"Unglued" Telecast

 I've had the MOST FUN last two days!  Yesterday morning I got up at 4 a.m. (whew) and left home and flew to Charlotte, NC.  I've never been to NC but I thought it was SOO pretty and nice and I'd love to go back and visit someday!  I met up with Courtney at the airport and we went and met Lysa Terkeurst for lunch.  Lysa was SO kind and welcoming! I just enjoyed my time so much with her and she is just as nice and funny as could be.

We also ate lunch with Renee Swope who works for Proverbs 31 ministries and you may hear her on the radio programs they do and she also speaks.  She has a precious little girl she adopted from Ethiopia who is the same age as Harper and she ate with us too.  Renee has a neat story and I loved getting to spend time with her  as well! Courtney is a blogger who writes about homemaking and home schooling and leads Bible Studies. She was so neat to meet in person!

We had a fun afternoon and prepared for the telecast while enjoying a VERY delicious meal at a Mexican restaurant I loved!!

I was so excited because my sweet friend Faith got to come watch the telecast. She has a friend who works for Proverbs 31 who invited her.  It was so good to see her and her little "twin" bump!!!  Such a precious friend! It was such a highlight for me to get to see her! And so unexpected!

Dr. Tim Clinton who is the President of the American Association of Christian Counselors was on the telecast with us.  He ate dinner with us and just had so many interesting things to share in the way of conflict resolution and marriage dynamics.  He offered a lot of insight!

Lysa is a New York Times Best Selling Author and speaks at events all the time. She is joining Women of Faith next year. She has such a huge heart for the Lord and I was extremely honored to get to hang out with her.  Both she and Renee told me that they had prayed for Harper when she was born and I got so choked up I almost couldn't breathe.  I couldn't even speak to tell either one thank you.  (I hope I never stop crying when someone tells me they prayed for her because I want to never stop being thankful for her little life).  I'm also excited because Lysa is travelling with Compassion in November with my friend Angie Smith and Shaun Groves and some other bloggers! You will have to follow along! (and maybe I will just tuck myself in one of their suitcases).

The telecast was really neat. If you missed it - you can watch it HERE.

Show Us your life - show us what you make or sell

Do you have an etsy shop?

Do you make cute clothes, bows, frames, etc?


If you don't - are you looking for cute stuff to buy????

THIS is your lucky day!!!

Link up your blogs/etsy shops and let's all shop!!!!!

**** Please note - this is not for direct sales - but we WILL have a special day for you in a few weeks!!!!

Little Girls

 Little Girls

Little Girls 

 Every where I turn I can see them

 Little Girls 

Little Girls

Some women are dripping with diamonds

Some women are dripping with pearls

Lucky Me! Lucky Me!

Look what I'm dripping with

LITTLE GIRLS!!!!!!

(Name that tune! ha! It's been in my head since Harper LOVES this movie! And Ms. Hannigan might not have loved them.......but I SURE love MY little girls!)

and here is the sweetest video of Hollis - I think it will brighten your day!

Fun Giveaway

I know I've been a little giveaway crazy for the last week but this is the last one for a long while and it's a good one! 

I want to remind you again that this Thursday night - I am joining Lysa Terkeurst and Courtney Joseph from Women Living Well on a webcast to discuss Lysa's new book "Unglued".  We will be discussing Conflict Resolution. It should be good! I may or may not plan to wear cowboy boots. :-)

It will air 8 EST/7 Central on www.lysaterkeurst.com.

I really hope y'all will tune in. You can tweet questions with the hashtag #ungluedbook!!!

AND

I am giving away this CUTE CUTE CUTE yellow handbag (like the picture on the book) full of fun goodies including 

Unglued Book 

Unglued DVD Study

Unglued Study Participants Guide

Unglued Key Tags 

A few fun accessories (Scarf and a ring!) 

To enter to win - PLEASE leave me a comment with the best conflict resolution strategy you have ever heard or implemented.

I'm going to pick a few to read on air during the webcast and I will also announce the winner during the webcast!!! 

Our weekend

Several months ago I was asked to speak at a women's brunch at a church in Central Arkansas. Yesterday was the day.  I drove down yesterday morning so I left my house at 5:15. (yikes!) I was SOOO incredibly nervous.  I am honored they asked me to speak but I am NOT a speaker.

BUT ......I feel like if God ever opens a door for me to share about Him - I have to do it and He helps me.  And thankfully He did!

