March 12, 2013 By 4 Comments

Everything

Mom’s preacher recently got diagnosed with a very rare and aggressive type of cancer.  For as long as I can remember, one of the things my Mom always told me was to pray for our preacher.  Mom believed in prayer greatly.  She was the most praying woman I have ever known…besides my MawMaw.  One of the things I still remind the wee Kelleys of is just how much Grammy prayed for them and over them.  Even Amon.  There is no telling how many prayers she prayed for that child.  Countless.  She could not wait to see his face and she covered him in prayers all the way from Tennessee.

She believed in smothering her preacher with prayers and encouragement.  In fact, I think it was one of her gifts.  She had me make him art and she sent him cards and baked him bread and prayed like mad for him as the leader of their church and for his family.  I know with the recent news of his cancer, that Mom’s prayers would only have multiplied.  Right after Mom’s funeral, Brother David came up to me…we don’t know each other…but he said to me, “I can’t tell you what an encouragement your mother was to me.”  I know she truly was.

Yesterday I watched the sermon he preached last Sunday and it was the best thing I did all day.  We don’t attend Long Hollow, but I know it is an amazing body of believers and I may have boohooed while watching, but what a testament to God’s goodness and mercy.  A message everyone needs to hear and take deep into their hearts.  Please check it out and pray for this sweet man of God and his family.

CLICK HERE to view Brother David’s sermon.

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January 9, 2013 By 6 Comments

Krazy Kelleys

Life with kids is seriously so crazy and so hard and so fun.  Being a parent is not only amazing, but extremely hard.  I mean I love them like crazy…I only love Jesus and Josh more…so they’re pretty high up on my list.  Life with the wee Kelleys is never dull…never, ever, ever dull.

I struggle just like most parents out there to find balance and to be fun, but firm and to not lose my ever loven’ mind every day and to be patient and to love hard and to care and instill and invest and apologize when I yell and make mistakes.  That’s a lot to try and do on my own.

One of my goals for this year is to let God have His children back because I’ve been holding them a bit too tightly and acting as if they really are mine, when they are really God’s and He’s just entrusted Josh and I with them for a bit.  So I’m trying to get back to letting God teach me how to parent His wee Kelleys.

That’s kind of hard for me to do because I have these little pictures and all these dreams for what I imagine Harper, Hudson, Solomon and Amon will be.  And then God reminds me, “Maybe that’s not what I have planned for them Laura.”  This past year, more than ever, I have been learning to embrace and love and cherish the fact that God has walked our days out ahead of us and to plan in pencil because God has His plans and they far exceed anything I could ever imagine.

So I’m learning to let Him guide me in this crazy thing called “parenting.”  It’s terribly hard for me, but goodness knows this is a lesson I have needed to learn…I’m pretty good at botching things up and there are 4 wee Kelleys who I certainly don’t want to botch.

And a high-5 or fist bump to all you parents out there today because certainly you could use a bit of encouragement…this is not an easy task, that’s for sure.

Ephesians 2:10  “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

Happy Wednesday.

PS:  Giveaway ends tonight at midnight.  So excited to see who the three winners will be.  CLICK HERE to enter.  Hooray.

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January 1, 2013 By 2 Comments

Happy 2013!

It’s here and it’s full of possibility.  I’m anxious and hopeful for what this new year will hold.

Let the hope and comfort and joy and healing come.  God is making things new.

So happy 2013…from our crazy Kelley crew to yours.

PS:  I did in fact decide to dress up to bring in the new year.  Getting fancy.

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November 30, 2012 By 11 Comments

Christmas Ramblings

Christmas is in full swing at the Kelley house.  Our tree is up.  Our stockings are hung.  Our Christmas books are out.  Advent envelopes are ready.  And I am a mad present buying fool.  Packages have started arriving…I heart the FedEx and UPS dudes. I’m checking things off my list left and right.  It’s good times I tell you…good times.

Harper had ornament day yesterday at school and it was too fun.  They made all sorts of ornaments and started decorating their classroom tree with them.  I love Harper’s teacher.  I could easily bring her home with us and keep her for forever.  Not stalkerish sounding at all.  Harper would like that.  God bless good teachers.

Our tree goes up seriously the day after Thanksgiving.  Josh Kelley is a Christmas tree lover and he is usually itching around Halloween to put it up.  I do my best to keep him at bay until after Thanksgiving.  This year it went up a week before Thanksgiving.

