessing and loving others.  It doesn’t have to be big or grand…it can be so simple and small.  So today I want to encourage you to bless someone.  Maybe you’re good at writing cards or you could babysit a single mom’s kids or a couple who needs dinner together or maybe you can bake with the best of them and you know someone who could use a cookie.  Maybe you could just shoot someone an email or text and remind them of how precious and valued they are.  The list could go on and on.

I bet God has just the right person in mind and you could be used by Him to make a difference in their day.

1 John 4:11-12 (The Message)

“My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!”

Happy Friday.

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April 22, 2013 By 3 Comments

Babies, Bikes & Baked Goods

The weekend could easily be summed up in three words:  Babies, Bikes & Baked Goods.  The end.

I was at the hospital a grand total of 4 times this weekend to hang with baby Delaney and my niece baby Hollis.  It was pretty great and I sooooo forgot how tiny a newborn is.  They were just so little.

Then there were the bikes.  Our kids have been needing bigger bikes and we decided this weekend it was time to hook everyone up.  Josh loves to mountain bike and I know he really wants, at least our boys to ride with him one day…sooner than later.  As soon as they are riding well with no training wheels, I know he will take the boys.  Josh Kelley has no fear when it comes to things like that.  I’ll just turn my head and pretend not to notice.

They literally rode their bikes through the store, to the register, out of the store and to the car.  It was quite adorable.  And have been riding them ever since.

And lastly…baked goods.  You know how I feel about baked goods…they can totally change the world.  Since my no-sweets-during-the-week started, I haven’t been baking as much, but I recently found this Salted Caramel Snickers Rice Krispie Bars recipe.  I grew up on rice krispy treats.  They were one of my mom’s favorite and she rarely smashed them into a 9×13 pan.  Instead she divided them right out of the bowl into smaller bowls and we ate them with a spoon.  I adore memories like that.  So when I saw that this recipe was several things I so loved smashing into one, I was game.

These are crazy good.  You know I would tell you if they sucked, but it’s true…I wanted to eat the entire pan.  I actually doubled the recipe and used a 9×13 pan.  So so good.  I’m actually sad they are all gone.

I wanted to share with some sweet people in my life…some people that needed to know I like them and appreciate them.  In the words of Beth Moore, I have been missing the feeling and the knowing in my heart of “natural family” and belonging…outside our little family of 6.  With the loss of Mom, that regular, real sense of family left too…it’s just not easy.  And then certain crazy kind people in my life make me feel as if I belong and give me that “natural family” feeling all over again and it takes my breath away.  And to those people, well they totally deserve Salted Caramel Snickers Rice Krispie Bars.

photo source

You should probably make some baked goods today and share.  It’s little and easy and it’s a way to say, “Hey, I think you’re pretty rad.”  Baked goods can change the world…and start someone’s Monday off much better.

So how was your weekend…did yours have a letter B theme too?  Ha.  Well I hope it was really grand whatever it contained.  Happy Monday!

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