I LOVE women's ministry so it was fun to experience at another church.  They did a neat thing - they had about 24 tables set up and a hostess at each table decorated it differently.  It was SO cute. They had a catered brunch and it was DELICIOUS. I would have devoured but I was too nervous to eat.

 Our table was decorated by the worship pastor's wife (who happened to be a recent OBU grad and my Tri Chi sister)! It was so cute! I wish I would have taken more pictures of the tables. I was too rattled to get my camera out.

 I spoke at Holland Baptist Church in Benton. I lived in Benton when I was younger so I actually met a women who goes to the church we went to then and knew my parents. My dad was called to the ministry when we were in that church so it's very special to our family.  I also met Jennifer Francis' grandmother and aunt (on the left is her aunt) and one of her mom's best friends (on the right!) It's such a small world.

 This is Mary Lynn.  She lives in Benton and we have connections because she grew up in the same town as my mom and they share a lot of the same friends. And her husband's father worked with my Pap-pa at the post office.  So neat!  Her daughter makes those neat state necklaces I told y'all about! 

 This is Heather. She lives in Fayetteville and we share mutual friends (including Jennifer Francis) and we have met before and this is her home church. So she came home to be here. That was so sweet!

 Rebecca is the Women's Ministry Director and she and I connected years ago through our blogs (before anyone ever read mine) and we had emailed back and forth many times and she is the one who asked me to speak.  It was really fun to finally meet her in person after all these years!

I'm just not cut out for speaking but grateful that God allows me to give Him glory for my story! :-)

Scott kept the girls all day yesterday and did a great job! I was SOOOOOO exhuasted when I got home last night.

 Me and the girls before church today.  We are having a rainy Sunday but we are grateful for the rain and it's a great day to snuggle up inside this afternoon!

Daddy and his girls! 

Giveaway Winners Galore

Scroll down to look at lots of Laundry rooms!!!!

Hollis is helping me announce the winners from the give aways this week!

And I used random.org to pick the winners. There is no way I could pick a winner based on who deserves it. Honestly - I so badly want to come through the computer and HUG each one of your necks and give you a book if you left a comment on "unglued".  I LOVED reading each comment and I hope you all read through them. I felt so encouraged. We are all in this together girls! 

Lauren Kimbrough - you are the lucky winner of a photo session with my friend Bethany!!!!

Emily Coen and Empty Nester Sheila - you are the 2 lucky winners of "Unglued"!!!

Kassandra - you win a chalkboard!

If you won - you will be getting an email from me tonight!!! Congratulations!
If you didn't win - I'm so sorry - but thank you for entering!!!!

Show us your life - Laundry Rooms

Today is our last day of home tours. I'm going to get a new list up in the next week or so of all the topics we will have through the winter! I think there will be some interesting ones so I really hope you will plan to join in!!! 

Laundry rooms - kind of a hard room to decorate cute. And probably not the favorite room to most of us, right? 

 I actually really like my laundry room. I love my washer and dryer. I just wish they would fold clothes and put them away on their own. Notice my big pile of laundry waiting for me. I wanted to hide it but then you would think I was caught up and that is NEVER true.
The little shelf above the laundry holds all the girls bags. Why do we have about 30 bags? ha!

 On the opposite wall is my little office. I LOVE this part of the house. I rarely get to just sit here but when I do I love my time!

 I have this cute bulletin board that holds some of Harper's art work from last year. 

Something I love. I put up this bulletin board several years ago. It used to hold scriptures to encourage me through infertility and notes people had written me to encourage me. I would sit and stare at it. Now it holds a zillion birth announcements from our friends and there are probably 30 new ones I haven't put up there. I need to get a bigger board. I call it my blessings board. I love to look at all of the blessings of babies on that board - so many I have had the privilege to pray for!

Okay friends ..............show us your laundry rooms! (and I apologize I'm just NOW getting this up - it's been a crazy week.)

First Day of School

Yesterday was a big day at our house. Harper started preschool! I can't believe she is this old! and Hollis started Mother's Day Out.

I learned pretty quickly that Harper does better with structure and being around people so she is just happier when she can be "in school".  So even though I love having her home - I love seeing her soar as she goes to school.  And I saw what a help it was to her when she was Hollis' age - so I thought I would try Hollis too. Hollis has never had separation anxiety - she is pretty happy go lucky and she really likes playing with other kids so I like to give them this.

And if you read my past post - you know that this gives me a break and a chance to get organized and clean and run errands and keeps me from coming "unglued".  I'm just a better mother when I get a few hours away and then when I'm with them - our time is happier!