I need another stocking hanger.  I bought ours over several years from Hobby Lobby and now I need just one more, but Hobby Lobby doesn’t have them anymore.  Can anyone help a sister out?  Josh’s poor stocking is just hanging out on our stool below all of our nicely hung stockings.

We do believe in Santa.  We don’t do the “he sees you when you’re sleeping” Santa, but only because I find it a bit creepers.  We leave cookies and milk out and also do the reindeer food in the yard.  The wee Kelleys know that Christmas is about Jesus, not all about Santa.  But I like the wonder and imagination in it…just like their wonder and imagination with Princesses and Star Wars and Superheros.  Why has this become a matter of the heart and up for serious spiritual debate over the years?  Can’t we all just be cool with whatever works for your family…different strokes, for different folks.  One of my nieces told Harper Santa wasn’t real and I just told her the truth, “Well then Santa isn’t real to her.”  When she asks if Santa is real, I simply ask back, “What do you think?”  I want her to be true to herself and not to worry about what other kiddos say and do and think.  So yep, we dig Santa, but we dig the Savior of the world more.

We do three presents per kiddo and then some small treats in their stockings.  This is just our choice because Jesus received three gifts and it works best for our budget with 4 wee Kelleys.  I’ve seen on Pinterest the 4 gifts…1 want, 1 need, 1 wear and 1 read.  I thought that was pretty neat, but I just like giving the fun wants.  Ha.  And some parents go all out with presents and some do none…kudos to you too.  Virtual high 5s all around.

We like our Kindness Advent to further help us keep the main focus on what Christmas is all about.  I also saw this pin on Pinterest about doing Advent with The Jesus Storybook Bible.  It is hands down my most favorite little kid Bible.  I tear up sometimes reading it to them.  You must check it out.  I’m going to do this with the kids this year too.

I’ve always wanted a tree skirt, but those things are pretty darn expensive.  This year Land of Nod has a super cute one that I loved, but again, way too pricey.  What’s a crafty girl to do…make my own.  So 2 yards of natural burlap, some felt snowflakes and fabric pens later and voila…my own tree skirt that cost me just a few bucks.

I love all the Elf On The Shelf ideas I am seeing all over Pinterest.  We don’t have an elf, but I think all the ideas are way funny and cute and I bet my kids would love it.  I’m thinking I may just buy a cheap little creeper elf from Etsy and let him serve as our Elf On The Shelf.  My niece Campbell loves the whole elf thing too.  I have consistently bought her additional old creepy elves to add to her magical collection.  #auntoftheyearaward

And lastly what are your favorite Christmas movies?  Right now our favorites are Elf and Arthur Christmas.  My Uncle Tom got Arthur on Netflix for the kids while we were in Florida.  My Aunt Linda and I cried like babies.  It is such a funny and sweet movie.  I’m going to get it for the kids eventually.  Uncle Tom sent us home with a copy of Elf.  The wee Kelleys belly laugh at several parts.  Mainly the burping part and when he asks the rabid raccoon if he needs a hug….the boys enjoy acting that one out.  It’s quite hilariously funny.

So what are your Christmas traditions?  Any favorites?  I like that Christmas can look so different depending on the family.  Different is good…if we were all the same, the world would be quite boring.

Happy Friday!

Oh and I almost forgot.  Tomorrow is the first day of our Kindness Advent.  I changed things around with our deeds this year a bit, but decided to keep our first kind deed the same as last year…a little tradition within a tradition, if you will.  Have a great weekend.

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November 28, 2012 By 13 Comments

Kindness Advent

I’ve always had the best of intentions to do advent and until last year it never happened…at all.  But last year was different.  And it was good.  After seeing this pin on Pinterest about Random Acts of Kindness, I knew this would be a new Kelley tradition and we would do it fully and we would do it well.  It made my heart happy and I felt like it set the focus for our family in a season that is full to the brim of hustle and bustle.  So began our kindness advent.  We made a list and set out to do one act of kindness everyday in December leading up to Christmas.

Here’s how we did ours from last year…pulled from THIS POST)…ignore the not-so-great-pictures, I was working with a broken camera:)

**I don’t have a lot of room in our house, so I needed an advent that would not take up much space.  I decided on envelopes and today Harper and I made our official advent envelopes.  Here were our supplies:

Glue sticks, small clips, small paper bags (Hobby Lobby), number stickers, plain paper and patterned paper.

First we covered the front of bags with some patterned paper.

