Getting Back Up Again

Mary Anne Radmacher said, "Courage doesn't always roar.  Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, 'I'll try again tomorrow.'"

Ann Voskamp said, "When you're in covenant with Christ, it's His responsibility to cover your cracks, to be all your competency and completeness."  Thank Goodness.

Today's a get-back-up-again type of day.  It's a do-the-next-thing sort of day.  It's a I'll-try-again day.

It's a day in which I have to remind myself that even if I don't like myself, God does.  And that it's okay to not like myself every single day.  But I do have to love myself.

Nothing major or earth-shattering is wrong at our house.  It's just one of those days.  And I felt like sometimes you all need to know that I have them too.  Days when everything I've done wrong or not done well enough or not done at all is staring me in the face.  Days when the enemy whispers and I listen.  Days when extending grace is challenging because I am having a hard time receiving the Grace extended to me.

It's just a day.

Tomorrow will be a new day.

In fact, this afternoon could be a whole new day in itself, if I decide to allow God to work that in my heart.  No need to wait 'till sunrise.  Ya'll can start a diet in the middle of a bag of potato chips (thank you Mary Kay Ash) and (praise Him) so can I.  It's 2 p.m. and today's been going on for a while, but I think I'm gonna go shower again (or at least change my clothes), redo my hair, and start over with praise music and a fresh cup of peach tea.  With lots of sugar.

I will lift up my eyes to the hills—

From whence comes my help?

My help comes from the LORD,

Who made heaven and earth.

Psalm 121

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This week has been crazy, it seems.  More crazy than most.  I'm not sure why.

So I'm sitting in a cell phone store right now, waiting for the techno guys to move all my info from my old phone to my new one.  Usually when I have wait-time, I entertain myself with my phone and email or text people back.  Now of course, I can't.  So what did I decide to do?

I whipped out my laptop and opened it up to play.  Amazing how technology has transformed my world.

Have you all checked out my cooking blog lately?  Some really yummy recipes have been posting over there all week. Just to spark your curiosity make you drool, here are some of my favorites:

Snickerdoodles

French Toast

Iced Coffee

And with that, my new phone is ready!  See ya'll later!  Happy cooking!!

Oops!!!

So sorry everyone!  If you read the Seminar Memories post that went up, it wasn't finished and somehow I pressed "publish" before I finished writing it!  :(  Because there was an unfinished sentence (and an unfinished thought), it looked like I was being pretty haughty and exclusive!  :(  I'm so sorry and will definitely re-post it once I can complete that thought and it will make SO much more sense.  I promise.  ;-)

In the mean time, Happy Labor Day!

Big Boy Bed

Four months ago, we tried converting Danny's crib into a toddler bed.  He was ecstatic to help!  

And to jump into it! 

He crawled in,

snuggled up, and was ready to sleep.

For about 3.67 seconds.

And then

he got up

and down

and off

to play!

After 24 hours of attempting to get him to stay in the big boy bed (for naps and bedtime), we decided he wasn't ready, and the toddler bed was converted right back into a crib.  

Oh well.  You win some.  You lose some.

He wasn't really listening and obey consistently, nor did he understand the warning of a consequence, so it was a total disaster.  

But this time...

....we're pretty sure...

...it's going to stick.  

(Plus, Alejandro would like to crawl in with him.  He says it's really comfy and cozy.)

Sweet dreams, my big little boy!

First Fall-ish-Feelin' Saturday Afternoon

Yesterday, the weather stayed below 75°F the whole day, so we all thought it was Fall around here.  Since it was windy enough to blow my little kiddo away, we stayed inside.  And what do you do after spending all summer on the back deck with the tricycle and water and all of a sudden you have to entertain yourself inside?  

You reach into the recesses of your mind and remember Facebook posts in which a mom mentioned something simple that will occupy a child for hours.  Literally.  Who says social media is a waste of time?  

So I pulled out a cookie sheet and two spoonfuls of flour and let Danny go to town.  

After two 45-minute sessions, he finally got bored, so I gave him a toy car and he played for another half hour until it was time to leave the kitchen.  

In between playing with flour?  He head-butted Toby.

Colorado Springs Zoo

Two weeks ago, our Wednesday Morning Mommy Walking Group (unofficial name) went to the zoo!

Danny got to touch a baby wallaby.  Awww!

This is the face he gave me when I tried to take away the pacifier for a picture.  

He also got to ride on the children's train!!

He was so funny!  He was quiet and serious, but you could tell his little imagination was going a hundred miles a second as he got on and it started to go around the track.  

Later, he and his new friend, Evadel, enjoyed watching fish.

Just above those fish?

This mama of a grizzly bear!

Phew!  Good thing she's on the other side of the glass.  

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The other night was date night, and there was this.

Then last night he surprised me with a babysitter and an evening out!  

I don't know what has bit my husband, but it is truly fabulous.  I really love seasons in which we thrive.  This seems to be one of them.  I am just so thankful!  

Jumpy

A week ago, my husband came home from work with a box.  

"It was injured," he said.

"¡Pájaro!" exclaimed my son.

"Oh..." I said.  

"I'm going to rehabilitate it," Alejandro said.  

He really meant me, because he would be working each day all day.  

Fortunately, rehabilitating a wild bird requires nothing more than leaving it alone in a box with plenty of food and water and keeping the dog and child from loving him to death or eating him.  

"By the way, his name is Jumpy," my husband sent me in a text message the next day.

"We are not keeping him," I thought out loud in the kitchen as Danny watched him from the kitchen stool through plexiglass.

Fortunately, wild birds won't be kept.  And actually, within a few days, he was flitting his way around our living room when we had him out one day. It was clear, he was soon ready to fly.

Jumpy, you've been a great week-long pet.

Except, of course, when you're pooping on my floor. 

Or in my hand.

And now, my friend, as much as a certain little boy would love to let you stay,

it's time you go back home.  (Danny's waving hello. He looked, but was not too eager to touch.)

Fly away, little Jumpy! And have a good life!

The end.

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Hace una semana, mi esposo llegó a la casa con una caja.