Five on Friday!

Is it just me, or did this week seem a little long? I had a good week, so it's not like I was wanting it to come to an end. I don't know, I guess it was just really full and I'm excited for the long weekend. :) Anyway, here's this weeks Five on Friday...

{one} Last Friday we enjoyed a delicious homemade Mexican dinner with some sweet friends. It was great to catch up with them! They're expecting their first baby in November, which is so very exciting!! Then, on Tuesday, we enjoyed dinner with Mia and Dustin and guess with Mia and talked about....OUR TRIP TO CHICAGO!! Yup, after the boys trip to Alaska, we decided we needed a girls trip. Destination, Chicago! Let me know if you have any suggestions of things we must do/see while we're there in October.

{two} I made big progress on the school room! I finished painting the two main walls and purchased two fairly large white boards. Now we just need to hang the white boards, finishing painting the wall around them, set up the room and get started! Collin and I are so excited to start! On my to-do for this weekend/week is everything I already mentioned, plus getting all the curriculum ready to go. We haven't even started school yet and I'm learning things I would do differently. Ha! Hopefully next week, I can show you a finished room.

 

 

{three} Date night with my man! We've been more intentional about having "date nights" at home. The other night we enjoyed playing Dutch Blitz. It's fun because we get competitive with each other, trash talk, the whole nine yards. We played a lot of games and watched a lot of football together in our dating years, so we're getting back to the basics. Ha! We've decided to make Monday nights "date night in" at our house and watch football after the kiddos go to bed. May not sound too fun to most, but I just love football and I love my man, so it sounds like a perfect night to me! :)

 

 

 

{four} Nearly every morning the kids and I start our day with a walk. Often my mom joins us on the walk, but not always. Yesterday morning this was my view :)

 

 

I just LOVE them!! Sure, I play referee between them, but really they are the best of friends. They laugh so hard together and play together all day. Nothing beats siblings. :)

 

 

{five} I'm obsessed with Purex crystals, specifically the Fresh Spring Waters scent. I've tried lots of different laundry add ins, but this is the one I keep coming back to. It's amazing! You need to try it....then let me know what you think. :)

 







Well, there you have it. My weekly Five on Friday. I hope you have a good weekend planned...hopefully a long weekend with those you love! :)

Until next time,
Kristal

Wife After God: A book review

If you know me very well, you know I'm passionate about marriage and family.  My marriage and family are far from perfect, but it's not something I take lightly. My marriage to Robert is a beautiful gift God has given me and through our marriage, He has tremendously blessed us with our children. So, to think about something and/or something coming in and trying to damage my marriage and/or family makes me down right feisty. Hard to imagine, I know! Ha!!

So, when I was given the opportunity to review the book, Wife After God, I was thrilled!! This book is designed to draw women closer to their husbands by drawing them closer to God. You can learn more about it here. It has been wonderful!

I'm amazed by the writer's (Jennifer Smith) ability to speak directly into my heart about my marriage. She provides thought provoking, and sometimes convicting, daily devotions with daily challenges to put into practice immediately.

One of the biggest things God has been teaching me the past year or so is that my marriage isn't about making me happy, necessarily, but, rather, about bringing Him glory through my marriage. This devotional has been a great tool in helping me achieve that and keep my perspective in line.

I highly recommend this devotional. In fact, I'm planning to go through it again and would love for you to do it with me! We could have weekly chats, or even quick daily check ins, about how God is working in our marriages. Would you be interested in that?!

If you'd like to purchase the book, you can do so here. Thank you, Jennifer, for the opportunity to review your book! It has already been a tremendous blessing to me and many others to come, I'm sure!

Until next time,
Kristal

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He is faithful!!!

Happy Monday! I hope you had a good weekend. We had a good, full weekend. Friday night we had a delicious Mexican dinner with friends; Saturday morning we witnessed the baptism of a friend's little boy in our pool and Saturday night brought a fun family pool/pizza party; Sunday was full of church and family time. Busy weekend!

I thought now would be a great time to share how the Lord brought us to our new home. It was not an easy or fast one. But, it was such a sweet time of growth and fellowship with Jesus that I wouldn't change a thing about it.

Our last home was the first home Robert and I bought together. It was a cute 3 bedroom, 2 bath home and it was ours! We loved it. So many sweet firsts occurred those first few years we lived there. That's where we started our family when Collin was born in February 2009. Then, in September 2011, Emma was born. That home holds a special place in our heart for sure. But, by the time Emma joined our family, we had outgrown our home...or at least we weren't comfortable in it anymore.