Then we cut out some small circles and added number stickers and then glued the circles to the front of the bags.  Josh and I had brainstormed earlier this week, so I re-wrote our ideas on individual pieces of paper.  I had to modify the original ideas because of the 3 small Kelleys.  Let’s face it…we would be a disaster trying to load someones groceries into their car…they may even pay us to leave them alone :)

Harper stuffed the envelopes.

Then I hung up our ribbon and attached the envelopes with the small clips.  Easy cheesy.

So that was last year.  This year I wanted to do a little something different because I want to leave up our thankful leaves until Christmas cards start rolling in.

So I bought these cheap little wire hanger things on Pick Your Plum and just clipped all my envelopes to them instead.  Super easy.

Sidenote:  If you do Pick Your Plum deals, go in with a friend and save on shipping.  Courtney and I are notorious Pick Your Plum groupies and it saves us money.  Insert fist bump here.

I was asked to speak at a local MOPS group in December about our kindness advent.  In preparation for the meeting I typed up a list full of acts of kindness ideas.  I know several of you asked me for more ideas, so if you would like this Word document just shoot me a message using the “Contact Laura” button at the top and I’ll email it your way.  Or you can just check them all out below.  I would love even more ideas, so if you have new ones, leave a comment with your idea and I’ll add it to the list.

*Cupcakes to bank  *Leave encouraging notes or gift cards on cars  *Volunteer your time

*Buy someone’s breakfast/lunch/dinner  *Send flowers or giveaway flowers

*Doughnuts to school  *Take balloons and/or treats to hospital

*Pump someone’s gas  *Go caroling  *Carepacks for homeless  *Feed parking meters

*Leave a big tip  *Anonymous chalk art or door hangers  *Food gift cards for homeless

*Give gift card to shopper or leave in shopping carts  *Gift cards for single parent

*Birthday/Christmas bag drop *Make & leave bookmarks at library or bookstore

*Hide $1 bills at Dollar Tree  *Over pay for Contributor newspaper

*Sticky notes on public bathroom mirror  *Treat for Salvation Army bell ringer

*Donations to Crisis Pregnancy Center  *Tip drive-thru worker

*Muffins to pediatricians office  *Hold the door for shoppers  *Decorate someone’s porch or mailbox

*Leave change at laundromat  *Return shopping carts from parking lot

*Tape change to vending machine or bubble gum machines

*Pay strangers over due fees at library  *Gift wrap presents for free

*Treats for library workers  *Adopt a family for Christmas  *Do free yard work for someone

*Bag of groceries with recipes to a family  *Pass out candy canes  *Paint rocks and leave for others to find

*Popcorn, candy & movie rental bucket to a family *Babysit for couple/single parent

*Handmade cards to nursing home  *Pay for someone’s Santa picture

*Giveaway balloons/stickers/books to kids shopping w/parents

*Treat for mailman, post office workers, trash collector and/or police & fire station

*School supply donations to a classroom  *Bring up neighbors trash can

*Gift or flowers for custodian at school  *Give genuine compliments

*Card for loved one  *Pay for car behind you in drive thru line

*Mail handwritten letters of encouragement  *Pick up trash

*Coffee for people waiting for bus or outdoor workers  *Donate blood

*Treat for bus driver  *Donate non perishables to food pantry

*Gift card for all night gas station/store worker  *Share Sonic happy hour

*Leave surprises at playground (Coins, small toys, filled Easter eggs)  *Read to a classroom

Like last year, I will be documenting each day of our acts of kindness.  I cannot wait.  The kids are getting excited.  This year took a little more planning since Harper is in school and I wanted her to still be able to participate, but I think we took care of everything and planned well.  I hope you will join us.  It’s going to be fun.  Tis’ the season for kindness…you know you want to do it too.

Happy Wednesday.

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November 3, 2012 By 10 Comments

Friday

I don’t normally post on the weekends, but I wanted to wrap up my 30th birthday week…30 Acts of Kindness.  Yesterday was my official birthday and it was great. I felt extremely loved and encouraged and that was really nice.  Thank you so very very much.

And here’s how my last six acts of kindness played out.

#1  Birthday bag & cupcake drop.  My friend Eric has the same birthday as me and well, that makes us practically twins.  Eric loves bacon and I wanted to surprise him with a little birthday and bacon love.  I bought some fun birthday items like a birthday banner, hats and blowers, plus an awesome $1.50 game of Pin-The-Tail-On-The-Donkey and paired them with some Maple Bacon Cupcakes.  Let me take a moment and say how super amazingly delicious these cupcakes were.  They were awesome…bacon and all.  Give them a shot…you really will not be disappointed.  And happy birthday Eric…glad we’re twins.

