Family Theme 2015-2016: My Confidant, My Friend, My God.

Hello friends!  I haven't intentionally ignored my blog and writing, I've just been crazy busy, but who isn't these day's right?  We moved, took on a huge new client over at Eidolon House, and have had house guests for the past month!  Unfortunately I had to forego writing for a bit.

While our children are here visiting we took time to decide our family theme for the upcoming school year. We like to keep our theme religious because our religion isn't something we just agree with, we try to live it as much as we can.  The subject of religion is huge! We feel it helps us and our children to narrow down subjects to really focus on throughout the year.

This year we really want to focus on our personal relationships with God, so our theme is called:  My Confidant, My Friend, My God.  We found a talk by Jeffery R. Holland called The Grandeur of God that we loved (find talk HERE)!  We believe that it's important have a personal relationship with God and this talk spoke about a great way to know God is to know Jesus Christ.  Jesus was the ultimate example of God's character.

Do you do something like a family theme?    

(Last year's family theme - HERE)

An Immeasurable Force. . .

Women supporting women is a force not fully understood in my opinion!  Those who have felt the support from other women know exactly what I'm talking about.  It's a feeling of receiving strength and courage from another human being that isn't necessarily your spouse or partner; at the same time its a feeling that I struggle to define.  

I have felt the support of strong women through different experiences in my life, and it's a feeling I welcome, and at times I crave.  Because I've been blessed with strong women who have influenced my life for good, I hope I can return the favor to others.  I want ALL women to feel what I've felt, and I'm happy to share that strength and encouragement with you!

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To all the wonderful ladies I know and have crossed paths with:  I feel honored to know you.  I may not always show my support publicly, but know that I am on your side cheering you on!

    

Our Simple Life Lately. . .

Joseph and I lead a pretty simple life, and we try to make sure it stays that way.  We lead a simple life intentionally.  Could we have crazy schedules packed with appointments going here and there just like everyone else these days?  Of course we could, but that kind of busy life is torture in my opinion, and completely unnecessary; I know because I used to lead a crazy busy life, and I wasn't happy about it.  A few years ago I came to the realization that I actually have complete control of my life, so I took control of it!

Our life lately has been the usual running our business and planning for our future move.  We're excited to move, but there is a lot about this place I'm going to miss.  I absolutely love Plano and all that is available to us here-I've never lived in a place quite like it actually-and I will miss it here.  That said, I'm more excited to get back to a quiet place with less available to us.  Getting back to homesteading has been our goal since we left our homestead in Utah; to say I'm excited is an understatement!

Friday Joseph and I took a road trip to Oklahoma to visit a friend, and of course we were driving in a snow storm the entire trip!  The roads weren't too bad, but other drivers were either super cautious or not cautious enough, so a three hour drive took about six hours.

Lucky for us we love road trips!  We jammed to music, read articles about the Doves Bible and talked about religion, politics, and our children.

    
We met with our friend Marc, and his wife gave us this beautiful loaf of Challah!  Every Friday Marc's wife bakes bread; she makes two loafs, one for their family, and one to give away.  What a wonderful tradition!  It reminds me of my mom's Love Cake.  Every time my mom makes Love Cake she makes two, one for the family, and one to give away, hence the name of the cake.  Kind gestures like these are what makes life enjoyable in my opinion!  I think I need to start this tradition in our family!

Tonight Joseph and I met our friends Alexis and John at Chili's and enjoyed a great dinner and conversation! We know amazing people, and our life is blessed because of who we know!

How is your life been lately?

HERE is a link to my mom's Love Cake recipe!  Enjoy! 

Artichoke/Spinach Dip!

I had to share this recipe 'cause it is really delicious! 

It's super easy to make; I hope you like it!

A Thanksgiving House!

A Thanksgiving House:  A house that welcomes you in just by driving by it.  It is a cozy house, with a lot of windows that let a ton of natural light in, and that are also perfect for hanging holiday wreaths.  As you drive by the house you can imagine entertaining family and friends for Thanksgiving dinner, and you know the house smells like freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.