 They were so excited! I got a cute back to school dress for Hollis but it was too big so I nixed it. You will probably see it next year. I've had Harper's outfit for about 2 years. I thought she would wear it for kindergarten but it fit this year. It's a little big so if I'm still blogging in 2 years - you might see it again for our first day of kindergarten! :-)

 Why does she look so big? 

The chalkboard is a total Pinterest Idea that I loved. I hope she will still hold it in 10th grade! :-) Read to the bottom to see how you might get a similar chalkboard! 

This was her first day of MDO 2 years ago. It seems like yesterday. I was barely pregnant with Hollis at the time! 

This girl just kills me. I don't think she could get cuter if she tried. 

 Hollis' teacher. She is so sweet and I know Hollis will have the best year. She is in with just a few kids and we know every one of them which makes it very special.

 Harper got a wonderful teacher and I'm so excited for her year. She loved it and told me she was ready to go back!

I know I always say I don't like giveaways and I really don't ever do them and here I am - THREE in one week. But they are all for friends and fun and I probably won't do anymore for several months or longer so ................

I have a sweet friend that lives here who is in the process of adopting from Ethiopia and they have started an etsy shop to help raise money for the adoption. They made the cute chalkboards for me and they can make all kinds of things. I am going to giveaway one chalkboard (it can be any color)! It would be cute anywhere in your house or for parties or to use like I did in pictures! Leave a comment on this post and I'll draw a winner on Friday night!

You can read more about this from my friend Jenny: http://www.blessingsandraindrops.com/2012/08/fundraising-it-on.html
and visit their shop:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/BaytBoutique

Unglued

Okay.

I'm going to tell you the honest truth.

I'm a girl. I'm a basket of emotions and hormones and it's come to a hurricane level for me in the last year.  Having two kids close together in age as a VERY type A person has rocked my world. I love my girls more than life itself - so much it hurts. I know my life is SO very blessed. But having two little kids into everything, tearing up the house, constantly fighting and screaming and whining and I'm so unorganized (I'm constantly losing my keys or forgetting things because I don't have a minute in the day to have a complete thought) and I'm so tired (never sleep a full night) and my house is a mess and my laundry is never done and my car looks like Sanford and Sons.  Do you know this feeling?

I'm a type A control freak and my last year has had me completely out of control. It's just life with little ones and I know that it's just a season - but I find myself coming UNGLUED a lot more than I would like to admit. I've been so ashamed so much at how I snap at Scott at night or I get angry when Harper refuses to obey when I've asked her something 10 times in a row.  It seems to just make my emotions get even worse and my world to feel even more out of control when I don't like the way I've acted. I've been trying so hard this year to pray and have quiet times in the morning and try to get a handle on how I'm feeling.  (and the good moments FAR OUT WEIGH the bad......but I'm just being honest - I HATE who I am when I have those bad moments. I want to be sweet happy mom and wife all the time. I want to be Caroline Ingalls and Mrs. Duggar but there are times I'm just not).

So ......... Lysa Terkeurst is a Christian Author who has written a lot of books (you may have heard of "Made to Crave" and if you haven't - you might want to) and Bible Studies and is President of Proverbs 31 Ministries and she has a new book called "Unglued".  I feel as like God kind of hit me over the head with this book. WOW - I needed to read this. I'm halfway through and it has met me exactly where I needed to be met. I read these words early on and the tears were flowing.....

"I know what it's like to praise God one minute and in the next minute yell and scream at my kid"

YIKES

Here's a little about the new book:

God gave us emotions to experience life, not destroy it! Lysa TerKeurst admits that she, like most women, has had experiences where others bump into her happy and she comes emotionally unglued. We stuff, we explode, or we react somewhere in between. What do we do with these raw emotions? Is it really possible to make emotions work for us instead of against us? Yes, and in her usual inspiring and practical way, Lysa will show you how. Filled with gut-honest personal examples and biblical teaching, Unglued will equip you to: Know with confidence how to resolve conflict in your important relationships. Find peace in your most difficult relationships as you learn to be honest but kind when offended. Identify what type of reactor you are and how to significantly improve your communication. Respond with no regrets by managing your tendencies to stuff, explode, or react somewhere in between. Gain a deep sense of calm by responding to situations out of your control without acting out of control.

I feel like there may be a lot of you out there who might need to read this book. And not just moms. Maybe it's how you feel in the workplace. I've been there too. Or as single person having to handle things on your own - and you just feel like you can't take anything else on or you will come unglued. Or you are doing with hard to deal with people in your life.  I need to read this when I get mean comments on here and it makes me a little unglued instead of responding with a kind answer.  Rare - but it happens. Does anyone feel like they need to read something like this???

