Thinking about you….

Posted on April 15, 2013 by thebrowsingbrunette

I’m just wrapping up Beth Moore’s amazing bible study Daniel. It really pushed me deeper into the word and helped really open my eyes to the kind of culture we are living in. I fall victim to giving into the pleasures of the world just like any other sinner but this study has help me become more aware of my actions. The one thing I read in this study that has stuck with me the most was all the way back in chapter three talking about self absorption and it said, “Constantly thinking little of ourselves is still thinking constantly of ourselves.” Talk about a punch in the gut! I have NEVER thought of self loathing in such a light. I suffer from depression and one thing that I am constantly doing is beating myself up and listing off all my failures and inadequacies in my head. After reading that statement it really opened my eyes to all the time I waste thinking about myself even if it isn’t in the best light. Think of all the things I could be doing with that time! Praying for people, spending time in the word, speaking words of encouragement to others, the list goes on and on. If I had learned nothing else in this study that one nugget of wisdom was life changing but thankfully I learned so much about myself and history. Being still very new to the word I really love doing bible studies because they really break down the bible into manageable portions and help see how to make the word fresh and applicable to my everyday life. Beth Moore has made a life long fan of hers out of me!

5 things Friday

Posted on April 12, 2013 by thebrowsingbrunette

It’s been kind of crazy week around here so I’ve decided to pick 5 songs/artists that I’ve been listening to lately (as well as the kids!). Music is a HUGE part of our lives, it inspired the dogs and the kids names. Layla and Cash are the dogs named after Eric Clapton’s Layla and of course the legendary Johnny Cash. I got Carter’s name from June Carter, Johnny Cash’s wife and little miss Presley’s name comes from the king himself ELVIS! Linking up with Snappee Turtle today!

1: I’ve been obsessed with Ed Sheeran lately. I really love artists that write and play their own music. Everyone by now has heard the song the A team but I recommend downloading Give me Love.

2: Speaking of Ed Sheeran he collaborated with Taylor Swift on her latest album RED. The song is called Everything has Changed and I’ve been playing it on repeat constantly. I own ever Taylor Swift album and believe that we would be great friends

3: Rumours by Fleetwood Mac is own of my all time favorite albums. I actually own it on vinyl and love listening to on our record player. One of the reasons I love Fleetwood Mac is the group dynamics, all the breaking up and making up made for some amazing music.

4: Each of the kids listen to music every night as the fall asleep and 10,000 reasons by Matt Redman is one of Carter’s favorite songs and he refers to it as “my soul”. He sings it all the time and it just melts my heart.

5: Like I mentioned in #4 each kid has their own music. Presley is so smart that if I play music in the house and one of the songs comes on that is on her bedtime cd she immediately says “night, night”. Such an ear for music already! One of my personal favorites that is on there is the acoustic version of Natalie Grant’s “Your Great Name”.

5 things friday button 5 Things Friday Linky Party

Living with Depression

Posted on April 11, 2013 by thebrowsingbrunette

I’ve been trying to write this post for days and even now I’m not sure how its going to turn out and where it’s going to go because I’m just going to write.

I have been following all the coverage of the recent suicide of Rick Warren’s son Matthew. I’m a huge fan of Mr. Warren’s as his book the Purpose Driven Life changed my life (that story can be for another day). This is just another tragic incident that is bringing mental illness back into the fore front and especially in the Christian community. It’s extremely difficult for someone who doesn’t suffer from depression to come close to understand the inner workings of the dark places that can reside in a depressed person’s mind. Unless you’ve been in the pit you aren’t going to know what it’s like in there. That’s not to say that you can’t continue to love, support, encourage, pray, etc for those close to you who suffer from mental illness but understanding it in my opinion truly takes another suffer. I suffer from depression and a mood disorder. I understand the stigma and lack of understanding from those on the outside of the illness. I feel a lot of people confuse depression with just being “sad” or “weak”. The mind has deep dark corners that when your depressed you tend to live in from time to time. While most of us can spend some time there and leave sadly there are many who just can’t seem to find their way out. The medical community and the spiritual community need to be working together on mental health issues. Medicine isn’t the only answer, prayer isn’t the only answer and people shouldn’t be made to feel like less than a person for needing BOTH components in their journey with depression (or any other mental illness). Living with depression can be very isolating which only feeds more into the disease. There is still much to discover about what causes depression and how it can be treated but until we can get some clear cut answers but it’s important to keep the lines of communication open and a dialogue out it so others don’t have to suffer in silence.