The definition of a Thanksgiving House is my criterion when house hunting, along with a few other criteria specific for the needs of my family.  But if the house doesn't say "Thanksgiving House", it's not a keeper.  Joseph and I have been looking for the perfect home that would fit our needs, lifestyle, and business, pretty much since we arrived in Texas almost two years ago.  We found a great home in Wills Point, about 40 miles east of Dallas.  We're super excited to move in and get back to homesteading, expanding our business, and hopefully win custody of our three children!

Here are some photos of our new home!  

Here's to Eidolon House!!! 

Gratitude Tuesday and Random Thoughts Because I'm Sick. . .

It's 4:19 am and I am writing this blog. . . I have been sick for exactly six days and I'm not on the mend.  I have good old fashioned cold and flu.  Normally when I get sick, I'm sick for a total of two days, so this six day stint is a bit ridiculous in my opinion.

Okay so enough about my sickness and more about what is really on my mind:  Goals Towards Transformation.  (Remember my word for 2015, read about it HERE!)  My goals are not the typical lose weight, and become hotter than I've ever been in my life; although that isn't a bad goal. ;)  My goal in transformation is to focus on all aspects of health such as physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.  This is actually really broad and therefore gives me plenty of room to fill a full year of improving myself!  To some, this would be overwhelming, but for me this is the beginning of something wonderful!

I preach positive thinking a lot, mostly because I have experienced first hand the actual power positive thinking has on ones endurance, state of mind, and motivation.  But positive thinking doesn't just happen, and it's more than day dreaming about a pretty meadow with a babbling brook running through it.  Day to day life isn't always positive, other people aren't always positive, and so constantly staying positive can sometimes be freaking hard work!

I've found one way to stay positive is to watch Parks and Recreation and become exactly like Leslie Knope.  Just kidding, although I wish Leslie Knope was a real person and lived next door to me, because I think we would be great friends.

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Thinking about what I'm grateful for in my life always helps me stay positive!  This Tuesday I'm grateful for:

• Random texts from one of my oldest and dearest friends telling me how much she loves me!  I've said it before and I'll say it again, I have awesome friends!
• On that same subject, another dear friend of mine sent me THIS video yesterday, just because!  This Year by the Hellers is a great song and would make a perfect theme song for 2015!
• Still on the subject of friends, our new friends The Palskys are freaking awesome, and also amazing cooks.  I know this because they brought us dinner Sunday night, and not just any dinner, full on Thanksgiving dinner!  Since Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, this was extra special for me.  The Tardis printed from a 3D printer that they gave us was pretty awesome too!  (Wovians unite!)
• My husband is also sick, yet he has been taking such good care of me!  I'm one lucky girl!

This small list of what I'm grateful for this week have a common theme:  People!  It's so important to surround yourself with wonderful people, and clearly I have.

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The time is now 5:00 am, I better get some shut-eye!

I'm also craving a Bacon Egg & Cheese Biscuit! 

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And now you're craving a Bacon Egg & Cheese Biscuit too!

Word for 2015: Transformation

I can't believe Christmas is already over!  It seems it came and went by so fast this year!  I absolutely love the holiday season, but when it's over, it's over in my opinion!  I don't like to drag out the holiday by keeping the Christmas tree up until February; I like to get on with life as usual.

I am a goal oriented person, so I've always liked the idea of New Year Resolutions, family themes, 30 day challenges.  If you've followed my blogging you already know this about me.  This year instead of a list of goals for 2015, I'm focusing my goals towards one word:  Transformation.  I'm already on a path of change since managing my depression, so I want to keep the momentum going, and I feel like I've only just scratched the surface.  

I'm no stranger to change and even transforming myself.  My life has handed me much to deal with, and usually in a moment's notice.  But this year I want to focus on intentional change, not just reacting to what life hands me.  They say how you react to change builds character, but what about actually building one's own character?  Why not intentionally change things I don't like about myself and focus on what I do like about myself?

Intentionally transforming myself into the person I want to be is going to be my focus for 2015!

Wish me luck!


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