#2  Muffins to pediatrician’s office.  We love our pediatrician Dr. Eidson.  He’s really just the best.  And he loved my mom.  He always brings up sweet stories about her that make me cry, but the good kind of cry…the remembering and sweetness.  We see him quite often…we actually had back-to-back appointments this week and yesterday Huddy had his 4 year check up.

Dr. Eidson and all of the staff are always just too, too good to us and as a mom, I cannot say enough how much I appreciate their love and kindness and patience and hard work.  Instead of muffins I ended up making Nutella Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting.  Why don’t you, right now, stop whatever you are doing and go make these.  That’s about all I can really say.  Superbness.

#3  Cupcakes to the bank.  My Mom loved her job and she was incredible at it.  Mom’s job at Pinnacle Bank was not just a job, but great friendships and family.  Her co-workers have loved on our family like crazy and it has just been humbling and made us feel so very cared for and we truly appreciate it.  I wanted to bless them with some yummy chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  Just a little something to say “thank you.”

#4  Buy someone’s lunch.  Since it was my birthday, the boys and I headed to Chick-fil-a after Huddy’s check-up.  We drove through and ordered some lunch and then paid for the car’s order behind us.  A very simple act that could change someone’s day.

#5  Popcorn, candy and movie rental bucket.  We love a good movie night and decided to share this with another family.  I fixed a little box with some microwave popcorn, some popcorn mix, giant movie theater candy and a Redbox gift certificate.  Did you know you could buy Redbox gift certificates…you just print it off or email it to the recipient.  I drove around looking for a family checking out a movie together and found one outside a McDonalds.  It took some persuading…no, I did not want money for the bucket…no, I did not want them to sign up for something…no, there was not a catch, but finally after some explaining the mom took the bucket and said thank you.

And #6  Surprise art drop.  At Harper’s school fundraiser a sweet friend really went after my silent auction art basket pretty hard.  She ended up not getting the basket and made a comment about one particular piece.

I made this canvas up and did a surprise art drop yesterday.  Who wouldn’t want to come out to your car and find something fun on top of it?

And that wrapped up my birthday week.  It turned out to be a much better week than I had anticipated and I credit God for every bit of joy and love this week encompassed.  I am just your everyday person…a very flawed individual and sinner…the deal breaker is Jesus.  Because of the love of Jesus I have been transformed into something special…something extraordinary…something created for a purpose.  Just like all His people.  That is something definitely to celebrate and share with others.

Happy Saturday!

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October 31, 2012 By 349 Comments

Tuesday {+ Giveaway DAy}

**GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED**

Tuesday’s kindness acts are done.  Boom.  This is how we rolled yesterday:

#1  Doughnuts to school.  I was a kindergarten teacher so I know first hand what a hard and under paid and joyful job being a teacher is.  I was thrilled to be able to bless Harper’s school staff with something simple and yummy like doughnuts.  Yesterday morning’s kindness acts started early…I literally rolled out of bed and left the house in the clothes I slept in plus boots and a jacket.  It’s cold here in Tennessee now.  I was looking H.O.T.  My friend Brea said she looked like “death on a cracker” the other day.  Yep, that was me yesterday morning.

And here’s a little Krispy Kreme tip for you the Krispy Kreme lady shared with me.  If you call ahead with an order of 10+ boxes they will give them to you for $5.10 a box.  I did not know this prior…now I know and am passing the info along.

#2  Flowers for Mrs. Sherry.  Mrs Sherry is the custodian at Harper’s school and I figured she would appreciate some pretty fall flowers and some yummy cookies.  You can never go wrong with either.

#3  Gift card for a single mom.  God bless you single mommas our there.  You work crazy hard and deserve some extra love.  I thought a pedicure and some extra grocery money would do the trick.

#4  Treat for photographer.  We had family pictures taken yesterday afternoon and our regular go to photographer Cheyenne of Shots by Cheyenne was completely booked.  She passed on the info of her partner Laci of Barefeet Photography and Laci was able to get us in…and was amazing…to say the least.  When I saw this picture…big tears people…big, big tears.  I adore this child.  And Laci is having an awesome “pay it forward” photo session giveaway right now…CHECK IT OUT HERE.