Robert's parents live in Chicago and come visit as often as they can and I hated not having a place for them to stay. Plus, as a stay at home mommy, the walls of our little home were beginning to close in. Can anybody relate to that?!

Well, one day the kids and I were out running errands. While we were out, I noticed a "For Sale" sign in a neighborhood Robert and I had longed to live in one day. Out of curiosity, I followed the signs to the home so I could snag an information sheet and see the details of the home. I was shocked, in a good way, at the price and promptly called Robert to tell him about it. He, too, was pleasantly surprised. Thus, the wheels began turning.

After much talking and praying, we decided to bring a Realtor to our house and talk about putting our home on the market. We were nervous! Yet, excited! Our talk with the Realtor didn't go as well as we had hoped, but we ultimately decided to list our home. Selling a house is not easy...at all! From keeping it spotless for showings, to the highs and lows of constant showings, it's exhausting!

After 4 months of having our house on the market, receiving one offer that was insultingly low, we talked with our Realtor about taking our home off the market. We just weren't convinced it was the right time for us to sell anymore. But, she encouraged us to keep it on the market a little longer and just see what happens. About two weeks later, we were under contract on our house!

I'll be honest, it was bittersweet  for me. I was excited that after all this  time and stress we were finally under contract, but it was bitter because I didn't know where we were going to live. There was one house that we had looked at several times that, on paper, was the perfect house and an incredible deal. Everybody was on board with this house, except me. I just knew it wasn't the house. But, I didn't understand why I was so polar opposite from how everybody else felt. What did they see that I didn't?!

We made an offer. And immediately my heart sank. I had absolutely no peace about that house. The owners took quite a while to respond to our offer, which left Robert and I more time to talk and pray it over. And as the weekend went on, Robert felt more and more reservations about the home, too. Thus, we walked away from that house. I immediately felt peace about our decision to walk away from the house, however our move out date was fast approaching and we had no where to live!

My parents graciously opened their home to us for as long as we needed to find our house. So, most of our possessions went to storage, while we moved into my parents home. We continued to faithfully house hunt, but the Lord kept telling us to wait. And wait. And wait. Seriously, I have countless passages, spanning many weeks, that the Lord gave me during that time that speak of waiting on Him and His timing. We didn't understand why He was telling us to wait, but we knew He had a reason for telling us that and our job was simply to obey.

Time passed and still nothing. We continued to look at homes both online and in person, but none of them were "the one". And then I received a call from a dear friend's mom. She had just visited an estate sale in her neighborhood, which is the exact neighborhood Robert and I longed to live in, and thought we might want to walk through it and check it out, in case it went on the market. She warned us that it needed a lot of updating, but that the bones of it were good and she really thought it might fit our family perfectly. So, the next day we went to the estate sale.

And y'all, for me, it was almost "love at first sight". There were things about the home that concerned me and made me wonder if it would work for us, but there was so much potential there, too! I tried really hard not to get too excited, though, because Robert was very unsure about the house and about the timing of buying it. I knew I needed to respect him and not push him at all, so I went to the Lord all the more. I prayed and sat in His presence waiting and asking Him to clearly open or close the doors to the house. And He did!!

He first started with Robert. He softened his heart to the home and the timing of buying it. Then, He moved to me and calmed my anxieties. Finally, He very clearly showed us through Scripture that it was time to move on the house, trusting Him and allowing Him to show us His faithfulness.

And, oh how sweet it is to wait on Him and His timing. He worked things out in ways only He can. There was no doubt at all that He lead us to this house, that He was fighting for us and this was why He wanted us to wait on Him and His timing.

We closed on our home in December and promptly began updating and making it our own. On March 5, 2013 we moved into the most perfect home for us because it is exactly the home He lead us to. Our hearts desire is to use our home in a way that brings honor and glory to Him.

I believe He was honored and glorified this weekend when we witnessed the baptism of a friend's son. Baptism always chokes me up because of what it represents, another soul that has been added to the Lamb's Book of Life. But it was even sweeter this time. God was, and is, using our house to bring Himself glory and we are just very thankful to be a part of His story.

We look forward to our days in our home and continuing to give it back to Him; moving over so He can take the reigns and use our home to reach others for Him and bring honor and glory to Him.

Until next time,
Kristal