Life Group, Landry-Nine Months, and Emeals Winner!

Every Wednesday we load up and drive all the way to our friends house to have life group!  Landry helps me in the kitchen and when daddy comes home she gets to ride in my lap the whole one minute it takes to get to life group!  It is the highlight of her week! Here is her helping in the kitchen.  Don't mind the GRAIN in all of these pictures.  I have no excuse for the ones outside, but the ones inside are because of my wonderful (sarcasm noted) lighting in my house.  

This is the unfinished product that we brought to life group this past week.  The theme was cream cheese, so we made spaghetti lasagna!

My baby girl is nine months old!  I say this all the time, but time really does fly!  Landry has such a kind heart.  My favorite thing she began doing a month or two ago is kissing.  She will look at me with her sweet face, as she tilts her little head and then kisses my cheek!  It melts my heart every time.  God put a sweet spirit in this child.  She loves EVERYONE!  She has her moments when only mommy or daddy will do, but for the most part she really will love on anyone!

When I was looking through her pictures, I accidentally clicked on this one, which I believe has already been on this blog before.  Time has made me love this man more and more!  He was just a boy when this picture was taken.  I fell in love with those beautiful blue eyes, wonderful smile, and all that hair!

The winner of the emeals giveaway is.........

Stacy!  Congratulations Stacy and I hope you enjoy three months of free emeals!  Don't forget to take advantage of the wonderful APP! 

Grace given from a child.

It is amazing how children are able to teach adults so much about God. Monday morning Landry put teeth marks on one of her cousins cheeks!  The poor child had tears streaming down her cheeks, because my child bit her!  I was sure Callie was not going to want to get close to Landry EVER again, but within seconds Cal girl was hugging Landry. I told Callie, she was such a big girl, and I was proud of her for loving and forgiving like Jesus.  There is something special about the simplicity of a child.  The way they love others without expecting anything in return, the way they trust people they care about, the way they can teach us daily about the Lord.

Callie and Landry

The love of a child!  Jude and Landry!  I love how Landry is holding him.

 I have also witnessed first hand, that we are born with a sin nature and we desperately need a savior! Sin is not something we need to be taught.  I want to be able to use every opportunity to teach Landry about our need for a savior.  I recently began reading Give Them Grace, and cannot wait to learn more about giving children grace in everyday life.  Maybe I will even learn to embrace in the grace God has given me in my life.

Emeals (and my first) GIVEAWAY!

I am so excited to be doing my very first giveaway and it is for Emeals.

What is emeals?  I am glad you asked!

EMEALS-taking the planning out of cooking, saving money, and giving family time back to families across the world.

Okay, so maybe I am going a little overboard with the definition, but it really does take the planning out of cooking, and is recommended by Dave Ramsey.  I have also found the meals are easy to make and not very time consuming.  Maybe I am right on target with the definition. There is only one way to find out and that is to try it for yourself.

An emeals interview with Dave Ramsey can be found here.  I also love the many options emeals gives you regarding meal planning.  You don't love to cook, no big deal, you can throw everything in a crock pot with the Slow Cooker Meal Plan.  Oh, you are a healthy eater! That's okay, emeals has you covered with any of these options: Clean Eating, Paleo, Low Fat, Low Carb, Portion Control, Vegetarian).  I have a sister who is sensitive to Glueten and there is even a plan for her, the Gluten Free Plan.  Here is a picture of all the plans.

I have tried a few of the meal plans.  My favorite so far is the low fat.  Today I switched over to the Slow Cooker Clean Eating Plan.  I also love that I am not restricted to only trying one meal plan per subscription.  There is one more thing I want to mention before we start the giveaway and that is the FABULOUS APP!!!  It is probably one of my favorite apps, because the grocery list is made out for you.  They also allow you to add or take away from the pre-made list.  It is a grocery list and to do list in one!  For any Apple haters (I don't understand you), but there is an Android app as well.

This is a description of the app given by the makers of emeals and the app.

I almost forgot to mention how wonderful the women behind Emeals are!  They answer any questions you may have regarding the meal plans.  When Heather contacted me and asked if I would do a giveaway I didn't think twice about it.  She has been so kind.  She seems  like is a genuine person.   In her emeal email (my mind is not working properly) to me, she not only asked about the giveaway, but she also asked about our family vacation.  I had mentioned we were coming home from the beach and I would blog about the giveaway once we were home.

