And The Soul Felt It's Worth

I read this wonderful book that was recommended to me this past month and even had a lovely book discussion with a wonderful young friend!
We had tea while the children played and a nice lunch together!
It was such an enjoyable time! 
The wonderful book is titled Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27840585-present-over-perfect

I loved so many things about this book and I highly recommend reading it but my favorite part by far was the chapter titled, The Soul Felt It's Worth based on the Christmas hymn 'O Holy Night!'
Like the author, I have always loved this beautiful song and sang along with the beautiful lyrics but never fully comprehended the deeper meaning of the words until Shauna pointed them out in the book!

O Holy Night
The stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Savior's birth!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Till he appear'd and the soul felt it's worth.
A thrill of hope the weary soul rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!

Till he appear'd and the soul felt it's worth!
The soul felt it's worth! When Jesus appeared! The soul felt it's worth when He appeared!
Wow! 
Our worth is in Him alone!
Not in anything this world has to offer!
Not in the hustle and bustle of life, or getting it all done or looking Pinterest perfect or striving and driving and doing and building and dieting and exercising and cleaning and shopping and buying more and more and more! Or wearing the latest fashions or trying to fit in with this or that group!
Or whatever it is we're doing!
Ahhhh! The madness can stop right now!!
Because when He appeared our soul felt it's worth!
We can breathe a sigh of relief with this TRUTH!
So beautiful and perfect!
My soul felt it's worth! My soul felt it's worth!
May the knowledge of this truth set you free this Christmas and all the days ahead!
The soul felt it's worth on that first Christmas long ago!
I wish you a Merry, Beautiful, Blessed Christmas!

10 Minute Morning Yoga

Good morning!
Do you have 10 minutes for a nice way to energize and gently wake up your body?
Here's a nice YouTube video to get you going in a positive direction today!

Have a wonderful day!

A Mother's Heart

I passed a church sign this morning and this is what it said:

"A mother's heart is the child's classroom!"

I loved it

It is SO TRUE!

Think about that and fall in love with Motherhood all over again!

Have a Happy Day!

Still Singing About My Closet!

Yes, I'm still singing about my closet one whole year later!
If you haven't read this book yet, you'd better get going! 





















It will change your life for the better!
It will free you up in ways you never thought possible!
What are you waiting for?
Short read. 
New closet/life in one weekend!
Here is the post from last year






















Here is my closet today:





















Easy peasy.
Never messy. 
Always stays the same!
Amazing but it works!
You'd be crazy to not try it!

Do You Have an Exercise Plan?

How is your exercise plan going?
Are you confused and overwhelmed as to what to do?
I love having a plan for exercise.
If I don't have a plan, I struggle with getting any exercise done.
If your exercise plan is non-existence, take a little time to write a plan.

Here are a few ideas. It doesn't have to be complicated or time-consuming!
1) Spend a few minutes stretching or practice yoga as soon as you get out of bed each day. There are a ton of free videos on YouTube. Beginning yoga
I always do a quick warm up first with jogging in place, jumping jacks, high knees, etc.
Stretching and practicing yoga is a wonderful way to get breath into the body as you slowly stretch your muscles from the strains of the previous day. 
2) Plan on walking each day. Pick a time that works best for you and stick with it.
I force myself to get outside in the afternoon before dinner preparations and afternoon activities.
It feels so good to get out in the fresh air.
3) Plan a walking/hiking date each week with a friend or loved one. 
4) Meet a friend for a fun fitness class. A lot of fitness studios offer a free one time trial on their classes. It would be fun to pick a different studio each week! Also, the local community education usually has good prices for their weekly fitness classes. 
5) Get a bunch of people to join a sports league-volleyball, basketball, soccer, baseball. Or, rent a gym for pick-up games.
6) Take the kids to a park and ride bikes, play on the playground (amazing workout!), take a hike or go rollerblading.
7) Get a swim pass at the local pool.
8) Do 3 sets of as many push-ups, squats or jumping jacks that you can throughout the day. One exercise per day. For example, push-ups on Monday, squats on Tuesday, Jumping jacks on Wednesday. Repeat for Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
9) Try my current favorite workout! Clutch 24/7.  It is a challenging at-home workout from Bodybuilding.com. It incorporates a nice warm-up and stretching routine every day and an excellent eating plan! 

Okay, so the point is, do whatever exercise you enjoy and put it in your schedule! You know you'll feel so much better if you do! Make a plan right now! It's cheap therapy! 

Do it for the joy!

God's Pharmacy

Our adult son called me last week to say he thought he had strep throat and was wondering if I remembered the name of a natural product we had used years ago to get rid of his sister's strep throat.
I told him the name of the product and 

gave him a few other things to try as well!

Here is the texting that went on after the initial phone call:
(This was from Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, January 18-20)

Do It For The Joy!

I came across this simple phrase while skimming through my readings last week and immediately knew it was going to be our go-to phrase for the year!
Haven't you all heard of the trend of picking a word for the year?
Well, I guess picking a word for the year is supposed to revolutionize your year for greater purpose and happiness.
I came across this simple phrase and that is what we will go with this year!

If we are struggling with getting things done, 
whatever we need to do, no matter how big or how small,
how tedious or insignificant, great or magnificent,
DO IT FOR THE JOY!
I love it!
It totally pulled me out of my Christmas break laziness!
It is our household motto for the year!
I was all inspired to share it with the family so I had the kids do a simple school assignment, though it would be a good assignment for all of us!
Many times already I've had to tell myself to 'do it for the joy' and it spurred me on to finish the task at hand!
Try it!
It really works!
God bless your New Year!

A New Year

A new year!
Sometimes it's happy.
Sometimes it's not.
Life is full of twists and turns.
Some days are joyful and others are devastating
while most days are somewhere in between as if on cruise control.

How do we hold onto joy in this new year?
Or find it if there is none?
Is there such a thing as being able to thrive in this world with so much 
sorrow all around us?
And what about hope?
Do we dare hope?
Where is joy, anyway?

Does it all come down to resolutions and striving for better this, better that?
I don't think so.

I don't know about you but I can't seem to muster up anything that great over here.
I wonder, where is the joy I had in days gone past 
when I was excited about so much?
What went wrong?
I think it's this cruise control thing.
Just getting by, day by day, without much thought.
And then life throws a few curve balls and, Bam,
ON THE FLOOR!

Are some days just plain hard to get out of bed?
For some, I know it's impossible.
I'm so sorry for your sorrow and heartache.

No matter where life finds us, we CAN find JOY again!
It's not going to be easy.
There will continue to be sorrow.

A new day dawns.
A new day of grace.
A NEW DAY OF GRACE!
New!
Grace!
Joy!
Hope!
Believe!

It is given to us daily!
New strength.
New joy.
New hope.

Give us eyes to see it, Dear Lord!
Wake us from our slumber!
Show us your joy in each new day,
each new year!

If sorrows bring us closer to you, Dear Lord,
may you give us strength to lean on you more in this new year!
Thank you from the bottom of our weary hearts!

"Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD." Psalms 31:24

"Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." Romans 15:13

May the Lord bless you and keep you always!