Prehistoric Times over here

Posted on April 11, 2013 by thebrowsingbrunette

So our Internet went out Friday, the modem died! We have no cable so the Internet is king over here. We have Netflix and Hulu but you guessed it they run over wifi. Carter was on “vacation” visiting both sets of grandparents but we couldn’t FaceTime which made him and Presley very sad. She was constantly asking to see him. A new modem arrived Tuesday (a day later than promised) I had to call for installation help only to find out they are phasing out DSL and moving to fiber optic cables which means we would now need ANOTHER modem. Thankfully we didn’t have to pay for the one we just got! The Internet isn’t really working still we have a signal but basically nothing will load so I am writing this post from my phone. I had a ton of blog post ideas but they all require usage of my actual computer. It’s really sad to think how dependent we are on the Internet but I guess that’s the age we live in now. Hopefully someone can come install the new system ASAP! I seriously feel like I’m in a time warp with no Internet, thank goodness for my phone!

5 things Friday

Posted on April 5, 2013 by thebrowsingbrunette

I had so much last week linking up over at Snappee Turtle, I decided to do it again this week!

(Starting from the top left)

The “warm” weather: It is finally starting to warm up around here and I was able to take the kids to the park this week. They are obsessed with swinging. It’s supposed to be even warmer this weekend so I see more trips to the park in our future.

Starbucks: I wish I could afford to drink Starbucks everyday because I love it that much. About a month ago I crossed the threshold from hot to iced coffee. My drink of choice is a TRENTA (that’s an amazing 31oz) Iced Coffee with Milk sweetened plus an additional 3 splenda. Thankfully I have been given giftcards to feed my addiction recently.

Presley’s Dress: I get most of Carter’s clothes from the Children’s Place the quality and fit are awesome. We had place cash to spend from Easter shopping from Grandma so we went Tuesday to do some spring/summer shopping for both kids. There was a whole wall of dresses marked down. I found this pale pink tutu dress marked down to around $14 which I thought was a good deal but then I ran the tag under the price scanner and it came up $7.50! You know it had to come home with us. I showed Dave his responses, “Where is she going to wear that?” and “Is that her Carrie Bradshaw dress” My answers, “She is going to where it everywhere” and “UMM….YES!!!”

My cross necklace: This necklace was a gift from Dave for our first Christmas together. It was a replacement for a cross necklace my parents bought me when I graduated high school which I lost my freshman year of college. I almost lost THIS necklace as well (I have terrible luck with cross necklaces it turns out). Apparently I didn’t clasp the necklace well and it had fallen off and I noticed on my way to church no less. When I came home I found the chain but no pendant. Dave assured me that Presley would find it and sure enough she found the cross on the stairs the next day!

TV OBSSESSIONS: This house has been cable free for just a little over 4 years. We have subscriptions to Netflix and recently Hulu which for both cost us a whole $16. Most of the shows I love are on basic tv. I almost never miss: Nashville (the music is AMAZING); The Following (super creepy but Kevin Bacon is HOT); Grey’s Anatomy (great story lines and McDreamy); SCANDAL (a racy political thriller that is steamy)

5 things friday button 5 Things Friday {I Almost Got Caught Shoplifting}

Toddler Musings

Posted on April 3, 2013 by thebrowsingbrunette

In light of Presley’s recent health scare (which is sadly still ongoing) I’ve become even more appericiative of all the little moments with the kids. They each are very vocal and full of life. I wanted to share a few of my favorite/recent musings from their sweet mouths.

Meet Presley and Carter

Carter :

Me: Cater are you lying?

C: I’m not a lion Mommy, I’m a tiger

“I don’t want Jesus to die I will save him with my lightsaber”

“Mommy before you go to bed put some makeup on and do something with your hair”

“Cuties come from juice!”

Presley:

“Mommy I dancin”

Grabs my face, “Mommy look at me”

“Daddy comb my hair” pulls out her stool and sits at her vanity before he can start

“Paint my nails”

Heirlooms

Posted on April 1, 2013 by thebrowsingbrunette

These are 4 rings that I hope to pass down to Presley some day! I love the idea of having jewelry with special meaning to pass down from generation to generation.

(Starting from the top left)

Grandma’s Ring: This ring used to be my Grandma’s who passed away when I was a little girl. The ring is made up of a beautiful Opal and six rubies. I convinced my mom to let me borrow it indefinitely once I knew I was having a July baby. Carter is an Opal and Presley is ruby so this ring became my mother’s ring since it had both their birthstones and has extra special meaning since it was my Grandma’s and my mom also wore it a ton.

Honeymoon Ring: I have this problem when I encounter a place that sells oysters that contain pearls, I have to stop and I have to get at least one if not two or three. I’m obsessed with seeing what kind of pearl is inside. This ring was my big purchase on our Disney honeymoon. Dave was still smoking at the time and had stopped to smoke a cigarette when I came across a pearl hut. I had got the white pearl first and then if I remember right if you spent some much on a setting for your pearl you got to pick another one. So I had these two pearls and found this setting that the lady told me the leaves represented something about marriage in Hawaiian that I have since forgotten. She went to check me out and the total was like $400. Oops! Needless to say Dave really didn’t leave me unattended anymore on our honeymoon.

