I’m still all over the place.  I can’t nail down one solid thought…not for the life of me.  All the randomness floating around in this wild brain of mine.  The littles and I just got home from lunch at the park with Josh Kelley.  I might have positioned our quilt, not once, but twice, near a red ant homestead.  And a picnic with our littlest can be quite the challenge when she wants to touch everything and stick her finger in everything and dump everything out and drink all the drinks.  And I stepped in gum and a wasp hit me in the forehead.  For most of the lunch I cursed in my head.  True story.

Want to know what I have decided is zero fun?  Picking out and then actually purchasing appliances.  Pretty confident appliances are the very last thing on the planet I want to spend money on…especially when you have a bathtub which does not hold water.  The bathroom and I will forever be at odds…I hold grudges.  And even when you go super cheap on your choice of appliances it still costs an arm and a leg.  Why, oh why.  I will say, the appliance guys kind of made it all worth it though.  They were two older gentlemen and they were the kindest in all the land.  Amon and our littlest loved them.  And one of them even said, “I see you got an undercut.  Looks good.”  Well that right there made my day.  I wanted to hug his neck and give him a bag of cookies…only I ate all the cookies yesterday from all the angst of picking out appliances alone with a 3-year-old and 18-month-old.  Sigh.

Have you seen the new Noonday Collection fall line???  Well stop right now and take a peek.  It’s amazing.  I could easily buy a small fortune in their new stuff.  So much to love.  I love supporting companies which think outside of their selves and stretch those hands out far and wide.  It’s just a good good thing.  Make your purchases doubly count and choose Ashley Mills as your ambassador at check out.  I feel like hosting a party is in my near future 🙂

I have 2 Bible journaling classes this weekend…and not in our home.  Remember, it’s me, the extrovert trapped in an introvert’s body, so I might be a tad on the anxious/nervous side about it all.  And yet very excited.  I even have to use my computer during one of the classes to show my examples via some sort of projector media.  Oh the nervousness.  Technology makes me all sweaty.  And there are still plenty of spots, and by plenty I mean all of them 🙂 for September’s Bible journaling class.  You can check out the details HERE.

I read this passage yesterday in Colossians and cried my eyeballs out.  This is from The Message:

Colossians 1:18-20 “He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he’s there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross.”

Boo-hooed you guys.  I was a goner.  What kills me, what really gets at my heart…everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding…oh my.  No one is an outsider because there is no outside in Jesus.  We are His and He is ours.  We are welcomed, cherished, loved, adored, created in His image.  The worth we have in Christ absolutely slays me…plenty of room for every last one of us.

And Alissa and I did two new HIIT runs this week.  Crazy good ones.  THIS ONE and THIS ONE are awesome if you want to get a major sweat on.  I’m at a place in my head now where I love feeling strong VS thin. And these two runs made me feel strong.

That’s about it.  We’ve got car rider line in a mere hour and then it’s off the Sonic happy hour because it’s what we do on Fridays.  Oh happy day!

Enjoy your weekend!!!

No matter what kind of week we’ve had around here it seems like Friday always brings a bit of redemption.  Sigh.  It’s been a week of crazy highs and crazy lows around the Kelley house.  And I humbly type out a whole slew of random items yet again.  I need to ask my friends if I am indeed this random in person as well.

Next Saturday is the May Bible Journaling class.  I am crazy excited.  This month’s fees will be headed to bless an office of 60 social workers.  Social workers are over worked and often not thanked near enough.  We’re going to take the class funds and bless them a little bit.  I hear they always need blue ink pens…which kind of cracked me up.  I cannot wait to see how much we raise and how it will be put to use to encourage and spur on some hard working people!!!  If you want to join the class I still have spots available so shoot me a message HERE.

This week was Teacher Appreciation Week.  I love this week.  I was once a teacher and although it’s been a while since I had my own classroom full of littles I remember how hard I worked and how much love I poured into my classroom and students.  I also remember how it was all too often a job which did not receive near the appreciation it so deserved and I also remember the parents who did shower me with love and I want to be one of those!!!  We hit the teacher jackpot this year, so it’s such an honor and privilege to love on our teachers a little extra on weeks like this and creativity and color are two of love languages…I decided to pass it along.  We love our teachers!!

At a meeting for our foster daughter this week one of the ladies who was there kept giving me these soft chewy candies for her.  After sharing one with her I then started pocketing these sweet savory treats and hoping this lady would never leave our meeting.  They are so good.  And I have no idea what they are or where you get them, but I kept some of the wrappers to hunt them down.  If you buy some just hide them away and eat them alone in your closet.  It’s okay.  I give you permission.

**UPDATE ON TOFFIX** I just found this because I can’t quit thinking about them.  And I watched it 10 times…and it solved everything 🙂

Speaking of our current littlest…she insisted on sitting in this tiny box top and while I was snapping pictures for her momma she toppled.  Every time I look at it I crack up all over again.

And speaking of our current littlest’s momma…Mother’s Day is Sunday and every year this day changes and twists and morphs into something completely different than the last.  So many ladies to honor and remember and celebrate and encourage…our foster daughter’s mom is at the top of this list.  We think it’s important for her to know she is celebrated even though it looks differently than last year.  We think it’s important she knows we love and recognize her for all she is and is going to be.  We think it’s important for her to know we’re here, we support her and we love her whole family.  Every year this day just knocks my socks off…every year God asks for it to be a little something more…a little something different…and I truly love that.

(I had to blur out her name)

I had the privilege of doing several Mother’s Day orders.  I’m kind of a big gushy fool over husbands who contact me to surprise their wives.  This 12×12 was one of my favorites.  Maybe because they are our friends or maybe because, just give me all the colors of the world.  I’m not ruining any surprises either…this gift has already been given.  I’ll keep the other’s under wraps.

Amon had a very minor outpatient surgery this week.  He’s resting and recovering pretty decently for a wildly active 3-year-old.  I wasn’t much worried except for anesthesia stuff because he’s got a pesky leaky valve which can cause anesthesia problems.  Everything went fine, but I was quite taken back with all the kind and thorough doctors and nurses who checked and rechecked and checked again that sweet little heart of his.  Made me a bit teary.

And lastly, last night we got to celebrate this girl!  You guys, God knew I needed her in my life.  He just knew it.  Again with the teacher love, but I adore Harper’s art teacher (she’s Hudson & Solomon’s too).  They do the most awesome art projects varying in a million different mediums.  Our school is just awesome!!!  Anyways, one of her art pieces was chosen for the Mayor’s Art show at the Frist Musuem and I probably cried 5000 times while walking through the museum last night.  They had a whole gallery area of all the kids artwork and then a little reception with cookies and lemonade and our mayor.  I loved watching all those kiddos and their loved ones looking and talking and being all proud and supportive of each other.  Then they made me really cry when they called each art teacher up on stage.  Then they really really made me cry when they called all the kids up.  Art and kids and amazing public schools doing all the good, hard work…caring and creating and pouring into kiddos…no one could save me…I was a goner.  These are my people and I could barely muster out words without being a big cry baby.  It was grand.

I’m all teary from just typing that last part.  I need help!  Send cookies.

Happy Friday!