I'm going to give away two books to y'all! I'll draw a winner on Friday.  I think you will really like the book "Unglued".  You can also find it here:

  http://www.amazon.com/Unglued-Making-Choices-Midst-Emotions/dp/0310332796

AND ALSO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know how this even happened but I'm so excited and honored that Lysa has invited me to come to Charlotte next week and be on a webcast with her about the book.  And you can watch!!! 

 It airs LIVE from 8-9pm EST next Thursday the 30th and its totally FREE
Go to www.lysaterkeurst.com to view it... if it doesn't show up right away be sure to refresh your browser
To sign up for a reminder email go here 

There will be a replay the next day in case you miss it or want to share it. 

I hope y'all will tune in for that!!!!

 Leave me a comment telling me why you need this book and I'll pick two winners on Friday!

Kansas City - Here we come!

Since Scott is off for a couple of weeks - we decided to take a little family vacation somewhere close to home.  We decided on Kansas City - it's only 3 hours from here and there is a lot to do with kids. 

 We left Sunday after church and drove up.  Kansas City has the nicest shopping/restaurant area called the plaza. I have been before but it's been a long time. I would LOVE to go back sometime without kids and shop and eat! It is so nice. We stayed right in the area and decided to walk up the road and eat at Cheesecake Factory. We never eat out because the girls are just too wild (I could do a post on this) but we did Sunday night and I'm pretty sure it shaved at least 7 years off both of our lives. Harper has reached an age where she is great to take out but Hollis had me sweating like a maniac.  You can tell in this picture she is ready to get up to mischief.

At least it was nice weather for August after this HOT summer we have had so we enjoyed the walk!

 And what did we find but a Razorback in KC? Everyone is a hog fan! :-)

Monday morning we were up bright and early and we stopped for some "pink" donuts to start our day off right!

 Our stop for the day was the zoo.  We don't live near a zoo so my girls have never been. Harper was SOOOO excited to "see the animals".

 Her VERY favorite part of the day was riding the train. She loved it. 

 Hollis loved this little monkey.   That is a pair of monkeys in that picture. 

 All Harper could talk about was "riding a giraffe".  I don't know where she got that idea but we compromised and rode a camel instead. 

 She did get to ride a giraffe on the carousel. This was her second favorite thing. Hollis loved it too!

 The closest we may ever get to Africa. 

 You may not be able to tell but both girls were passed out at this point. 

 All in all it was really fun.  It was great weather and the girls had a great time. We stayed for most of the day and enjoyed an expensive and yucky lunch. ha!

 This sweet picture is my favorite part of the day!

 I LOVED this polar bear. He just kept doing constant backflips - it was so neat. 

We went back to the hotel and swam and honestly the girls loved that more than anything. We were all so tired by then and the last thing we wanted to do was get ready and go to a restaurant so we just got some food and ate in the room in our pj's and went to bed early.  

 This morning we headed to the Crowne Center. Can you see the girls expressions - this is how they were all weekend. A little wired and a lot wound up.  Scott and I are so tired but so happy they had so much fun.

 We ate breakfast and then headed to the new Aquarium.  The Aquarium was really neat but I think it was WAY too expensive AND we walked in with a HUGE BUS of preschool kids so there were like 40 screaming 3 year olds every where we went.

 But the girls really liked it. We couldn't take in the stroller so Hollis walked the whole thing and I think she felt like such a big girl. She really enjoyed it. 

 Looking at fish

 We went to a dinosaur exhibit at the Crowne Center. It was set up for kids and was very interactive. My girls LOVED it. They played and played.

 Me and my big girl and our "big friend".  Hollis didn't want in the picture. 

 Our only family picture - not great- but what are you going to do? 

 We ate lunch at Fritz's - a little train themed restaurant where the train brings you food. Hollis LOVED it and she was SO good. 

 My engineers. 

After a quick stop for a candy treat - we headed home. Hollis was asleep before we got out of town.

I'm so glad we could get out of town and do something new together. Kansas City has a lot to offer - they also have worlds of fun and all kinds of great restaurants. We normally look forward to good food on trips but this trip was more about what the girls would enjoy which included cheeseburgers instead. Vacations with two little ones is not relaxing. It's more like "working off site".  I'm pretty sure we are all worn out and going to bed early tonight. But I loved watching my girls experience new things.  They are such a joy to me and I love their little personalities. They keep me on my toes!