And while I’m “God blessing” people…God bless Laci for putting up with a hot mess of wee Kelleys.  The boys had MDO yesterday which means no naps, plus they had Halloween parties.

Well let’s just say I had to take my wooden spoon with me when we left the house…for all you parents who spank, you know what this means :)   {Side Note:  If you don’t spank, that’s cool…different strokes for different folks.  Un-Side Note}  Laci totally earned her little treat…some cookies and a Starbucks card.  Thank you so much Laci for your patience and hard work…we appreciate you.

As we drove to our photo destination Harper said, “Do you think this is what Green Lantern girl would look like?”  Ummm, yes.  Nailed it.

When we got home the back seat looked a little like this.

And Amon practiced his photo bombing skills after everyone was in bed.  I love this kid.

#5  Chalk door hangers.  I bought these awesome hanging chalkboards for super cheap a while back on Pick Your Plum.  When I bought them I had no idea what I was going to use them for and then it dawned on me.  The boys and I hit up all our unsuspecting houses before I dropped them off at school.  My favorite part was when I stepped in dog poop at one house and Huddy said, “Dogs should really learn to wipe their bottoms.”  Yes, that would solve my problem.  The door hangers made an easy little act of kindness.

**See that reflection…that is a “death on a cracker” reflection.

And when I got home this was hanging from our kitchen cabinets.  Let’s do one more “God bless”…God bless Josh Kelley.  He’s a keeper.

#6  Share Sonic happy hour.  $5 gift card taped to the order board at the beginning of happy hour and Bam!…Happy Sonic Happy Hour to the next person to pull into our spot.  And I may have ordered myself a cranberry sprite while I was there.  Getting crazy on day #2.

And today’s list is a good one.

Plus it’s Halloween…my favorite holiday.  Don’t judge.  I know some people are not fond of the holiday, but I am a big lover of it.  Sadly, I’ll be rocking it out with Amon…aka Superman…at home.  Handing out candy and being away from germs.  The wee Kelleys will be going door-to-door with Josh.  Fun will be had.

And I almost forgot…see #4 on my list for today.  Yep, it’s an art giveaway for you guys.

Up for grabs is this 10×10 Mumford & Sons Canvas…”So I’ll be bold, as well as strong and use my head along side my heart.”

Here’s how you enter:

Please leave a separate comment on this post for each entry.

Entry #1 Tell me if you’ve done some kindness acts of your own this week…or what you’re doing for Halloween…or any old comment will do.

Entry #2  Share this giveaway on your personal Facebook status or Twitter.

Entry #3 Subscribe to PPA to receive posts by email.  Check out the right side bar and enter your email address under Email Subscription.

Entry #4  Become a fan of PPA on Facebook HERE

Again, please leave a separate comment on this post for each entry.

Giveaway will end tomorrow, Thursday, November 1st and I will announce the winner in tomorrow’s post.  Canvas will be mailed directly to the winner.

Happy Wednesday!

**GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED**

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October 16, 2012 By 9 Comments

Crazy Blessed {Hope}

Crazy blessed…

by sweet wee Kelleys who are bad at fake sleeping…except Huddy…he nailed it.

…that this little ace of hearts should not be doing this, but is.  I am constantly flipping him back over all day long.

…by kiddos who can fight the hardest with each other and still love each other fiercely and adore each other and have just too much fun together.

…to be a part of their everydayness.

…by the possibility of one life event forever changing our life’s path.

…to comfort in the not-so-good parts of the day…even the accidentally-poking-yourself-in-the-eye-with-a-stick part of the day.

…by sweat pants and comfy house shoes.

…to be this kids mom.  Seriously?  He’s for real isn’t he?  He so is.

…to find dinner on our front porch.

…for groceries to be delivered to our house.  Such sweet friends are all around us and just smothering us in love right now.

Today was such an encouraging day…a day I found belief and hope in.  God is constantly reminding me of how truly crazy blessed we are.  Life is never perfect or easy or smooth…it can be pretty darn hard, but just the same it is full to the brim of blessings & is indescribably beautiful.  Hope is a wondrous thing God gives and I am deeply thankful for it today.

“But I’ll still believe though there’s cracks you’ll see.
When I’m on my knees I’ll still believe.
And when I’ve hit the ground, neither lost nor found.
If you believe in me I’ll still believe.”

-Holland Road by Mumford & Sons

Happy Tuesday.

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