Tiffanys: On our 2nd dating anniversary we had planned to go to the Cheesecake Factory (one of my all time favorite places). Located in the same mall was a Tiffany’s and before we went and got our dinner Dave walked me right past the restaurant and to the store! It wasn’t like Sweet Home Alabama and he said pick one but I still had fun none the less. I still have the little blue box it came in.

Heart Ring: As far as I can remember this was the first ring my parents ever bought me. I distinctly remember my mom buying me ring prior to this and it turned my finger green and my Dad made my mom return and buy me a “real” ring. As soon as Presley’s fingers our big enough it will be her first ring as well.

5 things Friday

Posted on March 29, 2013 by thebrowsingbrunette

Today I’m linking up with Snappee Turtle for 5 things Friday! These are 5 things that I love this week (with the exception of my kids and husband, I love them every week

#1: Simple Cleansing Wipes are absolutely amazing. I’m a lazy person in general from everything from getting up to pee to washing my face so the fact I can clean my face without having to be at the bathroom sink is right up my alley. These wipes take off every ounce of makeup, including waterproof mascara and they are only $4.99!

#2: This has been the most amazing part of the week. We have received two very generous anonymous monetary gifts from people at church. My husband works two jobs so I can stay home with the kids and most of the time we barely make ends meet (I’m sure you’re thinking I have internet and a computer it can’t be that bad but trust me times are tight). We are so grateful and humbled that people care so much about our family to bestow these blessings on us.

#3: L’oreal True Match Lumi Foundation has been doing awesome covering my acne ridden face. I was just about out of my expensive foundation my mom had bought and needed to find a more cost effective alternative. I typically only wear makeup a few days a week (ie when we are going to go somewhere and see lots of people) so this should last me awhile.

#4: Spoiled Nail Polish is a steal at $1.99. I am a nail biter and the only time I don’t do it is when they are painted. My little princess Presley has let me paint her nails twice so it has rekindled my nail painting. This color is “the parking meteor expired”

#5: Is it just me or do all beauty products run out at the same time! Much like my foundation my good moisturizer was almost gone so I opted to try Simple Light Moisturizer which is about half the cost of the Hope in a Jar I was using. Absorbs quickly and is not greasy! Love it!

Blessings

Posted on March 27, 2013 by thebrowsingbrunette

I have many blessings in my life. Two wonderful children, a husband, two dogs, a home, my husband’s jobs, family, friends, the list goes on and on. While I thank God daily for these major blessings it’s the surprise blessings that sometimes amaze me most. I have 2 amazing stories about how God knows what you need and when you need it. These two stories are just two of many have happened in our lives, these are just the biggest and most recent. (Also my friend Valerie was super generous to our family during the holidays!!)

About a month or so before Christmas I was talking with my husband about how we were going to get Christmas gifts for the kids. I wasn’t sure how we were going to come up with the money and I was really worried about it so I prayed. Now I know presents aren’t the real meaning of Christmas and my young children wouldn’t have known the difference but I would and I didn’t want to deprive them of Christmas morning. The following week a pastor at church handed me a note with a check for $300 in it. He and his wife felt they were being led to help us out financially as they knew we were struggling. I could not believe that a week prior I had prayed about how we were going to do Christmas and then a generous gift is given. A couple that didn’t know as all that well was willing to help us out because God laid a good deed on their hearts. This couple is truly special to us and we think of their blessing very often.

If you read my last post you know that my sweet little girl suffered seizures. With medical scares come medical bills. I had not mentioned to anyone my fear about getting more medical bills or paying for doctor’s visits to a specialist. I don’t want anyone to misunderstand me I will pay anything and rack up medical bills to ceiling for the sake of my children and husband but it still stresses me out to think about more bills. Monday Dave brought in the mail and there was a letter addressed to the family with no return address with the note pictured above in it. Inside that note was another envelope addressed to Dave and I with $120. The generosity of some people blows my mind. The fact that people continue to bless our family not only financially but with their prayers/calls/texts/emails/visits just strengthens my faith more than I can say. You don’t necessarily have to give money to bless somebody so go out today and be a blessing to someone!!

*Linking up with Small Town, Big Wardrobe*

Warning

Posted on February 7, 2013 by thebrowsingbrunette

Yesterday I got pulled over for the first time EVER! I was running late to MOPS and was speeding (maybe like 5 over) in a school zone. A major no no but thankfully I got a warning. I had got a late start in the shower which put us behind schedule, then I get in the car and we need gas so we have to stop at the gas station. I put my card in and it says see attendant so I cancel the transaction and go to another pump and it says the same thing. So I have to go inside and wait in line and now we are even further behind schedule. I get pulled over right around the corner from the church. I apologize for speeding and he said he wasn’t mad I just need to be careful and he let me go with a warning. I feel like that was a warning from God telling me to slow down in general. I am always so worried about what is coming next that I forget to enjoy what I am actually doing. I have been reminding myself for awhile now to enjoy what I am doing but really haven’t taken it to heart. This “warning” was really a nice wake up call to slow down figuratively and literally.