Finally!!! Here is how you can win a  THREE MONTH FREE SUBSCRIPTION to EMEALS:

1.  Leave a comment (with your email address) saying which meal plan you would choose and why.  (Mandatory Entry)
2. Follow Emeals on Pinterest. (Bonus Entry)
3.  Like Emeals on Facebook. (Bonus Entry)

Make sure to include your email address, so if you win we will be able to contact you.  The winner will be chosen on Friday, August 30 at 9 p.m.  You will be contacted by email within 24 hours.

*Disclaimer: I was not paid to write a review and all words and opinions are my own.

The Battle

I have been battling with depression once again.  It comes out of no where!  These lies bombard my mind and I would swear they were truths.  On the way home from the beach I cried, because I wasn't ready to face reality.  I didn't want to put on a fake happy face.  I was convinced no one, with the exception of some family, cared if we (my family of three) were around.  I told Alan I did not want to go to church Sunday and see everyone.  I just could not put on a happy face.  Sunday came and we decided to attend church.  I plastered on my happy face.  I wasn't going to cry, I wasn't going to show emotion, and we were going to slip in and out without anyone knowing anything was wrong with me.

The lies went something like this:
You do not matter.
You are a burden.
People do not call to check on you, why do you bother with trying to establish friendships?
Friendships do not matter?  That isn't what life is about!
Stay inside, it is the easy thing to do and no one will notice.
You are too needy.

I believed them.  My heart was, and to an extent still is, heavy.  Blogging about this and being transparent is not easy for me, but if I didn't write this, I couldn't share the blessing that came out of hearing lies.  God!  God, He spoke louder than the lies this time.  Maybe He does every time, but this time I really heard it. The truth left me standing there in the middle of the church parking lot praising God.

When we first arrived He spoke through two children.  He used a still small whisper, but my heart was so hardened with lies.  Savannah, who is four, ran up to me and said, "CASE!"  The child was excited to see me.  She did love me.  Sadie, who is five, wanted to sit next to me during church.  I played with her hair, trying to ignore the tears that wanted to stroll down my face.  I still could not hear or see truth. The truth that we were wanted and we were loved.  Rylie, who is five, wanted Alan to hold her.  There were other people around, but she wanted Alan. I still could not see or hear!  I was ready to leave and be alone.  Alone, with my family of three, where I didn't have to be fake.

Then, it happened.  God spoke so loudly that I couldn't hold the tears any longer.  I could not be fake.  They were all going to see the tears, the pain, and they were going to see me.  God used one of my first cousins, a guy I have looked up to since I was in diapers, to speak.  Nathan did not know how much oppression was strangling me, but that day he wrapped his arms around and told me he loved me.  He told me I was like a sister to him.  He said, my girls need you.  Then his sweet wife walked up to me and she wrapped her arms around me.  I lost it!  Others saw my tears flowing and didn't reject me or act as if I was "crazy" or a burden.  It was completely opposite of that.

I can't stop thinking how awesome it was that God chose to use Nathan to speak truth.  You may think, what's the big deal, he is your cousin.  In 29 years of thinking he was more like a brother than a cousin, it was the first time he told me I was like a sister.  It was also the first time he really hugged me like a sister.  His wife and those kids... I will never be able to put into words how special they are.  I could go on about others who have reached out after seeing the real me.  It's not like this is the first time they have seen me battle, but it feels like the first time.  I was able to spend Monday at the Sharbs house and celebrate Lis's birthday.  It was so good to watch the kids play.  I also love how Jen and Melissa are so in love with God.  They are full of joy.  It is the joy that comes from the Lord.  I have since realized I do need friends.  When I am struggling I need to let those friends know I can't be alone, because the pain is too much and in this moment, I need to know I have brothers and sisters in Christ who will hold me up when I can't stand by myself.  

I am still not sure why I believed the lies and I still here a voice saying, "They will forget and you will go through this struggle again."

Simplicity

This is really all I am thinking of this morning.  My grandma who is extremely sick and how beautiful God's creation is.  I am thankful He meets us where we are.