My Coffee (or tea) ... GIVEAWAY!

Okay,

So you’ve probably figured out by now that I LOVE coffee.

If you haven’t… maybe we need to start over again… click the “about me” button above so we can get better acquainted. : )

I do… I love coffee. I can’t recall a time in my life where I have ever turned down a cup of joe. I have tasted a few that I would not ask for seconds of however.

When I’m at home, in the late hours of the night, or the early hours of the morning… or when anyone stops by for a visit… what is the coffee we use in my home (and most every home in Southern Louisiana?)

Community Coffee…

I keep Dark Roast in stock because it’s my husbands favorite.

I'm giving away a sample of my FAVORITE COFFEE!!!
REVISION: OR TEA!

 My second favorite drink is Sweet Ice Tea! Community Makes tea as well, so the winner will be able to chose their beverage sample of choice! :) 

Just leave a comment below to let me know you would like a chance at winning it!

Of course, no cup of coffee would be complete without my favorite creamer…

Liquid Hazelnut Coffee Mate

MMmmmm….

I hope you are all having a blessed Sunday.... and that you've enjoyed absorbing the Word of God in some form today... 

Being A Friend Isn't Always Pretty

Wanna know what makes it super hard to be there for friends in their time of need?

Growing up in a family where no one shared their emotions.

Yeap, that will make it hard.

I grew up in a family that never shared when they were upset. There were no hugs, no using the word “love”, and you didn’t cry in front of people.

When you were hurting or upset you would go off by yourself and cry, that was how we did things.

I can tell you with complete honesty that this has had a serious affect on my relationships …

You see, whenever I was around someone who would begin to cry I would almost freeze. 

Terrified, frozen with fear, I had no idea what to do… what do you do for someone who’s crying?!  I didn’t know… we always cried in hiding.

As horrible of a person as this may make me sound, do you want to know what I would do?

I would leave.

I would walk backwards slowly (I can almost laugh now thinking about it, but really I was terrified and it was NOT funny) until I reached an exit… then I walk as fast as I could away from the situation.

Once I figured out that I needed to at LEAST remain in the room with the other person, I discovered I had another obstacle to overcome.

I have a huge heart… I am very sympathetic… and while there with the person in need, their hurts become my hurts. Their tears would become my tears… but wait!! We grew up taught to never cry in front of other people!

So I’m there, completely out of my comfort zone (my comfort zone is outside, away from this whole scenario) trying so hard to hold back the tears that I think my face is about to burst, and my throat is holding a huge lumpy rock that I can’t swallow!

With chin quivering, fighting the urge to bolt out the nearest door, I realized that being a true friend isn’t always pretty.

Being a true friend isn’t always easy.

Being a true friend sometimes requires you to step out of your comfort zone.

Sometimes it means letting them see your “ugly cry”

Sometimes it’s hard.

Sometimes it hurts…

That’s what it takes though, to be Jesus for someone else.

That’s what I mean when I say Less of me… more of You.

I make it about you, even when my instincts tell me to bolt… I plant my feet right there with you, the good the bad the beautiful and the ugly, because A friend loves at all times. Proverbs 17:17

Friend… I’m here with you now,  if you need prayer, if you need advice, if you need anything at all… just let me know.

I'm Thankful For These Dirt Rings...

As I rinse the evidence of his days hard work down the drain… I pause…

On my knees bent over the tub, too very late last night, I realize that there may come a day when I miss having these reminders of him.

His socks left on the floor… again.

His plate left where he ate… again.

His calling out my name for help on a project… again.

I wipe the tub one last time, glad that all the evidence has finally gone, and I smile.

Through the tired back, and the oncoming head ache … my evidence of the days hard work… I want nothing more than a hot bath, and my warm bed… but I pause… and I smile.

I am so thankful for these dirt rings I have to rinse,

For the socks I have to pick up,

For the plate I need to bring in the kitchen,

For his needing, and wanting my help,

Again… again… again… and again.

I am so thankful I have him in my life… I am so thankful for all of the evidence of him… I would never want it any other way.

I am grateful for my God, who lifts the veil from over my eyes so I can see things how they really are at times. I'm thankful when He holds me still in those times when it's so very easy to get swept away in this every day life. 

"Be still, and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10

(p.s. That is not my tub... pfth... I wish!)

What Did I DO?!

I've COMPLETELY made over my blog...

It was a big change, I'm still having heart palpitations.... but I feel it was a good move.... I think...

If you have a minute, please let me know what you think of this change. 

Here is what my old banner used to look like:

I had originally started this blog because of my etsy shop… which I have closed for an undetermined amount of time to make room for other things in my life.

I feel God is preparing me for something… a change… I’m not sure exactly what it is, but I’m trusting Him with the details.  More and more I've felt His gentle hand nudging me into ministry... starting with the pre-teens girl group I teach on Wednesday nights... and now, well, I'm waiting... but I feel it. I just don't know where I'm going yet. 

So… this new blog look… Yes, or No? 

Kid Friendly Home

FIVE MINUTE FRIDAY - PERSPECTIVE

Perspective - the state of one's ideas, the facts known to one, etc., in having a meaningful 

interrelationship.

My home is never quiet, never calm, never light and airy… it is always thick with laughter or yelling, with love or fighting and sometimes all these at once.

It’s complete with finger printed, crayon marked walls (that I promise I do scrub fairly often.) The huge sectional sofa we purchased less than four years ago looks very aged… I think the children mistakenly used it as a doodle tablet, many…. Many…. times.

Children come over and laugh and play and they feel comfortable, and they are at home here in my home. They are at peace here in my home. They are family here in my home.

Adults come over and I cringe when I seat them there on the drawing of my youngest. Or when they sit at the counter covered in crumbs and sticky mess waiting for their coffee.

I cringe when they look with disgust at the dust bunnies making home themselves there atop the picture frames on the walls… and on the ceiling fan.

I realized at some point, it’s all about perspective… when that perspective changes with age and time I don’t know.

When I finally opened my home and heart to women my age, who also had children, and invited them in for coffee and conversation (after so many apologies for my home being the way it is) one of them looked at me and said something I have never forgotten… she said “Your home is fine, your home is not sterile, your home is kid friendly”

My home is kid friendly…

Oh… I loved that then, I love it now… children do come, and they come often. Sometimes a little more often than I would like them to! I love that I can share and talk with them, and they can be themselves, and they can open up and grow here…

But how I do long for adult conversations at times, how I long to have an “adult friendly home” how I wish I could find like minded women who can come in and ignore the imperfections and kid friendliness of my home and sit, and have coffee, and conversations.

But perspective… I’m sure at some point in time when the children are gone and the furniture is replaced, the walls are repainted, and I have time for the dust… my home will be adult friendly… and I will long for the youth and the laughter, the yelling and the fighting, the joy and the innocence that comes with a kid friendly home.

STOP