Author: Melissa

how great thou art

Yesterday my husband and the team he went to Haiti with shared in church about their experience there. It was amazing, as you can imagine. They shared a lot about a group of refugees they met, who were from Port au Prince, who had been living on this mountain under a giant, partially destroyed parachute for almost a year. They were out of food. So the men on the trip pooled all of their pocket money and bought them as much rice and beans as they could. When they delivered it, the men on the trip sang a hymn, How Great Thou Art, for the people there. And were moved when the people spontaneously responded with the same hymn in Creole:

Just something for you to mull over this morning.

O Lord my God,
When I in awesome wonder
Consider all
The works Thy Hand hath made,
I see the stars,
I hear the mighty thunder,
Thy pow’r throughout
The universe displayed;

Then sings my soul,
My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art!
How great Thou art!
Then sings my soul,
My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art!

When through the woods
And forest glades I wander
I hear the birds
Sing sweetly in the trees;
When I look down
From lofty mountain grandeur
And hear the brook
And feel the gentle breeze;

Then sings my soul,
My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art!
How great Thou art!
Then sings my soul,
My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art!
How great Thou art!

When Christ shall come,
With shouts of acclamation,
And take me home,
What joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow
In humble adoration
And there proclaim,
“My God, how great Thou art!”

Then sings my soul,
My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art!
How great Thou art!
Then sings my soul,
My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art!

fashion friday: i may be crazy, but i can still look cute

So somehow its Friday and I’m still working on my to-do list from Wednesday…

Did anyone else have a week like that? As in driving to the wrong place with the wrong child, the school calling me twice because I forgot to send in notes for the kids, trips to the ER, you know… stuff like that. I’m hoping that this weekend I can restart my brain so that next week won’t be quite so crazy.

In the meantime, I have a few little gems for you!

1. I am totally and completely in love with this skirt by White House Black Market. Isn’t it absolutely darling?!?! (The sash is removable, but of course its my favorite part!) This would be perfect for an event I have next week that I can’t tell you about yet, but I promise will be worth the wait.
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2. OOO – maybe I could pair that skirt with this top from ModCloth!
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3. I LOVE these pants. I’ve been looking for a gray herringbone pant for like 2 years and I think I found it! LOFT has these new Leg Lengthening Pants that are positively amazing. (and here’s that cute blouse you see a peek of!)
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4. Love these flared trouser jeans from Old Navy. You can’t get much more stylish than this for under $30… LOVE the cuffs!
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5. Okay. I know that jumpsuits are trendy again. But I just don’t get it. Just. Don’t.  I mean, how does one go to the bathroom while wearing these things exactly? Do you really want to get undressed every time you go? And unless you are built like this mannequin, I think it would be hard to pull this look off. Since even she isn’t looking super hot…
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What say you?

Did you do a fashion post today? Link on up!!

sometimes i’m glad i overhear things….

I heard the sounds – Colin and Gracie were jumping on his bed again.
We’ve been discouraging this practice, seeing as Colin tends to not be able to contain his bounces and ends up hitting walls, other people, the ground, etc.

I walked over to his room to tell them to stop and heard them talking:

Gracie: “Colin, who made you?”
Colin: “GOD!”
Gracie: “What else did God make?”
Colin: “ALL THINGS!”
Gracie: “Why did God make all things?”
Colin: “Because He GOD and make ALL things!”
Gracie: “No, Colin, God made all things for his glory! Can you say that?”
Colin: “For his LORY! YAY!”
Gracie: “Okay. Now how do we glorify God?”

She was teaching him his catecism questions. I just couldn’t interrupt.

Oh, the sweetness.

 

is your first aid kit stocked?

I was upstairs checking email while my husband was playing with this kids in the girls' room when I heard a huge bump.

Then a scream.

Then another scream.

Then my husband yelling, "COME QUICK! HELP!"

I walked into the girls' bedroom and found Ellie sitting on the floor with blood pouring down her face.

She had hit her forehead on the corner of the desk and had a huge gash in the middle of her forehead. Blood. Everywhere. (Mixed with snot and tears, which helps.) As we went to treat her cut, we discovered something: we had no gauze or other first aid-y supplies. I know we did at one time, but somehow they all got used up and never replaced. Our first aid kit consisted of an open tube of Neosporin and a half-finished box of Cars Band-Aids. Nice.

Long story short, we called our neighbor who is a nurse for her opinion, who said she could get stitches, but probably would be okay if she didn't. Seeing at is was in the middle of her forehead, we decided to err of the side of caution and took her to the ER. They checked her for a head injury, warning us that she might have a concussion and gave us instructions to wake her up every 2 hours all night, and gave her those liquid stitches. (MUCH to Ellie's relief. Ellie hates needles!)

She is doing fine and even went to school today. Mommy and Daddy are recovering nicely as well.

So lesson for the day: PLEASE check your first aid kits and make sure you have everything you need! You never know when you'll need it!!! Today I went to Target and picked up stuff to restock our first aid kit. Hopefully, we won't need it anytime soon. But at least we know we're ready now!

try this: panera bread’s new menu items

I love Panera. Its my favorite place to work – I could easily sit there all day with my laptop and a cup of their coffee (half dark roast, half light roast, 2 packets of Sugar in the Raw and a dash of half and half). My kids love it too. Colin inhales the grilled cheese kids meal, while Gracie loves the salads and Ellie claims they have the best chicken noodle soup in the world.

Just this week, I tried the new Thai Chopped Chicken Salad and loved it. Listen to this: All-natural, antibiotic free chicken, romaine, wonton strips, a blend of fire-roasted edamame, red bell pepper and carrot tossed in a Thai Chili Vinaigrette. Topped with strips of seasoned grilled chicken, Thai cashews, fresh cilantro and a peanut drizzle. See?
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photo by Gracie

I loved it – its a bit spicy, so if you don't like foods with a little kick, you might want to stick to the Asian Chicken Salad. But I love spice, so the Thai Chopped Chicken Salad is my new favorite salad!

The kids loved the new Wild Berry Smoothies:
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And I love that Panera provides me with a place to take my family that offers things like organic milk and yogurt, all-natural soups, all-natural antibiotic-free meat… as a mom who really watches what my kids eat, this is a something that I really appreciate. Its a place that serves food that my kids really like and that I'm actually comfortable serving them.

disclosure: i received a gift card to try out panera's new menu items. as always, all opinions are my own. my mypanera card can testify to my being a panera fan 🙂

potty training: week two

DSC_0707-1 I spent the majority of last week sitting right here.

Talking about the potty, talking about pee pee and poopies.

Talking about all the people we know who go pee pees on the potty, talking about how wonderful the potty is….

And I'd say we're about half way there. Colin is probably making it to the potty about half the time. He's still wearing diapers, since he says he hates Pull-ups and underwear. He is very sensitive to things like new shoes or new clothes, he gets really annoyed by things like tags or things rubbing him the wrong way, so we're easing into the underpants a bit at a time.

And you'll notice something that I didn't have to deal while training the girls: puddles. [See photo] Colin tends to forget to, um, AIM himself. So I've been cleaning the floor. A lot.

The girls have been big helps – they are always asking him if he has to go to the potty and they help him and cheer him on – it is so so sweet. But they may just be doing it so they can steal one of his gummy worms that he picked as his reward.

I still can't believe that he picked those gross sour gummi worms as his treat. What treat did your kids get when they went potty?

 

inspiration – 2.27

“My son if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding… Then you will understand what is right and just and fair-  every good path.” 

Proverbs 2: 1-3, 9