An A-ha moment!

I just read a beautifully written article.  You can check it out here:

It's such a different perspective than most of the articles I've read.  My heart still aches right now for the families, the community & really the whole world. & I'm not even closely connected to the tragedy, other than being a mother.  But I just realized from reading an article a friend linked to Facebook, that this is the reason I feel so strongly about this whole thing.
  I live & breathe motherhood all day long.
  I watch the news & cry. 
I watch my kids playing (or fighting) & I cry.  I think what if this is their last time together.  What if I don't get another chance to squeeze my babies & tell them how much I love them.  For almost a week now I've cuddled, hugged & talked more to my babies than I have in a month.  I wish it didn't take something like this to slow me down.  But I'm thankful to have the chance to try again at active mothering.
Please, read the article for yourself, you'll surely be moved by it.

Social media & our children

I think a handful of my FB friends are far too young for Facebook, even if its primarily for games, or only to talk to their friends.  I have some teen girls as FB friends who post pictures more revealing than anything I would post at 26 years old, and their profiles are PUBLIC!  These kids are just not ready for social media.  My daughter would love her own Facebook account.  But she's 10.  It's against FB's policy & against our family policy.   A friend of hers posted a couple videos of them playing & my daughter was mortified.  She thought they were just having fun, but never wanted to be online for everyone to see.  She cried about it off & on for days.  My 5 year old, on the other hand, is constantly asking if I will put his picture on Facebook.  He thinks it is awesome to show his lego creations or new clothes to the entire world.  These sweet children just don't realize how big the world really is.   Social media can play a role in our emotional well being (yay!  I have 15 new notifications vs. No notifications in 3 days) as well as mental health (cyber bullying).  How will you protect your kids from social media?

https://www.jonacuff.com/blog/something-every-parent-needs-to-be-ready-for-in-2013/

Christmas feelings

I've gone Christmas shopping several times & spent hours online looking at things.  But, I have yet to get a grip on my list.  I am having a hard time finding good gifts, & feel like its an obligation & a giant waste of money.  I try to be appreciative of gifts that are bought for my family, but mostly it's more things that we don't need & a lot of it never even leaves the package.  I know Christmas shouldn't feel this way. I just hate how commercialized it feels.  Christmas to me is about celebrating Christ's love.  How can I honor Christ, while pleasing others with gifts, but not creating more clutter in their homes?
Donating money to a great charitable organization in their names isn't an option because the people I'm buying for like "things".

I kind of just want to stay home this year, how sad.

Feelings

Isn't it funny the way things can make us feel?


A thank-you note from something you didn't even think twice about can give you a warm feeling.

A fresh pair of contacts gives me a happy feeling & makes my eyes feel so fresh and clean.

My 5 year old got to experience the feeling of new socks. As weird as it sounds, I totally understood. New socks have so much more cushion, they're so soft, and they're perfectly sized, not stretched out or unevenly worn. His response was "THANK YOU MOMMY!! THIS IS THE BEST FEELING EVER!!".

Bless his little heart. Do you think he'll still be saying that when I buy him new socks for his first day of college?
I love good feelings.

Then there are the bad feelings. Ugh. Here is one that is standing out to me after spending 4+ hours in the car yesterday:

A dirty look from a stranger in a car driving the opposite direction. Why do some people look so angry when they drive? I want to hunt them down and ask if they wouldn't mind too terribly, could they please put on a happy face. But the real question is, why aren't they happy?

Take a minute to think about these 3 questions:

What does your face look like today? and why? How can you try to put a smile on someone else's face?

　
　

$5 Amazon Gift Card Winner

Hello Fans, Friends, and Family! I really quickly wanted to announce the winner of the $5 Amazon Gift Card GIVEAWAY!

The winner is my friend Autumn! Yay! Congratulations Autumn! I'll be sending the e-card your way shortly!

There were *SO* many great responses.   I've been away all day and am really longing some family time before the kids go to bed, so I'll real quickly sum up the tips I received:
*Try not to run the air as much as possible
*Don't use lights unless it's dark outside! And then we usually only use enough to see.
*When we are putting things away after meals, we try to gather all refrigerator items, so we only have to open the fridge once.
*Clean your air conditioner yearly and change the filter monthly.
*Use quilted window curtains.
*Turn the Heat down in Winter.
*Set air hotter in Summer and use your fan on slow or medium.
*Keep curtains on sun side of house closed.
*If the humidity isn't too high, once the temp drops in the evening, turn off the air and use fan on low.

Here was my favorite tip of all:

Invite my daughter over; then she unplugs everything.

HAHAHA! I wonder who wrote that one... hmm ;) I love my mom!

Thank you to all who entered! I look forward to hosting another giveaway in the future.

  Have a Happy Fathers Day weekend! 

Don't forget to take time to thank your Heavenly Father for all you have, and wish Him a Happy Fathers day as well.